6 Responses to Students' Questions About IBL

Teaching is a cultural activity. Whenever students enter a classroom, they have expectations about their roles, and about what the teacher will do. If a teacher decides to do something outside of the norm, students are often confused and anxious about what will happen. Students often express these feelings with statements such as, 

"Why do we have to teach ourselves?" "I don't learn this way," or, "Why not just show me what to do?"

Over time, I have accumulated some ways to respond to these statements. I did not develop all of these myself; many of them have come from other instructors I have met at conferences and workshops. I should also say that these are things that I say to college students. If I had an audience of high school students, for instance, I would probably make these same points, but not necessarily in the same way.

1. Think of me as a coach. When you think of things you learned outside the classroom, things like playing a musical instrument, learning to swim, or playing a video game, you probably learned a lot of it by trying things yourself. That is what we are doing here. By letting you show me what you tried, I can coach you, and help you figure out anything you are missing. To quote a student of Dana Ernst’s, “Try. Fail. Learn. Win.” In other words, people learn from their own efforts. And, like a swim coach, while I will expect you to try to swim on your own, I will also step in to keep you from drowning.
2. Learning happens when we are actively involved. A lot of research has accumulated that suggests that classrooms in which students are actively participating and collaborating are better at promoting learning than classes in which students are passive. (Research on cooperative learning for K-12 is summarized in Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock, 2001, for example. The recent article by Freeman and colleagues reviews research on active learning at the college level.)
3. Do not mistake struggle for “not learning.” We are often not very good at judging how well we are learning. When people watch a well-organized lecture, they rate their learning higher than when watching a poorly organized lecture. But tests suggest that the audience in each case learns about the same amount. In contrast to a lecture, when we participate actively, it can feel uncomfortable to struggle to come up with answers. But that struggle is part of learning. Consequently, students sometimes rate their learning in lecture courses as higher than in active learning courses, even when the data suggest otherwise. More than one study has pointed to this, but this is apparent in a study by Lake, 2001 (http://ptjournal.apta.org/content/81/3/896.full).
4. This course will help you develop the skills that employers want, such as independence, creativity, the ability to work in teams, the ability to learn new ideas, and skill in solving problems for which the solution is not immediately apparent. My goals for you in this class are not just to pass exams; I want you to learn skills that will be valuable to your long-term success in your chosen career. But developing these skills requires doing something different than watching the instructor and practicing similar work on your own time. It will require struggle, as you are learning to use a different set of skills than you may be used to using in math class.
5. A lot of people tell me they hate math, or, “I’m just not a math person.” The kinds of experiences that lead people to make these statements have a lot to do with the way math has been taught for a long time. A lot of classes emphasize following the teacher’s steps, practicing specific procedures, memorizing mathematical facts, and developing speed at execution. While there is a role for these things, mathematics is about a lot of other things, and for the most part, it is these other aspects that interest mathematicians in doing mathematics. The other side of mathematics is about solving problems, finding new ways to understand mathematical ideas, and proving that the solutions we find work, or figuring out the cases where they don’t work. This kind of work does not proceed linearly, from problem directly to solution. Instead, we often take a winding road, hit dead ends, and have to re-evaluate what we are doing. This kind of mathematics is not straightforward, but it is exhilarating when we succeed, and even when we don’t, we often learn a lot.
6. A good teacher is not defined by what he or she knows, but what he or she can get students to learn. It is what the students can do that matters. I can explain a lot of sophisticated mathematics, but that is no guarantee that you will learn it. Instead, I carefully prepare problems that will help you draw out your own ideas, and that are most likely to put you into a situation where you will learn the important ideas of the class. Then, as a class, we will struggle, but you will learn more than you would if this class was organized around me, as the instructor, explaining solutions to problems you have not yet thought about.

I’m sure other instructors have other ideas, and I’d be happy to hear them in the comments. Meanwhile, I hope these examples serve to illustrate the kinds of answers that an instructor can use. I find that both the use of analogies (as in #1) and the appeal to research (as in #2 and #3) tend to be my favorite. I probably lean on #1 the most, but I also mention the others regularly. In classes where the students are not STEM majors, #5 often resonates with the personal experience of many students, and can help open the door to having them consider other ways of organizing the classroom that can still be called teaching, or, better still, to think of the classroom as being about what the students learn, rather than what the teacher explains.  

Harnessing your personality

This summer, I had the privilege of working with some great people, including my longtime friend and IBL (Inquiry-Based Learning) blogger Stan Yoshinobu, Dana Ernst, Dylan Retsek, and a number of other IBL instructors. One day, we sat on a panel and we were discussing our approaches to getting student buy-in in our courses. As we went around, I was struck by the variety of ways we had to approach this issue. Dylan Retsek described being William Wallace, rallying students into a frenzy of excitement, and Dana Ernst added to that by saying he tries for Robin Williams, i.e., using humor, and William Wallace, and mentioned being a cheerleader for students. I think both Dylan and Dana are excellent instructors, but I doubt I could run my class that way. 

I do use some humor. On the other hand, I doubt that I have ever led a Wallace-like rally, and I don't think I would describe myself as cheerleading either. My classroom demeanor is very low key. In some classes, I have made a straight face and said, "This is what it looks like when I'm not excited about your work," followed by making the same face and saying, "This is what it looks like when I AM excited about your work." In classes where there is a lot of math-phobia, I set the tone for the course early on by having them share how they feel about math. Then I note how many negative attitudes toward math there are, and I tell the class that I want to help move them in a positive direction, but that we will need to do things differently. 

Instead of cheer, I usually offer a simple thank-you to a student who presents work to the class, and I try to include specific points of recognition and suggestions for improvement.

The point is that everyone has their own personality, and making IBL work in YOUR class will require that you find the elements of your personality that help you identify with students in their struggle to learn, and that assuage their fears. Sometimes, instructors let themselves out of implementing key portions of IBL because it they don't feel it fits. I am suggesting that certain kinds of actions are critical, but that you have to find the way that makes them feel right to you.

IBL instructors have to connect with students, and work to communicate to students that the IBL approach will work, but will take patience. This could be rallying them with excitement, or helping them find the feelings that suggest something different is warranted. IBL instructors tend to value giving recognition to students who share their ideas, but the way this is delivered will be based on your personality. 

To borrow an analogy I sometimes use in class, students in an IBL class need to know that as in a swim class, they must be the ones doing the swimming--you can't do it for them--but that you will not let them drown. HOW you communicate this sentiment is up to you.

Make IBL work in your class by finding ways to harness your personality to deliver to students not only your high expectations, but also the message that you will help them find success.