TEACHING METHODS FOR HELPING PEOPLE
UNDERSTAND NEW IDEAS*
A village mother listens to a health
worker explain the causes of her
child’s diarrhea and what she can
do to prevent it. But she has a hard
time believing that the flies in her
home have anything to do with
diarrhea. She has never seen the
things called germs. She thanks the
health worker for her advice—and
does nothing about the flies.
People, quite wisely, do not
accept new ideas unless they
understand them and how they
relate to their lives. The following 4
teaching methods can help people
understand new ideas in terms of
what is familiar to them.
7-11
1. Association of ideas
People can often learn to understand a new idea if it is compared to something they
already know about. This is an example:
“Do you have feet?” “Yes!” Feet are shown
with laughter.
“If you step in cow shit, do you get some of it
on your feet?” “Yes!”
“When you enter your house afterwards,
does some of the shit get on the floor?” “Yes, if
the shit was fresh and wet!”
“Do flies have feet?” “Oh, yes, 6 of them!”
“Do you think that in the same way you get
cow shit on your feet, the fly gets human shit
on its feet?” “Yes.”
And so the discussion continues. An
exchange like this gives new ideas greater meaning. It can also get people talking
about them in relation to their own experience. Association of ideas can be used in
many forms: in stories, role plays, puppet shows, and so on.
*Adapted from Vibro, an Indonesian newsletter on community development, which in turn borrowed ideas
from Alan Holmes’ book from rural Africa, Health Education in Developing Countries. Vibro is available
from Yayasan Insan Sembada (YIS), www.yis.or.id.