Category: Adult Learning
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Does Dialogue Make Truth Relative?
I’ve talked about the value of Dialogue Education™ with many other teachers of adults. The most common objection I hear goes something like this, “Sounds interesting, but don’t we want to teach objective truth?” I’ve had mixed success in disabusing my friends of that misunderstanding. If the reader has a similar hesitation about a dialogic…
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Priorities Chapter 1: The High Cost of Misplaced Priorities
When Benjamin Franklin was seven years old, a houseguest gave him some coins. Later, when he saw another boy playing with a whistle, Benjamin offered the boy all his coins for it. Young Ben played the whistle all over the house, enjoying it immensely, until he discovered he had given the boy four times as…
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Listen Before Teaching
A pastor wrote, “Some of our members believe that receiving the Lord’s Supper when they are ill will make them die more quickly. Some will even excuse themselves from taking the Lord’s Supper when the pastor visits them.” That surprising comment came from a Malawian pastor. He was giving his input for an upcoming seminar…
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The Core Strategy of Dialogue Education
My father-in-law used to quote a saying about boys working on the farm: “You got one boy, you got half a man. You got two boys, you got nothing.” I can hear his chuckle as he used to say it. Put kids together and they’ll goof off. Adults, however, can get down to the task…
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Avoid Fishing
Recently, a couple of college students were telling me how much they enjoyed a midweek Bible study offered at their school. “What do you like about it?” I asked. “The pastor really knows how to get us talking and thinking,” one answered. The other collegiate contrasted the midweek study with another they attend. “The other…
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Avoid the “Plop”
The study of adult teaching methods has been a special interest to me for many years. The most useful and engaging resources I have read on the topic have come from an approach to andragogy called Dialogue Education™. A simple bit of advice I’ve found very useful is to avoid “plops.” A “plop” is not…
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Words . . . Pictures . . . Actions!
What’s the best way to teach your people in a Bible study about the doctrine of the Real Presence? Will you have a handout that shows the similarity of the four Bible accounts of Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper? Will you ask the entire group to put themselves in the mind of someone who just…
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Teaching Them Like Adults
Look across the landscape of your Bible study. What do you see? There are no Kool-Aid mustaches. These are adult learners who have come to Bible study to learn more about their Jesus and what he means for their lives today. Just as we treat them like adults, we teach them like adults. What makes…