TEACHING PRACTICAL SKILLS

In your discussion of how to teach practical skills you may have decided that the best way is to demonstrate the practical skill at the same time as students themselves are practicing the skill. At the same time also the teacher is writing notes on the board which the students can copy after they have learnt the skill. This is the last method your tutor demonstrated.

We looked at some reasons for this in summary sheet 3.

Many teachers do things in exactly the opposite order: They

1. write notes on the board for the students to copy;

2. explain the notes when students have copied them;

3. demonstrate the skill;

4. allow students to practice the skill.

This causes the following problems:

• Students copy notes they do not understand, so learn nothing while they are doing this, and may copy wrongly.

• It is very hard to read about a skill and imagine what to do without seeing the skill actually being done.

• It may be hard to practice a skill some time after seeing the teacher demonstrate it, as you may not remember clearly what he has done.

The easiest way is to watch the teacher, follow her or him step by step and then write notes when you know what you are writing about. An old saying is:

Tell me and I will forget

Show me and I may understand

Let me try it and I will learn

 Steps in teaching a practical skill:

There are no rules for this but the best order is usually:

1. Give out the tools and equipment to the students and yourself.

2. Briefly describe the purpose of the skill e.g. I am going to sharpen a saw; I am going to cut out a dress to this pattern.

3. Demonstrate the whole skill at normal speed without talking, so students concentrate on watching the skill and see and understand the purpose of the whole skill.

4. Demonstrate the skill step by step, explaining each step and asking students to imitate you by carrying out each step after you do it.

5. Write summary notes on the board about each step as you do it.

6. If possible, allow the students to practice the whole skill a number of times.

7. Move round the class watching. If students make a mistake, correct them by explaining or showing, then ask them to repeat the actions. Do not take over the job and do it for them.

8. Practice the same skill again within a few days, preferably more than once. A skill is learnt by constant practice, not by doing it once.

It should be clear from this that, in lessons which contain both theory and practice, the theory and practical skills should be taught together as far as possible, not separated.

Some lessons, of course, contain no practical skill, so this is not possible. However, nearly all topics taught in RTCs have practical applications and these applications should be included in the lesson and used for testing

e.g. a lesson on the characteristics of the three main food groups is mainly ‘theory’. But it can be applied and tested by asking students to do the practical exercise of choosing a diet for a small child, a sick patient or an active adult. Even better, it can be lead to the students cooking a meal containing a ‘balanced diet’.