The Difference Between Teaching and Facilitating

 

Teachers should understand and master the art of facilitating learning. This is necessary for a *learning approach that is Student Driven, Teacher Facilitated, SME (Subject Matter Expert) Inspired and Informed. 

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Teaching

When a teacher walks into a classroom, they take charge of the learning environment. Clear and concise objectives delineate what the student learns on any given day. The teacher is responsible for measuring how much information the student learns. Evaluation is often in the form of tests, but the teacher may use other measurement tools to determine if the student met the teacher’s learning objectives. (Does this sound familiar?)

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Facilitating

Facilitators may or may not be subject area experts. They do have the ability to support group learning and team building. In any group setting, a facilitator can quickly determine what the group knows so the group can proceed to build on that knowledge and questions. By asking questions (open-ended and probing questions) and keeping the group focused, a facilitator helps the group establish a set of ground rules, as well as its own learning objectives.

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The facilitator also helps the group determine and summarize what group members learned from their research and activities. (How is this different and how does a facilitator do it?) Remember that the Martian Greenhouse project is student-directed and teacher/mentor facilitated so we need to be mindful of how to support the students! 

 

Solving the unknown vs the known creates an environment where all parties build relationships by taking risks, failing, redesigning, and discovering how teams work to solve real problems. Students, teachers, and mentors are having to think in real time.

An agile approach means that all parties take part in the design of the project.  Experiential learning is a priority as students actively participate, create solutions, take initiative, and apply what they learn to the real world.

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Benefits Provided by Facilitation

Facilitation offers everyone in the group the chance to express their ideas and to feel as if they are part of a team. Since the group arrives at a mutual conclusion, it’s easier for individual members to carry out the group’s goals and to feel less inclined to work on individual agendas. A facilitator helps individuals build on their skills and learn new ones. Facilitation serves as a positive way to clarify misunderstandings among a diverse group of individuals.

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Active Listeners

Teachers often act as facilitators, and facilitators sometimes teach. In order for either to be successful, they must be an active listener. Facilitators in particular make use of this skill. They listen to an entire statement made by a group member before responding. They try to understand the group member’s point of view in a nonjudgmental way. Active listeners often ask questions of the group to clarify what group members are saying. Active listeners are slow to jump to conclusions and keep the group focused on the subject of discussion.

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Tools of a Facilitator

1. Invite everyone to share their ideas and their thinking to support the ideas

2. Provide wait time for group members to think about their ideas

3. Respond to the group to keep the discussion focused on the goals

4. Provide feedback to keep the learning moving forward

5. Ask open (probing) questions that have multiple possible solutions

6. Suggest a resource or a mentor that could help

7. Suggest a thinking skill they could use

   1. ​ Let’s compare these two ideas…

   2. What do you predict will happen…

   3. Let’s analyze this problem.

   4. What evidence do we have…

   5. What do you speculate might happen if…

   6. What conclusions might you draw… 

   7. In what situation might you apply this solution

   8. As you evaluate these alternatives…

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Thinking Skills Applied to Solving a Problem

A.   Generate possible solutions

B.   Evaluate possible options

C.   Predict consequences

D.   Apply best possible solution