Metaphors of education

It is important for me to become conscious of the metaphors that I use, and the belief systems that are reflected in these metaphors.

I have been thinking about a metaphor for iterative learning, i.e., clarification of concepts and development of skills through successive iterations, with greater depth and breadth in each successive iteration.

I thought of a metaphor from agriculture, with the successive stages as Tilling, Sowing, Manuring, Weeding and Harvesting. Like all metaphors, it is metaphorical, and hence an approximation. I am using it in the context of developing content and pedagogy for a Software Engineering training programme.

Tilling: Activation of interest and preparation for introducing the topic by grounding it in concrete problems, real-life scenarios and experience of the learners.

Sowing: Examining the problem in detail, and discovering appropriate concepts for problem solution. Sowing the seeds of important concepts.

Manuring: Helping in deeper exploration and clarification of the concepts.

Weeding: Critical examination to reinforce relevant / right concepts and remove irrelevant / wrong concepts. Helping to remove mental clutter and logical fallacies.

Harvesting: Application of newly learned concepts to solve real-world problems. Implementation of projects.

Another step, Threshing, may be added when the programme has a final evaluation, certification examination etc. to denote the stage of measurement and packaging.

As I mentioned earlier, explanation of a metaphor can only be approximate. What is perhaps more useful is that you modify the explanation, or the metaphor itself and derive meaning that is relevant to your context.

I would like to make only important point: Who is the farmer in this metaphor?

The first impulse is to think of the teacher as the farmer. But it is really the student who is the farmer in our story. The teacher provides the plough, the seeds, the fertilizer etc. The student sows and reaps, with support from the teacher.