I couldn't resist a trip to my old Scottish dictionary to respond to
this "learning" and "teaching" conversation.
We have reacted so strongly to the linear "mug and jug" model of
teaching that we've forgotten its roots. My Scottish dictionary
says, "introducing to a body of knowledge".
In this vein, teaching can be seen (operational definition) as the
presentation of a body of knowledge so that the whole is present and
can be related to. This does not imply mere information - let alone
pouring from the "mug" into the "jug" - but the creation of a rich
and varied environment where the whole of the body of knowledge can
be experienced.
I've just left a session that I was leading - I consider myself, at
least at times, to be a teacher - where one of the participants (a
TQM course leader) realised that he couldn't grasp what I was saying
until the 3rd day *because* if he couldn't put it into a linear
package, he couldn't relate to it.
-- Michael McMaster Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk