Incognito321

2006-10-30T23:06:00.000-08:00

NETWORKS

We need to start establishing networks on two levels:

(1) Networks of information (via the Internet);

(2) Networks of communities : Blogs and Wikis.

See BLOGS, WIKIS AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER at

http://www.luciferjones.org/podcasts.htm

Axel Bruns: http://snurb.info/

One difficulty with current web pages is that they are passive - generally they allow no interaction. Blogs, however, allow and often encourage interaction.

Wikis are an open architecture of collaboration with proactive engagement.

When we talk about issues such as authority of content and interactivity, and the necessity of engagement with technology, we inevitably come back to the issue of what our fundamental values are - along with the motivations for our involvement with teaching, learning etc.

2006-10-30T22:59:00.000-08:00

DEEP LEARNING AND INFORMATION ORGANISATION

When encouraging students to engage in deep learning (see http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/deepsurf.htm) a critical concern will be to support them in the organisation of information.

Below is an excerpt from this article: http://www.unca.edu/et/br110698.html

"Bowden and Marton review the learning research literature to define what learning entails and to discover the elusive qualities which account for the different levels of learning that students demonstrate. What students learn, they find, depends most importantly on how they experience learning opportunities. At one extreme the learner experiences a text or an experiment as merely a sequence of ideas or events, without understanding the relationship of the parts to one another or to the whole. Asked to explain something they have observed or experienced, these surface learners frequently list the sequence of events -- "this happened, then this happened, then this happened." 'Learning' involves moving from a more superficial to deeper levels of understanding. Deep learning consists of the ability to organize information in a hierarchical order in which themes, subthemes, and patterns are supported with evidence and examples. The learner "discerns the main theme,..discerns sub-themes within the whole and examples by means of which themes are illustrated or illuminated"(31). Moreover, they suggest, deep learning not only reflects a richer, more complex understanding of the subject matter, but also that the experience of deep learning better equips the learner to excel in future learning opportunities because the learner can discern both familiar patterns and critical variations in entirely new surface conditions. Thus, learning at both the individual and collective level involves coming to see familiar phenomena in new ways, "thereby widening the world we experience"(17), (i.e., widening the range of variables whose causal effects we understand and ultimately allowing us to imagine greater variability than we actually experience)."

2006-10-30T22:18:00.000-08:00

REMIX PROJECT: Facilitating and Deep Learning in the Adult Online Learner

First, here are some web-sites and materials related to the facilitating of deep learning:

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/cut/options/Nov_98/TeachingStrategies_en.htm

http://www.thecademy.net/papers/community.pdf

Online learning:

http://globalsummit.educationau.edu.au/globalsummit/papers/young.pdf

http://globalsummit.educationau.edu.au/globalsummit/papers/d_spender.pdf

Some indicators of a good online learning facilitator appear at this website (but don't panic about the missing apostrophes):

http://education.qld.gov.au/learningplace/onlinelearning/develop/facilitators.html

An online bibliography: http://clp.cqu.edu.au/online_articles.htm

A lengthy and quite detailed article looking at the facilitation of online learning:

http://pre2005.flexiblelearning.net.au/guides/facilitation.pdf

A lot of research has suggested that facilitation for deep learning needs above all to help in the organistion of information.

A review of Bloom's taxonomy:

http://www.biology.lsu.edu/heydrjay/Bloom

2006-10-15T06:07:00.000-07:00

A RANDOM THOUGHT

Do you think Piaget and Vygotksy ever felt like this?

2006-10-14T23:24:00.000-07:00

AND FINALLY (at least in relation to Multiple Intelligences....)

A couple of sites which can be used to sort out which of the various intelligences is dominant at any given time:

http://www.mitest.com/o7inte~1.htm

http://www2.bgfl.org/bgfl2/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/questions/questions.cfm

2006-10-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

Multiple Intelligences

Here is a diagram which helps to understand the theory of multiple intelligences:

And another:

2006-10-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

MUTLIPLE INTELLIGENCES - DON'T PANIC!

I notice that one of the posts - on multiple intelligences - failed to appear on the blog.

So here is a reconstructed post on that topic - or at least a post incorporating some of the available material on multiple intelligences and their impact on the classroom.

There is a lot of text, but it is good stuff (and there is always the risk that a hyperlink will become obsolete. Really I am doing you a favour, dear reader, and you will thank me for it one day).

Here is an introduction:

The theory of multiple intelligences was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. It suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited. Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences are:

Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"):
Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")
Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")
Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart")
Musical intelligence ("music smart")
Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")
Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")
Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")

Dr. Gardner says that our schools and culture focus most of their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. We esteem the highly articulate or logical people of our culture. However, Dr. Gardner says that we should also place equal attention on individuals who show gifts in the other intelligences: the artists, architects, musicians, naturalists, designers, dancers, therapists, entrepreneurs, and others who enrich the world in which we live. Unfortunately, many children who have these gifts don’t receive much reinforcement for them in school. Many of these kids, in fact, end up being labeled "learning disabled," "ADD (attention deficit disorder," or simply underachievers, when their unique ways of thinking and learning aren’t addressed by a heavily linguistic or logical-mathematical classroom. The theory of multiple intelligences proposes a major transformation in the way our schools are run. It suggests that teachers be trained to present their lessons in a wide variety of ways using music, cooperative learning, art activities, role play, multimedia, field trips, inner reflection, and much more .
The good news is that the theory of multiple intelligences has grabbed the attention of many educators around the country, and hundreds of schools are currently using its philosophy to redesign the way it educates children. The bad new is that there are thousands of schools still out there that teach in the same old dull way, through dry lectures, and boring worksheets and textbooks. The challenge is to get this information out to many more teachers, school administrators, and others who work with children, so that each child has the opportunity to learn in ways harmonious with their unique minds.
The theory of multiple intelligences also has strong implications for adult learning and development. Many adults find themselves in jobs that do not make optimal use of their most highly developed intelligences (for example, the highly bodily-kinesthetic individual who is stuck in a linguistic or logical desk-job when he or she would be much happier in a job where they could move around, such as a recreational leader, a forest ranger, or physical therapist). The theory of multiple intelligences gives adults a whole new way to look at their lives, examining potentials that they left behind in their childhood (such as a love for art or drama) but now have the opportunity to develop through courses, hobbies, or other programs of self-development.

How to Teach or Learn Anything 8 Different Ways
One of the most remarkable features of the theory of multiple intelligences is how it provides eight different potential pathways to learning. If a teacher is having difficulty reaching a student in the more traditional linguistic or logical ways of instruction, the theory of multiple intelligences suggests several other ways in which the material might be presented to facilitate effective learning. Whether you are a kindergarten teacher, a graduate school instructor, or an adult learner seeking better ways of pursuing self-study on any subject of interest, the same basic guidelines apply. Whatever you are teaching or learning, see how you might connect it with

words (linguistic intelligence)
numbers or logic (logical-mathematical intelligence)
pictures (spatial intelligence)
music (musical intelligence)
self-reflection (intrapersonal intelligence)
a physical experience (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence)
a social experience (interpersonal intelligence), and/or
an experience in the natural world. (naturalist intelligence)

For example, if you’re teaching or learning about the law of supply and demand in economics, you might read about it (linguistic), study mathematical formulas that express it (logical-mathematical), examine a graphic chart that illustrates the principle (spatial), observe the law in the natural world (naturalist) or in the human world of commerce (interpersonal); examine the law in terms of your own body [e.g. when you supply your body with lots of food, the hunger demand goes down; when there's very little supply, your stomach's demand for food goes way up and you get hungry] (bodily-kinesthetic and intrapersonal); and/or write a song (or find an existing song) that demonstrates the law (perhaps Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing?").

