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Learning by teaching
View on WikipediaIn the field of pedagogy, learning by teaching is a method of teaching in which students are made to learn material and prepare lessons to teach it to the other students. There is a strong emphasis on acquisition of life skills along with the subject matter.
Background
[edit]
The method of having students teach other students has been present since antiquity.[1] Most often this was due to lack of resources. For example, the Monitorial System was an education method that became popular on a global scale during the early 19th century. It was developed in parallel by Scotsman Andrew Bell who had worked in Madras and Joseph Lancaster who worked in London; each attempted to educate masses of poor children with scant resources by having older children teach younger children what they had already learned.[2]
Systematic research into intentionally improving education, by having students learn by teaching began in the middle of the 20th century.[3]
In the early 1980s, Jean-Pol Martin systematically developed the concept of having students teach other in the context of learning French as a foreign language, and he gave it a theoretical background in numerous publications, which was thus referred to in German as Lernen durch Lehren, shortened to LdL.[4] The method was originally resisted, as the German educational system generally emphasized discipline and rote learning.[5] However the method became widely used in Germany in secondary education, and in the 1990s it was further formalized and began to be used in universities as well.[4] By 2008 Martin had retired, and although he remained active Joachim Grzega took the lead in developing and promulgating LdL.[5][6]
LdL method
[edit]Central to Martin’s entire theory, both for LdL and for the New Human Rights, are the following interacting concepts:[7] thinking (information processing and conceptualization) – control – antinomies – dialectical thinking – exploratory behavior – cognitive map – flow effect – top-down/bottom-up – centripetal/centrifugal forces – neuronal behavior – linearity/nonlinearity – homeostasis – integration/differentiation – centralization/decentralization – self-referentiality – coherence.

After preparation by the teacher, students become responsible for their own learning and teaching. The new material is divided into small units and student groups of not more than three people are formed.[5]
Students are then encouraged to experiment to find ways to teach the material to the others. Along with ensuring that students learn the material, another goal of the method, is to teach students life skills like respect for other people, planning, problem solving, taking chances in public, and communication skills.[9][10][11][12] The teacher remains actively involved, stepping in to further explain or provide support if the teaching-students falter or the learning-students do not seem to understand the material.[5]
The method is distinct from tutoring in that LdL is done in class, supported by the teacher, and distinct from student teaching, which is a part of teacher education.[4]
Plastic platypus learning
[edit]
A related method is the plastic platypus learning or platypus learning technique. This technique is based on evidence that show that teaching an inanimate object improves understanding and knowledge retention of a subject.[13] [14][15] The advantage of this technique is that the learner does not need the presence of another person in order to teach the subject. The concept is similar to the software engineering technique of rubber duck debugging, in which a programmer can find bugs in their code without the help of others, simply by explaining what the code does, line by line, to an inanimate object such as a rubber duck.[16]

A similar process is the Feynman technique, named after physicist Richard Feynman, in which a person attempts to write an explanation of some information in a way that a child could understand, developing original analogies where necessary. When the writer reaches an area which they are unable to comfortably explain, they go back and re-read or research the topic until they are able to do so.[17]
Flipped learning + teaching
[edit]Traditional instructor teaching style classes can be mixed with or transformed to flipped teaching. Before and after each (traditional/flipped) lecture, anonymized evaluation items on the Likert scale can be recorded from the students for continuous monitoring/dashboarding. In planned flipped teaching lessons, the teacher hands out lesson teaching material one week before the lesson is scheduled for the students to prepare talks. Small student groups work on the lecture chapters instead of homework, and then give the lecture in front of their peers. The professional lecturer then discusses, complements, and provides feedback at the end of the group talks. Here, the professional lecturer acts as a coach to help students with preparation and live performance.[18]
Application of Learning by Teaching (LdL) to Human-Robot Interaction
[edit]The educational principle Lernen durch Lehren (LdL), or Learning by Teaching, has long been recognized for its ability to deepen the understanding of students through the act of teaching others. These same principles can be extended to human-robot interaction to enhance the learning process in artificial systems. In the context of human-robot interaction, the LdL approach provides a compelling model for designing robots that can learn, collaborate, and teach. One such relevant work done is developing a system where robots not only learn a skill from human experts but also teach that skill to novices.[19] The robot begins as a learner, observing and practicing a task under expert supervision. Through the teaching process, the robot is required to explain, demonstrate, and evaluate the skill, much like students in the LdL method. By teaching a novice, the robot gains feedback about its own understanding. This mirrors the LdL model, where teaching strengthens the learner's grasp of the material. The robot’s ability to switch between the roles of student, collaborator, and teacher enhances its capability to adapt, refine its task model, and assess its knowledge through teaching interactions. This dynamic role adaptation provides greater flexibility and leads to better long-term knowledge retention, which is also a core advantage of the LdL approach in human education. Some of the benefits of applying LdL approach to human-robot interaction include:
- Enhanced Knowledge Evaluation: Teaching provides a new evaluation layer for the robot’s understanding. If the robot can teach effectively, it signifies a higher degree of task mastery, just as LdL assesses human understanding through peer teaching.
