Guided Design reminds me of the Chinese proverb we often mention in education, “Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand.” The group-focus of Guided Design also adds an extra benefit, even though some students are reluctant to participate in group-based work. I find that I am constantly reminding myself that students will be working in group-settings in almost any field they go into as employees.
I like the way in which Guided Design forces students to follow a decision-making process. Sometimes we have to force our students to make decisions so they can examine their thinking processes and tweak areas of it that are weak. Guided Design serves as a perfect opportunity for students to engage in this very important part of their intellectual development.
That being said, Guided Design isn’t perfect, and we have to realize that working with a team really does expose all of us to being a potential victim of the “weakest link” of the team. As the Wilson study noted, sometimes the most advanced member of the group ends up being worse off at the end because of their working with the group. That’s specifically why we should always adopt a well-rounded approach in the ways we teach – one type of teaching does not always work the best, the key to successful instruction is including multiple instructional strategies (after all, variety is the spice of life, right?). While it might be true that some members of the group could end up worse off, they will learn valuable interaction skills that will prepare them for the real world. They can also learn a lot about themselves from any feelings of frustration that may arise, and can also get experience that will help them emerge as a future leader in any sort of group setting. Their experiences may help them make future group tasks more efficient. In fact, the overall impact upon them should be quite small since Guided Design is hopefully not the only teaching technique to which they are exposed. These students will have multiple other opportunities to advance their knowledge and mastery of material. The skills they learn as part of a group are worth any small setbacks in terms of mastery of content.
One final note – Guided Design reminds me of the importance of giving quality feedback to our students. No teaching strategy can be considered effective if we don’t probe our students to think to their fullest and guide them through their missteps to avoid future ones!!
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Paul - I think you make a good point about using different methods to present material to students. I don't think I do a good job at that. I am basically a believer in the Chinese proverb that you mentioned and that is pretty much how I approach my classes (I teach technology classes). I am going to explore other methods of instruction to see if I can't find another to add to my repertoire. Thanks for your post! (Liz Coleman)
ReplyDeleteHi Paul,
ReplyDeleteYou know, the Chinese proverb you mentioned (which I love) is a good reminder that a lot of what we know about good teaching really isn't new. Some principles of good instruction have been around for quite a while!
I like the point you raised about providing thoughtful feedback and guidance to our students. That really is important, isn't it? In my post for this week I mentioned an early work experience I had that involved collaborating as part of a team. It was tough for me at first, but the guidance and feedback that I received from my mentors made all the difference in the world.
I enjoyed reading your post.
Sherry
Your comments about interaction skills are very important. I think that most of the schooling experience is really learning to interact with others. How many grads graduate in one degree and then go off in a totally different direction and are still successful? It is all about growing up, right?!
ReplyDeleteHi Paul,
ReplyDeleteYou made a great point about the need to use a variety of teaching strategies in our classrooms in order to accommodate a variety of learning styles. I also agree that "doing" is the key to retaining and understanding, but I also have trouble getting some students to buy into the value. I am constantly talking about the importance of being able to analyze information and apply it; not just recite the material back to me. What is sad is that fact that some of my best students are so grade conscious that they only want to learn exactly what they will be tested on and not waste time on anything else. They are constantly asking, "Will this be on the test?" I would love to get them over this obsession with grades and get them to allow themselves to learn for the sake of learning.
Karen Hughes