You don’t have to teach or learn something in all eight ways, just see what the possibilities are, and then decide which particular pathways interest you the most, or seem to be the most effective teaching or learning tools. The theory of multiple intelligences is so intriguing because it expands our horizon of available teaching/learning tools beyond the conventional linguistic and logical methods used in most schools (e.g. lecture, textbooks, writing assignments, formulas, etc.). To get started, put the topic of whatever you’re interested in teaching or learning about in the center of a blank sheet of paper, and draw eight straight lines or "spokes" radiating out from this topic. Label each line with a different intelligence. Then start brainstorming ideas for teaching or learning that topic and write down ideas next to each intelligence (this is a spatial-linguistic approach of brainstorming; you might want to do this in other ways as well, using a tape-recorder, having a group brainstorming session, etc.). Have fun!

Source:http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm

And this is some information on MI in the classroom:

Multiple Intelligences In The Classroom
Of the seven different ways we learn, schools focus on only two.Add the other five, and you increase the chances of success
by Bruce Campbell
One of the articles in The Learning Revolution (IC#27)Winter 1991, Page 12Copyright (c)1991, 1996 by Context Institute

The story of much recent innovation in education follows a familiar pattern: the theory of an innovative thinker (in this case, Harvard's Howard Gardner) gets applied by an innovative practitioner (third grade teacher Bruce Campbell), who puts the flesh of action on the bones of thinking. Along the way, theories get substantiated, the subjects of the successful experiment benefit greatly - and, as Bruce Campbell reports in this self-interview, the experimenter is forever altered.

Bruce, together with his wife Linda MacRae-Campbell and Dee Dickinson (Dee and Linda are guest editors for this issue), is currently co-authoring a book titled LearningWorks: Teaching and Learning through the Multiple Intelligences. Contact the Campbells at 19614 Soundview Drive, Stanwood, WA 98292, 206/652-9502.

If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.
- Margaret Mead

In recent years, new definitions of intelligence have gained acceptance and have dramatically enhanced the appraisal of human competencies. Howard Gardner of Harvard University in his book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, suggests that there are at least seven human intelligences, two of which, verbal/linguistic intelligence and logical/mathematical intelligence, have dominated the traditional pedagogy of western societies.
The five non-traditional intelligen

ces, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal, have generally been overlooked in education. However, if we can develop ways to teach and learn by engaging all seven intelligences, we will increase the possibilities for student success and create the opportunity to, in Margaret Mead's words, "weave a social fabric in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place."

How can the Multiple Intelligences be implemented in the classroom?
To implement Gardner's theory in an educational setting, I organized my third grade classroom in Marysville, Washington, into seven learning centers, each dedicated to one of the seven intelligences. The students spend approximately two-thirds of each school day moving through the centers - 15 to 20 minutes at each center. Curriculum is thematic, and the centers provide seven different ways for the students to learn the subject matter.

Each day begins with a brief lecture and discussion explaining one aspect of the current theme. For example, during a unit on outer space, the morning's lecture might focus on spiral galaxies. In a unit about the arts of Africa, one lecture might describe the Adinkra textile patterns of Ghana. After the morning lecture, a timer is set and students - in groups of three or four - start work at their centers, eventually rotating through all seven.

What kinds of learning activities take place at each center?

All students learn each day's lesson in seven ways. They build models, dance, make collaborative decisions, create songs, solve deductive reasoning problems, read, write, and illustrate all in one school day. Some more specific examples of activities at each center follow:
In the Personal Work Center (Intrapersonal Intelligence), students explore the present area of study through research, reflection, or individual projects.
In the Working Together Center (Interpersonal Intelligence), they develop cooperative learning skills as they solve problems, answer questions, create learning games, brainstorm ideas and discuss that day's topic collaboratively.
In the Music Center (Musical Intelligence), students compose and sing songs about the subject matter, make their own instruments, and learn in rhythmical ways.
In the Art Center (Spatial Intelligence), they explore a subject area using diverse art media, manipulables, puzzles, charts, and pictures.
In the Building Center (Kinesthetic Intelligence), they build models, dramatize events, and dance, all in ways that relate to the content of that day's subject matter.
In the Reading Center (Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence), students read, write, and learn in many traditional modes. They analyze and organize information in written form.

In the Math & Science Center (Logical/ Mathematical Intelligence), they work with math games, manipulatives, mathematical concepts, science experiments, deductive reasoning, and problem solving.
Following their work at the centers, a few minutes are set aside for groups and individual students to share their work from the centers. Much of the remainder of the day is spent with students working on independent projects, either individually or in small groups where they apply the diverse skills developed at the centers. The daily work at the seven centers profoundly influences their ability to make informative, entertaining, multimodal presentations of their studies. Additionally, it is common for parents to comment on how much more expressive their children have become at home.

What are some of the results of this program?

During the 1989-1990 school year, an action research project was conducted in my classroom to assess the effects of this multimodal learning format. A daily teacher's journal was kept with specific entries recording the following:
general daily comments
a daily evaluation of how focused or "on-task" students were
an evaluation of the transitions between centers
an explanation of any discipline problems
a self-assessment - how the teacher's time was used
tracking of three individuals, previously identified as students with behavior problems.
In addition, a Classroom Climate Survey was administered 12 times during the year, a Student Assessment Inventory of work at the seven centers was administered nine times during the year, and a Center Group Survey was administered eight times during the year.

The research data revealed the following:
1. The students develop increased responsibility, self-direction and independence over the course of the year. Although no attempt was made to compare this group of students with those in other third grade classes, the self-direction and motivation of these students was apparent to numerous classroom visitors. The students became skilled at developing their own projects, gathering the necessary resources and materials, and making well-planned presentations of all kinds.
2. Discipline problems were significantly reduced. Students previously identified as having serious behavior problems showed rapid improvement during the first six weeks of school. By mid-year, they were making important contributions to their groups. And by year's end, they had assumed positive leadership roles which had not formerly been evident.
3. All students developed and applied new skills. In the fall, most students described only one center as their "favorite" and as the one where they felt confident. (The distribution among the seven centers was relatively even.) By mid-year, most identified three to four favorite centers. By year's end, every student identified at least six centers which were favorites and at which they felt skilled. Moreover, they were all making multimodal presentations of independent projects including songs, skits, visuals, poems, games, surveys, puzzles, and group participation activities.
4. Cooperative learning skills improved in all students. Since so much of the center work was collaborative, students became highly skilled at listening, helping each other, sharing leadership in different activities, accommodating group changes, and introducing new classmates to the program. They learned not only to respect each other, but also to appreciate and call upon the unique gifts and abilities of their classmates.
5. Academic achievement improved. Standardized test scores were above state and national averages in all areas. Retention was high on a classroom year-end test of all areas studied during the year. Methods for recalling information were predominantly musical, visual and kinesthetic, indicating the influence of working through the different intelligences. Students who had previously been unsuccessful in school became high achievers in new areas.

