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Posts from the ‘Pedagogy’ Category

4
Mar

Visible Thinking – A View from the Past :-)

Transfers on the Train of Thoughts

As colleague, Brenda Sherry, and I prepare for the OTF CONNECTS webinar session titled “Making Student Thinking Visible: How Can Technology Help?“, I came across this article from the distant past <g>.  We didn’t call it ‘visible thinking’ back then – we usually referred to it as ‘making your thinking explicit’.  But, as with many solid, worthwhile constructs, they are not readily adopted and so often reappear decades (or centuries!) later under a new name with new advocates and with a new dream that maybe this time things might stick and better the lives of students.

So it is with ‘visible thinking’.  Of course, there are LOTS of new ideas and strategies that Brenda and I are bringing to the presentation – based on Project Zero’s “Making Thinking Visible“!

I have replicated “Transfers on the Train of Thoughts” here as is — except I have parsed it and added a couple of titles for clarity. This was written for, and delivered at, a SIG-Logo conference called “Look to the Learner” that some of us ran for the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario (ECOO) in March, 1986.

Look to the Learner Poster SmallerTRANSFERS ON THE TRAIN OF THOUGHTS

©1986 Peter A. Skillen
OISE
Program Leader – Computing in Education Centre
North York Board of Education

“People caught in unfamiliar contexts…are liable to be judged as stupid…”

For decades, if not centuries, a persistent problem for educators has been that of getting the student to apply knowledge learned in one domain to another distinctly different domain. It is not that the knowledge does not exist within the learner. It appears to be a problem of triggering the retrieval of that knowledge when immersed in a different problem-solving context. Carl Bereiter, Marlene Scardamalia and others (Whitehead, 1929) refer to this contextually restricted knowledge as “inert knowledge”.

“Human beings learn through participation in various contexts and spheres of action. Home, street, workplace, supermarket, bank, airliner, the faceless but nonetheless real world of bill-paying – these are a few of the many contexts with which one must become intimate in order to function as a modern adult. People caught in unfamiliar contexts, such as a person taking an airline trip for the first time, will blunder, hesitate, and act not quite right in a dozen ways that people familiar with the context never even think about. Newcomers to a behavioural context are therefore liable to be judged as stupid. By the same token, people behaving in a context that is much more familiar to them than it is to the observer are likely to be admired for their mental efforts.” (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1983, p11)

…So, we’d better teach students to think about their thinking!

We need to explicitly teach students to think about their thinking.

“The hope is that we might be able to find ways to help students discover knowledge about knowledge, thereby setting the stage for acquiring truly domain-independent skills, such as how to reflect on the knowledge they already have, and to identify the causes underlying the mistakes they make.” (Brown, 1985, p184)

and,

“Cognitive skills of information management; strategies for problem solving that cut across domains of knowledge; such metacognitive skills as planning, monitoring, and learning how to learn; communication and critical inquiry skills will come to be valued more highly.” (Pea, 1985, p93)

Schools have traditionally taught subjects and therefore emphasize knowledge specific to that domain. This method, of course, is replicated in other domains. But this methodology perhaps leads to a collection of “knowledge packets” that can only be accessed when one invokes the context or culture in which the knowledge is embedded.

How do we solve this dilemma?

1. Thematic Integration

In order to overcome this dilemma two distinct approaches have occurred in educational environments – one more strongly than the other. I shall propose a third. The first scenario is familiar to most elementary school teachers: thematic integration. One should not teach a period on reading, then one on writing, followed by math, etc. There rather should be a thematic approach to the classroom environment. In this way “Pioneers” maybe the chosen theme and the classroom is alive with multidisciplined activities dealing with pioneers. For example, a centre might be set up for students to write about pioneers; a candle-making centre might be arranged to allow the students to explore early candle-making methods; the dress-up centre may have 18 and 19th century clothing and so on. This approach is certainly more meaningful than a “traditional” one, in that there is a connectedness and relevance to the use of the subject matter skills to learn about pioneers. But it does not meet the needs of learning generalizable skills outside of that domain.

