If you want your children to learn and retain a new skill or concept, what way of teaching that skill or concept do you think works best? Please review the teaching strategies listed below and choose the one you think would have the most impact on material retention.
Explain it verbally.
Have them read the material to themselves.
Demonstrate the skill so they can see how it is done correctly.
Let them do it themselves.
Testing them on him.
None of the listed items creates the highest incidence of material retention. The teaching strategy that has the best impact on remembering skills or concepts is not listed here.
There are two ways to measure material retention. One is to measure the percentage of the material that is remembered. The second is to measure how long the material is retained before it is forgotten. Explaining a skill verbally is not the most effective way to promote either the percentage of material withheld or the period of time for which it is withheld. Nor is it to have children read the material on their own, demonstrate the skill, do it themselves, or try it out. The greatest amount of material retention occurs when children teach a concept or skill to another person.
Teaching a skill to another person moves that concept from short-term memory to long-term memory. If you explain how to do a long division to someone else two or three times, they may never understand the process, but you (the explainer) will experience greater clarity and learning. When you teach a skill or concept, you have to think about it, formulate it in your mind, rehearse how you want to explain it, say it out loud, and adjust your responses to the questions and the student’s level of understanding. You may have to find new examples, new words to explain, and new ways of thinking about the skill or concept involved. Involving this process serves you (the teacher) as well as the student. Increase your retention level.
So what does all of this mean for parents? It means that if you want your child to learn something well, ask him to teach it to someone else.
To help your ten-year-old remember the steps necessary to feed the dog, ask her to explain how to feed the dog to her little sister.
Have your teenager teach your spouse or friend the safety rules for operating the lawn mower.
Encourage your child to tell your baby the four important things to do to clean his teeth when brushing. The baby will not learn the skill, but your child will.
See one, do one, teach one is a useful strategy that combines the benefits of different learning styles. This process comes from the medical model. Typically, medical students first see someone put on a splint, then put on a splint, and then teach someone else how to put on a splint. The process involves them seeing the skill modeled, doing it themselves, and then teaching the skill to another student. Maximum learning results when the student performs these three activities.
Every Saturday morning, the Warner family cleaned their home for two hours before attending to their individual schedules. All children and parents had different cleaning responsibilities during this Saturday morning ritual. Mr. Warner did the baths.
When it came time to teach the children how to clean the bathrooms, Mr. Warner decided to start with the toilet. He first engaged the older child and demonstrated the correct toilet cleaning procedure (see one) while discussing each of the important steps involved. The boy then went downstairs and cleaned the toilet in that bathroom (Do One) while Mr. Warner watched and gave descriptive and corrective comments.
The following Saturday, the oldest boy explained how to clean a toilet (Show one) to the second oldest boy.
The See One Make One Teach One process was repeated until all three children knew how to clean the toilet. Mr. Warner was one of a growing number of parents who realize that if you want a behavior, you have to teach a behavior. He also knew that if you want to remember a behavior, you must allow the student to teach the behavior.
Do you want to remember the See One, Do One, Teach One philosophy to help children learn important skills and concepts? If so, show it to someone else.
