Can we utilise Theories of Learning to analyse and enhance our 1-1 Tuition?

Workshop Background

• Perspective• Info from Internal Tutors Workshops• Feedback from Tutors• Assistive Solutions 1-1 Tuition

• Making Learning Whole• Russell Ackoff’s theories • Socratic Learning• Structured open discussion

Theories of Learning

David Perkins’7 Principles

1. Play the Whole Game2. Make the game worth playing3. Work on the hard parts4. Play out of town5. Play the hidden game6. Learn from the team7. Learn the game of learning

1. Play the whole game

Perkins sees two unfortunate tendencies in education: one is what he calls “elementitis” - learning the components of a subject without ever putting them together. The second is a tendency to foster “learning about” something at the expense of actually learning it.

1. Play the whole game – DSA Tuition?

2. Make the game worth playing

Students are motivated to learn about things that they think have value and relevance in their lives. Perkins suggests “generative topics”— rich, engaging topics that help foster discussion to further conceptual knowledge.

2. Make the game worth playing – DSA Tuition

3. Work on the hard parts

Perkins parents: playing bridge for many years, observed that they weren't getting better over time. Had they been trying to improve, they would have needed “deliberate practice”

In Perkins' theory, a learner needs a sense of the whole game and to focus on specific hard parts. “When I advocate playing the whole game, I don't mean doing nothing but that.”

3. Work on the hard parts – DSA Tuition

5. Play the hidden game

7. Learn the game of learning

• Students in the driver's seat, let them take control of their education.

• Diagnostic tests to help students understand their own progress and determine what to focus on next.

• “What particularly struck me, was that with a little help the students, not the teachers, took stock of their own progress. The tests were framed emphatically as tools to provide information, not appraisals of worth.”

7. Learn the game of learning – DSA Tuition

Russell Ackoff

We remember 20-30% of what we see and hear, but recall 95% of what we teach others!

The Socratic method

Named after the classical Greek philosopher, learning revolves around asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking.

A technique in which a teacher does not give information directly but instead asks a series of questions, with the result that the student comes either to the desired knowledge by answering the questions (or to a deeper awareness of the limits of knowledge).

Socratic teaching -