I learn so well when I try to explain to others

Abstract

The first time I used pupils to teach other pupils was due to time constraints. I was to give a lesson in biology and did not have time to make a well thought-out lesson plan. I therefore divided the pupils into two groups and gave them two different sections of the textbook to read for homework. When they came back, they had to first have a discussion with others who read the same section and then had to, two by two, present it to each other. I discovered that this was a highly effective learning process for many of the pupils.

Communication is a foundation for learning

According to Vygotskij's theories, knowledge is something that is created in the interplay with others when we discuss, reason and learn from each other.  He believed that the understanding of reality is preceded by thinking together with others (Vygotskij, 1999).  Therefore, it is important that we in the school provide opportunities for the pupils to think together with others.In order to develop and deepen reasoning and discussions within a subject area, it is important that the pupils have understood the words and concepts within this area.  In the natural sciences subjects, there are many subject-specific terms that pupils need to learn to use and understand.

In Gy 11's subject syllabuses, it states that pupils shall develop their ability to communicate with the help of a scientific language (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011).  Therefore, we need to use different teaching elements where the pupils can learn and become familiar with the scientific concepts.  Lemke (1990) believes that it is necessary to teach the pupils to talk science and that teachers should find forms in the teaching where this is done:

“Talking science means observing, describing, comparing, classifying, analysing, discussing, hypothesizing, theorizing, questioning,challenging, arguing, designing experiments, following procedures, judging, evaluating, deciding, concluding, generalizing, reporting, lecturing and teaching in and through the language of science.”  (Lemke, 1990, p. ix)

”I learn so well when I try to explain to others” expressed one of my pupils during a progress discussion. This is consistent with my own view of how knowledge is secured.  Those elements within the natural sciences that I myself have given lectures on are more easily accessible to me than the ones I have just read and tried studying.  It is only when we engage in something enough to be able to explain it to someone else that we can claim to know it properly.

I have therefore been using some teaching elements where the pupils shall try to get other pupils to understand what they themselves have learned.  Pupils who have just learned something new find it easier to locate the critical aspects in what is to be learned.  In this way, they can represent a great asset in discussion with their fellow pupils.

As a teacher, I sometimes find it difficult to know where the difficulties lie, insofar as a lot of it seems obvious to me.  Pupils who have recently had difficulty understanding new previously unknown concepts and contexts can sometimes be better at explaining than I as a teacher.They also often use metaphors and associations that are closer to their world than mine and other teachers. It may include scenes from movies I have not seen, or like when a pupil linked the concept of trans-isomerism with transvestite. How pupils use metaphors and function words for understanding biochemistry is described by Rundgren (2006).

In the subject syllabuses for chemistry, biology and physics in Gy 11, it states that pupils should be given opportunities to develop the ability to use the knowledge in these subjects in order to communicate. Below I describe two different elements that I have used which (a) exercise the ability to communicate science and (b) provide pupils the opportunity to learn from other pupils.  These elements are by no means fully developed and can be adapted to a subject and pupil group in many different ways.

Poster session

When I returned to my teaching position at upper-secondary school after completing a doctoral degree in biochemistry, I brought with me a lot of ideas about how I could change my teaching.  Participating in conferences in order to keep up to date with the latest discoveries within my research area was an important part of the programme.

The conferences allowed the opportunity to present the latest findings, discuss them and receive critique and new ideas.  One feature that I found particularly rewarding during the conferences was the poster sessions.  At these, methods, research findings and ideas were presented on posters with short texts, images, charts and tables.  The sessions gave other researchers the opportunity to question the methods I had used and how I had interpreted the results.  It was important to be well prepared and open to new ways of thinking.

Back in upper-secondary school, I have used poster sessions in both my chemistry and biology courses.  I have introduced the element of providing a picture of how posters are used outside the school walls, and have stressed the importance of them sparking interest and being well thought through.  After this brief introduction, the pupils got to work in pairs to produce content for the posters.

Sometimes I have guided the work with prepared questions and other times it has been a freer process.  The idea is for the pupils to accumulate more knowledge than they have on the posters, which they then will be able to give further details on during the poster session.

I have tried to design the poster session itself so that pupils will get a sense of it being a “real” conference, and we have used premises other than the ones we normally occupy. The session has been divided into two halves where each pupil stands for half the time by their poster and spends the rest of the time walking around.

I have instructed the pupils walking around to

• question,
• further reflect and
• be critical.

Personally, I have for the most part observed, but I have also participated in discussions and asked questions when needed.  As a teacher, I also got a pretty good idea of how much the pupils knew about their specific area.

The pupils have responded positively during the evaluations of these elements. Many think that they learned a lot about their area since they were obligated to be well-read on the topic, and through having to talk about their subject many times.  Pupils who have trouble talking in front of the entire class have appreciated this form of presentation.  Some mentioned that it was easier to ask questions and be critical in this smaller context than doing it after a report to the entire class. Some have found it to be a bit tedious and repetitive.

I see many advantages with the method:

• The pupils learn to summarise and select key information from different sources and present this in text and pictures.
• All the pupils are active. They get to practice presenting, arguing and questioning.
• They receive feedback, both from peers and from the teacher.

Difficulties I have found with the method include:

• that the poster session takes considerable time and
• that some pupils spend too much time on form compared with content.

