ARTISTIC PEDAGOGY
(Posted 2011-01-05 13:33:26 by ArchPaladin)

Today I came across what is basically a rant called A Mathematician's
Lament [ http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf ] [maa.org].  The
author - a mathematician, if this was not clear - takes a fair amount of
time to deconstruct the current practice of teaching math in primary school
and how it is entirely lacking in really showing students the _art_ behind
math.

While I'm not interested into describing what that means, a little summary
is in order here.  He claims that math as a subject is more about learning
how to organize and conceptualize ideas, with numbers & algorithms being
the tools used to do it.  He states that the inordinate amount of time
spent in school teaching formulas and concepts is really more akin to
trying to teach someone to paint by going over what the names of colors
are, rather than letting the student engage in self-expression and receive
feedback from the instructor.

I found this to be an interesting and similar concept to how spiritual
education is often performed in the church.  We spend a lot of time
teaching basic historical details or expounding narrative, and try to
translate those into doctrinal precepts that are also taught in an often
rote-like manner.  And while I think the former of those two is a good
practice and should be done, I'm not convinced that continuously working
over the latter is most appropriate.  This is not to say that expounding
doctrine is bad, but it does fall into the same trap that our mathematician
presents: we raise up students who cannot defend or explain what they know
or state why it is true.  They only know the basics they have been taught
rather than having to work them out for themselves because of questions and
challenges they face in their own life.  Their faith is only as deep as the
rote facts, rather than having been forged and hardened in trial and
questioning.

My past answer to this challenge in the spiritual realm was to promote
mentoring, as this was the example provided with Christ and His disciples. 
In general I still hold to that because it is most personal and provides
the chance of being most effective.  But in a society where a regular
mentoring relationship is difficult, I wonder if it might not be possible
to bolster that practice with a different pedagogy in classes on Sundays
and Wednesdays.  Something that presents a challenge for the students to
work through - that encourages them to find answers on their own.

I would not expect this to work unless the teacher was passionate about the
subject and was able to find something relevant for the students.

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