Have teachers learn a novel abstract subject themselves to experience the difficulties their pupils face¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q1 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends, by demonstration, that teachers study themselves as learners of abstract material of comparable novelty and difficulty to what their pupils face. Subjects studied a textbook for six hours and worked problems for four more, keeping notes of difficulties and how they met them, then answered questions about their experience and took a test. The authors found the exercise useful for increasing sympathy with pupils' efforts and knowledge of learning, though the written notes were meager because learners become absorbed in content and avoid the labor of note-making.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A task of comparable novelty and difficulty for the teachers as beginning algebra or physics is for their pupils; time at the subject's own choosing; and written notes of difficulties, which the article notes tend to be meager.

Constraints¶

• The article reports only rather meager self-observation notes, for the reasons the authors give; the benefit is the writers' opinion, not a measured outcome.

Target Learners¶

• teachers of mathematics
• college graduates who know physics only from an elementary course

Target Learning Goals¶

• understanding the learning process
• appreciating pupils' difficulties in abstract subjects

Claims¶

• Having teachers study themselves as learners of a comparably hard abstract subject increases their appreciation of pupils' difficulties and sympathy with their efforts [+W]
• Gifted, highly trained adults working a novel abstract task produce error-ridden problem work comparable in character to that of school pupils [+M]
• On novel, hard tasks, superior trained adults tend to jump at conclusions, accept results without surety, and become confused, more than orthodox psychology supposes [+W]
• Uncriticalness on hard novel tasks appears as many wrong answers relative to omissions and as eagerness to learn answers from authority rather than one's own checks [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Thorndike, E. L., & Upton, C. B. (1922). An Experiment in Learning an Abstract Subject. The Journal of Educational Psychology, 13(6). https://doi.org/10.1037/h0065229