Parkinson's chapter on the shortcomings of binary thinking really resonated with me and has helped me to think about my teaching since then. One of the really valuable applications of a more holistic thought process in regards to teaching is recognizing how inextricable teaching and learning are. Any time you teach you learn and when you are the learner or student you are teaching.
Last Thursday I had a really unique opportunity to take a group of students out on the trails near the learning center in the morning and then in the afternoon go out on the very same trails as a student. It felt like a controlled experiment. The group sizes were similar, the paths were the same, and the experiences happened within 4 hours of each other so recall was fresh. The manipulated variable was my role a teacher and then student. The results were that the differences in the experiences in the two conditions were very few.
In both conditions I found a lot of value in what other people found valuable. On both walks people would point out things they found interesting or beautiful and all of the members of the group would offer any pertinent information. Sometimes I would know a thing's name or some piece of information about it and sometimes I wouldn't. I do think that the expectations of me were different in the two conditions. When I was the teacher most of the questions were directed towards me. When I was the student most of the questions went to Lisa. I didn't hire a statistician to help me out on this but I would guess that I had answers as frequently on the first hike as on the second. I also think I probably learned as much from my compatriots comments of the first as the second. In both instances peoples questions caused me to seek further information about certain questions that were raised on the trail.
I guess what I am trying to say is that that day acted as a stark lesson in always being willing to be flexible in your rolls. Just because I show up ready to teach mean that I wont also be learning or visa-versa.
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The stark lesson from the view of a scientist. I enjoyed you comparison and discussion of the 2 separate hikes. It reminded my of a classroom discussion on the scientific method at school... Great!
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