- Improved Human-Robot Collaboration: By integrating LdL principles, robots can enhance collaboration with humans. When a robot teaches or learns from a human, the shared knowledge model becomes more aligned, leading to more efficient teamwork.
- Promoting Lifelong Learning for Robots: Just as LdL fosters lifelong learning in humans by constantly engaging them in teaching roles, applying these principles to robots promotes continuous improvement in their learning models. The robot evolves not only by learning new skills but also by refining them through the act of teaching others.

Learning by Teaching(LdL) for Human-Robot Interaction
See also
[edit]- Active learning – Educational technique
- Jigsaw (teaching technique)
- Learning theory (education) – Theory that describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning
- The Aha! effect – Human experience of suddenly understanding a previously incomprehensible problem or concept
- Think aloud protocol – Method to gather data in usability testing
- Peer mentoring
- Peer-led team learning
- Rubber duck debugging – A code debugging technique which involves explaining code to a rubber duck
References
[edit]- ^ Seneca: Epistulae morales ad Lucilium. Buch I, Brief 7, Abschnitt 8.
- ^ Graves, Frank Pierrepont (1915). A Student's History of Education. Macmillan Company. pp. 239ff.
- ^ Gartner, Alan; Kohler, Mary Conway; Riessman, Frank (1971). Children teach children; learning by teaching (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-013553-9.
- ^ a b c Safiye, Aslan (October 5, 2015). "Is Learning by Teaching Effective in Gaining 21st Century Skills? The Views of Pre-Service Science Teachers". Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice. 15 (6). ISSN 1303-0485.
- ^ a b c d Heinrich, Christian (November 2007). "Learning by Teaching: The Goal is Independence". Goethe-Institut.
- ^ "About me" (in German). Jean-Pol Martins Weblog. 11 November 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- ^ Lernen durch Lehren: Konzeptualisierung als Glücksquelle. In: Olaf-Axel Burow, Stefan Bornemann (Hrsg.): Das große Handbuch Unterricht & Erziehung in der Schule. Carl Link Verlag, 2018. S. 345–360. ISBN 978-3-556-07336-0
- ^ Kahl, von Reinhard (2005). Treibhäuser der Zukunft wie in Deutschland Schulen gelingen; eine Dokumentation (2nd, überarb. Aufl. ed.). Berlin: Archiv der Zukunft [u.a.] ISBN 978-3-407-85830-6.
- ^ Thimm, Katja (1 July 2002). "Guten Morgen, liebe Zahlen". Der Spiegel.
- ^ Kahl, Reinhard (October 22, 2008). "Unterricht: Schüler als Lehrer". Zeit (in German).
- ^ Stollhans, S. (2016). "Learning by teaching: developing transferable skills." (PDF). In Corradini, E.; Borthwick, K.; Gallagher-Brett, A. (eds.). Employability for languages: a handbook (PDF). Dublin: Researchpublishing.net. pp. 161–164. doi:10.14705/rpnet.2016.cbg2016.478. ISBN 978-1-908416-39-1. S2CID 63643548.
- ^ Grzega, Joachim; Schöner, Marion (4 July 2008). "The didactic model LdL (Lernen durch Lehren) as a way of preparing students for communication in a knowledge society". Journal of Education for Teaching. 34 (3): 167–175. doi:10.1080/02607470802212157. S2CID 59268569.
- ^ "Learning by teaching others is extremely effective – a new study tested a key reason why". 2018-05-04. Archived from the original on 2022-07-16. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
- ^ Aslan, Safiye (2015). "Is Learning by Teaching Effective in Gaining 21st Century Skills? The Views of Pre-Service Science Teachers". Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice. 15 (6). doi:10.12738/estp.2016.1.0019 (inactive 12 July 2025).
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link) - ^ Bargh, John A.; Schul, Yaacov (1980). "On the cognitive benefits of teaching". Journal of Educational Psychology. 72 (5): 593–604. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.72.5.593.