I have tried to use the poster sessions as part of my assessment of what knowledge requirements the pupils have mastered, but have found this to be difficult.  At some point, I have had an assessment matrix to concretise what to focus on.

Videos for homework

The flipped classroom has become a more common concept in school.  The phenomenon appeared in the United States six years ago and means that pupils are given an assignment as homework to prepare them for the next lesson, instead of giving them homework as follow-up work to the lessons.

Two of the pioneers are Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, two teachers who were quick to flip their teaching (Bergmann and Sams, 2013).  Salman Khan can also be counted as a pioneer in the field.  He founded the organisation Khan Academy which posts video clips on YouTube within a variety of subject areas (Khan, 2013).

The flipped classroom concept is often associated just with watching videos as homework, but the homework assignment that will prepare pupils for the next lesson could also involve, for example, reading a text or answer questions.  Through the students being prepared, more class time can be used for discussion, laboratory work and working with data etc. in order to consolidate their knowledge.  (Stridsman, 2013)

On Youtube.se, I found videos that a teacher had posted.  It featured recorded reviews of various elements in the chemistry courses in upper-secondary school.  I used some of these videos in Chemistry 2 when it was time to teach the class different organic compounds. Again, I divided the pupils into two groups that were given two different videos to watch as homework.

When they came to class, they first got to have a discussion with other pupils who had seen the same video, and then they tried to get another pupil who had not seen the video to understand what they had seen.  To quickly evaluate what the pupils had learned, they had to answer questions related to the video they had not seen.  The pupils were engaged and enlisted my help during the first discussion where they were sitting with others who had seen the same video.  Even when they were presenting to each other, they were focused on the task.

Everybody correctly answered most of the questions they were then asked. This way of working engaged the pupils in a better way than when I had just reviewed material while they listened and took notes.  The videos also have the advantage of being able to be paused, rewound and watched several times.

To my knowledge, there is currently no scientific studies of how the method affects knowledge building among pupils.  The teacher who made the videos I used has conducted a small evaluation after having flipped the classroom in one class while working in a more traditional way in another (Ehinger, 2013).

Through a knowledge test and interviews, he concluded that, for most pupils, the flipping made no difference, but that the approach could have crucial significance for the weakest and the strongest pupils.  The weakest could watch repeated viewings and watch the videos at their own pace, and the strongest could engage in more advanced tasks.  He also writes that he has had more time to talk chemistry with the [CL3] pupils instead of talking to the pupils.

In lessons where I lecture, a certain interaction takes place with the pupils, but not all of it is active.  In the flipped classroom, I can reach the pupils on a more individual level.  If the pupils watch the lectures on video, this frees up time for me and them to discuss chemistry during the lessons. It becomes easier for me to assist those pupils who cannot keep up and to set challenges at the right level for all pupils.I will continue to develop this approach and endeavour to make my own videos.  There are forums on the internet where teachers who have worked with this model enthusiastically share tips and ideas with others. There are also courses turning up that work through screen recording technique.

For this model to work, the pupils are required to take responsibility and be prepared for the lessons. If they have not seen the video or read the text, they cannot present it to someone else.  This has happened on a few occasions where they have instead read or watched the video during class time while the others present the material to each other.

Implications

According to Vygotskij (1999), it is in the interplay with other people that we learn new things and where the pupil's everyday notions meet more complex and scientific concepts.  Lemke (1990) argues that language actively shapes the ability to describe and compare.  He point out the need to create situations where pupils use a scientific language.  In the qualitative targets for the Science Programme, there are formulations that are consistent with these theories:

Language is a tool for communication but also for reflection and learning.  The education should therefore develop the pupils' ability to reason and express themselves in advanced writing and speaking situations related to science and mathematics.  (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011)[a4]

In order to achieve this, it is important to give pupils the opportunity to communicate science in contexts that they find meaningful.  It is important for pupils to be given many opportunities to use and become familiar with the scientific concepts.  In the models I have used, I have also tried to get them to learn from each other.  This can be done using simple methods as I described in the introduction of this article, or with more advanced and more planned elements.  The models that have been described in this article have the flexibility to be developed and used in different contexts.

Poster sessions can be broadened and directed to other visitors in and outside the school.  It would then be important to consider the target audience when the pupils are preparing their presentations. This form can also be used in collaboration with other subjects.  In the Science Programme's qualitative targets, it states that the pupils shall: ”be able to discuss basic science in English” (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011).

Presenting and discussing their poster content in English would be good training for this skill.  In the targets for the upper-secondary school work, it states that: ”The pupil shall present and discuss their work orally and provide feedback on other upper-secondary work.” In this respect, poster sessions can also be a method,  either initially to give the pupil feedback on their ideas and help from other pupils with the direction of their work, or at the end of the work to present their results.

Poster sessions could also be used in areas where the pupils are expected to take a position on various issues.  This can be within genetic engineering, environmental issues, politics and so on.  That could be a great way to allow pupils to practice presenting and arguing in support their ideas.

Flipping the classroom is also a model that can be used in different ways.  The concept is broad and is not just about the pupils watching videos before lessons. It is about the pupils preparing themselves for the lessons so that class time can be used more efficiently.  In this way, the time in class can be used for reflections, analyses, exercises, discussions, lab work and more.  The pupils are forced to become more active in class and it also becomes easier to find time to supervise the pupils on an individual basis.