6th March 2015 9:00
By Blue Tutors
New research has given insights into how teachers’ brains work when they are working with their students, particularly regarding how teachers work out whether their students have understood properly. The researchers have said that their findings will enable the development of sophisticated teaching tools which will detect the levels of students’ understanding. However, although these innovations are yet to come, this research reminds tutors of the importance of gauging students’ understanding and interpreting their responses. We know that the best one to one learning environment involves tutors and students engaging one another, but it can sometimes be difficult to tell what a student is thinking. So what can we do to make sure our students are gaining a good understanding of their subjects?
The most important thing any tutor can do is to listen to their students, and watch for any uncertainties or discrepancies in their responses. A common problem amongst inexperienced tutors is that they ask directly whether a student understands something, and then don’t follow up. The trick is to engage with a student, and understand that they may not be willing to volunteer that they are struggling, or may not realise that they have not correctly grasped the concept at hand. Asking a student right out whether they understand something can often result in the student feeling that the correct response is to say that they do understand, whether they do or not.
It is much more difficult for students to admit that they are struggling, especially when their tutor appears to expect them to be keeping up. Keeping this in mind, tutors should opt for more in-depth discussions designed to gauge their students’ understanding. This often involves following up on students’ initial answers, perhaps asking the student how they reached their conclusion or why they chose to focus on once particular element of the problem at hand. That way tutors can get a better idea of how far a student has understood a problem, and the student is not made to feel that they are not ‘keeping up’.