- ^ Koh, Aloysius Wei Lun; Lee, Sze Chi; Lim, Stephen Wee Hun (2018). "The learning benefits of teaching: A retrieval practice hypothesis". Applied Cognitive Psychology. 32 (3): 401–410. doi:10.1002/acp.3410.
- ^ Staff (5 March 2021). "Feynman Technique for Learning". Library, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
- ^ Mastmeyer, A. (2020). "Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation of Transforming to Flipped-Classroom from Instruction Teaching using Micro Feedback Loops". Manuscript Work in Progress: 1–42. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4000357.
- ^ Adamson, Timothy; Ghose, Debasmita; Yasuda, Shannon C.; Shepard, Lucas Jehu Silva; Lewkowicz, Michal A.; Duan, Joyce; Scassellati, Brian (2021-03-08). "Why We Should Build Robots That Both Teach and Learn". Proceedings of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. Vol. 9. New York, NY, USA: ACM. pp. 187–196. doi:10.1145/3434073.3444647. ISBN 978-1-4503-8289-2.
Further reading
[edit]- Adamson, Timothy; Ghose, Debasmita; Shannon C. Yasuda; Jehu, Lucas; Shepard, Silva; Michal, A.; Duan, Jyoce; Scassellati, Brian: „Why We Should Build Robots That Both Teach and Learn". 2021.https://scazlab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/hrifp1028-adamsonA.pdf
- Frick, Rosmarie (September 2005). "Students teach each other literature (lernen durch lehren): Working with "The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time"". Humanising Language Teaching. 7 (5). Archived from the original on 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
- Grzega, Joachim; Klüsener, Bea (15 May 2011). "Learning by Teaching through Polylogues: Training Expert Communication in Information and Knowledge Societies Using LdL (Lernen durch Lehren)". Fachsprache. 33 (1–2): 17–35. doi:10.24989/fs.v33i1-2.1379.
- mJamet, Frank; Masson, Olivier; Jacquet, Baptiste; Stilgenbauer, Jean-Louis; Baratgin, Jean (2018). "Learning by Teaching with Humanoid Robot: A New Powerful Experimental Tool to Improve Children's Learning Ability". Journal of Robotics. 2018: 1–11. doi:10.1155/2018/4578762.
- Kabache, Taieb (2022): Probing the Impact of Learning-by-teaching Method to Boost EFL Learners’ Engagement during the Grammar Session: The case of first-year PEM students at Taleb Abdurrahman ENS Laghouat. Algeria.[1]
- Kolbe, Simon (2021): Learning by Teaching – a Resource Orientated Approach Towards Modern Inclusive Education. In: Mevlüt Aydogmus (Hg.): New Trends and Promising Directions in Modern Education. New Perspectives 2021. Meram/Konya: Palet Yayinlari Verlag, 234-255.
- Kolbe, Simon (2025): Learning by Teaching: A Pathway to Educational Justice. In: International Journal of Teaching and Learning Sciences; 2025 (2). DOI:10.71010/IJTLS.2025-e116.
- Kolbe, Simon; Martin, Jean-Pol (2024)(Hrsg.): Praxishandbuch Lernen durch Lehren: Kompendium eines didaktischen Prinzips. Beltz-Juventa: Weinheim, 2024, ISBN 978-3-7799-7596-0
- Krüger, Rudolf (1975). Projekt Lernen durch Lehren : Schüler als Tutoren von Mitschülern. Bad Heilbrunn (Obb.): Klinkhardt. ISBN 978-3-7815-0243-7.
- Martin, Jean-Pol (1985). Zum Aufbau didaktischer Teilkompetenzen beim Schüler : Fremdsprachenunterricht auf der lerntheoretischen Basis des Informationsverarbeitungsansatzes. Tübingen: Narr. ISBN 978-3-87808-435-8.
- Martin, Jean-Pol (1994). Vorschlag eines anthropologisch begründeten Curriculums für den Fremdsprachenunterricht. Tübingen: Narr. ISBN 978-3-8233-4373-8.
- Martin, Jean-Pol (2018). "Lernen durch Lehren: Konzeptualisierung als Glücksquelle". In Burow, Olaf-Axel; Bornemann, Stefan (eds.). Das Große Handbuch Unterricht & Erziehung in der Schule (in German) (1 ed.). Link, Carl. pp. 345–360. ISBN 9783556073360.
