Teaching Without Research Stays Shallow: Reflections from Our Group Leaders Seminar

On Tuesday, group leaders from the middle and high school divisions met with Co-Principal Mr Meng to discuss what the role of a teaching and research group leader should involve. The session was run as a discussion rather than a briefing, and it raised questions I want to work through with my own department. The phrase I have returned to most is one he used early on: 教而不研则浅, teaching without research stays shallow.

Below are five ideas from the session and what they mean for how we work in Humanities.

01 Different Kinds of Knowledge Need Different Teaching

The seminar distinguished between three kinds of knowledge. Factual knowledge can be told directly. Methodological knowledge has to be built, and there is usually more than

one way to build it. Value-based knowledge is best developed through discussion.

The problem comes when all three are taught as facts. In Geography, the definition of sustainability is factual; whether a dam is worth the communities it displaces is a question of values. If we give students a model answer to the second, we are teaching them to repeat a position rather than reach one.

02 Depth and Difficulty Are Not the Same Thing

Lessons should be demanding in the thinking they ask for, not only in the content they cover. Hard material that much of the class cannot follow does not produce deep learning. In mixed-ability classes this is a real tension, and not one we have fully resolved. A useful check after any lesson is whether students were made to think, and whether most of them could get there.

03 Teaching Should Respond to LearningTeaching should respond to learning

Of the four teaching principles discussed, this is the most practical. A lesson is not finished because the plan has been delivered; it is finished when students haveunderstood. That means building in points where we check understanding, and being willing to change course rather than treating the plan as fixed.

04 Understanding comes before original thinking

The session set out a sequence: motivation, meaningful understanding, transfer to new situations, and only then the generation of new ideas. International programmes place weight on independent thinking, but it depends on the earlier stages. In Humanities, this is often the gap between an answer that states an opinion and one that reaches a supported judgement. It is a useful lens for how we scaffold extended writing.

05 Group Leadership Is About the Group

The final part of the session focused on the leader’s role. Teaching one’s own classes well is necessary but not enough; a group leader is also responsible for the development of colleagues, especially those early in their careers. Mr Meng proposed a simple structure for teaching and research time: a fixed time, the right people, a single theme, and feedback afterwards. Not every discussion needs the whole department. A focused conversation between two colleagues about one problem is still research.

06 Next steps

For the Humanities department, the most immediate change is to make our meeting time more focused: one question at a time, worked through until we have something we can

use in the classroom. The first question I intend to put to colleagues is how we move students from knowing content to making supported judgements.

About the AuthorCollins OpondoHead of Humanities and TOK Coordinator, Wuxi United International School