An Old Tool with a New Twist: Innovating with Inductive Teaching Methods

A major emphasis in the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) School of Trades and Technology is the adoption of an inductive teaching and learning philosophy. Teaching inductively starts with real-life applications as the context for learning. This is not something new; in fact, the approach comes by many names. The emphasis is on starting with the particular applications and moving to the more general principles. A focus on inductive methods has implications in how we approach teaching and learning in individual classrooms for individual learners, but it also has broader implications for how the school conducts its academic planning and operations. This necessarily involves everyone at all levels of the organization. We all need to be thinking about how we can be integrating inductive applications in what we do and how we do it. The challenge here is to think about how to create learning environments that use a more inductive approach. Inductive teaching and learning methods help ensure that learning is more workplace authentic and relevant. This approach promotes a culture of collaboration—working together through a real-world application of how and why things work. This paper provides a synopsis of how inductive teaching and learning have been woven into our school academic planning and the way we do business. It is our emphasis on inductive teaching that will assist us in achieving our articulated graduate profile