- Martin, Jean-Pol; Oebel, Guido (2007). "Lernen durch Lehren: Paradigmenwechsel in der Didaktik?". Deutschunterricht in Japan. 12: 4–21. ISSN 1342-6575. (Author copy)
- Schelhaas, Christine (2003). "Lernen durch Lehren" für einen produktions- und handlungsorientierten Fremdsprachenunterricht : ein praktischer Leitfaden mit zahlreichen kreativen Unterrichtsideen und reichhaltiger Materialauswahl (2nd, verb. Aufl. ed.). Marburg: Tectum-Verl. ISBN 978-3-8288-8548-6.
- Serholt, Sofia, Ekström Sara, Künster Dennis, Ljungblad Sara, Pareto Lena (2022): Comparing a Robot Tutee to a Human Tutee in a Learning-By-Teaching Scenario with Children, 2022 Front. Robot. AI, 21 February 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2022.836462
- Skinner, Jody (June 3, 2018). "The Koblenz Model within Anglo-American Cultural Studies at German Universities". Developing Teachers. Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
External links
[edit]- Lernen durch Lehren website, archived 12/2018
- Online course (Video): Learning by teaching, Nellie Deutsch, 2017 Learning by teaching, Nellie Deutsch, 2017] Online course (Video): Learning by teaching, Nellie Deutsch, 2017
- Video: Protege effect: Learning by teaching, Ontario 2014
- Video: Learning by teaching, Germany 2004
- Video: Learning by teaching. Teaching Methodology, ELT under Cover, 2022
- Jean-Pol Martin - English Language Teacher Interview #16, ELT Under The Covers Podcast, 2022
- Martin, J. P. & Kolbe, S. (2023, May 21). Learning by Teaching [Interview]. Seitwerk. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4hofRriFR15Xa0fr4VFvhj-_bMExnnbm
Learning by teaching
View on GrokipediaHistorical Development
Origins in Antiquity and Early Systems
The roots of learning by teaching can be traced to ancient Greece, where the Socratic method, developed by Socrates in the 4th century BCE, employed dialectical questioning to encourage interlocutors to explain concepts to one another, fostering deeper understanding through peer-like dialogue.[4] In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle further emphasized the interplay between teaching and learning, portraying the teacher-student relationship as a form of friendship where instruction benefits both parties by reinforcing the teacher's knowledge and enabling the student's moral development.[5] During the medieval period, apprenticeship models within European craft guilds provided structured opportunities for novices to teach basic skills to their peers, as older apprentices assisted in instructing younger ones under the master's oversight, ensuring the transmission of trade knowledge in resource-limited workshops. In the late 18th century, the Monitorial System emerged as a formalized approach to peer instruction, pioneered by Andrew Bell in 1789 at the Military Male Orphan Asylum in Madras, India, where he addressed teacher shortages by training older pupils as monitors to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to younger ones, allowing a single master to oversee hundreds efficiently.[6] Bell detailed this method in his 1797 publication An Experiment in Education, highlighting its scalability for under-resourced colonial settings by drawing on local indigenous practices of mutual instruction.[7] Joseph Lancaster independently adapted and popularized the system in early 19th-century London, opening a school in 1798 that by the 1800s educated up to 1,000 poor children at a time through monitors who relayed lessons from the head teacher, emphasizing discipline, rote learning, and cost-effectiveness for mass education.[8] Lancaster's version, outlined in his 1803 pamphlet Improvements in Education, focused on non-sectarian schooling and mechanical aids like sand trays for writing, enabling rapid expansion amid urban poverty.[9] The Monitorial System spread widely across Europe and the United States in the early 1800s, with over 275 schools established in the UK by 1816 alone, collectively serving thousands of students through peer-led classes that addressed teacher scarcity in industrializing societies.[10] In the US, it gained traction in northeastern cities like Boston during the 1800s, where monitorial schools enrolled hundreds of pupils per institution, promoting orderly, large-scale instruction for immigrant and working-class children before graded systems supplanted it mid-century.[11]Formalization in the 20th and 21st Centuries
The formalization of learning by teaching in the mid-20th century was initiated through research on peer tutoring in the United States. Early evidence came from Cloward (1967), who demonstrated that peer tutors in remedial reading programs showed superior progress compared to their tutees, attributing gains to the explanatory demands of teaching.[12] Building on this, a seminal 1971 study by Gartner, Kohler, and Riessman examined programs where older students taught younger peers in school settings, revealing benefits such as enhanced retention and academic gains for tutors through active explanation and reinforcement of material.[13] These experiments provided an empirical basis for structured student-led instruction, distinguishing it from earlier informal practices like the 19th-century monitorial system.[13] In the 1980s, Jean-Pol Martin developed the Lernen durch Lehren (LdL) method—translated as "learning by teaching"—specifically for French language classes at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany.[14] The approach centers on students independently preparing and delivering lessons to their peers, positioning the teacher primarily as a facilitator to guide preparation and ensure coherence.[14] By the 1990s, LdL had proliferated across German schools, gaining official recognition and integration into curricula through initiatives by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK), which promoted active, student-centered learning strategies.