2. Teach Heuristics

Another approach, although less popular, is that of teaching heuristics to students. These are generally problem-solving strategies that are studied in either a domain-free or a single domain environment. The hope here is that the student is able to recall the appropriate heuristic when confronted with a new problem.

3. Teach Thinking Techniques – an Eclectic Approach

What I propose is a more eclectic approach.

But before I describe techniques that have been successfully used in classrooms, I would like to draw one further observation. Some people, when adopting Logo, have understood its attendant philosophy as one of a playground where unfolding of learning and development will occur naturally as a result of interacting with the Logo environment. I encourage free exploration and a playfulness as an integral part of any learning activity – but not to the exclusion of other forms of activity. Ron Ragsdale (OISE) reminded me of a quote from Corinthians.

“Everything is permissible,
But not everything is beneficial.
Everything is permissible,
But not everything is constructive.”

A sense of extreme permissiveness sometimes invades the Logo world. I don’t think this was the intent of the originators of the language. It was designed to allow people to become reflective about their own thought processes – to think about their thinking. The activities which I propose allow the learner to be self-determining and in control yet focus the student on developing reflective skills. (This does not, by any means, negate the need for play and exploration!

AFTERBUGS

Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 12.17.19 PM

In the thematic approach I outlined earlier in the paper, I suggested that people usually choose a content theme – but at other times I would recommend a process theme be the focus. As an example I use a theme called AFTERBUGS.

“What a refreshing change to see young excited learners reveling in learning from their mistakes – rather than being ashamed of them.”

The intent of this activity is that students monitor their own learning processes by actively looking for mistakes, or bugs, as evidenced in the outcome of their task. The importance of children taking charge of their own minds cannot be over-emphasized from both and the affective and cognitive perspective. (Incidentally, the social, interactive payoffs are quite high too!)

When children are enthusiastic and analytical about going back to their tasks (hence analyzing their previous and present thinking processes) they have taken a large step toward the more profound goals of education. How can this be achieved in the classroom? It started with Logo and the original idea arose from the grade 2-3 students in the class. In working with Logo it became clear that one rarely got it right the first time.

Children soon got used to the notion of having “bugs” in their programs. These are not bad things – rather they were things that had to be fixed.

Bug hunting became an game.

With some nurturing of this attitude the children started bug collections. They had imaginary (to an adult!) jars in which they collected their bugs. Whenever they solved their difficulty (bug) they would remove it from the jar and squish it. Now, because we had constructed a large papier-mâché turtle as part of our classroom Logo culture, one of the children suggested that we feed the bugs to the turtle rather than destroying them indiscriminately. This was very entertaining and motivating.

The next occurrence was astounding and revelatory for me as an educator. The children started looking for bugs elsewhere in their classroom lives – not just with Logo! They would actively seek mistakes in their math, spelling, reading and so on.

An unusual situation for a classroom one must admit! What a refreshing change to see young excited learners reveling in learning from their mistakes – rather than being ashamed of them.

WATCH ME THINK

Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 12.18.56 PMAnother technique that can be used is WATCH ME THINK. This is essentially a situation where a more novice student would watch a more expert student as he/she performs the task. In addition to watching the student, however, the ‘expert’ is asked to think out loud. This allows the ‘novice’ to get at some of the thinking processes that the expert is using.

The outcomes, once again, are not specific only to Logo. This strategy can be used during the solution of other problems; in arithmetic, or writing stories, spelling, reading text. This technique of ‘thinking aloud’ has normally been used in research settings where the researcher is attempting to understand the strategies underlying the actions. Again, the payoffs are not only cognitive ones.

It is assumed by many people that experts solve tasks with ease, with little difficulty. This is clearly not the case. It is therefore of affective benefit to the novice in that he/she can observe that:

“Oh, I’m normal – it’s okay to have ups and downs when I’m trying to solve a problem. It’s natural.”

Think about young writers. The models they have for writing are generally the finished product; a linear, error-free piece of text. One could easily assume that the author sat down at a blank page (or screen!) and wrote fluidly from beginning to end and voilà it’s complete! This, as we are aware, is rarely the situation.

The novice benefits greatly from getting at the procedural knowledge that the expert uses in pursuing this task. Similarly, in Logo, looking at a finished product does not always help the novice in achieving similar goals. To watch someone use his/her techniques for proceeding with a task can be a powerful tool. “What” does not necessarily help with “How”.

(One must not assume from this discussion that I negate individual explorations of problem-solving. This is certainly not the case. Remember, my preference in educating is to be eclectic; providing as wide a variety of techniques as possible to suit and enhance idiosyncratic learning styles.)

It is clear, once again, that the Watch Me Think exercise focuses the students attention on thinking about thinking.

METAPHORIA

Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 12.22.59 PMThis is an activity that emphasizes the use of metaphor – specifically what I call procedural analogy. I make the distinction and use the term ‘procedural’ quite purposely. The rationale for this is that I wish to emphasize the “how“, or process knowledge, as opposed to the “what” or propositional, declarative knowledge.

Metaphors are used widely in cultures to clarify the meaning of a construct or idea, but they’re also used to ground the information in an emotional or affective context. Metaphors have been used to illustrate the flow of control of Logo procedures or to teach recursion.

“Metaphors can ground information in an emotional or affective context.”

I believe these to be valuable tools in assisting learners to understand constructs or operations which might otherwise be too difficult for them. What is more important (and more difficult to implement) is to encourage the learner to create his/her own metaphor for that abstract concept under focus. This may only be possible after the construct is understood by means of using a given metaphor. But the ownership over the self-created idea is certainly more powerful, less extinguishable and more generalizable than a teacher-given one.

“Ownership over self-created ideas is more powerful, less extinguishable and more generalizable than teacher-given ones.”

And once again, of course, the student is thinking about thinking. So the child is essentially saying to herself, “Okay, I have this idea and way of doing things – what else is like that?”

An example, published before – but worth mentioning here, from a grade three child (Jeffrey) who was coming to grips with the notion of a larger problem being broken into its smaller parts is repeated here for the sake of continuity.

Our grade 2/3 class had the opportunity to watch the overpass of the space shuttle piggybacked on a jumbo jet. When we returned to class, a discussion about space naturally erupted. One child asked if Earth was in space, and in asking the question, we determined that yes, it must be, because it wasn’t sitting on anything. The discussion continued until Jeffrey piped up.

“You know it’s sort of like Logo.”

The class stopped, and looked at him curiously, as I did myself.

“What do you mean?” I asked him curiously.

“Well, Earth is like a procedure. It’s like a sub-procedure inside of the solar system. The solar system is the super-procedure and the solar system is like a sub-procedure inside the universe. The universe is like the super-procedure.”

Jeffrey personalized and consolidated his understanding of procedures and sub-procedures through making this analogy. Again it is to be noted that the learning is moved from the context of Logo to other domains. This helps to remove the “functional fixedness” that is common to many types of learning situations. The child not only may be able to transfer the knowledge about breaking a large problem into smaller parts – but more importantly may use metaphor or analogy in other learning situations.

“The child…more importantly may use metaphor or analogy in other learning situations.”

To summarize, the activities that I have described here serve two purposes. Firstly, the children will learn the content more efficiently and will be able to transfer that knowledge to other learning domains more readily. Secondly, they will acquire some metaskills of learning which they can apply in new learning contexts – analyzing work for errors of thought, watching a more expert person in solving a task, and metaphor usage to better understand the concept.

Bibliography

Bereiter, C. & Scardamalia, M. (1983) Schooling and the growth of intentional cognition: Helping children take charge of their own minds. In Z. Lamm (Ed.), New Trends in Education. (pp. 73-100). Tel-Aviv: Yachdev United Publishing Company.

Brown, J.S. (1985). Process vs. Product: A perspective on tools for communal and informal electronic learning. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 1(2).

Pea, R. D. (1985) Integrating human and computer intelligence. In E. L. Klein (Ed.) Children and Computers. New Directions for Child Development, no. 28, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

17
Feb

Should We Gamify Meditation? ;-)

I ask this somewhat in cheek. In fact, it is rather an oxymoron.

