Journal Week 2

Title          : Re-Examining ‘Learning by Doing’: Implications from Learning Style Migration

Author     : Xiang Yuan, Dishan Song & Renke He

Year           : 2018

Publisher : Routledge

Background

‘Learning by doing’ is taught in many design studio classes as a base in teaching method for amateur designers. However, there is no exact claim on how ‘learning by doing’ should be strategically applied in design classes. This study compares the undergraduate learning styles at different levels in Hunan University (HNU), over three years by observing learning style changing patterns and discussing the implications of a ‘learning by doing’ strategy.

Most Influencial Theory

Casakin and Goldschmidt (1999) suggest that learning by doing, for experienced designers, requires the use of analogical reasoning strategies to solve design problems; novice designers, conversely, have not yet developed a mastery of cognitive strategies to effectively reason in the same way.

Findings

It can be concluded that there are two distinct objectives which can relate to learning by doing. The first focuses on a learning process from ‘doing’ to ‘seeing’, where students gain experience from hands-on practice and gradually accumulate design knowledge while the objective of ‘doing’ is experience acquisition. The second considers the learning process the other way around, from ‘seeing’ to ‘doing’, where students verify their concepts and ideas using a hands-on approach while the objective of ‘doing’ is concept verification, thus constantly building on their problem-solving skills.

Implications in ELT

Even though the study focuses on learning by doing learning strategy in design classes, the findings can also be applied in other field of study such as language classes. The implications is on the internship program where undergraduates go to schools to teach English. This is a good example of learning by doing as the undergraduates get various knowledge based on their experience while teaching in schools.