--Explain it to them verbally.
--Have them read it to themselves.
--Demonstrate the skill so they can see it done correctly.
--Have them do it themselves.
--Test them on it.

None of the items listed creates the greatest incidence of retention of material. The teaching strategy that has the best impact on remembering skills or concepts is not listed here. The greatest amount of retention of material occurs when children teach a concept or skill to someone else.

Teaching a skill to someone else moves that concept from short-term to long-term memory. If you explain how to do long division to another person two or three times, they may never understand the process, but you (the explainer) will experience greater clarity and learning. When you teach a skill or concept, you have to think about it, formulate it in your mind, rehearse how you want to explain it, say it aloud, and adjust your responses to the learner's questions and level of understanding. You may have to come up with new examples, new words for explaining, and new ways of thinking about the skill or concept involved. Engaging this process serves you (the teacher) as much as it does the learner. It increases your level of retention.

To help your ten-year-old remember the steps involved in feeding the dog, have her explain how to feed the dog to her younger sister.

Have your teen teach the safety rules of running the lawn mower to a friend.

Encourage your toddler to tell the baby the four important things to do to get your teeth clean when you brush them. The baby won't learn the skill, but your toddler will.

SEE ONE, DO ONE, TEACH ONE is a useful strategy that combines the benefits of different learning styles. Medical students typically first see someone put on a splint, then put on a splint, then teach someone else to put on a splint. Maximum learning results when the learner goes through all three of these activities.

Each Saturday morning, the Warner family cleaned their home for two hours before they attended to their individual agendas. All the children and the parents had different cleaning responsibilities during this Saturday morning ritual. Mr. Warner did the bathrooms.

When it came time to teach the children how to clean the bathrooms, Mr. Warner decided to begin with the toilet. He involved the oldest child first and demonstrated the correct toilet-cleaning procedure (See One) as he talked about each step involved. The child then went downstairs and cleaned the toilet in that bathroom (Do One) as Mr. Warner watched and gave descriptive and corrective feedback.

The following Saturday, the oldest child explained how to clean a toilet (Teach One) to the second-oldest child.
The See One, Do One, Teach One process was repeated until all three children knew how to clean the toilet--if you want a behavior, you have to teach a behavior. He knew that if you want a behavior remembered, you have to allow the learner to teach the behavior.

Do you want to remember the See One, Do One, Teach One philosophy for helping children learn important skills and concepts? If so, teach it to someone else.

CHICK MOORMAN and THOMAS HALLER are the authors of The 10 Commitments: Parenting with Purpose. They are two of the world's foremost authorities on raising responsible, caring, confident children. To obtain more information about how they can help you or your group meet your parenting needs.
www.ChickMoorman.com - e-mail: ipp57@aol.com - 877-360-1477

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