Good' examples are often used in education based on the the assumption that students can learn from them 'how things should be done'. However, it is sometimes difficult for students to recognise what exactly is good about it, or to apply the good example themselves. That is why students are shown the wrong example in this teaching activity. By doing so, they not only learn the correct application of certain principles, but also how to recognise violations. After all, critical reflection on one's own actions requires not only that one knows how something should be done, but also that one recognises when it is done incorrectly.
- Activity goal
- Exchange knowledge | Practice skills
- When
- In class
- Where
- Offline | Online
- Duration
- < 60 minutes| > 60 minutes
- Group size
- Small | Medium
- Materials
MS Teams, Zoom
Step-by-step
Step 1
Discuss the theory you would like to discuss with the students. Optionally, show a 'good' example in which the theory is put into practice in the right way. This gives the students the opportunity to recognise the correct application of the theory.
Step 2
Then present the students an example of how the theory is put into practice in the wrong way. You can think of: a conversation between a professional and a client in which the professional applies the theory incorrectly, an incorrect elaboration of a formula, a fallacy, a film clip in which reality is incorrectly represented, and so on.
Step 3
Give the students time to study the example and look for the mistakes that are made.
Step 4
Have the students modify the example so that the theory is applied correctly.
Step 5
Finally, discuss the assignment in class. What did the students think went wrong in the example? And how could it be improved according to the students?
This teaching activity is a contribution of teacher Dr Susan van Rijen (Clinical Psychology, ESSB). According to her, giving the wrong example is a good way to wake up students, put them on edge and make them think about how they would like to do it themselves in their future professional practice.
Example
This teaching activity was developed for the course Developmental Challenges and Deviations in Early Childhood (Master: Clinical Child and Youth Psychology). It was applied in a work course in which the principles of Infant Mental Health (IMH) can be translated to communication with parents.
Later, this teaching activity was also applied in a tutorial within the course Severe Mental Illness in Urban Context (Master Clinical Psychology). Here the focus was on the application of principles of Personal Recovery in clinical practice. In a tutorial, 4 theoretical principles of Infant Mental Health were introduced. These were explained with examples and concrete questions that the psychologist could ask with the different principles. Then the students practiced with these principles using an example dialogue where the principles were violated. The exercise was aimed at recognising the violation of the principles and reformulating these statements in such a way that they were compliant with the principles.
Providing a rich context in the form of concrete statements and dialogues was experienced as helpful and meaningful by the students Susan worked with. After the lecture, they were better able to apply the principles.
Tips
A number of tips from Dr. Susan van Rijen for apllying this teaching activity are to emphasise that the exercise is about improving the application of the theory. If the example does not run perfectly anymore (e.g. because the reaction of the client does not match the reaction of the professional), that is no problem.
She also emphasizes the importance of discussing the assignment in plenary so students can learn from each other's reformulation of the wrong example.
MS Teams or Zoom.
Consider the tools and materials mentioned here as suggestions. In many cases it’s possible to use alternative tools. Please turn to the Learning & Innovation team of your faculty first to see which online and offline tools are available and how to apply them.