In summary, it is clear that students' learning improved. Many students said they enjoyed school for the first time. And as the school year progressed, new skills emerged: some students discovered musical, artistic, literary, mathematical and other new-found capacities and abilities. Others became skilled leaders. In addition, self-confidence and motivation increased significantly. Finally, students developed responsibility, self-reliance and independence as they took an active role in shaping their own learning experiences.

What is the teacher's role in a Multiple Intelligences program?

The teacher's role also transforms in this type of program. I developed skills different from those I would develop by standing in front of a class lecturing each day. I need to observe my students from seven new perspectives. In planning the centers, I find I am pushing my students from behind rather than pulling them from in front. Also I am working with them, rather than for them. I explore what they explore, discover what they discover, and often learn what they learn. I find my satisfaction in their enthusiasm for learning and independence, rather than in their test scores and ability to sit quietly. And most importantly, because I am planning for such a diversity of activities, I have become more creative and multimodal in my own thinking and my own learning. I can now comfortably write and sing songs. I am learning to draw and paint. I see growth and development within myself. I sometimes wonder who is changing the most, my students or myself.

Why is a Multiple Intelligences model successful?

The reasons for the academic and behavioral success of the program appear to be twofold. First, every student has an opportunity to specialize and excel in at least one area. Usually, however, it is three or four. In the two years since this program was initiated, I have not had one student who was unable to find an area of specialty and success. Secondly, each student learns the subject matter in a variety of different ways, thereby multiplying chances of successfully understanding and retaining that information.
Many student needs are met through this program. Their intellectual needs are met by constantly being challenged and frequently exercising their creativity. At the same time, their emotional needs are met by working closely with others. They develop diverse strengths, and they understand themselves better as individuals.
The emphasis in such a program is upon learning rather than teaching. The students' interests and developmental needs dictate the direction of the program. Such a model adapts to students, rather than expecting students to adapt to it. From my own classroom experiences, I believe that teaching and learning through the multiple intelligences helps solve many common school problems and optimizes the learning experience for students and teachers alike. Again following Margaret Mead, if we educate to engage the "whole gamut of human potentialities" in the classroom, society will benefit by enabling "each diverse human gift to find its fitting place."

Four Factors In Educational Reform
by Howard Gardner

Many of us interested in efforts at educational reform have focused on the learner or student, be she a young child in preschool or an adult bent on acquiring a new skill. It is clarifying to have such a focus and, indeed, any efforts at reform are doomed to fail unless they concentrate on the properties and potentials of the individual learner. My own work on multiple intelligences has partaken of this general focus; colleagues and I have sought to foster a range of intellectual strengths in our students.
But after several years of active involvement in efforts at educational reform, I am convinced that success depends upon the active involvement of at least four factors:
Assessment * Unless one is able to assess the learning that takes place in different domains, and by different cognitive processes, even superior curricular innovations are destined to remain unutilized. In this country, assessment drives instruction. We must devise procedures and instruments which are "intelligence-fair" and which allow us to look directly at the kinds of learning in which we are interested.
Curriculum * Far too much of what is taught today is included primarily for historical reasons. Even teachers, not to mention students, often cannot explain why a certain topic needs to be covered in school. We need to reconfigure curricula so that they focus on skills, knowledge, and above all, understandings that are truly desirable in out country today. And we need to adapt those curricula as much as possible to the particular learning styles and strengths of students.
Teacher Education * While most teacher education institutions make an honest effort to produce teaching candidates of high quality, these institutions have not been at the forefront of efforts at educational improvement. Too often they are weighted down by students of indifferent quality and by excessive - and often counterproductive - requirements which surround training and certification. We need to attract stronger individuals into teaching, improve conditions so that they will remain in teaching, and use our master teachers to help train the next generation of students and teachers.
Community Participation * In the past, Americans have been content to place most educational burdens on the schools. This is no longer a viable option. The increasing cognitive demands of schooling, the severe problems in our society today, and the need for support of students which extends well beyond the 9-3 period each day, all make it essential that other individuals and institutions contribute to the educational process. In addition to support from family members and other mentoring adults, such institutions as business, the professions, and especially museums need to be involved much more intimately in the educational process.
Too often, Americans have responded to educational needs only in times of crisis. This is an unacceptable approach. Education works effectively only when responsibility is assumed over the long run. We have made significant progress in this regard over the past decade. There is reason to be optimistic for students of the future, as dedicated individuals continue to collaborate in solving the challenging educational problems of our time.

Dr. Howard Gardner is a Professor of Education and Co-chair of Project Zero at Harvard University. He is the author of nine books, including Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983), and To Open Minds: Chinese Clues to the Dilemma of Comtemporary Education (1989).

Source:http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC27/Campbell.htm

Enough reading for the moment.

2006-10-10T04:01:00.001-07:00

TRANSFORMATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL

Why should we devote such energies to considering how to create the ideal learning environment for students? Why do we bother considering how to provide a genuine sense of community, an environment which supports and encourages reflection and deep learning, which ensures that each student is valued and feels accepted, which attends to the needs of students for power and freedom in the classroom? Principally, we bother because education is about transformation. It is not simply about pouring information into minds. It is about transforming students into amazing adults through nurturing the creative, constructive - based learning of the students.

I found myself on the cusp of including some thoughts on the nature of the transformation I would like to see in the students participating in such an environment. And I think I can safely say that I would like to see emerging from such a learning space students who have above all a healthy sense of their own value and worth, who have an inquisitiveness about their world (and especially about those aspects of the world that interest them), an ability to explore that inquisitiveness, and who have had the chance to participate in a genuine community.

Beyond that, however, I am not convinced that it would be right to suggest the sort of transformation a student ought to undergo. One of the tensions which I experience in teaching, and which I imagine I will experience for many years to come, is the necessity of being aware of situations in which I place my own needs and desires above those of my students. My presence in the learning environment is, when all is said and done, not a matter of meeting my needs. It is a matter of meeting the needs of the student. Furthermore, a constructivist educational model suggests that the final outcome is really in the hands of the student - it is not something to be predetermined (in any significant detail).

The following quotation seems quite appropriate: "nothing happens without 'personal transformation.' And the only safe space to allow for this transformation is a learning community." (Source: http://www.solonline.org/repository/download/transform.html?item_id=505852)

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CULUTRE OF THE SCHOOL

The final element in the creation of the ideal learning environment is transformation of the culture of the school.

When I reflect on the nine features described thus far in this blog, I realize that while some are implemented to a certain extent within the school at which I teach, many are not. I am not sure, for example, that (generally speaking) the school has truly adopted a constructivist model of learning. Individual teachers, of course, do encourage constructivism; some have even pioneered connectivist programs within their own subject areas. But there appears to be a reservoir of the 'empty vessel needing to be filled' approach to education.

Against that background, transformation of the culture of the school seems a huge, massively onerous task.

But it is important to remember that this is a goal; and as in so many areas of life, it is a matter of taking one step at a time, and proceeding one day at a time.

