"Spoon Feeding"
I have an opinion that a big part of a students ability to learn and grow is, stop feeding them all the answers, make them work for some of it with your guidance. I see all to often in this industry, Instructors become impatient and just give answers and expect the students to remember it all, and if they don't, they become upset with the students, and not their learning process like they probably should.
I completely agree Anton,
We can throw information at a student 10 ways to sunday but, if they absorb it we're in trouble. Have them figure it out is a great absorbtion as long as it stays on line with the course text.
RW
I agree spoon feeding or teaching the test is counterproductive to the student learning what they need to be successful in what they are going to be doing when they enter their given field. Preparing the student for what they will be doing is the objective. Show them or help them to find the answer on their own can be difficult at first for a student who has been spoon fed, but once they see how to do it they can become their own best teacher.
Hi James,
Sounds like you have a very solid approach to your content area. You are providing content and then opportunities for students to apply what they have learned. Good job. Keep up the good work.
Gary
I agree. However, one of the things I use in my classroom is to take information that was just covered and create a scenario that can be resolved using the informtion just covered, and encourage them to work through the problem. This works good to distinguish the students that are really understand the material and the ones that do not. The other thing I notice is that the ones that are trying and just don't get it will start asking questons. This makes it easier for me to determine which ones just don't care.
Ken, having found myself in exactly the position you speak of what I like to do is set the standard on the fisrt day. By laying out the ground rules so to speak on how the students can gain information you can break the cycle of dependancy. I will encourage the studetns toward the right resources to find the answers but make them responsible for finding it. I believe learning is on the learner and if they are to retain and benefit from it they must attain it for themselves.
Hi Dave,I agree with your assessment 100%. Teaching a test to the student is a disservice to the student. I try to involve students in an interaction during presentations as to how the subject actually functions. Charles Kaplan
I agree that spoon feeding is not teaching the student anything. I will usually respond to a student's question with "where do you think you can find that? or how do you think the system works?" this way they are forced to evaluate there own problems. Even if the student is used to being told the answer I make it very clear to them that the time will come after graduation where they will have to prove themselves in the field. This means being able to be to hunt down the answers to there own technical challenges.
Every one seems to agree that "Spoon Feeding" is bad. That said what can I do once the students I am reciving have been trained to expect it?
Ken
Anton, i agree, sometimes we hear how some instructors give students answers to test questions. This does a great disservice to any student. In my practices i find questioning the student on the questions they ask help them to find and realize the answer to the question they where asking,this also helps to reinforce what was taught and what was learned.
I agree that giving students the answers does not teach them anything nor is it an acurate assessment of if they learned anything. Instead of learning the material they need, they only learn to memorize what you have told them to learn.
Hi LaWanda,
Well said. Students enroll in a career college to receive training that will enable them to enter a career area. They have to have the basic skills and knowledge of the area if they are going to be successful. Instructors need to establish course requirements that are reflective of the career field and hold the students to these requirements. As you say "spoon feeding" will only encourage them with a false sense of success.
Gary
"Spoon feeding" creates an environment where a student will expect answers and their mental capacity becomes stagnant. What happens when they are in the work field? Students will lack the required competency to successfully master their required duties. I think the key factor is to understand your population.
Hi Anton, Yes your right but sometimes students dont have time in lab to research.
I totaly agree. Unfair to the point that no learning is taking place. It only becomes a memory base related class. The students need to be challanged for learning to take place.I like to ask students questions that relate to the subject matter and ask other students thier comments on the answer.Then ask if thier are any more possible answers or related subject matter that should be dicussed.I will ask a specific student a question. When he tells me his answer I will put a mark by his name.I continue until all the studens have had a chance to participate.It is all random choise so the have to pay attention,because they do not know how is going to get called next
wouldent it be better to be more a facilitator than a teacher in some respects we as instructors have the ability to move between the two and should to premote the ability of the student to develope their own abilities and learning for themselves how to gain the knoledge required in the learning enviroment they happen to be in.
Spoon feeding is, in my opinion, a horrible thing to do to anyone.
If spoon feeding is continious in one's life, It will only create a "lazy" person that would rather ask for the correct answer rather that be sparked by the challenge to locate the information.
I often wonder what some of our students do once they go out into the job field, and come across a situation that was not covered in their school notes, or in a manual. I fear that rather than think through the process and come to a conclusion, a call for technical support will most likely be the result. Even then the situation may not be remidied.
I never spoon feed. I will direct my students to the appropriate reference material that I know it is in, or through a series of questions, I will make my students think and come up with a good answer. some think I am a difficult instructor for this, but they do think!!
Hi David,
"Spoon feeding" of students is also unfair to students. Students should be given the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills to be able to be successful in their chosen career area. Instructors can provide instructional supports that will help them learn the material but should not give away points that are not earned and grades that are not deserved.
Gary
Spoon-feeding is antithetical to retention and I rail against it every day, it seems. I see it, more often than not, as a tool for a lazy instructor, or from instructors that dont respect their students enough to think that they can achieve without a crutch.
Give the students a little of that respect by saying "here are the tools and resources, let's go digging around and here and learn somthing" What ? If you make them work they may not like you ? A nice teacher would tell us all the answers and comp us points back if we do make mistakes ? Sounds a little silly ? :)
Whether it be a student workbook that underlines all of the info on the test, or, even worse, a multiple-guess test that lists the right answer with 3 obviously incorrect ones, spoon-feeding is bad, m'kay ?
Hi Anton,
I agree. Spoon feeding is not the answer. But then neither is tricking and holding back information. Exams should be clear and contain questions directly from the text. Too often I see instructors go 'Mustang' and ask questions that were not covered in lecture or in the book. Somehow it has to be a happy medium.