[14] Following Martin's work, Joachim Grzega advanced LdL starting in the mid-2000s, extending its application to English language teaching and interdisciplinary contexts at the university level. In his influential 2005 publication "The Concept 'Learning by Teaching'," Grzega highlighted the method's emphasis on transferring teaching responsibilities to students, thereby cultivating independence, creativity, and essential competencies for knowledge-based societies.[15] He also introduced variations like "Learning by Teaching and Doing Research" (LdL&F), incorporating research elements to broaden its scope beyond language instruction, with further refinements in subsequent works such as his 2008 collaboration on preparing students for knowledge societies.[15][16] In the 21st century, LdL and analogous peer-teaching approaches achieved broader global adoption, with integration into European curricula—such as in Bavaria during the 2000s—and alignment with constructivist reforms in the United States that prioritize active learning.[17]Theoretical Foundations
Psychological Mechanisms
Learning by teaching enhances retention through retrieval practice, wherein the act of explaining material to others compels the teacher to actively recall information from memory, thereby strengthening neural pathways and consolidating long-term retention more effectively than passive review methods.[18] This mechanism aligns with the testing effect observed in cognitive psychology, where retrieval not only reinforces memory traces but also identifies weaknesses in understanding during the teaching process.[19] Empirical evidence from controlled experiments demonstrates that students who teach material achieve higher test scores than those who study alone, as the retrieval demands of teaching simulate real-world application and reduce forgetting over time.[20] Complementing retrieval, generative learning occurs as the teacher organizes and verbalizes concepts, which promotes deeper cognitive processing by revealing knowledge gaps and fostering integration of new information with prior knowledge.[21] In this framework, teaching acts as a generative activity that encourages the creation of mental models through explanation, rather than mere repetition, leading to improved problem-solving and conceptual understanding.[22] Fiorella and Mayer's (2013) model outlines this process in stages—preparation for teaching, the explanation itself, and subsequent reflection—which collectively enhance learning by prompting elaboration and self-correction without external prompts. Social facilitation further amplifies these effects through peer interactions, where the presence of an audience motivates effort and provides opportunities for elaboration, thereby reducing cognitive load and enhancing comprehension via collaborative dialogue.[23] This draws from Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), in which the tutor-learner dynamic allows the teacher to scaffold explanations within the learner's reach, while simultaneously refining their own understanding through reciprocal clarification and adjustment. Such interactions not only boost motivation but also facilitate immediate error detection, making learning more efficient than solitary study. Finally, feedback integration during teaching sessions enables recursive refinement, as responses from the audience highlight misconceptions and reinforce accurate representations, resulting in measurable gains in comprehension.[24] Studies on interactive teaching show that this loop promotes metacognitive awareness and adaptive learning strategies.[25] Overall, these mechanisms interplay to make learning by teaching a robust pedagogical tool for deepening knowledge acquisition.Relation to Broader Learning Theories
Learning by teaching aligns closely with constructivist learning theories, particularly Jean Piaget's cognitive constructivism, which emphasizes that individuals actively construct knowledge by integrating new experiences into preexisting cognitive schemas through processes like assimilation and accommodation. In this framework, the act of teaching compels learners to reorganize and verbalize their understanding, thereby strengthening schema development and revealing inconsistencies in their knowledge. This approach also resonates with John Dewey's 1938 theory of experiential learning, where education occurs through hands-on, collaborative activities that involve peer roles to negotiate meaning and apply concepts in social contexts, fostering reflective growth beyond isolated study.[26][27] As a form of active learning, learning by teaching diverges from passive methods like lectures by engaging students in generative activities such as explaining concepts to peers, which promotes higher-order thinking and retention. Freeman et al.'s 2014 meta-analysis of 225 studies across STEM fields found that active learning approaches, including peer teaching and discussion-based explanations, yield substantial gains: student examination scores improve by 0.47 standard deviations (equivalent to a 6% increase), and failure rates are 55% higher under traditional lecturing compared to active learning, with effects consistent across class sizes and disciplines. These outcomes underscore how learning by teaching enhances conceptual mastery by shifting from reception to production of knowledge.[28] The Feynman Technique, developed by physicist Richard Feynman in the 1960s, directly embodies learning by teaching principles by instructing learners to explain material in simple terms as if to a child, thereby simplifying ideas and exposing gaps in comprehension that require further study. This self-directed method parallels broader learning by teaching practices, where articulation to an audience—real or imagined—forces refinement of understanding without relying on rote memorization.[29] Learning by teaching further connects to Albert Bandura's social learning theory, which posits that individuals acquire knowledge through observation, modeling, and imitation within social environments, extending these mechanisms to reciprocal exchanges where the teacher learns from the learner's feedback. In this vein, the theory supports bidirectional modeling, as tutors demonstrate expertise while adapting to tutees' queries, enhancing mutual self-efficacy and behavioral reinforcement. This reciprocity is exemplified in strategies like reciprocal teaching, pioneered by Palincsar and Brown in 1984, where participants alternate roles in generating summaries, questions, clarifications, and predictions to build comprehension collaboratively.[30][31]Implementation Strategies
