When asked about the most effective way of teaching and learning as well as the most important aspect about his own teaching, L3 says:

“if you can draw on to a student when discussing these things and bring in their life, into the concept that you’re trying to deal with. It’s really – I think it’s important. […] If you can place it back into your own world, it’s […] an easier thing to engage with and to connect on” (Interview with L3)

For him, establishing a connection between the content of a class and the students’ world is the key to making a class relevant. At the same time, his statement also specifies that this connection is something which has to be actively established by the teacher who has to draw on the students’ world. When the teacher is aware of the students’ reality, s/he can focus “educational experiences to aspects of the […] students’ local environment and lifestyle” as well as “into a worldview that [they] can connect with and that has importance in their lives”, as Donovan describes in his article about quality teaching (2009: 107). The effect of this focus on the students’ world is also witnessed first-hand by Yunkaporta and McGinty as the students in their project are most cooperative when the content has community relevance (Yunkaporta et al. 2009: 67).

In the two classes, there are several ways through which the content is focused on and connected to the students’ world:

a) through relating the abstract information to aspects in real life
The lecturers and tutors use methods of localisation, relation to the present, visualisation and personification to connect abstract knowledge to the real life. (Click here to read more.)

b) through inclusion of the students’ background and knowledge through active engagement
The students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences are incorporated into the classroom on two levels: on the one hand as a resource that can be shared and used by everyone and on the other hand as an underlying condition which influences the focus of the individual students’ learning. (Click here to read more.)

c) through reflection tasks
Reflection tasks help to clarify the significance and practical usefulness of the content. (Click here to read more.)

To move on to the second part of the analysis discussing how the relationship between students and their lecturers and tutors can help to increase the significance of the content, please click here.

To return to the introduction, overview and conclusion of the analysis, please click here.

(Also see the categories “Connection to students’ world” and “Effectiveness“)