Just thinking out loud about teaching

There are 2 kinds of teaching -- modeling and instruction.

For little kids, modeling, the performance of behaviors, actions and tasks to establish the proper order and method for an audience, is important, especially if the person doing the modeling is admired. We can call this direct imitation learning. If I have my kids watch me do the laundry (and if I narrate the steps), they will learn the steps I take and, with enough exposure, learn to repeat those steps and do the laundry. They will not be conditioned to ask questions or know why they do what they do, but for certain behaviors, performance is key and understanding is secondary, at least initially. Creating a foundation of behavior and skills is necessary so when questions are asked, they will be within a context.

Problems -- if the modeler is NOT admired, the modeling might lead to direct counter imitation, the doing of the opposite as a rejection of the person, not the practice. And if the youngster does have questions that are not answered, or cannot be, or is confronted with a different set of parameters for which there is no model, the practice might fall apart. Internal motivation, at a young enough age and with the right modeler can overcome many problems, but if the success is predicated on this then a loss of motivation causes a cascading failure of the approach.

Instruction, the passing along of information, data, experience or skills, whatever the modality is useful when the brain has matured enough to acquire, file away and retain information and, one hopes, make connections with other information. Questions, properly motivated, can flesh out instruction and help the individual assess, analyze, synthesize and innovate new ideas. In a way, modeling addresses lower order thinking skills and instruction triggers higher order thinking skills. This, of course, is not absolute -- there is plenty of cross over and other variables to consider.

The problems with instruction are many -- the content has to be accepted as valuable and requires the buy in of the student. At the age when instruction is most effective and useful, students are most distracted and have developed the ability to avoid instruction. Multiple modalities (and stealth instruction) have tried to sidestep resistance in cases of reluctant learners. Also, disabilities which might not surface when modeling is the approach will often show up in instructional settings.

Proper pedagogy successfully combines the two approaches at varying percentages depending on the age, experience, motivation (and other elements) of the student. Modeling can never stop, but it can't be employed exclusively. Instruction in one form or another is both the backdrop and the context of understanding but it can't replace sensory input with intellectual assimilation.