Teach Don't Tell

Last month Paul and I took our grandchildren to the R.O.M. I think the ROM is one of the best museums I've been to anywhere in the world! The children friendly exhibits allow for complete interaction with the material and the learning can't help but become relevant and meaningful.

We went specifically for the new improved Bat Caves. The Bat Caves is a room with a pathway through the centre. You hear the beeping of the bat’s call and the constant flapping of the wings. If you look up, you see the (what seems like) bats flying. Really, though, it’s just lights flashing on and off to simulate the flying of the bats. When we had walked through the bat cave 6 times, we entered into another room.

Paul took Oscar to check out the Dinosaur exhibit (again). I sat in the animal exhibit with Stella. After some time, she sat down with some paper and pencil. I read a book about water. It was a nice break and we left each other alone.

After a while Stella, came over to me. “Safta, how do you write the number 101?” she asked.

One, zero, one.” I whispered back to her. She returned to her paper. Less than a minute passed. She returned. “How do you write 110?”

At this point I could tell this could keep going on. “Do you want me to tell you the answer, Stella? Or do you want me to teach you how to do this?”

“Tell me.” She said. So I did. Almost immediately Stella, returned. “How about 111?”

I remembered what I tell my students regularly. “There is a big difference between ‘teaching’ and learning.’ Despite what some professors think, it isn’t about giving information. It’s about providing the time to process the information that actually makes the learning happen. Teachers then, provide strategies and time to ‘play’ with the information in meaningful, relevant and fun ways.

“Watch this.” I said to Stella as I grabbed her precious body close to mine on the museum cushion. With available stones we played for a few minutes. We counted the stones, moving them from one column to the next as the number of stones reached 10. We laughed, sitting close side by side. Stella understood. In no time, she was able to write the numerals with a clear understanding of the concept of place value. That’s real learning! And we shared precious time together!