Mindfulness

Screen Shot 2014-02-17 at 5.08.05 PMThere is a lot of evidence about the positive effects of mindfulness these days. It is becoming ‘de rigueur’ in the K-12 education space. For example, Mindfulness Without Borders offers workshops to schools. So does the Mindfulness Institute. The Association for Mindfulness in Education and Mindfulschools.org also attend to this issue. Just to name a few.

On a personal note, I studied transcendental meditation when I was 20.  That is also when I first learned of Jon Kabat-Zinn – although I didn’t take the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course until a few years ago.

Meditation is a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or as an end in itself. The word meditation carries different meanings in different contexts. Meditation is often used to clear the mind. (Roughly taken from Wikipedia.)

Biofeedback

I have also played around with biofeedback.  I have found it quite useful.gsr2image
“Biofeedback is the process of gaining greater awareness of many physiological functions primarily using instruments that provide information on the activity of those same systems, with a goal of being able to manipulate them at will.” Wikipedia

Biofeedback may give you insights into meditative practice and indeed may assist you in reaching goals of ‘calmness’ and ‘stress reduction’.  There are many more biofeedback tools available these days due to advances in technologies and in neuroscience. Some give you feedback on muscle tension, some on skin temperature and others on skin conductance (galvanic skin response -GSR*).  (It is, in fact, a GSR device that I have owned for some 25 years.) These are all indicators of psychological or physiological arousal. So, if you can ‘meditate’ in some fashion and reduce the arousal, you will get good feedback on which techniques work effectively for you.

Major Research

Important to note that this is not some pie-in-the-sky notion — the Affective Computing Group at MIT Media Lab has been investigating many educational issues leveraging biofeedback devices.  Susanne Lajoie at McGill has also been studying education with this lens too. And, you can bet that the big publishers are involved as well!  (But, that’s a topic for another day!)

Gaming?

And guess what!

With all the advances in computer technologies and biofeedback devices – and, with the onslaught of ‘gaming’ and ‘gamification’, there are a slew of biofeedback games available both online and downloadable!
I am actually not familiar with any of those at all but am simply asking myself – and you – the question.

Should we gamify meditation?
Thoughts?

*SideNote: Heck. If you are into robotics, get yourself an RCX Lego brick and make a GSR yourself — but, be aware only do this with your RCX on battery power. If it’s plugged in, you could electrocute yourself!

GSR from RCX brick - courtesy of Angelfire.com

GSR from RCX brick – courtesy of Angelfire.com

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16
Feb

Csikszentmihalyi worries! Should we?

By Ehirsh (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By Ehirsh (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In his latest essay, “The Triumph of the Virtual”, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes his initial excitement for video games. He was happy that they engaged kids differently than the passive watching of television but then states that he did “not imagine the engagement offered by the new technology would become a Pandora’s box containing bait for the reptilian brain to feast on”.

Engagement of video games has ‘become a Pandora’s box containing bait for the reptilian brain to feast on’

“The incessant warfare (the child) takes part in is not virtual to the child, it is his reality…at a superficial cognitive level they’re aware the game is only a virtual reality, but at a deeper, emotional level they know it is not. After all, it is happening to them”, says Csikszentmihalyi.

Csikszentmihalyi is clearly a world renowned expert in motivation, happiness and creativity. You likely know  his work on ‘flow’. In fact, you are perhaps a real believer and apply it in your educational practice with students.

Csíkszentmihályi described flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

Flow CC by benarent NC SA

Flow CC by benarent NC SA

“To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur. Both skill level and challenge level must be matched and high; if skill and challenge are low and matched, then apathy results.’” Wikipedia

Many schools have ‘flow’ rooms or, at least, try to design educational experiences to engage students in the ‘zone’ – or a state of flow.*

“We are headed for ‘a quantum leap into an abyss of insubstantiality’.”

Csíkszentmihályi fears that ‘in one or two generations children will grow up to be adults unable to tell reality from imagination’. We are headed, he suggests, for ‘a quantum leap into an abyss of insubstantiality’.

What do you think?

*Note: It has been central to my ‘way of being’ in classrooms for many years. I even had my most recent classroom – and, indeed, have this blog called “The Construction Zone’. (‘Zone’ doubles for ‘state of flow’ and for ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD).

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11
Feb

To Question IS the Answer!

Respecting the Student’s Desire to Know

questionsIn this climate of standards and assessment, can we afford to respect the student’s desire to know?

Or, can we afford not to?

I would suggest that respecting the student’s own ‘driving questions’ is a major strategy in the achievement of those standards.   Following this assumption, we need also to provide the tools for investigation and to create a school or classroom culture of support and expectation. In order for this model to work, students must learn the requisite metacognitive skills.

“If students are not able to assume control of their own learning, we do them them a serious injustice.”

Who is Pulling my Strings? CC by mellyjean NC-ND

Who is Pulling my Strings? CC by mellyjean NC-ND

Where is the ‘locus of control’?

I have always been amazed at the arrogance with which we as a society assume control of a child’s learning as they enter school.  From birth and before entering school, children are immersed in a complex, unstructured learning environment.  And assuming supportive caregiving, these children learn a wealth of information.  They learn the major part of a language (or even more than one!), much about mathematics, science and the world around them.

“Please consider the amount a child learns before s/he enrolls in school.”

How do they do this?  Inquiry.  Natural inquiry.  Curiosity.  Questioning.  Problem solving.  Resolving discrepancies.  Trial and error.  They are in charge of their own ‘curriculum’.  They set their goals…ask their questions… generate their strategies… invoke them… and consider the outcomes.  This is obviously an extremely powerful recipe for success.  Please consider the amount a child learns before s/he enrolls in school.

Mark Brannan on Flickr NC SA

Mark Brannan on Flickr NC SA

What is learning? Cognitive and…?

Think of learning, if you will, as having two major distinct aspects.  One is cognitive.  The other is ‘other aspects of self’ – including social and affective. In this latter area I would include passion and motivation… the ‘heart’… the ‘fire’.    Often learning has been divided into ‘process’ and ‘product’.

However, I wish to propose that we consider both the ‘product and process’ as ‘content’ – in some ways the cognitive aspect.  Perhaps we as educators still spend too much time on the ‘product’ aspect of this false dichotomy, yet we do acknowledge and attend to the ‘process’ to some degree.  We do address to some extent ‘how to learn’ and we teach strategies for this to students.

We turn process into product!

The humorous part of this, of course, is by the very nature of doing so, we turn ‘process’ into ‘product’ as well.  It becomes something else to be tested and measured.  Please understand that I do not negate the importance of high standards for either product or process.  I have incredibly high expectations for students and would expect high quality results in both these areas.  It is how we get there which I question.  And the theft of the locus of control for learning in order to focus on curriculum delivery is not the way to get high standards in either the short term nor, in fact, for our larger goal of life long learning.

“The theft of the locus of control for learning…is not the way to get high standards.”

Bring Love - Gain Expertise!

Bring Love – Gain Expertise!

Don’t steal. It’s not nice! :-)

It seems that what we need to do is more fully support the project-based learning model.  It is a ‘natural’ model that can be improved and enhanced through some formalization at school. But we shouldn’t rob those children of the most powerful and necessary attributes of learning – those of passion and being in charge of self… of all the meta aspects… of all the ‘fire’ and intrinsic reasons to learn.

So imagine a child as she moves from a world in which she has been the author/producer/director and actor of her own learning to that of mere actor… taking direction from others as to what to learn… to say… to perform.  And it is for the next 12 or more years that this is the case… except for glimpses when she is asked to ‘do a project’.

“Children enter school as question marks and leave as periods.” (Neil Postman)

Wide-eyed radical?

Lest you think I am some sort of wide-eyed radical who would like to see the curriculum tossed out the window, let me assure you, that is not the case and it would be simplistic to dismiss me as such.  It is not I who is the radical one.  It is, on the other hand, radical to take a healthy, inquisitive, self-motivated learner and to institutionalize that learner to the extent that robs them of their passion and motivation in the name of ‘curriculum delivery’.

“It is not I who is the radical one. Those who institutionalize healthy, inquisitive, self-motivated learner are radical.”

Take time to find your way

Explore the landscape.