Realistically, a wholesale change in the structure and procedure of schools is not going to happen. And in fact such change is unnecessary. Transformation of the culture of the school to the ideal learning environment need not take place in a top-down fashion, starting with a directive from the management of the school and gradually trickling down to the individual teachers and classrooms. It is a process and a view of education and learning which can be started by an individual teacher who is dedicated and absolutely convinced of the value of what she or he is proposing. This applies as much to me as to any other member of the teaching staff. I can, for example, start by encouraging students to develop networks of sources to support their learning. Such networks are perhaps the first step towards reflection, depp learning and eventually creativity within student learning. I can begin to encourage the students to approach their learning reflectively and critically. I can speak with other teachers about their experiences of contstructivist learning and transformative learning. The goal need not be reached over night; it is enough to be convinced of the value of these ten elements of the ideal learning environment, and to be committed to striving to introduce them into my own experience of teaching and learning.

2006-10-10T04:01:00.000-07:00

A BUMPER BLOG POST!

Time to up the ante and get a few more of the elements of the ideal learning place on the map, my friends. Hold on to your hats!!!

FREEDOM AND POWER IN THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

The idea that students need both freedom and power in the learning environment in order that they might have the ideal learning environment is perhaps threatening for the traditional model of teaching. But freedom and power are in a sense the necessary corollaries of an environment which respects students' individual and distinctive gifts and talents and which encourages their deep, self-directed exploration of the subjects under study. Where students have freedom and power in the learning environment, that environment becomes, to an extent, a safe place - a place which is the domain of the students, not a place to which they come with hesitation or fear or uncertainty or a sense of being dominated. The learning environment is an environment which the students can truly call their own.

This is an extract from an article on empowering students. It comes from the following site: http://www.uscharterschools.org/cs/resources/view/ces_res/86. It's a long extract, but I think it gives some idea of the concept of students' freedom and power in the learning environment.

Students are too often the forgotten heart of school reform-its whole purpose and its major resource. how can their power be nurtured and tapped as schools work toward more active learning, more personal and decent school climates, and higher standards and expectations?

THE KIDS PILED OUT OF VANS into the May splendor of the summer camp nestled in the New Hampshire mountains, a mix of excitement and shyness in the way they stood about in clusters, batting away mayflies and wondering what to do next. From high schools as far flung as Zuni, New Mexico and Anchorage, Alaska, New York City and suburban St. Louis, they knew they had come to blaze new trails.
But despite the idyllic setting, their business here was no outdoor challenge. Instead, these participants in the third national conference of the Coalition Student Network would spend the next three days puzzling out their own role in the complex issues of Essential School reform.
How might they take on a more active and independent role in the classroom, using their teachers as coaches and not deliverers of knowledge? Did they have the right to pursue their own interests in the curriculum, or to follow fewer subjects in greater depth? How could they obtain the democratic governance that would give them a true voice in school policy and decision-making? In their brief tenure as students, how could they turn isolated instances of empowerment into a unified nationwide movement that represented their needs and concerns?
In small groups over the next few days, 250 kids from 24 schools began to trade information, share stories of success and frustration, come up with tentative suggestions. Hesitantly at first and then with growing confidence, they mined their common experiences and began to draft new goals. For this older onlooker, the process evoked poignant memories of early feminist consciousness-raising groups. Will they let us do this? What if we asked for that? The very language emerged from a long history of disparagement and disenfranchisementÃ³but in this case the cause was not gender but youth.
"Student voices are the missing link in school reform," Theodore Sizer has said. Despite the rhetoric of change, students are too often its subjects and not its agents, their tenure too fleeting to accumulate real weight. They come to high school eager for the privileges of young adulthood, but school structures trivialize those privileges inside the classroom and out. The student council plans the senior prom; the principal decides who gets expelled; the good student feeds back what the teacher wants.
But in Essential schools from coast to coast, a growing impatience with the tension between theory and practice has lent new energy to serious student involvement. If Sizer's philosophy rests on the belief that all students deserve practice in the habits of mind characterizing a democratic citizenry, many school people argue, schools must structure themselves to provide that. If students are to reason things out on their own, we must ask them to come up with the questions, not just the answers. Individual Essential schools have led this movement by changing their attitudes and practices in small ways and large. And a growing national network is emerging to encourage such changes; the 1994 New Hampshire student conference followed two like forums in Hartford and St. Louis in 1993.

Curriculum and Instruction

How can students begin to take a more meaningful role in their own schooling? Paradoxically, even those eager for change often resist their teachers' attempts to transfer responsibility for learning in new ways, teachers note. "As we give up the totalitarian power structure in our classrooms," says Randy Wisehart, who teaches humanities at Hibberd Middle School in Rich-mond, Indiana, "we must recognize the responsibility of providing scaffolding. If we don't teach students how to use their new authority, we shouldn't be surprised by their difficulty in reaching high expectations."
Many Essential school teachers have created such scaffolding by inviting kids to help decide what their studies will include and why, how they will learn, and how well they are progressing. "The entire constructivist tradition is predicated on the idea of student autonomy," argues Alfie Kohn in "Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide" (Phi Delta Kappan, Sept. 1993), "the chance for students to view learning as something under their control rather than as disembodied, objectified subject matter."
Sometimes this means finding connections between required subjects like history or mathematics and real-world projects that interest students. Seventh-grade students at Thayer High School in Winchester, New Hampshire, for instance, launched a voter-registration drive when they realized a minority of residents were making decisions for the town. Seniors studying Long Island history and culture at North Shore High School in Seacliff, New York actually built a wooden boat over several years, confronting dozens of mathematical problems in the process, then used the vessel to explore the natural history and geography of the nearby Sound. Harmony School middle-schoolers in Bloomington, Indiana conducted a year-long publicity campaign to save a local work of sculpture that had been threatened by vandalism. Any student at Parkway South High School near St. Louis can devise an independent "mastery project" springing from course studies but addressing an individual interest.
Other students exert influence on the course offerings themselves. At Brimmer and May, a small school near Boston, student requests led to a calculus course and one on the Holocaust. At Bronxville (NY) High School, seniors formally proposed to the school board a five-week internship or community-service project during senior spring, to relate their high school years to the broader world beyond. (The petition was denied pending further study.) Students can create courses not offered at School Without Walls in Rochester, New York by finding someone in the community to teach them or signing up at a local college, as long as the school approves a written proposal including learning goals and evaluation criteria.
Once in the classroom, teachers can help students take ownership of their coursework by discussing with them at the start of a unit what they already know about a subject and what they would like to find out. As kids explore why someone would consider a topic important enough to require, they not only make new connections to their own interests but can also begin to define criteria of excellence based on examples drawn from their own experience.
"I call this 'giving the kids the keys' because it helps kids learn to drive their own education in a supportive context," says Bil Johnson, a CES National Re:Learning Faculty member who has created an advisory curriculum aimed at increasing student ownership of their studies. (See sidebar, page 4.) "If we can involve students routinely in articulating the criteria for excellent work, we go beyond top-down, beyond bottom-up, to 'inside-out' reform."
Once they internalize these standards for excellence, students can practice them by helping evaluate their own and others' work. In San Diego, O'Farrell Community School students turn in self-evaluations with every math quiz in Clyde Yoshida's classes, outlining what they still need to learn in order to do better. Randy Wisehart's students at Hibberd Middle School routinely participate in their own assessment, even going so far as to suggest their course grades and support the suggestion with evidence. (See sidebar, page 6.) At New York's University Heights High School, students sit as peer evaluators together with teachers and parents in regular "roundtable presentations" that cap study units at every grade level. And when exit exhibitions take place at schools like Walden III in Racine, Wisconsin and Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, South Carolina, students are members of each graduation committee.
Inviting students to help set and evaluate their goals leads naturally to the next step: having decided where they're headed, students can participate in shaping the route they will take to get there. For Essential school teachers, this means abandoning the lecturer's stance at the front of the class in favor of a broad choice including individual, small-group, and whole-group activities.
Orienting a course around "essential questions" helps this process. As students break a subject into specific questions, sort themselves into groups to explore these questions, plan and conduct an investigation, and figure out how to share what they have learned with the rest of the class, they exert considerable power over their own learning path and master valuable skills like cooperation and research.
More important still, Ted Sizer points out, is that students gain practice in learning on their own. "The most important reason to give kids authority in the classroom is so they acquire the habit of reasoning out for themselves the intellectual problems we all face," he says. "Ask a group to come up with a solution for the Israeli-Jordanian conflict, for example, and eventually they will discover that the dilemma is about not just religion but water resources as well." In situations like this, teachers can serve primarily as coaches, continually prodding students to question and make sense of the material they work with.
Virtually every Coalition member school has made real changes along these lines, aiming toward a more active and student-centered classroom practice. At Indiana's Harmony School, students from kindergarten through high school routinely mix in groups exploring different topics, and it's common for kids to coach each other. In one striking example, junior Mariby Parsons and sophomore Chris Evilore wrote and performed a mini-opera that laid out for younger children the rudiments of scientific notation. "They say you learn 10 percent of what you hear, 20 percent of what you see, 30 percent of what you read, and 95 percent of what you teach," Chris says. Hibberd kids also frequently take on the role of teacher before their classes, with peers suggesting what else might help them learn better.
Whatever the pedagogical method, to honor and develop student questioning skills involves a revolution in long-entrenched classroom habits. Jen Prileson, who teaches at Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson, Arizona, describes an "air traffic control" exercise she uses when she consults with schools as a National Re:Learning Faculty member. "Four participants stand in a high place and try to direct a large group of blindfolded people with their arms outstretched to 'land' on a narrow runway," she says. "It's amazing how few of the 'planes' ever ask a question of the traffic controllers" - a perfect metaphor for traditional classroom practice."

