By Thinkman ยท August 8, 2014
I was recently fascinated by an online learning course published by Stanford University in alliance with the University of Michigan on Model Thinking. At the same time I had a real everyday problem I wanted to solve โ and I wanted to apply what I was learning to find a solution at home.
The problem: How do we teach the kids at home?
The school curriculum my kids attend follows a generic teaching method that has been used in India for decades โ perhaps since the British era. It works as follows:
This is a time-tested system. However, a very significant part of a child's education in India depends on the support they receive at home. From our observation, more than 50% of a child's learning happens outside the classroom.
We cannot change the school system overnight โ moving away from a time-tested structure is a slow, societal process. But we can change what happens at home. We have two types of home teaching at the moment:
We realised that our two children โ both very different individuals with distinct skills and varied levels of creativity across different areas โ are capable of learning far more, and being far more creative, than the current approach allows. The same teaching method will not work for both of them.
I took it upon myself to research different teaching models and discuss with my partner how best to approach each child. What follows are the models we discovered.
Reward desired behaviour, discourage undesired behaviour. One of the oldest motivational models โ effective for compliance but limited for deep learning or intrinsic motivation. Works well for short-term goals and habit formation.
The teacher as coach โ setting goals, running drills, giving real-time feedback, and building team performance. Emphasises practice over theory, and direct observation of performance. Encourages repetition, resilience, and learning from error in a structured but energetic environment.
Teaching through questions rather than answers. The teacher draws knowledge out of the student by asking probing questions that guide them to discover conclusions themselves. Builds critical thinking and self-directed reasoning โ but requires patience and a student who is willing to engage.
The teacher delivers information directly and completely โ the student receives and memorises. Fast and efficient for covering content, but creates dependency and limits the ability to apply knowledge independently. Widely used in examination-heavy systems.
The ancient Indian residential learning tradition โ student lives with and learns from the teacher across all aspects of life, not just academic subjects. Deeply personal, holistic, and long-term. The teacher knows the student completely and tailors teaching accordingly. Rare today but its principles โ mentorship, trust, total immersion โ remain powerful.
The research is ongoing. The conclusion so far is that no single model fits every child โ and that the most effective approach at home is likely a blend of several, adapted to the individual. More on this as we experiment and observe.
