"To state a theorem and then to show examples of it is literally to teach backwards."  (E. Kim Nebeuts)

I have constantly felt, and often stated, that one of the greatest gifts of my life was to have H. Stephen Glenn as my first boss.  He was the developer of "Developing Capable Young People", one of my favorite training programs which was taught in fourteen countries. (http://www.capabilitiesinc.com/)

Steve taught me how to think about working with youth, and, for that matter, adults.  One of the tools he used to coach me, and taught to others was the "EIAG" process.  This process facilitates Inductive Learning.  This involves the process of learning by example -- where a system tries to induce a general rule from a set of observed instances. It also involves classification -- assigning, to a particular input, the name of a class to which it belongs. Classification is important to many problem solving tasks.

By responding to most experiences through a process of questioning which allows young people to draw conclusions and generalizations from those experiences is the easiest, most efficient way of creating learners that I know.  Steve often said our goal is not to teach, but rather to create learners.  Once people learn to learn, they can apply the skill anywhere.  Using the EIAG process frequently helps young people build in internal cognitive strategy for inductive learning and reasoning.  This is the process:

• Experience-either a naturally occurring experience, like a conflict with another or any daily experience, or an experience created in a learning environment.  Any experience, from role plays, lectures, simulations or group explorations can be the starting point of inductive learning.  I even use the process when discussing assessments, surveys, etc. with people.
• Identify-help the learner identify what was significant in the experience.  (What questions)
  • What did you like about it?
  • What didn't you like? 
  • What were three new things you might take away from the experience.
  • What was unique?
• Analyze-help the learner think critically about what they took away from the experience. (How questions)
  • How is what you liked about the experience useful to you?
  • How might even the things you didn't like have use if you think about it?
  • How might you use the three new things you identified in the experience?
  • How is that unique?
• Generalize-help the learner find potential applications in their lives for the what they have learned. (Where, when, and with whom questions)
  • Where might you apply what you have discovered from this?
  • When might that be useful?  
  • In what contexts will the new things you identified be useful?, In what relationships?
  • Who else in your life might benefit from what you have learned?

The lists of questions I have here are far from exhaustive, but I wanted to offer a process, and some example questions.  Play with it.  To learn more about this, and Developing Capable People, feel free to contact us.