People (you and your professor) and course material may have natural
differences in the way that they are orientated (inductive vs.
deductive) and tend to communicate information. A mismatch in preferred
styles (professor to student, or student and text) in the organization
or presentation of the material frequently results in learning
difficulty.
Professors with an inductive orientation start with details and
gradually build to an understanding of the larger picture. Think of a
history course starting with the details of historical events and
building to an analysis of the underlying socio-political motivation
for those events. Think of a chemistry or biology course and the basics
of chemical or cellular structure leading much more complex systems.
Some professors prefer to teach in this "facts to ideas" style; some
students learn best when they are given enough information to
understand how it all adds up.
Professors with a deductive orientation start with intuitive ideas or
concepts and illustrate (prove) them with supportive information or
facts. Think of a macro-economics class discussing money supply,
interest rates, and producer price indices. Think about your social
science, philosophy or political communication classes. Some students
learn best when they hear the big idea first and explore the
relationship of that idea with other known facts/concepts (for some
students, too many details get very old, very fast.)
Which style of organization and presentation was used on this page? (Answer: Deductive.)
For
more information about these and other services,
call (202) 994-5300 or visit gwired.gwu.edu/counsel.
