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Learners’ Unique Responses Can they be used to Promote Learning

Abstract

The use of learners’ responses in teaching is important because it promotes active learning. It also enables the teacher to know the learners’ thinking and reasoning. However, sometimes teachers do not know how to handle learners’ unique responses, especially those they do not expect. The purpose of this article is to share information that can help teachers engage learners in meaningful learning by use of their unique responses as opposed to ignoring them. Using a reflection based on a lesson on the area of a trapezium, we discuss how a learner’s unique response on the area of a parallelogram could be used to promote learning. In addition, we discuss how this idea could be extended to find the area of a trapezium. The article concludes with a call to teachers to draw on learners’ unique responses and use them to promote learning.

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