CREATIVITY

Once students are in an environment which constitutes a real and functioning community and which is safe and accepting of individual talents and gifts, when they are encouraged and supported in critical reflection on their experiences, when students are engaged in genuine deep learning, and when they have a sense that the learning environment is their learning environment in which they have freedom and power to pursue their own learning, there is enormous scope for students to develop and exercise creativity as learners. This environment can also be an enormously stimulating and creative one for teachers who become guides and mentors rather robotic communicators of information (or, worse, police officers).

These factors all reduce risk in the classroom. At a very basic level, they relieve students of the pressure of having to find an 'objective' right answer to a problem set by a teacher who is the sole possessor of that right answer. Instead, students are encouraged to use their own gifts and abilities, their own networks of learning, their own reflective processes and so on, to gather informationm, to reflect upon it, to learn deeply, to reach their own conclusions, to learn how to justify and support their opinions and their views. In other words, students are encouraged to bring their creativity to bear on their learning. The link between an environment which stimulates deep thinking and an environment which encourages creativity is clear. No longer is there a fixed body of knowledge which the student must commit to memory. Instead, the student is invitied to find his or her own ways into the subject being studied.

2006-10-10T03:50:00.000-07:00

DIFFERENCES

The constructivist model of education takes particular notice of the fact that each learner will have different talents and will enjoy different gifts. The ideal learning space, then, must allow each learner, and the learning community as a whole, to engage with, respect, and benefit from the different gifts and talents which will be found amoung students and teachers. It is hugely important that each student be respected and valued for the different gifts and abilities they bring to the learning place. Another way of expressing this is the idea of inclusivity. Each person must be fully included within the learning place, the learning community, the learning environment.

Inclusivity in education starts with the recognition of our diversity. It is treating
students as individuals rather than as an homogeneous group. It is about involving all
students in classroom practices by valuing their uniqueness and what they bring to
the classroom. It is about valuing their interests, experiences, abilities, insights,
needs, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, learning styles and intelligences.
Inclusivity embraces the idea that since everyone is an individual, we need to
organise schools, teaching and learning so that each student has a learning
experience that ‘fits’.

Source: http://www.det.act.gov.au/publicat/pdf/InclusivityReport.pdf#search=%22inclusivity%20in%20education%22

See also http://www.princeton.edu/~djbutler/ditclink.htm

2006-10-10T03:36:00.000-07:00

DEEP LEARNING

Our task is not simply to have students accumulating vast amounts of information. We want our students to gain some deep learning.

Deep learning depends firstly on providing students with information which has great depth. Facile or superficial information risks leaving students bored and prone to distractions. Students too often are given information which is trivial. But if students are provided with information (and more importantly with methods for locating information) which encourages their own creative and deep exploration, then the likelihood of engagement and interest in learning on the part of the student increases dramatically. What students need is a framework within and upon which they are able to hang the fruits of their own exploration.

Giving students an atmosphere in which deep learning is possible involves creating an environment which promotes and encourages reflection (so that students are able to discern what they wish to know and the depth to which they wish to learn), which values the individual gifts and talents of students, and which is attuned to the need to cater for the varieties of intelligences displayed by students.

Some information on deep learning: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/deepsurf.htm

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/cut/options/Nov_98/TeachingStrategies_en.htm

Deep learning tends to encourage deeper and richer learning and acquisition of knowledge. Surface learning tends to focus on bits of information which students must 'know.'

The following is an article from an engineering education website, but it has some good information: http://www.engsc.ac.uk/er/theory/learning.asp

2006-10-10T03:28:00.000-07:00

THE REFLECTIVE MINDSET

Learning communities and the individuals within them reflect at three levels:

they reflect about themselves (self-reflection);

they reflect about the matters being taught and being learned (descriptive reflection);

they reflect creatively and critically, at a higher level (critical reflection).

Critical reflection involves students making their own connections between the materials they have reviewed, the ideas and theories which have been proposed to them and their own insights gained and developed through network learning. Viewed in this way, critical reflection contains an obvious connection with deep learning (the subject of the next post!).

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in the program he put forward in The Spiritual Exercises, had a similar idea: experience, followed by reflection, followed by action (reflective practice).

This is one take on reflection, in the Ignatian form:

Experience:Ignatian pedagogy aims to ensure that the student will have a full learning experience of mind, heart and hand. In the handbook entitled Ignatian Pedagogy: A Practical Approach, issued by the International Centre for Jesuit Education in Rome in 1993, experience as an key element in education was described as follows: "In Jesuit schools, the learning experience is expected to move beyond rote knowledge to the development of the more complex learning skills of understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. . . .We use the term experience to describe any activity in which in addition to a cognitive grasp of the matter being considered, some sensation of an affective nature is registered by the student. . . .In his pedagogy, Ignatius highlights the affective/evaluative stage of the learning process because he is conscious that in addition to letting one 'sense and taste,' i.e., deepen one's experience, affective feelings are motivational forces that move one's understanding to action and commitment."

