Spoon feeding vs. independent learning?

Question

Which one do you think is a better way of learning?

Answer 1

Usually a little of both.  You have to spoon feed a little, but I feel that after the necessary "introductions" are done, hands-on learning and independent studies are the way to go.  Such as in math, you can't just look at a new statistical formula and know how to do it, usually.  You need to be shown how to do it and have the teacher do it for you a few times.  After that, you do practice problems to learn how by yourself.  So it goes both ways, but I think ALL of either spoon feeding or independent learning won't do any good.

Answer 2

at university the idea is that you do the majority of learning by studying independently

you get 'spoon fed' the material that you have to learn, but only by doing independent learning do you actually learn the stuff

what i mean is, at university the lecturers dont have as much time to make sure you understand everything like school teachers do, and so its up to you to make sure you learn the stuff for exams

the trick is to study little and often.  that way you learn better and also keep on top of the work

easier said than done though lol

in general the people who do best at uni are not necessarily the smartest students but the students who do the most independent learning.  of course, if smart students do lots of study then theyll do well too!

Answer 3

Independent learning. Definitely. I'm a teacher and there is so much temptation to spoon feed students to get through exams and get good results but it doesn't do anybody any favours in the long run. Too many students expect to be spoon fed and don't want to take responsibility for their own learning. Those who do learn independently are always more successful in the long run.  

Answer 4

I agree with earlier answers:  the answer to the question depends on the age of the student.  Primary education should involve an even mix of spoon feeding and self discovery.  The teacher provides the means by way of plenty of instruction and the students expand upon that basic instruction with homework as necessary.  Secondary education should begin to usher in the idea of self sufficiency and individual responsibility for mastery of the subjects being taught.  The teacher should be there to provide a willing hand to clear up any ambiguities and not cast the students adrift for lack of aid.  Plenty of time for that at the university level!

Answer 5

I'm still HS but I do independent learning because my school really sucks... They have problems in teaching... Some of their lessons were wrong... I followed it just to have high grade but I never apply in other things...

Like this situation:

One of my teachers has a good teaching technique so she appeared believable but I was shocked of what she had say... She said that "An Ice." is a sentence... I didn't report it because I was the only one will fight against it... So by that incident I started to have doubt and I don't trust her anymore... I'm only a transferee there...

She is obviously not good in Math while I am... She skipped one lesson in Book that studies more about computation... This lesson was about Vector and Scalar... I tried to study the topic and I understand it... I don't report it again because I might hurt her...

Another thing...

It was our exam... One the exam was Addition, Subtraction, Division and Multiplication... We need to evaluate the given value with these operations... I knew about it and there's a rule to solve it... In Adding or whatever, we need to follow the PEMDAS- Parenthesis, Exponent, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction... She didn't follow it(WTF!)... So I got it wrong.. I told her about this PEMDAS and she told me that it is different...

The given problem is like this 321.232 + 21312. 221 - 213213.321 *1.2 / 123123 ....

By the way I'm a Filipino...

10th grade or 4th year high school...

Answer 6

I like the idea of a happy medium.  Children (and even adults) should be allowed to discover things for themselves, and to use critical reasoning to problem solve, but the teacher should also be there for guidance and should set up a curriculum where the student is not marooned in a mass of confusing information where they have to figure it all out for themselves.