Learning by teaching

Learning by teaching is an action-oriented teaching method, learning at the student or students by teaching yourself the material with each other. It can be used in all subjects, school types and age groups. Main representative of the concept learning by teaching (abbreviated LdL ) is Jean-Pol Martin, the method developed from 1980 to 2008 to an educational concept and disseminated by a network of contacts.

• 4.1 Reception in practice
• 4.2 The reception in the Science
• 4.3 Further development of the LdL concept from 2005

Definition and delimitation

" When students develop a learning section of material independently and introduce their classmates when they examine further whether the information is truly arrived and when they finally take the appropriate exercises to ensure that the substance is internalized, this corresponds to an ideal type of method learning by teaching ( LdL ). "

LdL basically refers to methods in which students teach their classmates labor in the classroom. As a result of the dissemination of the method, the term " learning by teaching " has been extended to other teaching settings, for example, techniques in which older students or students teach younger ( tutorial system ). Since other theoretical justifications apply to such procedures as for LdL, they are not treated in the following article.

History of Learning by Teaching

A more detailed study of learning by teaching as a didactic concept was made in the English language from the 70s, such as in the 1971 book by Alan Gartner. Particularly conducive to this development was that the dominance of behaviorism in education displaced by the cognitivist turn and the learner was more considered as the subject of the learning process.

The first monograph in Germany Theme for learning by teaching was published by Rudolf Krüger 1975. 1985, ten years later, the scientific analysis of a year-long empirical study in the subject German as a foreign language appeared with Turkish students by Wolfgang Rocky. He describes in his work, the effects of foreign language teaching in two shank. At the same time, the thesis of Jean-Pol Martin was posted to learning by teaching in the teaching of French. Here the focus was on the interaction in the classroom. For the first time an attempt was made theoretically the process - learning psychology and neurophysiology, as well as discourse analysis - to justify.

The essays by Udo Kettwig 1986, Theodor F. classes were Chronologically in the wake of 1988 and the 1997, edited by Ursula Drews special issue published as student teachers. In these writings, also in 1997 published special issue, the twelve years earlier published work of Rocky and Martin as well as the numerous 1983-1997 in the context of Martin publications were not included. This shows that different groups working independently on the topic of learning through teaching and reception are poorly against each other.

Learning by teaching according to Martin ( LdL )

Jean-Pol Martin came in 1980 through reading Ludger Schifflers book Interactive language teaching at the idea of ​​having to inform each other in the French teaching his students. The achievements led him to introduce the appropriate technology in training events. As he met with resistance, he began this first by what he considered plain teaching art methods scientifically substantiate and document using the TCT (Institute for Film and Image in Science and Education ) systematic and long-term study. At the same time Martin was trying to theoretically substantiate the curriculum, which included the teaching of French from the first year of learning through high school and dropped his habilitation in the appropriate font before.

The basic traditional elements from humanistic psychology and cognitive psychology. In parallel, he has published numerous essays on the subject. Early in this process, as Martins approach was only very slowly absorbed by the education system, he called 1987 LdL contact network to life, the beginning twelve teachers involved and by 1995 grew to five hundred. The educators participating tested the method in all subjects documented their lessons and put LdL in teacher training before.

From 2001 LdL experienced an upswing in connection with the initiated in all provinces education reforms (see in particular the Bavarian pilot MODUS21 ). Following was " learning by teaching " moving into the adult education and higher education (see, among others, Joachim Grzega in Germany and Guido Oebel in Japan).

The concept LdL contains a pedagogical and anthropological as well as a foreign language teaching component.

The pedagogical and anthropological component

LdL is committed to a humanistic psychology, on the other hand research on systems thinking by Dietrich Dörner. The pedagogical and anthropological component refers to the hierarchy of needs of Maslow. The task to convey to others a knowledge substance is intended to satisfy the needs for security ( building self- awareness ), for social connection and social recognition as well as for self-realization and finding meaning. While in the teacher-centered teaching a receptive recording of already linearly ordered learning content takes place ( linearity a priori), is aimed at the construction of knowledge by the learner at LdL.

Based on provided in the classroom, but not yet ordered information that learners are at LdL faced with the task of transforming this information by evaluating, weights and a hierarchy to knowledge (linearity a posteriori ). This process can take place only on the basis of intensive communication. Reference is made to the structure of neural networks in which intensive interaction troubleshooting result. Seen in this way is to learn as a whole the group by stable structures of interaction between students arise, as is done in learning in the brain when are established by sustained delivery of pulses lasting synaptic connections between neurons. In the absence of these pulses and interactions these neurons compounds decompose again (forgotten).

The foreign language teaching component

Language didactic aspect: the traditional didactics sees a irreconcilable conflict between the three classical learning paradigms habituation ( behavioral component), fabric relatedness ( cognitivist component) and authentic interaction, communication, in which the students do not repeat presented by the teacher sets, but promised union real concern ( communicative component):

LdL want to combine the three components: Students must a) penetrate the cognitive content, b ) talk intensively with each other to give the other the substance and c) by specific language structures apply again and again. These three steps intertwine here, as they iteratively and feedback controlled always have to be made again in the learning method.