Core LdL Method in Classrooms
The core LdL method in classrooms follows a structured, student-centered approach where learners actively research and present content to peers, fostering deeper understanding through the act of teaching. Developed by Jean-Pol Martin in the 1980s, this method delegates traditional teaching responsibilities to students while the instructor serves as a facilitator.[32] The process is divided into distinct phases, emphasizing collaboration in small groups to build both subject knowledge and communication skills. In the preparation phase, students in groups of 2-3 select or are assigned specific topics from the curriculum and prepare teaching materials during class time, typically over about 2 lessons, using teacher-provided resources, textbooks, and authentic sources. They develop materials such as slides, diagrams, or interactive demonstrations to explain key concepts.[14] This work encourages students to organize information clearly and anticipate potential questions, aligning with psychological mechanisms like the generation effect, where active retrieval strengthens memory. Groups collaborate to divide tasks and ensure comprehensive coverage.[15] The delivery phase involves student groups presenting their prepared material to classmates in class sessions, using varied methods such as presentations followed by a question-and-answer segment and related exercises. Rotation among group members ensures every participant teaches at least once, promoting equal engagement and peer learning.[14] These sessions are integrated into regular class time, with the class organized to cover the full syllabus efficiently. The teacher's role is primarily facilitative: providing initial resources, guiding topic selection, and monitoring sessions for factual accuracy, intervening only if misconceptions arise. Post-session debriefing allows the teacher to clarify errors collectively and reinforce learning.[32] This hands-off approach empowers students while maintaining educational oversight. Assessment in LdL focuses on process and growth rather than punitive grading. Students use self-evaluation rubrics to reflect on their teaching clarity, content depth, and engagement strategies, while group feedback forms capture peer insights on learning gains and presentation effectiveness. Teachers may contribute formative feedback based on observation criteria like interaction and material use, along with evaluations of presentation quality and learning progress.[15] The method is suitable for students across various ages and school levels, particularly in lower and middle school settings, and applicable to a range of subjects including languages and sciences. For instance, in German high school French classes, LdL has been applied to build vocabulary through student-led sessions on thematic units, where learners research and teach word families or contextual usage to peers.[14]Variations Including Flipped and Inanimate Teaching
In flipped learning models, students engage with instructional content, such as pre-recorded videos, outside of class time, allowing in-class sessions to focus on interactive, student-led activities like discussions and peer teaching. This approach, pioneered by chemistry teachers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, reverses traditional lecture formats by dedicating classroom time to application and collaboration, where students can explain concepts to one another to reinforce understanding.[33] Integrating learning by teaching into flipped classrooms enhances retention through post-video student-led explanations, as learners articulate and clarify material during group interactions.[34] Inanimate teaching variations adapt the method for individual practice by having learners explain concepts to non-responsive objects or imaginary audiences, promoting self-clarification without peer involvement. A notable example is "plastic platypus learning," where students teach to a toy platypus to simplify and communicate ideas, drawing from broader self-explanation strategies in educational settings.[35] Similarly, rubber duck debugging, originating from programming practices in the late 1990s, involves programmers verbalizing code line-by-line to an inanimate rubber duck to identify errors, a technique that fosters deeper comprehension through articulated reasoning. The Feynman technique extends this by encouraging learners to pretend-teach complex topics to a novice or empty room, simplifying explanations to reveal knowledge gaps, as inspired by physicist Richard Feynman's emphasis on clear articulation for mastery.[36] Solo or virtual adaptations of learning by teaching allow preparation of lessons for recorded delivery or online forums, yielding benefits comparable to live interactions through enhanced self-explanation. Research demonstrates that explaining material to a fictitious or remote audience, without real-time feedback, still improves retention by prompting retrieval and organization of knowledge, as shown in experiments where students outperformed restudying groups on comprehension tests.[37] For instance, 2021 studies found that non-interactive teaching to absent audiences boosted learning outcomes in science topics, attributing gains to the cognitive effort of generating explanations. Hybrid examples combine these variations in university settings, such as seminars where students first teach concepts to AI chatbots or robots before peer sessions, refining explanations through simulated dialogue. In one implementation, learners explained programming problems to a listening robot, which improved problem-solving by mimicking attentive feedback and encouraging precise articulation, bridging solo practice with collaborative preparation.[39]Research and Effectiveness
