Sometimes The Wheel Needs To Be Re-Invented

							 Sometimes The Wheel
Needs To Be Re-Invented




   Jamey D. Watson, CST, AAT
        Athens, Georgia
                  Definitions
   Steering Wheel
    – A wheel that controls steering
            A Choice Is Made…
   Before each lecture a teacher makes a
    choice
        To make the material clear and understandable
       OR
        To allow the material to be nearly
         incomprehensible
 How can I make my
  lectures clear and
   understandable?
Five Techniques to Make Material
      More Understandable.
          The Five Techniques
   Justification
   Review
   Repetition &
    Examples
   Introductions
   Sub-Concepts
                 Justification
   In order for students to understand the
    material it must be justified.
    – Why is the material important?
    – How will it be used?
    – Why is this technique better than the one we
      used last week?
   Justification is important because it gives
    the student a reason to listen to you.
Do everything possible to
show the student that the
  material is important,
  relevant, and useful!
                     Review
   “Any new concept will rest on the
    foundation of previously learned ideas”

    – Review is important because it brings to mind
      the important concepts that will be needed to
      understand the new material.
    – Review also helps to link new material to old.
                  Review
 At the beginning of each class, briefly
  review the content of the previous class,
  simply to reload it in your students' minds.
 If you are going to present a new idea or
  technique, find the three or four important
  concepts that are required to understand
  the new idea, and review those concepts.
                    Review
   “They should know this material; why
    should I review it?”
    – Review is important because human beings
      cannot remember everything they have
      learned instantaneously, especially if the
      knowledge is a year or two old.
    – If they don't recall or understand a key
      concept or technique, then everything you say
      in class is meaningless, and will not be
      understood.
       Repetition and Examples
   People learn through repetition.
        No idea or fact is completely understood the first
         time it is seen. For complete understanding, the
         idea should be shown in a variety of contexts and
         applications, and should be connected to as many
         previously learned concepts as possible.
        Repetition and Examples
   One way to provide repetition is through
    examples.
        The first examples should be easy, to make sure students
         grasp the idea completely and to provide confidence.
        More advanced examples can show the use of the idea in
         different contexts.
        At least one example should show the boundary of the
         concept (the point where the concept breaks down or no
         longer applies), because this boundary is either a position
         where a different concept takes over, or a position where
         research is currently active.
        When possible, examples should be spread out over multiple
         class periods so students have time to digest the material
         and generate questions.
       Repetition and Examples
   Practice makes Perfect!
                 Introductions
   Many new ideas are, initially, simple and
    straightforward. They become complicated only
    because they have been expanded (through
    research) over a long period of time.
        When this is the case, introduce the idea so that
        students can see it is simple. Then add complexity
        incrementally, occasionally reminding students that
        the original idea was simple
                    Introductions
   A good example from surgery is a concept called
    “prepping."
    – Prepping is fundamentally simple.
        A teacher could easily make prepping seem impossible
         because of its complexity and multiple variations. But the
         teacher could also introduce prepping by showing that it is
         extremely simple, and then add complexity incrementally
         over several class periods.
        In the latter technique, students will understand and feel
         comfortable with the concept; with the former they will tend
         to understand far less, and will feel intimidated by the
         material.
              Sub-Concepts
   Some ideas are fundamentally simple, but
    others are inherently complicated or
    messy.

   Complex concepts require that a number
    of different techniques and ideas all be
    understood together before any part of
    the new concept can be grasped.
                 Sub-Concepts
   When trying to present a complicated
    concept, it is important that students
    know and understand each sub-concept
    individually.
        This can be done by deciding what the important
         sub-concepts are, and then presenting each one as
         a separate topic. The complicated concept can be
         introduced by referring back to (reviewing) these
         previously understood sub-concepts and bonding
         them together into a unified whole.
                 Sub-Concepts
   It is important to tell students you are
    doing this.
        For example, you might start by saying, "We are
         going to begin talking about idea X. To understand
         it, you need to understand the sub-concepts A, B
         and C. I will present A, B and C first, and then
         bond them together to form X."
        As ideas A, B and C are presented, you can show
         how they relate to X and to each other--on a
         complicated subject a lot of repetition is required,
         so you might as well start early.
      Additional Ideas for Teaching
                  Clearly
   Offer students a concrete form of your
    lecture
        Power point, lecture outlines, and online notes
   Offer students more hands on
        Find the learner in each student not from your
         learning experiences
   Offer students individual support
        Make yourself available for those students who
         won’t speak in front of a crowd
Re-Invent The Wheel!