Curriculum as a landscape to be discovered

Do I disagree with the curriculum content that exists in government documents?  That is a question for another discussion, but for purposes of this article let me answer ‘no’.  I believe it is necessary to have this breadth and depth of a knowledge base articulated and available in some organized fashion.  It provides a landscape to be discovered, explored and understood through the school life of a student.

Who manages the learning?

What worries me is the way in which it is approached.  Let me continue with my previous description of kids before school.  Before kids enter school they essentially command both aspects of learning – ‘cognitive’ and the ‘other’.  Upon entering school, the ‘cognitive’ is the focus.  The ‘other’ is essentially taken over by the teacher.  The management of learning is under the teacher’s jurisdiction.  It then becomes necessary to contrive activities to engender ‘motivation’ or ‘passion’.  And this gets to be the case progressively as the student proceeds through the grades.

Things people assume about me.

  • Don’t assume I negate the benefits of ‘direct instruction’.
  • I am not laissez faire.  I expect and demand high quality work.
  • Don’t think I let kids run amok.  I am a strict disciplinarian… in that I do not tolerate ‘slacking off’.  But I do like a certain amount of ‘chaos’ in my classrooms.  But that chaos relates more to ‘active learning’ than to ‘fooling around’.

So… how do we do it?

So how do we start towards this vision?  As I suggested, we need to perhaps further adopt a project-based learning (PBL) model.  And I believe that students’ driving questions are at the heart of many types of project-based learning.  This blog contains many posts related to PBL, questioning, the zone of proximal development and the role of information and communications technologies:

Just how powerful is the role of one’s own question in learning? It may be the single most important factor in learning… both in school and outside school.  Passion – the emotional force of a driving question – raises one’s motivation, increases energy and focus, carries one through uncertainty and difficulty, and heightens one’s own expectations.

“Once you have learned how to ask relevant and appropriate questions, you have learned how to learn and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know.”
Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner//

20
Nov

Another Brick in the Wall

What’s standing in the way of change in education?

Originally posted on the Canadian Education Association website.

CC by Eager Eyes NC SA

CC by Eager Eyes NC SA

It is not a simple answer. Nor is it a simple question!

There are many ‘bricks in the wall’ that block systemic educational change. I do not have a short coherent response to this – especially since this is a blog post not a tome!  But I will briefly describe a few ‘bricks’ for your consideration and response.

IB ImageBrick #1 – Practise what you preach.

“We want students to be 21st century learners!”  This is a common call to action we hear from educational leaders and speakers these days.

I like it.

However, all administrators and leaders (never mind the teachers!) should be 21st century learners too!  If all educators aren’t there, it is unlikely that all students will get there. The sad part is that many of those advocating this idea are actually not practising it. They know the language – but have no visceral knowledge.

IB Image

CC by Dominic’s Pics

Educational leaders now have to deeply immerse themselves into the ‘participatory’ culture of the Web 2.0 world in order to legitimately understand and promote it. During this learning curve, they must also develop an authoritative stance on the pros and cons of the issues and concerns related to the ‘always on,’ ‘over-connected’, ‘superficial’ aspects of life in the Web 2.0 world.

“The culture of education outside the classroom must reflect what is desired inside it – or little educational (r)evolution will occur.“

They should able to authoritatively discuss issues such as attention management, multitasking, intentional serendipity, co-construction of knowledge, technology supported knowledge construction, substantive collaboration, shared leadership, transmedia consumption and creation, and so forth.

It is important that leaders model their ‘learner’s stance’ for their administrator colleagues and for their teachers.

The culture of education outside the classroom is not inquiry-based. It is not self-directed. The culture of education outside the classroom must reflect what is desired inside it – or little educational (r)evolution will occur.

IB ImageBrick #2 – We perpetuate myths through one-line wisdoms.

Many educators are living on a diet of abstracts, one-line wisdoms from Twitter, and drive-by professional development. We hear things like:

  • “Kids don’t need to memorize anymore, they can just Google it”.
  • “Students should be in charge of their own learning.”
  • “Lectures are bad pedagogy.”
  • “It’s not about the technology, it’s about the learning.”
  • “Multitasking is a 21st century skill we must all learn.”