Key Empirical Studies
One of the earliest comprehensive investigations into the benefits of learning by teaching came from a meta-analysis by Cohen, Kulik, and Kulik (1982), which reviewed 65 independent evaluations of school tutoring programs involving over 1,000 participants across elementary and secondary levels. The analysis revealed that students serving as tutors achieved an average gain of 0.40 standard deviations in academic performance compared to non-tutoring peers, with similar positive effects on attitudes toward the subject but negligible impacts on self-esteem. In the development of the LdL (Lernen durch Lehren) approach during the 1980s, Jean-Pol Martin conducted classroom experiments with hundreds of secondary school students in German schools, where groups prepared and delivered lessons on foreign language topics, leading to observed improvements in content mastery and retention through active explanation and peer interaction. A related empirical study by Annis (1983) involved 130 college undergraduates randomly assigned to five conditions: reading, studying, preparing to teach, teaching without interaction, or teaching with interaction. Results from pre- and post-tests showed that participants in the teaching conditions outperformed those in reading or studying alone on both content knowledge and cognitive processing measures, with the interactive teaching group demonstrating the strongest gains in comprehension and recall.[40] Qualitative research by Grzega (2005) examined LdL implementation in English language classes with university students, analyzing classroom observations and student reflections to highlight increased engagement, motivation, and collaborative skills, as students took ownership of lesson design and delivery, fostering deeper linguistic understanding over traditional lectures.[15] More recent work by Fiorella and Mayer (2013) conducted two experiments with 134 undergraduates studying scientific texts, comparing studying alone, expecting to teach, and actually teaching. Findings indicated that the teaching expectancy condition improved immediate and delayed retention by approximately 16% over studying alone, while actual teaching yielded an additional 9% benefit, attributed to enhanced cognitive processing during preparation. A 2025 study by Firat and colleagues, published in Educational Psychology Review, examined non-interactive teaching across multiple experiments with university students, finding that it fosters conceptual knowledge when combined with drawing activities, with effect sizes around 0.40-0.50 standard deviations in retention and transfer compared to studying alone, particularly in science learning contexts.[41] Across these studies, common methodologies include randomized controlled designs with pre- and post-tests assessing knowledge retention and application, alongside control groups contrasting individual study with teaching activities; sample sizes typically range from 50 to over 1,000 participants, spanning K-12 and higher education contexts.Benefits, Limitations, and Criticisms
Learning by teaching offers several evidence-based benefits, particularly in enhancing knowledge retention and comprehension. Students who engage in teaching others without relying on notes demonstrate significantly better understanding and long-term retention compared to those who simply restudy material or perform unrelated tasks, as the act of teaching prompts retrieval practice that strengthens memory encoding.[20][42] This approach also fosters skill development in communication and leadership, as peer tutors must articulate concepts clearly and guide discussions, leading to improved interpersonal abilities and confidence in explanatory roles.[43] Additionally, assuming active teaching roles boosts student motivation and engagement, transforming passive learners into proactive participants who feel a greater sense of ownership over their learning process.[44] Despite these advantages, learning by teaching has notable limitations that can hinder its practical application. Preparation for teaching activities is often time-intensive for educators, straining instructional planning.[45] Without close supervision, there is a risk of misinformation propagation, as novice tutors may inadvertently reinforce errors or misconceptions among peers, particularly in unstructured settings.[46] Criticisms of learning by teaching often center on equity issues, where advanced or high-status students tend to benefit more by dominating interactions, while lower-achieving or marginalized peers receive fewer opportunities to learn, exacerbating achievement gaps.[47] This disparity is highlighted in early reviews of peer tutoring, which noted that without intervention, able students reinforce their advantages, disadvantaging strugglers in heterogeneous groups. Cultural biases in group dynamics further compound these concerns, as differing norms around participation and authority can silence students from collectivist or minority backgrounds, leading to unequal contributions and outcomes.[48] To address these challenges, mitigation strategies include comprehensive teacher training to facilitate balanced grouping and monitor dynamics, ensuring equitable participation through structured roles and status interventions.[49] Hybrid models, blending teaching activities with traditional elements, can also reduce preparation load by distributing responsibilities and providing scalable support in large classes.[50]Modern Applications