Content, aspect: In the textbook phase, the students will present the contents of the teaching work. If the textbook phase is complete, it is the logic of the approach is that the students acquire new knowledge even in the context of projects and share in class. In this phase (11th grade up to graduation ) student motivation depends heavily on the quality of the content. Students should feel that they are prepared to treat them for the future ( need for meaning ).

Practical Applications

The class as a neural network

Martin has tried to use the functioning of neural networks in schematic form to describe the LdL teaching. The progress of the instruction phase and the differences that divide LdL by other methods, are summarized in this overview:

The LdL reception

The reception in the practice

• LdL was initially well received in teacher education and in teacher training: from 1985 trainee works were written in all subjects over LdL. The school authorities took on LdL and dealt with both the practice and the theory ( cf. Margret Ruep 1999). In many curricula, especially in Bavaria LdL is recommended along with other methods as standard equipment .. Also in Bavaria 2005/2006 the LdL method within the framework of the pilot MODE 21 was offered the Ministry of Culture as training for all participating schools. Most teachers use the method does not in general but in phases and / or only in some, particularly suitable groups.

• As part of a study conducted by Martin survey of 480 teachers in 1993 following advantages and disadvantages of the method were given: From the perspective of the teachers of the teaching is intensive and students are much more active. Furthermore, the informants think that the students also acquire the skill of other key skills: teamwork skills, planning ability, reliability, the ability to present and moderate as well as more self-confidence. The disadvantages of higher cost with the introduction of the method is mentioned as well as the risk of monotony, if the teacher does not provide didactic impulses. This study was conducted at the end of the 20th century and was not repeated.

The reception in the Science

• In the subject didactics as a science LdL was also included, albeit with a time lag. So Eynar Leupold justified in his 2002 standard work on French didactics the success of LdL concept as follows: "(...) remember the teachers that their traditional way of teaching to monotony, restlessness and not always satisfactory learning results. When searching for an alternative locking methods concept they have encountered Martin, whose concept has the advantage of not having to be alternatively ' and is to be implemented without any special training. " For Nieweler, the editor of the other currently relevant manual for the French didactics ( 2006) LdL is " a radical form of students and action orientation."

Development of LdL concept from 2005

At the University LdL was first isolated by university lecturers, mostly spoke practical courses taken. From 2008 LdL has more found their way into the university in the context of Bachelorisierung all courses within the framework of the Bologna process.

A major player for the further development and dissemination of LdL method in Germany is Joachim Grzega that is committed to its own accents both in school and in higher education. After Grzega education shall consist of three pillars:

As a linguist Grzega it 's mostly about the role of language and communication in knowledge transfer. On the one hand is language information carrier ( here he emphasizes in particular the ability to expert - lay communication as an important competence which applies it to convey at universities and colleges, out ), on the other hand, is language a means of creating social bonds, so that the way of dealing of each party is to address the learning process. About Joachim Grzega and Bea Klüsener addition, since 2008 also provide Christian Spannagelhaus and Oliver Tacke for the dissemination of " learning by teaching ". In their activities they could misconceptions about the LdL practices that have emerged in the professional community over the years, identify and correct: for example, the fact that the teacher does not remain passive in the background, but very actively and continuously engaged in the process that one hour of discursive does not run as a continuous presentation of two students, but from the beginning and finally that not laissez-faire sentiment impressed, but high concentration and discipline.

LdL as constructivist, connectivist method

In the course of digitization back constructivist and connectivist reasoning models for learning arrangements in the foreground. That LdL met constructivist wishes, shows the investigation of Marc Steen.

Learning by teaching outside the LdL context

• In educational psychology to A. Renkl has been dealing with the central mechanisms of cooperative learning. He has chosen for his 1995 habilitation dissertation published the title of " learning by teaching ". However, it is clear that Renkl refers to another method. From the abstract to his book: "(...) was the aim of the present experiment, a comparison of explaining vs. listening in terms of motivational effects and the learning performance 40 students of pedagogy learned on the basis of prepared sample tasks Probability Theory Subjects were in pairs.. . grouped (20 dyads ). According to an individual learning phase, the two students were brought together, one person each took on the role of the explainer and listener. was found that the role of the listener was favorable both in motivational terms and in terms of learning performance. There were indications that learning only results in comparatively good learning success by explaining if learners have teaching or tutoring experience learning by teaching -. ? better or back to what we know "
• In the field of neuroanatomy Gertrud Teuchert - Noodt the learning focuses since the nineties with the effects, by teaching at the neural level achieved. She comes to the conclusion that " ( 1) learning takes place in small and large control circuits that selectively stabilize through structure - function coupling; ( 2) learning follows the rules of activity -related reorganization and is always worn only from individual motivational and emotional dynamics and constitute neither IQ nor EQ alone, but both together a prerequisite for successful learning; (3 ) can be integrated and self-reinforcing included by the individual sensorimotor and associative loops in the learning process, that is mandatory, learning by teaching '. " In her work, especially the brain physiological aspect was illuminated.