When you think of a teacher, what sort of person do you imagine? Usually, we perceive teachers as individuals who have made it to the top of a long learning climb after years and years of intense focus on one area. I would challenge this view. I find it too narrow. Of course, some teachers fit such descriptions, but teaching is certainly not their exclusive right. Quite the opposite, I think it’s an activity that anybody can do.
Here we return to the question of, “How can I?” Perhaps it is because of teacher stereotypes, but we don’t think of teaching as a learning strategy. That is unfortunate, because according to science, teaching is a great way to learn effectively. There are good reasons why.
Have you ever been completely confident you knew all the lyrics to a song? But when the opportunity presented itself, perhaps at a birthday party full of people, where you needed to sing the song, you found out you didn’t know many of the words. Similarly, we are usually very confident about knowing how familiar, everyday objects work. However, for example, can you accurately draw a bicycle with all the essential elements? You may think you can, but like knowing song lyrics, when put to the test, you may discover a less flattering truth. One study found that when people were asked to put the frame, pedals, and chain in the right place on an incomplete drawing of a bicycle, only about half of the participants could do the task correctly. Many times, when put to an actual test, our belief in the level of our mastery turns out to be an illusion.
Often, this illusion is a central problem of popular learning strategies, like rereading or highlighting. As Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize–winning physicist, who was a vocal proponent of learning by teaching, once said, “You must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Well, teaching comes into view here because it is sort of a test that can reveal gaps in your understanding.
Just anticipating that you will need to teach someone causes you to deepen your understanding of the subject. For example, research shows that participants of a golf class saw their learning of the skill enhanced when they thought they would have to teach golf putting to others. That’s also why Comenius, a Moravian educator from the seventeenth century, who is considered a father of modern pedagogy, noted there is much truth in the saying, “Who teaches others, teaches himself.”
So how exactly can you approach learning by teaching? Let’s say you are starting to learn biology. If you are in a school setting, one simple way is to start tutoring fellow biology students. Questions and comments from your peers will force you to expand and deepen your knowledge more than if you were learning alone.
However, if you are learning by yourself, there are other ways. On Reddit, the internet’s forum of forums, where people of vastly divergent background knowledge frequently meet, many acronyms are used. Interestingly, one of the most useful ones proved to be ELI5, which stands for, “Explain it like I’m 5.” You can use this technique yourself. If you have an attentive partner, parents, or friends who happen to not be biologists, try to explain one biological process to them. If you don’t have anyone to teach, write down an explanation imagining how you would explain this to someone who has no prior knowledge of it. You will quickly find out that in order to explain things simply, you will first need to understand them well yourself.
Finally, along with all the stated benefits, being in a role of a teacher can be a very rewarding experience because you can see how your help makes other people grow.
References:
teaching is a great way to learn: Kobayashi, K. (2018). Learning by preparing‐to‐teach and teaching: A meta‐analysis. Japanese Psychological Research, 61(3), 192–203.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpr.12221
when people were asked to put the frame: Rozenblit, L.,& Keil, F. (2002). The misunderstood limits of folk science: An illusion of explanatory depth. Cognitive Science, 26(5), 521–562.
https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog2605_1
“you must not fool yourself”: Feynman, R. P. (1974). Cargo cult science. Engineering & Science, 37, 10–13.
just anticipating that you will need to teach: Kobayashi, K. (2018). Learning by preparing‐to‐teach and teaching: A meta‐analysis. Japanese Psychological Research, 61(3), 192–203.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpr.12221
participants of a golf class saw their learning of the skill enhanced: Daou, M., Lohse, K. R.,& Miller, M. W. (2016). Expecting to teach enhances motor learning and information processing during practice. Human Movement Science, 49, 336–345.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2016.08.009
“Who teaches others”: Comenius, J. A. (1907). The great didactic. (M. W. Keatinge, Trans.). Adam and Charles Black. (Original work published 1657).
one simple way is to start tutoring: Kobayashi, K. (2018). Learning by preparing‐to‐teach and teaching: A meta‐analysis. Japanese Psychological Research, 61(3), 192–203.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpr.12221
On Reddit, the internet’s forum of forums: Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/