In Traditional Education
In K-12 settings, learning by teaching manifests through structured peer instruction programs that encourage students to explain concepts to classmates, fostering active engagement and retention. In Germany, the Lernen durch Lehren (LdL) method, pioneered by Jean-Pol Martin in the 1980s, has been widely adopted in secondary schools since the 1990s, particularly for preparing students for the Abitur examinations in subjects such as history. This approach involves students researching and presenting historical topics to peers, which teachers report enhances comprehension and critical analysis of complex events.[15][51] A notable example comes from U.S. middle schools, where the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has promoted peer-led laboratory activities since the early 2010s as part of cooperative learning initiatives. In these programs, students take turns leading experiments in science classes, such as demonstrating chemical reactions or ecological simulations, which builds confidence and deepens understanding of scientific processes through explanation and peer questioning. Teachers observe that such peer labs improve collaborative skills and reduce misconceptions compared to traditional demonstrations.[52] In higher education, learning by teaching is often implemented via peer-led team learning (PLTL) workshops, where undergraduate students facilitate sessions on advanced topics for their peers. PLTL has been applied in introductory biology and other STEM courses, with peer leaders guiding discussions on topics like cellular processes and genetics; studies show this leads to higher retention rates compared to lecture-only formats.[53] Subject-specific applications highlight the versatility of learning by teaching across disciplines. In language education, Martin's LdL model for French instruction requires high school students to prepare and deliver lessons on grammar and vocabulary to classmates, promoting fluency and cultural insight through role reversal.[54] In mathematics, university students explaining proofs to peers—such as geometric theorems or algebraic derivations—strengthens logical reasoning, with empirical studies indicating improved proof-writing skills via peer critiques and revisions.[55] Interdisciplinary uses include project-based service-learning, where students collaborate across fields to create educational materials for community groups. Practical outcomes underscore the method's impact in traditional classrooms. Teachers frequently report that students achieve deeper conceptual understanding when teaching material, as the process of articulating ideas reveals and resolves knowledge gaps. A 2023 pilot study on active learning formats, including peer teaching, found that most participants preferred interactive methods over traditional lectures for maintaining engagement and retention.[56]In Technology and Human-Robot Interaction
In technology and human-robot interaction, learning by teaching has been integrated through teachable agents, where students instruct software-based entities to reinforce their own understanding. A seminal example is Betty's Brain, developed in the 2000s at Vanderbilt University, which employs a learning-by-teaching paradigm in science education. Students construct concept maps to teach the virtual agent Betty about topics like river ecosystems, receiving feedback on inaccuracies to promote self-regulated learning and metacognition.[57] Empirical studies with Betty's Brain have demonstrated significant pre-post learning gains in science concepts, particularly among engaged students who iteratively refine their teaching.[57] Human-robot interaction (HRI) extends this approach by positioning physical robots as tutees, fostering deeper engagement through embodied interactions. Studies have shown that children teaching humanoid robots exhibit increased engagement, as the robots' responses encourage explanatory behaviors.[58] Similarly, collaborative HRI scenarios have enhanced knowledge retention through consistent feedback. Research from the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction highlights how empathetic robot responses—such as acknowledging confusion or enthusiasm—further boost retention by building rapport and motivating sustained teaching efforts.[58] Online platforms have adapted learning by teaching for remote and collaborative environments, especially following the 2020 pandemic. Post-pandemic adaptations include Discord-based teaching circles, where learners form virtual groups to tutor each other on subjects like mathematics, leveraging voice and text channels for real-time feedback and explanation. Virtual reality (VR) simulations enable inanimate teaching by allowing users to instruct digital avatars or objects, improving conceptual clarity through immersive feedback loops.[59] Emerging trends point toward advanced AI tutors enabling personalized learning through interactive dialogues where users refine explanations based on AI queries. However, these integrations raise ethical considerations, including biases in robot learning models that could perpetuate inequalities if training data reflects societal stereotypes, necessitating transparent algorithms and diverse datasets in HRI design.[60]References
- https://www.[researchgate](/page/ResearchGate).net/publication/355896075_Learning-by-Teaching_Without_Audience_Presence_or_Interaction_When_and_Why_Does_it_Work

