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What practices do you currently use in your classroom to help your students learn concepts on a deeper level? Do you feel these are effective? Why or why not?
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I try to integrate several different ways to learn. I do whole group discussions, small group, pair share, hands on activities, videos, and now hopefully field we can do trips again. It’s like Dr. Black said, students learn differently and we need to teach the same thing different ways to meet those learning styles.
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I strongly believe that using as many senses as possible in teaching a new concept is the way all students can learn and understand for long-term effect. If I teach about the cell membrane, I direct the students to “become” the parts of the membrane. Some students are molecules passing through. They explain what happens in cell transport as they act it out. They are seeing, hearing and doing the lesson. This accomplishes the dual goals of teaching an abstract concept and having fun as well.
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I ask questions that may put the concept in a different setting or ask about how that topic may apply to other areas of study. I assess students. I look at their eyes to see if they seem to be understanding the material as we go deeper into the concepts.
I do feel that this is effective as it allows me to teach application of material in different areas or in greater depth.
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I am always desiring to get my students to think more deeply. I ask a lot of “WHY?” questions when we are discussing things we are learning because I want the student to truly think about their answer instead of just “giving me what they think I want to hear.” I believe this has really caused many of my second graders to see learning as deeper than just pen and paper. I want them to see WHY God has placed them on earth, WHY they are here, WHY they matter to God, and WHY it is important to think so that one day they will be able to give a learned answer to questions about this world others may have.
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My role is not in the classroom, but teaching at church I find that discussion session are a good way to teach on a deeper level. Letting the students talk through concepts and biblical truth is an effective approach. It helps them to understand biblical truth and think through it on their own instead of feeding them answers.