Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding
As teachers we try to find ways to effectively communicate
with our students, in order to help them to learn. Education
is a two-way process that consists of teaching and learning.
Whether this package results in the desired effect (i.e.,
“education”) depends on how well the subject matter is
communicated. Obviously, effectiveness of communication
depends upon transmission and reception, the ultimate
goal being that the transmitted and received messages
carry the same meaning for the teacher and student. In
other words, we want the recipients of our communication
to understand our words and phrases and concepts in the
same way as we do. Whether or not we achieve this goal
depends upon a variety of factors, including how instructors
present their material, and how students learn. We also
communicate science to the general public in different
contexts.
One effective way to learn something is to teach it –
something most of us have experienced. What better way
for students to learn a concept or fact than to communicate
it to the public? Here, I present our experiments at the
University of Delhi in using this approach to convey the
principles of evolutionary biology. Our annual celebrations
of Evolution and Evolutionary Biology around “Darwin Day”
(12th February, Charles Darwin’s birthday) have turned out
to be an excellent opportunity to illustrate this point. It is
difficult to determine the results of these experiments, but
anecdotally we can say that our efforts have been a great
success in terms of garnering widespread interest and
enthusiastic participation by students, faculty, staff and
the general public.
Keywords: Education, teaching, learning, effective communication
Year: 2019
Volume: 79
Issue: 1, Supplement
Article DOI: 10.31742/IJGPB.79S.1.28
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906
R. Geeta info_circle
Download PDF