Improve Your Learning By Teaching
2021-04-21
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1You might be looking for new ways to improve your understanding of something you are studying.
2Perhaps you are seeking better methods to remember important information.
3One way to help you reach these goals is to try teaching - not as a job, but as a way to improve your own learning.
4In today's Education Tips, we will explore how teaching could help your studies.
5Researchers and educators have been interested in the link between teaching and learning for quite some time.
6A 1982 study found that tutoring helped both the tutors and the people who studied with them.
7Tutoring means teaching one person or a very small group of students.
8"Like the children they helped, the tutors gained a better understanding of and developed more positive attitudes toward the subject matter covered in the tutorial program," the researchers wrote.
9Attitude is a term that means the way you think or feel about something.
10Also in the 1980s, Jean-Pol Martin, a French teacher in Germany, developed a way of teaching that asked students to teach each other.
11Martin taught language classes, but he expanded his "Learning by Teaching" method, also called LdL, to include other subjects as well.
12More recent studies have looked at the link between teaching and memory.
13A 2013 study, which we briefly described in a previous Education Tips, found that teaching had a strong effect on understanding and learning.
14An important part of the study compared the learning results of people who actually taught a lesson to those who simply prepared but did not teach.
15"Overall, these findings suggest that when students actually teach the content of a lesson, they develop a deeper and more persistent understanding of the material than from solely preparing to teach," the researchers wrote.
16Persistent is a term that means continuing beyond the usual or expected amount of time.
17Scientists have also explored the question of why teaching improves learning.
18A 2018 study suggests that teaching may help your learning because you have to remember the information you have learned as you continue to teach. Experts call this "retrieval."
19The researchers wrote that "retrieval practice possibly causes the learning benefits of teaching."
20Practice is a term that means to do something over and over again to become better at it.
21The basic idea is that if you want to improve your memory of what you have learned, you have to practice remembering that information.
22While retrieval may be one reason that teaching helps learning, there could be other reasons. The issue remains an open question.
23The good news is that there are many ways that you can improve your learning by teaching.
24One way might be to teach your family or friends about something that you are learning.
25For example, you could teach your parents about English grammar or vocabulary.
26You could also try teaching a younger person - perhaps a cousin, brother or sister.
27Try to make your lessons simple and clear, and ask them what they do not understand.
28The process of teaching and asking for feedback will help you realize that you may not understand some things as well as you thought you did.
29That is an important, necessary step in the learning process.
30Another idea is to imagine yourself describing a lesson to someone, or to write the lesson down.
31In the Guardian newspaper, David Robson suggests that you could write an email describing what you have learned in great detail.
32A final idea for those who like technology: You could record video of yourself teaching information.
33You could then send the lesson to friends or put it on YouTube or some other social media service.
34Give teaching a try and let us know if it improves your learning!
35I'm John Russell.
1You might be looking for new ways to improve your understanding of something you are studying. Perhaps you are seeking better methods to remember important information. 2One way to help you reach these goals is to try teaching - not as a job, but as a way to improve your own learning. 3In today's Education Tips, we will explore how teaching could help your studies. 4Background 5Researchers and educators have been interested in the link between teaching and learning for quite some time. 6A 1982 study found that tutoring helped both the tutors and the people who studied with them. 7Tutoring means teaching one person or a very small group of students. 8"Like the children they helped, the tutors gained a better understanding of and developed more positive attitudes toward the subject matter covered in the tutorial program," the researchers wrote. 9Attitude is a term that means the way you think or feel about something. 10Also in the 1980s, Jean-Pol Martin, a French teacher in Germany, developed a way of teaching that asked students to teach each other. Martin taught language classes, but he expanded his "Learning by Teaching" method, also called LdL, to include other subjects as well. 11More recent studies 12More recent studies have looked at the link between teaching and memory. A 2013 study, which we briefly described in a previous Education Tips, found that teaching had a strong effect on understanding and learning. 13An important part of the study compared the learning results of people who actually taught a lesson to those who simply prepared but did not teach. 14"Overall, these findings suggest that when students actually teach the content of a lesson, they develop a deeper and more persistent understanding of the material than from solely preparing to teach," the researchers wrote. 15Persistent is a term that means continuing beyond the usual or expected amount of time. 16Why Does Teaching Improve Learning? 17Scientists have also explored the question of why teaching improves learning. 18A 2018 study suggests that teaching may help your learning because you have to remember the information you have learned as you continue to teach. Experts call this "retrieval." 19The researchers wrote that "retrieval practice possibly causes the learning benefits of teaching." 20Practice is a term that means to do something over and over again to become better at it. 21The basic idea is that if you want to improve your memory of what you have learned, you have to practice remembering that information. 22While retrieval may be one reason that teaching helps learning, there could be other reasons. The issue remains an open question. 23Ideas for how to start teaching 24The good news is that there are many ways that you can improve your learning by teaching. 25One way might be to teach your family or friends about something that you are learning. For example, you could teach your parents about English grammar or vocabulary. 26You could also try teaching a younger person - perhaps a cousin, brother or sister. Try to make your lessons simple and clear, and ask them what they do not understand. 27The process of teaching and asking for feedback will help you realize that you may not understand some things as well as you thought you did. That is an important, necessary step in the learning process. 28Another idea is to imagine yourself describing a lesson to someone, or to write the lesson down. In the Guardian newspaper, David Robson suggests that you could write an email describing what you have learned in great detail. 29A final idea for those who like technology: You could record video of yourself teaching information. You could then send the lesson to friends or put it on YouTube or some other social media service. 30Give teaching a try and let us know if it improves your learning! 31I'm John Russell. 32John Russell reported on this story for Learning English. Bryan Lynn was the editor. 33________________________________________________ 34Words in This Story 35positive - adj. thinking about the good qualities of someone or something : thinking that a good result will happen : hopeful or optimistic 36content - n. the ideas, facts, or images that are in a book, article, speech, movie, etc. 37benefit - n. a good or helpful result or effect 38feedback - n. helpful information or criticism that is given to someone to say what can be done to improve a performance, product, etc.