ABSTRACT
In this chapter we will discuss teaching and learning in general, comment briefly on some general approaches to teaching such as the conventional lecturetutorial approach, workplace learning, teaching and learning using technology and problem-based learning, and argue that exclusive adoption of any one is unlikely to assist students in achieving their learning goals. How successful teaching is should be judged in terms of the way the students come to understand the content dealt with in teaching and the decisive factor from this perspective is the way in which the content is dealt with in teaching. We will show that different teachers may handle the very same content in different ways and thereby affect differentially the students’ understanding. General approaches to teaching are in our view just potential means for developing conditions conducive to effective learning. The critical aspects of the conditions for learning are the ways in which the object of learning is dealt with. Towards the end of this chapter we give some examples of how ways of dealing with the object of learning (ie the content of teaching) can be moulded on the grounds of theoretical conceptualization of learning. Finally we will argue that so-called principles of teaching or theories of instruction should be replaced by principles of learning and we will show how these principles of learning can be used to devise appropriate curricula and facilitate effective learning.
