Teaching and Learning for Social Impact

More on Creating Space for Exploration

We want to open up space to explore essential questions to lead to enduring understandings throughout our course. We can create space for exploration, places for tangents, and places where the learning is directed by the students, as well as community. Too often, we feel we have to cover all of the content or our students won't learn anything. However, by covering less, and letting the students "uncover" ideas, they'll actually be able to learn more.

Uncoverage
A teaching approach that is required for all matters of understanding. To “uncover” a subject is to do the opposite of “covering” it, namely to go into depth (ASCD, 2005, pg 352-353).

Coverage
A teaching approach that superficially teaches and tests content knowledge irrespective of student understanding or engagement. The term generally has a negative connotation: It implies that the goal is to march through a body of material (often a textbook) within a specified time frame (ASCD, 2005, pg 340).

We can also see teaching as a way to co-create the learning experiences with students, creating space for them to explore and wander while within the boundaries of the course.

Think through critical questions to create space to explore

1. How will I take into account the educational needs of this course community?
2. How will we explore learning the content together?
3. How can we ensure we are reaching a point of view that is authentic and not distorted by biases?
4. How will we take into account multiple voices that will allow us to explore the content in new ways?
5. How can we allow for space for exploration while still facilitating the students’ experience through the course?

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