EDITORIAL, DECEMBER 2025

DEFINITIONS

Asking students to research and define new words as they come across them is possibly one of the most useful tasks we can set. Coming up with a definition alone, however, will only be the first part of a process. By experimenting with a new word and hearing how others respond to it, learners can modify their own usage and deepen their conceptual understanding.

It’s not always plain sailing. This month Rhys Anslow presents a dilemma that faces many of us in his article about teaching computer science in China. His bright, 15-year-old students worked hard, but were just not making the progress he expected. So, he asked them what he needed to do to help. Their replies turned out to be both unexpected and useful. They wanted to be told a little more about what things meant and giving a little more definition so far seems to be working.

This, of course is not to detract in the slightest from the power of ‘learning by doing’, which, we see in Suzanne Rodger’s article about art as a way of knowing. For young people to develop their insight into the world through art, she argues, they need to make things. In this she echoes some of the ideas of regular ITM contributor, Holly Warren.

One of the most useful ideas I have picked up from some wonderful teachers over the years is one from sociologist Keith Punch, who talks about the importance of developing a ‘shared definition of the situation’ when people are working on something together. This requires give and take, hard work and careful listening. Just like the acquisition and use of new vocabulary, it is a process: when a group of people work on something together, understand each other better and define their project in a way that gives their work shared meaning, they become a team.

And so far as becoming a team is concerned, it’s well worth looking at what Matt Topliss has to say this month about leading one.

Happy Holidays!