- Teacher Asking Class Questions : The teacher teaches their class the knowledge which they possess, and then asks questions of their class to see if the information has been retained.
- Memorizing the Koran : I believe that it was a practice among some Muslims for them to memorize the Koran, and this was achieved by having passages read and then repeated, over and over. I think it was almost a rite of passage for youth, when they could finally recite the entire Koran from memory.
- The Sword of Truth : The hero (forgot name) memorizes the key spell book in the novel, explaining that his father had painstakingly gone over the book together for nights on end, reading, reciting, correcting, over and over, until the hero had the book completely memorized.
- "What Do You Do Before You Cross The Street?" : a Mother or Father will ask their child who responds properly, "Look both ways for cars." The child remembers because the knowledge was posed in the form of a question with the expectation that the child would answer correctly. The child senses the importance of the question and thus actually "focuses" on it. Naturally in our dull and directionless approach to education the majority of children "tune out" because they sense correctly that the material being taught has no genuine weight of importance.
The Technique
Ask the question.
- Share / Provide knowledge with / to another person.
- Ask the person questions to see if the knowledge was retained.
- Repeat the knowledge if it was not retained.
- Ask the person questions again.
Keys To The Technique
- Weight : The person asking the questions needs to give the impression that there is weight behind the questions, that they have purpose and value, otherwise the knowledge will be forgotten. Why? hmm... learning has a foul taste to it in our society, because it is imposed on us throughout our lives as something of an obligation and not a joy. Remove the pressure to succeed phenomenon, remove the foulness attached to the learning experience. Teach learning as an ability which enhances the joy of being alive, instead of it being a burden, and learning will become more popular than television.
