Visit 5

In last week's observation session I kept an eye and reflected upon the teachers' skill to elicit and make use of pre-taught knowledge. As a case in point, I remember an episode which took place during a Form4 Computing class during which the topic was binary addition. She taught them the reasoning behind the result 1 carry 0 for 1+1 and hence, when she was about to work out 1+1+1, she expected them to come up with the answer. Fortunately, a considerable number of students managed to work out the sum correctly without having any hints from the teacher. All of this helped me understand the importance of eliciting and creating the experiences in which students are given the opportunity to manipulate what they already know. Undoubtedly, this helps the students because apart from triggering them to think, it helps them perceive learning as a tool for maturing thought rather than as an excercise in which to use memory and regurgitate.