A chara, – Congratulations to Magh Éne College, Bundoran, Co Donegal, on its impressive showing in the feeder-school rankings ("A teaching revolution that 'makes the classes come alive'", Education, January 12th).
The school principal is content to attribute this success to the rejection of traditional teaching methods in favour of “problem-solving” strategies, and Joan Russell, an advocate of the latter, assures us that “the science behind the learning is a central part of the programme”.
It is ironic that, while “chalk and talk” is now seen as an anachronism, it is actually these student-led approaches that, although intuitively appealing, are based on 50-year-old recommendations which are disconnected from much of what we now know about human cognition.
Learning is defined as a change in long-term memory. If nothing changes in the long-term memory, nothing is learned.
Problem-based teaching involves processing rather than storing information, and there is a considerable body of evidence in the education research literature, which indicates that it is less effective than teacher-led guidance that is consistent with a learning goal.
The article does acknowledge that there has not yet been a formal evaluation of the impact of this new trend, and in fairness it is not easy to measure this with great certainty, but any parents considering sending their children to such schools should be aware that not everyone involved in this field embraces what is fast becoming more of an ideology than a scientific argument. – Is mise,
Dr GARETH P KEELEY,
Grenoble,
France.