A key requirement for successful learning is that teaching should be interactive, i.e. that the learner is active during the process and not just the teacher.

This is based on brain theories: The consensus among cognitive scientists (since B F Skinner) is that the mind seeks to find meaning, which is done through patterning. To achieve this, the mind must be active during the learning process.

This contrasts with the ‘factory model’ of education:

The experts draw up the knowledge; the teachers transmit it; the learners regurgitate it. Learners are passive recipients of knowledge.

The National Curriculum Statement picks up on this:

• The Critical Outcomes require learners to ‘identify and solve problems and make decisions using critical and creative thinking’ (p2).
• The kind of learner envisaged must ‘demonstrate an ability to think logically and analytically, as well has holistically and laterally’ (p2).

The value of this approach is that

• more effective learning takes place – learners internalise material as opposed to absorbing it holus-bolus – therefore they understand it better, remember it better and can better apply the learning;
• learners develop critical thinking and transfer skills because they have to reason their way through the work.

One of the most important ways of teaching interactively is to use effective questioning techniques.

Here are some guides regarding successful questioning techniques:

• Avoid answering the question for the learners.
• Ask learners to ‘unpack’ their answers by describing their line of reasoning and arriving at their answer. In effect, they have to ‘think aloud’.
• Do not immediately indicate if an answer is wrong. Get the learner to explain why he/she gave a particular answer. Often they will discover for themselves where they went wrong.
• Provide sufficient ‘thinking time’ after asking a question to which a well-considered answer is required. (Too often a response is demanded almost immediately, which encourages superficial answers.)
• Delay your reaction to answers sometimes in order to stimulate further thinking and more diverse answers. Or play Devil’s Advocate and require learners to substantiate their answers to questions and defend their reasoning against other points of view.
• Where learners are struggling to answer difficult questions, consider using multiple-choice questions – formal or informal. (Do you think A, B or C? Why?)  Or use the ‘think-pair-share’ technique – where no one seems to have an answer (involves the whole class first thinking on their own, then discussing with a partners, followed by feedback from the class).
• Involve other learners: Before responding to a learner’s answer yourself, ask other learners if they agree or not, and why.  Or ask another learner to summarise a learner’s viewpoint – this encourages active listening and cooperative learning.
• Ensure that some of your questions go beyond mere recall of facts; and that some are open-ended.
• Draw threads together – especially if there have been diverse answers – otherwise learners can feel confused.

Two pre-requisites for successful questioning techniques:

• Non-threatening atmosphere: This requires the teacher to be sensitive and learners to be called upon to respect each other.  Learners must feel free to give wrong answers.
• Ensuring that all are on board:  If a learner speaks softly, repeat answer for all to hear; make sure that learners do not talk while another learner is answering a question. The class must get the idea that all are involved in the give-and-take and not just the learners who happen to be answering questions.

curriculum delivery, teaching methods