Reflection:This is the KEY to the Ignatian pedagogical paradigm. Reflection is the process whereby the student makes the learning experience his/her own, gets to the meaning of the learning experience for self and for others. Ignatian Pedagogy describes it at some length:"We use the term reflection to mean a thoughtful reconsideration of some subject matter, experience, idea, purpose or spontaneous reaction, in order to grasp its significance more fully. Thus, reflection is the process by which meaning surfaces in human experience . . . At this level of reflection, the memory, the understanding, the imagination and the feelings are used to capture the meaning and essential value of what is being studied, to discover its relationship with other aspects of knowledge and human activity, and to appreciate its implications in the ongoing search for truth and freedom … If learning were to stop at experience, it would not be Ignatian. For it would lack the component of reflection wherein students are impelled to consider the human meaning and significance of what they study and to integrate that meaning as responsible learners who grow as persons of competence, conscience and compassion."

Action:Action is not mere activity. It is rather the student's attitudes, priorities, commitments, habits, values, ideals, internal human growth flowing out into actions for others. Ignatian Pedagogy defines the term, making specific reference to the ideal so typical of Ignatius Loyola, seeking not just to serve God but to excel in such service, to do something even more (in Latin, magis) than what is required:"The term 'Action' refers to internal human growth based upon experience that has been reflected upon as well as its manifestation externally. It involves two steps: i) Interiorised Choices; ii) Choices Externally Manifested . . . Ignatius does not seek just any action or commitment. Rather, while respecting human freedom, he strives to encourage decision and commitment for the magis, the better service of God and our sisters and brothers."

Source: http://www.loyolajesuit.org/IPP.htm

Again, there needs to be a degree of intentionality in creating and maintaining an environment which allows students and teachers to behave reflectively.

2006-10-10T03:18:00.000-07:00

COMMUNITY!

For Vygotsky, real learning only occurs when we interact with others.

It follows then that students need relationships within their learning environments. Good learning can only occur when there are good relationships between the students and also between the students and the teacher.

This is one document from New South Wales on the importance of the learning community: http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/edu_leadership/prof_read/salc/key_features.php#community

Some information on Vygotsky's conception of social development in learning follows (note the material on the novel relationships between and among both students and teachers):

Lev Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory
Elizabeth M. Riddle
Professor Nada Dabbagh
3/8/99

Lev Vygotsky, born in the U.S.S.R. in 1896, is responsible for the social development theory of learning. He proposed that social interaction profoundly influences cognitive development. Central to Vygotsky's theory is his belief that biological and cultural development do not occur in isolation (Driscoll, 1994).
Vygotsky approached development differently from Piaget. Piaget believed that cognitive development consists of four main periods of cognitive growth: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations (Saettler, 331). Piaget's theory suggests that development has an endpoint in goal. Vygotsky, in contrast, believed that development is a process that should be analyzed, instead of a product to be obtained. According to Vygotsky, the development process that begins at birth and continues until death is too complex to to be defined by stages (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather,1996).
Vygotsky believed that this life long process of development was dependent on social interaction and that social learning actually leads to cognitive development. This phenomena is called the Zone of Proximal Development . Vygotsky describes it as "the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978). In other words, a student can perform a task under adult guidance or with peer collaboration that could not be achieved alone. The Zone of Proximal Development bridges that gap between what is known and what can be known. Vygotsky claimed that learning occurred in this zone.
Therefore, Vygotsky focused on the connections between people and the cultural context in which they act and interact in shared experiences (Crawford, 1996). According to Vygotsky, humans use tools that develop from a culture, such as speech and writing, to mediate their social environments. Initially children develop these tools to serve solely as social functions, ways to communicate needs. Vygotsky believed that the internalization of these tools led to higher thinking skills. When Piaget observed young children participating in egocentric speech in their preoperational stage, he believed it was a phase that disappeared once the child reached the stage of concrete operations. In contrast, Vygotsky viewed this egocentric speech as a transition from social speech to internalized thoughts (Driscoll, 1994). Thus, Vygotsky believed that thought and language could not exist without each other.
Application of the Social Development Theory to Instructional Design
Traditionally, schools have not promoted environments in which the students play an active role in their own education as well as their peers'. Vygotsky's theory, however, requires the teacher and students to play untraditional roles as they collaborate with each other. Instead of a teacher dictating her meaning to students for future recitation, a teacher should collaborate with her students in order to create meaning in ways that students can make their own (Hausfather, 1996). Learning becomes a reciprocal experience for the students and teacher.
The physical classroom, based on Vygotsky's theory, would provide clustered desks or tables and work space for peer instruction, collaboration, and small group instruction. Like the environment, the instructional design of material to be learned would be structured to promote and encourage student interaction and collaboration. Thus the classroom becomes a community of learning.
Because Vygotsky asserts that cognitive change occurs within the zone of proximal development, instruction would be designed to reach a developmental level that is just above the student's current developmental level. Vygotsky proclaims, "learning which is oriented toward developmental levels that have already been reached is ineffective from the view point of the child's overall development. It does not aim for a new stage of the developmental process but rather lags behind this process" (Vygotsky, 1978).
Appropriation is necessary for cognitive development within the zone of proximal development. Individuals participating in peer collaboration or guided teacher instruction must share the same focus in order to access the zone of proximal development. "Joint attention and shared problem solving is needed to create a process of cognitive, social, and emotional interchange" (Hausfather,1996). Furthermore, it is essential that the partners be on different developmental levels and the higher level partner be aware of the lower's level. If this does not occur, or if one partner dominates, the interaction is less successful (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather, 1996).
Instructional Strategies and Their Implementation in Instruction
Scaffolding and reciprocal teaching are effective strategies to access the zone of proximal development. Scaffolding requires the teacher to provide students the opportunity to extend their current skills and knowledge. The teacher must engage students' interest, simplify tasks so they are manageable, and motivate students to pursue the instructional goal. In addition, the teacher must look for discrepancies between students' efforts and the solution, control for frustration and risk, and model an idealized version of the act (Hausfather, 1996).
Reciprocal teaching allows for the creation of a dialogue between students and teachers. This two way communication becomes an instructional strategy by encouraging students to go beyond answering questions and engage in the discourse (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather, 1996). A study conducted by Brown and Palincsar (1989), demonstrated the Vygotskian approach with reciprocal teaching methods in their successful program to teach reading strategies. The teacher and students alternated turns leading small group discussions on a reading. After modeling four reading strategies, students began to assume the teaching role. Results of this study showed significant gains over other instructional strategies (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather,1996). Cognitively Guided Instruction is another strategy to implement Vygotsky's theory. This strategy involves the teacher and students exploring math problems and then sharing their different problem solving strategies in an open dialogue (Hausfather,1996).
The Effectiveness of the Social Development Theory in Achieving Its Goals
Vygotsky's social development theory challenges traditional teaching methods. Historically, schools have been organized around recitation teaching. The teacher disseminates knowledge to be memorized by the students, who in turn recite the information back to the teacher (Hausfather,1996). However, the studies described above offer empirical evidence that learning based on the social development theory facilitates cognitive development over other instructional strategies.
The structure of our schools do not reflect the rapid changes our society is experiencing. The introduction and integration of computer technology in society has tremendously increased the opportunities for social interaction. Therefore, the social context for learning is transforming as well. Whereas collaboration and peer instruction was once only possible in shared physical space, learning relationships can now be formed from distances through cyberspace. Computer technology is a cultural tool that students can use to mediate and internalize their learning. Recent research suggests changing the learning contexts with technology is a powerful learning activity (Crawford, 1996). If schools continue to resist structural change, students will be ill prepared for the world they will live.
Conclusion
Lev Vygotsky lived during the Russian Revolution, a time of great change in his culture. If Vygotsky’s assertion that biological and cognitive developmental do not occur in isolation, then his environment of change greatly influenced his own cognitive processes. Presently our society is also going through a culture of change due to the infusion of computer technology. Perhaps this lends some insight to why Vygotsky's theory of social development is receiving increasing attention, seventy years after it's conception.

