According to John Dewey (1910), the renowned American philosopher and educational theorist, learning is made meaningful when the instructor begins with concrete examples contextualised in students’ realm of experience and gradually moves towards abstract concepts. This enables students to connect the dots between what they already know and the new concepts they’re learning. By doing this, educators can make learning more exciting and personally meaningful, as students can see the practical applications of the new ideas. This approach can lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and better academic outcomes.
Teaching Excellence Academy Fellow Dr Eileen Fong (School of Materials Science and Engineering) is an advocate of employing this in her lessons. She shares two examples below.
Power of Demonstration
I used to teach magnetism in a first-year Materials physics course. Given that magnetic fields and forces are abstract concepts not visible to the naked eye, I guided a student volunteer to construct a homopolar motor (see example below) using simple objects found around us.
The simple demonstration allows students to see and experience how magnetic fields can create forces to cause a wire loop to spin around its axis — a perfect manifestation of the concept!
Power of Real-world Context
Separately, I teach a third-year class (Analysis of Materials). This course covers various spectroscopic techniques and how we can use them to study different materials. One of the topics was fluorescence spectroscopy, which utilises the ability of materials to give out light upon excitation. To illustrate that fluorescence is a commonplace phenomenon, I brought several objects from day-to-day life to illustrate how fluorescence can be used to distinguish between two objects that look identical under normal lighting. In the same demonstration, I also illustrated the theories behind why fluorescent objects emit light instantly, and why phosphorescent objects emit light slowly (the science behind why things glow in the dark!)
If you are also keen to try this in your classroom, you might find this article on “concreteness fading” useful in bridging the transfer gap between concrete and abstract.
We look forward to reading about your experiences!
