The Silent Teacher: The Gift of Body Donation

Product Information

I recall one surgeon who had a patient, a young man, who was dying as a result of an invasive tumour. As I assist beginners in getting started with Elm, I often wonder how we can make learning this programming language easier. This way, I also discovered the ‘Silent Teacher’ shared by @Janiczek at https://discourse.elm-lang.org/t/silent-teacher-a-game-to-teach-basics-of-programming/1490

Doing rather than telling is actually a powerful way for children to learn as they have to focus more and it reduces their cognitive load. Why teach the silent way? Without any teacher explanation or narrative, children piece together what is happening and create meaning for themselves. They understand too that this was ‘somebody’. When I heard that they call them (the donated bodies) silent teachers, I went away feeling really happy instead of upset. The teacher’s silence demands visual attention from the children and puts a spotlight on the demonstration.Several small functionalities make it easier for the user to play the game without any instructions. A beginner will probably not notice them - and that’s the whole point - but these do contribute to make the game a more pleasant experience. They include the following: For example, you might be teaching maths and showing children how to do the Gelosia multiplication method. You do this showing all the steps involved without saying a word. As teachers we have to be creative, use props and models, set the mood and engage. It’s actually a very enjoyable and interactive way to teach that we can mix in with ‘normal’ teaching. Performance teaching perhaps but powerful teaching nevertheless. When the player’s answer is incorrect, he is presented with another question of the same kind. The questions are already fixed in advance, but thanks to a random selection of numbers and letters in the case of a wrong answer, the player has to work things out by trial and error. Show your students that being familiar with something is not the same as knowing it – Craig Barton – video

At the very end of the game, the number of mistakes is displayed: at that point, it’s fine since the player has finished the game and is no longer going to be put off or feel insecure. This functionality targets more competitive players who complained about not seeing their score. People make the assumption that the bodies donated are for teaching medical students – and it is primarily for that – but in 2006 the law changed to allow bodies also to be used for medical research and surgical training. The interface is minimalist, we want players to be focused on the questions and nothing else, and once again we don’t want any teacher around. When the player finishes a level, an abstract spiral shaped design appears. The player will gradually realize that it is a sort of recap of his progress. The button to access the recap only appears after the player finishes several levels. It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it…and that’s what gets results – Julia Smith – audio– video

A few details

Silent Teacher originally started out in coding, and our coding courses can be done completely independently. Our mathematics courses are also accessible online, but these require the discreet presence and guidance of a teacher. Not only does it tie in with theories on working memory, but it also involves self-explanation, which in itself is a knowledge-building process. And when she officially passed her late husband’s body to the anatomy department at Edinburgh University, she was deeply impressed that he was being treated as “somebody” and not just “a body.” Develop competing hypotheses when observing teaching and learning – Ollie Lovell and Craig Barton – video This is the first course we have created based around maths, after we observed a need in post-baccalaureate students on a video game development programme. With this audience, the course successfully led an entire class to understand the geometric interpretation of the scalar product in just 30 minutes, whereas this would typically take 4 or 5 hours with a teacher.