Instructor Training

Targeting Novices

One of the most important transformations in learning is the initial acquisition of a functional mental model of a topic. In this exercise, learners will try to zoom in on the foundations of their topic, and practice teaching them.

Made by the Mozilla Science Lab

Teaching the Bones (30 min)

  1. Review the concepts maps you made in the previous exercise; what are the core concepts and relationships that a student must learn in order to have a functional knowledge of the topic? Highlight this core knowledge on your concept map, and devise a three minute lesson to teach a part of it - preferably a new section you haven't yet tried to teach (10 min).
  2. Assemble new groups of three, and perform the same teaching / listening / filming activity as in the last exercise. After each, discuss how the core concepts identified for each lesson support a basic mental model of the topic - could even more drastic simplifications be made? (15 min)
  3. Afterwards, discuss with the class the challenge of trimming content down to the bare essentials.