• Question: It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge - what does this mean to you?

    Asked by mrdiamond to Christine, Edd, Jess, Nicolas, Zara on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Edward Codling

      Edward Codling answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Wow – a great statement about the philosophy of teaching!

      Are you a student or the class teacher? 😉

      As a university lecturer I have to teach a wide range of students (from PhD research students, to undergraduates, to some visiting school students – and even other lecturers sometimes). I always try to make my lessons fun but informative – hopefully this then leads to students enjoying their lectures and inspires them to find out more themselves. (What I think the above statement is saying!)
      I honestly believe you can only go so far ‘teaching’ or ‘lecturing’ if you haven’t engaged the students to actually want to learn more themselves.

      How we awaken joy is another matter entirely of course. One of the things I did recently in my lectures was to use roleplay sessions to explore topical science issues – the students all really enjoyed the session and it was great fun to supervise. The students found out they had learnt about the topic by living it rather than just reading the facts off the board.

      I am open to suggestions though as I am always trying to become a better teacher!

    • Photo: Zara Gladman

      Zara Gladman answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hey!

      Mr Diamond is a student… I thought he was a teacher too 😉

      To me, that statement is pointing out how important it is for a teacher to find a way of making his/her students enjoy learning… and also, for students to learn how to think for themselves and develop their own ideas.

      Teaching methods are changing – it’s not about standing up in front of a class and rambling away at the students (although there is always a place for traditional lectures!)… it’s more about engaging them… interacting, chatting, discussing, debating, asking questions! “I’m a Scientist” is a great example of an exciting new teaching method… it’s definitely different from your science lessons at school, right? Hopefully it will spark young peoples’ interest in science 🙂 it’s definitely sparked my interest in speaking to young people!

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