EDUCATIONAL APPROACH
Learning about Living uses a "Participatory Learning" approach to education.
In order to empower young people to face the complex challenges in their lives today, we aim to equip them with increased self-esteem, understanding, life skills, and creativity. This enables young people to solve the challenges they meet and design their own path forward. Learning about Living's educational approach recognises that learning is a lifelong process whereby individuals acquire attitudes, skills and knowledge from their environment and daily experiences.
Participatory learning
Participatory learning is a process which directly acknowledges, welcomes, values and uses the existing knowledge and competences of those being taught. It is particularly appropriate where the subject matter under consideration touches on people’s deeply held beliefs and attitudes. It is different than 'Mug and Jug' or 'Chalk and Talk' styles which are knowledge based and teacher driven learning. Participatory learning has proven itself to be a powerful, successful learning tool that is personally fulfilling, meaningful and fun.
In this educational approach the student is central to the learning process with the teacher as a facilitator. The student is given as much space as possible to develop his/her own viewpoint through active experience.
Why Experience-Based Learning?
Consider that we remember:
• 20% of what we read;
• 20% of what we hear;
• 30% of what we see;
• 50% of what we see and hear;
• 70% of what we see, hear, and discuss; and
• 90% of what we see, hear, discuss, and practice.
Advantages:
1. Multiple teaching/learning methods can be integrated
2. Very learner-centered
3. Process of “discovery” builds self-esteem
4. Learning is more fun for students, teaching more fun for leaders/teachers
5. Life skills can be learned, instead of only content
Disadvantages:
1. Decentralized approach can seem less orderly
2. May be less comfortable for teachers used to more authoritarian/disciplinarian styles
3. There is often no single, “right” answer
The teacher's role in Participatory learning:
For some teachers this is a new way of working. Now instead of being at the front of the class giving instruction, the teacher is moving through the class helping individual students as they do their given assignments. While it may seem that the teacher is losing power or control, in fact the teacher is allowing the students to take more responsibility by sharing power. The different role for the teacher may take some practice but can be very rewarding in the long run.
The teachers roles changes from:
Subject centred to person centred
Expert to guide / facilitator
Discipline / authority to trust / encouragement
Focus on output to focus on process + output
Frontal methods to participatory methods
An ideal participatory lesson or workshop includes these elements:
For the teacher it is important to review the materials and practice the activities to be taught. As a teacher you won't freely give “the answers” to a problem. Instead, you will guide the youth in a process through which they learn for themselves. Start a lesson by explaining to the students what activities they will be doing. While students are discussing issues or sharing about what they have learned, use the suggested questions to guide the students reflections about their experiences. At the end of the lesson ask the students what they felt was important about the experience.
For more information on Participatory Learning you can visit these websites.
www.learningandteaching.info/learning/experience.htm
or
www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm
In order to empower young people to face the complex challenges in their lives today, we aim to equip them with increased self-esteem, understanding, life skills, and creativity. This enables young people to solve the challenges they meet and design their own path forward. Learning about Living's educational approach recognises that learning is a lifelong process whereby individuals acquire attitudes, skills and knowledge from their environment and daily experiences.
Participatory learning
Participatory learning is a process which directly acknowledges, welcomes, values and uses the existing knowledge and competences of those being taught. It is particularly appropriate where the subject matter under consideration touches on people’s deeply held beliefs and attitudes. It is different than 'Mug and Jug' or 'Chalk and Talk' styles which are knowledge based and teacher driven learning. Participatory learning has proven itself to be a powerful, successful learning tool that is personally fulfilling, meaningful and fun.
In this educational approach the student is central to the learning process with the teacher as a facilitator. The student is given as much space as possible to develop his/her own viewpoint through active experience.
Why Experience-Based Learning?
Consider that we remember:
• 20% of what we read;
• 20% of what we hear;
• 30% of what we see;
• 50% of what we see and hear;
• 70% of what we see, hear, and discuss; and
• 90% of what we see, hear, discuss, and practice.
Advantages:
1. Multiple teaching/learning methods can be integrated
2. Very learner-centered
3. Process of “discovery” builds self-esteem
4. Learning is more fun for students, teaching more fun for leaders/teachers
5. Life skills can be learned, instead of only content
Disadvantages:
1. Decentralized approach can seem less orderly
2. May be less comfortable for teachers used to more authoritarian/disciplinarian styles
3. There is often no single, “right” answer
The teacher's role in Participatory learning:
For some teachers this is a new way of working. Now instead of being at the front of the class giving instruction, the teacher is moving through the class helping individual students as they do their given assignments. While it may seem that the teacher is losing power or control, in fact the teacher is allowing the students to take more responsibility by sharing power. The different role for the teacher may take some practice but can be very rewarding in the long run.
The teachers roles changes from:
Subject centred to person centred
Expert to guide / facilitator
Discipline / authority to trust / encouragement
Focus on output to focus on process + output
Frontal methods to participatory methods
An ideal participatory lesson or workshop includes these elements:
- Warm up exercise
- Factual presentation of the basic issues
- Interaction with other students
- Hands-on, issue-based activity
- Discussion for reflection
For the teacher it is important to review the materials and practice the activities to be taught. As a teacher you won't freely give “the answers” to a problem. Instead, you will guide the youth in a process through which they learn for themselves. Start a lesson by explaining to the students what activities they will be doing. While students are discussing issues or sharing about what they have learned, use the suggested questions to guide the students reflections about their experiences. At the end of the lesson ask the students what they felt was important about the experience.
For more information on Participatory Learning you can visit these websites.
www.learningandteaching.info/learning/experience.htm
or
www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm