Docendo Discimus - We Learn By Teaching

There are many theories of how people learn. Almost everyone who has written or spoken of learning has a different opinion of how it takes place, and how the brain processes information. From an experiential point of view, learning that can be accurately retrieved is a direct result of how, and under what circumstances specific information is encoded and stored in long-term memory. One of the most effective ways this is done is through learning material with a view to teaching that same material. In the academic, as well as the personal realm, being able to teach someone else what is learned serves as proof that someone has learned the specific information.

Clearer Knowledge

The foundation of learning is thinking about the facts, and being able to restate those ideas in a truthful manner with objectivity. From a teaching perspective it is imperative that we understand that fundamental to all teaching,
            “No progress can be made in teaching any subject until the facts, the truth about it, are imparted. All systems of education begin here”  (Marquis, 1917)
The use of questions through elaborative interrogation, whether internally or externally initiated, forces one to combine the new information with existing knowledge for, expectantly, a clearer and more enduring store of knowledge. Donald K. Adams adds to this thought with a poignant phrase when he says, “Any constructs that require us to close our eyes to any of the phenomena of experience are bad constructs” (Adams, 1954). Along with clearer knowledge about ideas, the information to be learned has to be meaningful.

Better Remembered

Meaningfulness is probably the most important element in the learning environment, and it is usually dependent on felt needs. This thought can be closely tied to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs from his paper, A Theory of Human Motivation, 1943, because instinctual needs are felt needs whether or not they reside in consciousness or not. Meaningfulness is also an important component of behavior and cognitive theories, in that people most often respond to and process information in ways that meet their felt needs. Therefore, in light of the aspect of learning addressed in this paper, finding meaning is paramount to better encoding through connecting new ideas to current thought structures. To be useful learning itself must, “imply at least some permanence in connections” (Thorndike, 1913). However, sometimes people do get in their own way on the road to understanding.

Variables

Many things can derail the learning process. Within the field of psychology many people often miss an important fact, “In order to work, psychological laws have to use psychological variables: i.e. acts rather than responses, organisms as personalities, rather than proton-electron aggregates, pieces of protoplasm, or cell assemblies, and objects rather than stimuli”  (Adams, 1954). First, does the individual have the intention to learn? Learning has many facets or acts that can be visible, and they can be a products of trial and error based on stimulus-response conditioning often taught though the implementation of punishments and rewards, or they can be a self-directed efforts to improve understanding of an idea or set of ideas. Second, is the individual interested in the topic, and if not can it be incentivized? Incentive is a difficult target to hit, and remembering that people have personalities that are as varied as the people themselves is keys to finding the bull’s-eye. Positive reinforcement in an educational setting can be very effective. When someone is able to use the information learned in a positive way it elevates their self-confidence, and enhances their self-image. Other learning environments require other motivators. Some may require negative reinforcement to reinforce the desired behavior. How do we know we have cleared the variable hurdles?

Proof

 Why is teaching possibly the best way to demonstrate what has been learned? The connection between learning and memory is best exemplified by restating in a coherent way the knowledge acquired through learning. A critical error is often perpetuated by instructors who think testing is a good measure for what has been learned. It could be expressed this way, “The average examination tests very little more than memory” (Schaeffer, 1901). Testing, for the most part, is akin to teaching a parrot to speak. We can teach the bird to repeat a word, but the bird cannot explain the meaning of the word, therefore, the bird has not learned how to understand the word, only how say the word. Suffice it to say, “In studying his lessons the average schoolboy’s sole aim is to be able to repeat once, and only once, the knowledge before him” (Lyon, 1917). It is not problematical to memorize lists of names, words, and numbers, but attributing meaning to each of these is proof of learning. Regurgitation of facts is not necessarily indicative of true knowledge of a subject. Adding meaning to what is regurgitated is evidence that an idea is learned. What is gained by learning with a view to teaching?

Final Words

When we learn with a view to being able to teach the material we become motivated during the encoding process. Our motivation can produce openness to the ideas studied while our schemas keep our storage of the information in perspective. This format retains much in common with narrative theory involving sequential, action-oriented, and detailed thought. Truth and reality must come first in the learning process. Based on the correspondence view of the truth, ideas not based in reality should not be considered to have been learned. This does not include ideas presented as hypothesis or theory because those must be understood in light of what they are and not presented as facts. Teaching as a proof of learning is to exhibit comprehension of an idea, although not always exhaustively, in a truthful manner with considerable depth of understanding.

Conclusion

Docendo discimus, are not only words Seneca the Younger wrote in his letters to Lucilius Junior in Epistulae Morales in 50 – 65 AD, they are the words that I believe best describe the learning process. There are others in higher education that agree with this belief as they have taken these words and employed them as mottos at their various institutions. If we encode ideas, store them, and are able to retrieve them with an adequate depth of true knowledge, we can be said to have learned the material. I believe in this idea so deeply I have a blog with its namesake. Therefore, like Seneca, I believe we learn by teaching or docendo discimus. 

Works Cited

Adams, D. K. (1954). Learning and Explanation. In Learning Theory, Personality Theory, and Clinical Research: the Kentucky Symposium (pp. 69-77). New York, NY, USA: Wiley.

Lyon, D. O. (1917). The Educational Value of Psychological Research. In D. O. Lyon, Memory and the Learning Process (p. 156). Baltimore, MD, USA: Warwick & York.

Marquis, J. A. (1917). Learning to Teach from The Master Teacher. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.

Schaeffer, N. C. (1901). The Materials of Thought. In Thinking and Learning To Think (p. 50). Philadephia: Lippincott Company.

Thorndike, E. L. (1913). The Original Nature of Man (Vol. I). New York, NY, USA: Teachers College, Columbia University.