References
Driscoll, Marcy P. (1994). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Needham, Ma: Allyn && Bacon. Crawford, Kathryn. (1996) Vygotskian approaches to human development in the information era. Educational Studies in Mathematics. (31) 43-62. Hausfather, Samuel J., (1996) Vygotsky and Schooling: Creating a Social Contest for learning. Action in Teacher Education. (18) 1-10. Saettler, P. (1990). The Evolution of American Educational Technology. Egnlewood, Co: Libraries Unlimited.Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Wertsch, James V. Sohmer, Richard. (1995). Vygotsky on learning and development. Human Development. (38 ) 332-37.

Source: http://www.kihd.gmu.edu/immersion/knowledgebase/theorists/constructivism/vygotsky.htm

To my mind the observation that teacher and students need to play untraditional roles as they collaborate with each other is particularly significant. It highlights the idea of communication and collaboration.

But community is not simply a matter of communcation and collaboration. It also implies, in my view, a level of care and concern for the wellbeing, happiness and stability of each person within the group. It implies a desire among students and teachers to provide an environment in which others can learn and can do so as creatively and enthusiastically as possible. This is perhaps the hardest element of community to create, relying as it does not only on the ethos of the school but the ethos of the home and wider community.

2006-10-10T03:03:00.000-07:00

NETWORK LEARNING

The traditional model of learning - the chalk and talk method, the 'empty vessel' approach - sits at odds with the constructivist model of learning which we use today. The constructivist model, however, itself is being overtaken slowly by the 'network' model of learning (which has some similiarity to the connectivist model). Network learning has a significant ally, of course, in the phenomenon of the internet.

On connectivism and network learning, see http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/nov2005/seimens.htm

http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/networks.htm

http://www2.le.ac.uk/institution/merlin/GroupCNetworkLearningBrainstorming

We no longer pour information into people's heads - instead, we provide them with leads and with sources which can act as a starting point for their own investigations and their own (constructivist) learning. Through their connections and networks, whether derived through digital media or through personal contacts, students construct their own understanding of the topics under study. This means that there will no longer be such a thing as the 'textbook' answer. There will be a range of connections made by students. These connections will encourage students to explore topics and subjects through a variety of perspectives. Accordingly a range of knowledges will be constructed. The implications for both teachers and students is, of course, immense. For teachers, preparation and delivery of classes will no longer be a matter of simply reviewing the material to be communicated in the textbook and feeding that information to the students; it will instead be a matter of the teacher

2006-10-10T02:30:00.000-07:00

TEN ELEMENTS IN THE IDEAL TEACHING AND LEARNING PLACE!

Tuesday 10 October 2006

After a little break due to double bronchitis (see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001087.htm) I am back ruminating on pedagogy and planning.

Tonight we begin by looking at teaching in the learning classroom. What is, for me, the perfect teaching and learning place? If I had the freedom to plan, what would my ideal teaching and learning place?

PLACE

We speak of a learning place in recognition of our Aboriginal heritage. For the Aboriginal people, land - particular, defined locations - play a hugely significant role in the spiritual worldview of the people:

During the Dreaming, ancestral spirits came to earth and created the landforms, the animals and plants. The stories tell how the ancestral spirits moved through the land creating rivers, lakes and mountains. Today we know the places where the ancestral spirits have been and where they came to rest. ... In essence, the Dreaming comes from the land. In Aboriginal society people did not own the land it was part of them and it was part of their duty to respect and look after mother earth.

Source: http://www.dreamtime.net.au/indigenous/spirituality.cfm

For the Aboriginal peoples, the land on which they live and which supports them through its flora and fauna is more than merely a resource - it is the living link with their ancestors and their ancestral spirits; and coming to the land, living on the land, is an inherently sacred activity.

Hopefully, the classroom - the learning place - can also have a sense of place: a sense of significance beyond the mere fact that this is where the students sit and where the teacher teaches. Hopefully the learning place can carry with it the sense of significance, of challenge, of encouragement, of excitement and discovery, of trust.

No doubt part of the sense of place will be effected by architecture and decoration. But a larger factor surely involves the idea of community - relations involving teacher and students, and relations bewteen students.

2006-09-19T02:34:00.000-07:00

My Second Post

Hopefully, this will be my second post on this blogspot. The URL on Internet Explorer says that the address is http://www.incognito321.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-microlesson-plans.html

I assume that this is right!

Image: Vygotsky on a bad day.

Anyway, more on Constructivist Education. This class itself, this experience of setting up our own blogspots, is an example of constructivist education. Alan says that he has deliberately refused to tell us how to use the blogging software so that we learn how to do it ourselves. In this context Alan is fulfilling the role referred to in Point 7 of the summary appearing below:

It needs to be re-emphasized that constructivism is a theory of knowledge acquisition, not a theory of pedagogy; thus, the nexus of constructivism and online education is tentative, at best. Constructivism posits that knowledge acquisition occurs amid four assumptions:

Knowledge involves active cognizing by the individual.
Knowledge is adaptive, facilitating individual and social efficacy.
Knowledge is subjective and self-organized, not objective.
Knowledge acquisition involves both sociocultural and individual processes.

These four assumptions have led, indirectly, to eight primary pedagogical recommendations:

Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments.
Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation.
Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner.
Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner's prior knowledge.
Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences.
Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware.
Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors.
Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content.

