[vanderZwan]

> the author/presenter is trying to relate things to what the kids experience. That said, it still felt a bit all over the place.

Arguably, a kids experience is all over the place too ;). But I guess that's one of the tasks in education, and what you're getting at: teaching them to stay concentrated.

[pbhjpbhj]

>teaching them to stay concentrated //

To add a thought: I'm coming around to, in non-group situations, trying to accommodate distraction rather than steamroller over it.

I teach clay pot throwing. Younger kids particularly are often highly distracted. In part that's because of the tactile nature of the medium. I'm finding that if I go along with the distraction, playing with how the water feels say, then we can usually get the central activity (making a pot) done "better".

For me it's key to recognise that distractions are often moments when something is inspiring the child, aside from the central task, and that the child is learning still in such situations (just learning about other things than are included in the 'lesson plan').

Just a thought to mull over.

[vanderZwan]

That sounds like a great approach for that type of hands-on teaching!

I was teaching at a uni for a year - bachelors, masters, so all young adults. However, especially the bachelors were still in the process "unlearning" the high school attitude, that is: learning what you have to in order to pass, not because you want to understand the subject.

When teaching theory, the most effective way to shift them to the second mode of thinking and keep them engaged, was chopping up the lectures into ten to fifteen minute chapters, with two to five minutes of mini-discussion breaks. These would include an optional topic starter, "now discuss how you would apply what I just explained to X", where X is something that at hopefully least one in the group can directly relate to from their own lives.

I think replacing long lectures of passive listening with that type of short loop - passive listening/active discussion doing - would also work for younger ages. I don't believe long lectures are good in general, even if you're into the material. They make you wait until you can actively engage with what you've learned and force you to keep it all in your head until then. Just adding short breaks of talking about it with the person next to you already helps a lot.