During Professor Takehiko Ito’s Logical Thinking class, our students learn how express themselves clearly and formulate their opinions using logic – an indispensable requirement for classes using Active Learning methods. The term “logical thinking” refers to an ability of drawing conclusions using reason, and conveying them to other people in a coherent, precise way. The skills acquired during this course will be most certainly useful in all other classes as well, and that is why the students start polishing them from the first term of the first year.
Let’s discuss changing jobs
This time all participants discussed the topic of “career”. Primarily the word itself does not mean the points in time or effects of finding an employment, getting a promotion or doing a job, but rather a continuous process regarding work, or even a lifestyle focused on it. Professor Ito started by asking his students whether they thought if people switching jobs (which is not a rare thing anymore), lacked perseverance, to which the students replied in various ways, such as: “I don’t think it is a matter of perseverance, it would be pointless to stay in an unwanted job and ruin your health”, or: “It’s bad to wander aimlessly from one company to another without realizing your purpose first”. One of them added a few cents by mentioning the fact that women often change jobs after marriage or giving birth, which only heated the debate further. This is a perfect illustration of the power of Active Learning, where students clash their opinions with others and acquire an ability to look at things from different perspectives, which only deepens their understanding of the world.
What can you learn through Active Learning
There are many problems without one right answer in our society and this is especially when we have to find an optimal solution by looking at the issue from different perspectives. Our students can acquire the ability to do so by participating in classes using Active Learning methods. Moreover, they also learn how to offer their opinion or how to attentively listen to the opinions of others in turn. Today’s class touched a subject of career, so we hope that our students used this perfect opportunity to think about their future, as they will soon join the society as adults.