The question then arises, can an online medium support this pedagogy that is based on the constructivist assumptions. Below, each of the eight pedagogical statements is briefly addressed based on this question.
Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments. If authenticity were examined as an either/or proposition, then online education would fail miserably; however, authenticity is more a matter of degree than constitution. From this perspective, online education is potentially quite effective in providing virtual environments in which one can simulate real-world events. In order for online education to adequately satisfy this pedagogical statement the online environment must provide complex, culturally relevant, ill-structured domains within which the user can operate and "live." The use of virtual reality, simulators, and microworlds has focused on this concept. (Grade: A)
Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation. Online education provides a unique opportunity for students to engage in social negotiation and mediation; unfortunately, until recently, social negotiation and mediation were constrained in the online medium. The use of both asynchronous (e.g., email, threaded discussions, listservs) and synchronous (e.g., MOOs, MUDs, IRCs, video teleconferencing) online communications allows for social negotiation and mediation to occur across both time and distance. (Grade: A)
Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner. Online education is capable of making vast amounts of very diverse information, knowledge, and skills available to the learner. In this sense, online education is quite capable of providing relevance as long as the learner is able to self-select a relevant topic, process, or skill. Where online education may have difficulty is in spontaneously adapting instruction to a change in student perspective. In a face-to-face meeting, when a student asks a question such as "How does this concept relate to my interest?" the teacher is able to adjusting the next response to the clearly fit the student's query; however, most online education interfaces are not flexible enough to handle this type of tailoring. This type of immediate tailoring is more available through synchronous than asynchronous environments. (Grade: B)
Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner's prior knowledge. This pedagogical statement is perhaps the most difficult for online education to handle. To address this statement requires a transaction to occur between the user and the online educational environment. In a synchronous environment mediated by an instructor, student's prior knowledge may be probed at the beginning of instruction and instruction may then be adjusted based on the feedback from the student; however, in an asynchronous environment, this type of probing and responding is less fluid and flexible. (Grade: C)
Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences. While online environments are capable of frequently assessing students during instruction, difficulty arises in using this formative assessment to guide further instruction. The reason for assessing students formatively is to make adjustments to instruction that take into account the student's current level of understanding. Instructors will often provide students with "self-check" quizzes that assess students during various parts of instruction; however, the use of these quizzes is usually marginal, providing feedback to students so that students have a better understanding of their learning. Rarely is this knowledge used to alter subsequent instruction. (Grade: C)
Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware. In most online education environments, self-regulation, self-mediation, and self-awareness are requirements for successfully engaging in that environment. Online education typically requires students to be more involved and more persistent relative to the educational environment. One aspect of online education that is currently lacking is educating the student in the processes necessary to successfully engage in online education. Students often begin an online educational experience with no instruction concerning how online education differs from tradition classroom education. This pedagogical statement is attainable, but is currently not being addressed adequately. (Grade: B).
Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors. While it is still possible for instructors to lecture and to use direct instruction during an online educational experience, it is not nearly as easy as it is when one is teaching in a classroom. As a result, one is likely to find less "instructing" and more guiding and facilitating in online education. In addition, online education can be effectively constructed to emphasize a facilitating role for instructors while students engage in simulations, web-based data collection, and ill-structured problem solving. The self-regulatory and self-mediated nature of online education promotes the instructor taking the role of guide or coach. (Grade: A)
Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content. Online education, especially with a diverse group of students, is ripe for the presentation and experience of multiple perspectives. Online education has easy access to international and culturally diverse resources, including diverse populations. With the passing of time, a greater amount of diverse articles (published and pre-published) and presentations are accessible online, providing students with the resources for multiple perspectives. (Grade: A)
Overall, online education provides the resources necessary for students to engage in rich and effective construction of knowledge. The key to online education and constructivism is not whether or not the potential exists, but rather, whether or not the potential will be actualized.

http://edpsychserver.ed.vt.edu/workshops/tohe1999/online.html

My Microlesson Plans

2006-09-19T00:03:00.000-07:00

Microlesson Planning!

This is the first post of the record of my thoughts, reflections and musings as we explore the world of microlesson planning at NDU, Sydney.

4 critical aspects of each lesson:

5 tasks per lesson;
25% teacher input;
25% teacher directed;
25% student centred;
25% student groups.

The first part of the lesson involves getting attention. But how?!

Stand and Deliver - note the non-reaction to the various disruptions going on in the background; the fact that one seat remains free at the front of the classroom (for the nuisance latecomer).

Introduction - the constructivist method says, begin with a concrete example which will get their attention; something interesting which need not directly relate to the topic but has some indirect relationship and has the effect of grabbing the attention of the students. In the constructivist model of education, the student constructs their own understanding and knowledge. They do not learn simply by being told; the students learn from the concrete. They are given experiences, information, help and are led on a voyage of discovery.

A summary of constructivist theory in education follows:

Key Concepts in Constructivist Education

An important concept for social constructivists is that of scaffolding which is a process of guiding the learner from what is presently known to what is to be known. Scaffolding allows students to perform tasks that would normally be slightly beyond their ability without that assistance and guidance from the teacher. Appropriate teacher support can allow students to function at the cutting edge of their individual development. Scaffolding is therefore an important characteristic of constructivist learning and teaching.Multiple perspectives, authentic activities, real-world environments these are just some of the themes that are frequently associated with constructivist learning and teaching. There were many similarities between the perspectives of different researchers in this brief review of the literature.The following section presents a synthesis and summary of the characteristics of constructivist learning and teaching as presented by the above review and as suggested by the previous section on constructivist theory. These are not presented in a hierarchical order.1. Multiple perspectives and representations of concepts and content are presented and encouraged.2. Goals and objectives are derived by the student or in negotiation with the teacher or system.3. Teachers serve in the role of guides, monitors, coaches, tutors and facilitators.4. Activities, opportunities, tools and environments are provided to encourage metacognition, self-analysis -regulation, -reflection & -awareness.5. The student plays a central role in mediating and controlling learning.6. Learning situations, environments, skills, content and tasks are relevant, realistic, authentic and represent the natural complexities of the 'real world'.7. Primary sources of data are used in order to ensure authenticity and real-world complexity.8. Knowledge construction and not reproduction is emphasized.9. This construction takes place in individual contexts and through social negotiation, collaboration and experience.10. The learner's previous knowledge constructions, beliefs and attitudes are considered in the knowledge construction process.11. Problem-solving, higher-order thinking skills and deep understanding are emphasized.12. Errors provide the opportunity for insight into students' previous knowledge constructions.
13. Exploration is a favoured approach in order to encourage students to seek knowledge independently and to manage the pursuit of their goals.14. Learners are provided with the opportunity for apprenticeship learning in which there is an increasing complexity of tasks, skills and knowledge acquisition.15. Knowledge complexity is reflected in an emphasis on conceptual interrelatedness and interdisciplinary learning.16. Collaborative and cooperative learning are favoured in order to expose the learner to alternative viewpoints.17. Scaffolding is facilitated to help students perform just beyond the limits of their ability.Assessment is authentic and interwoven with teaching.

Source: http://constructivist-education.blogspot.com/

Another summary:

The behaviorist theory popularized by B.F. Skinner still drives much of the practice of science education. For more than a quarter century, schools and teachers have been creating behavioral goals and objectives. Curricula have been tightly sequenced according to a belief that the best way to learn is to master small bits of knowledge and then integrate them into major concepts. Assessment practices have tended to focus on measurement of knowledge and skills, with little emphasis on performance and understanding.
Since the late 1980s, however, researchers have been building an understanding of learning that grows out of cognitive and developmental psychology. The key notion in this new "constructivist theory" is that people learn best by actively constructing their own understanding. The fundamental beliefs underlying this new paradigm for learning have been generally summarized as follows:

All knowledge is constructed through a process of reflective abstraction.
Cognitive structures within the learner facilitate the process of learning.
The cognitive structures in individuals are in a process of constant development.

If the notion of constructivist learning is accepted, then the methods of learning and pedagogy must agree.
The constructivist classroom presents the learner with opportunities to build on prior knowledge and understanding to construct new knowledge and understanding from authentic experience. Students are allowed to confront problems full of meaning because of their real-life context. In solving these problems, students are encouraged to explore possibilities, invent alternative solutions, collaborate with other students (or external experts), try out ideas and hypotheses, revise their thinking, and finally present the best solution they can derive.
Contrast this approach with the typical behaviorist classroom, where students are passively involved in receiving all necessary critical information from the teacher and the textbook. Rather than inventing solutions and constructing knowledge in the process, students are taught how to "get the right answer" using the teacher's method. Students do not even have to "make sense" of the method used to solve problems.

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/science/sc5model.htm