Brenda Sherry and I have had many discussions with education leaders about the danger of popularizing these simplistic, decontextualized one-line wisdoms. We understand the intention underlying these statements – but they may lead to malignant misinterpretation by those new to our profession.

The current nature of information science and media causes people to be reading snippets rather than long texts that may provide greater depth, context and nuance.

We suggest some questions to help people to unpack these statements with colleagues.

  • How and why do these statements arise and gain popularity?
  • What is the intention behind the statement? (we often believe that they are well-intentioned.)
  • What are the effects of such statements?
  • How could it be better said?
  • We wonder about the responsibilities of the more expert among us in light of the novices in the community who hear these.

I don’t think that these abstracted one-line wisdoms serve us well in the reconstruction of the education world. But, they will continue to be present and prolific so use them as a springboard to deep and meaningful conversations.

IB ImageBrick #3 – We need to educate – not subjugate.

A.S. Neill on his birthday via Wikipedia

A.S. Neill on his birthday via Wikipedia

What do we mean when we say that we want ‘students to be in charge of their own learning’? I think we have a very limited view of what we mean when we use this phrase.[1]

Do you really think that we want students to be ‘in charge of their own learning’? Maybe to some degree.

Maybe we mean some control – as in Universal Design for Learning —> but not as much agency as ‘Summerhill’![2]

“It’s about power.“

Clearly, it is about ‘power’ – power over choices, who has the power, how the power is shared, individual power vs the collective needs.

We often feel that we are empowering students:

  • if we are engaging them in their areas of interest
  • if we are giving them choices about all that is mentioned in the differentiated instruction literature – choice over process of knowledge acquisition (construction), content, and product
  • if we are engaging them in the assessment/evaluation process (e.g., collaborative rubric creation).
  • if we engage them in their ‘preferred learning style’ – although this often is a simplistically applied construct.

I don’t dismiss these notions. In fact, I am generally in agreement with them. But, it’s not sufficient.

“What we often do is still rather contrived – often by the structures of the institution.“

We need an holistic approach. 

School is only a narrow slice of their life.

The kids are whole when they arrive at our doorsteps – and come with a full life replete with desires, passions, problems, issues, excitement (not necessarily about school) and confusions.

“We need to deal with the whole child.“

We need to encourage and support more student agency over other these aspects of their lives – attendance, tardiness, homework, schoolwork, use of their own mobile devices, etc. I am not suggesting a free-for-all, but I am suggesting that we need to respect the ‘whole’ person and the choices and decisions they make. It is harder than imposing compliance and invoking punitive measures of control – but, I believe that it is the right thing to do.

There is not enough space here to go into depth with this discussion, but I would invite you to explore Prochaska’s Theoretical Stages of Change, Harm Reduction, Asset vs Deficit and Appreciative Inquiry as models to use in developing a more democratic classroom or school. The first two models arise out of ‘addictions’ research but I have successfully used the principles with students in secondary school. It’s not easy and required a lot of re-wiring of my habits!

As for teachers…

If we want students ‘in charge of their own learning’ then we should also embrace a culture where teachers are empowered to be in charge of theirs as well!

“When teachers are treated as Pawns they don’t teach, they become drill sergeants.“

Who is Pulling my Strings? CC by mellyjean NC ND

Who is Pulling my Strings? CC by mellyjean NC ND

We don’t allow teachers a great deal of autonomy. Their ‘locus of control’ has been largely withdrawn to the extent that they are now ‘pawns’ in the system, rather than ‘origins’ of their own behaviours. Richard DeCharms (Educational Leadership, 1977) said:

“When students are treated as Pawns they don’t learn, they misbehave.  When teachers are treated as Pawns they don’t teach, they become drill sergeants.”

We need education for our students and ALSO for our teachers – not subjugation.

IB ImageBrick #4 – We are ferociously fickle. We ‘surf the surface’.

We talk about ‘collaboration’ – and so we build collaborative tasks. We speak of ‘inquiry’ – and so we have kids generate ‘essential driving questions’. We speak of Project Based Learning (PBL) – and so we have kids ‘do projects’. Along comes Design Thinking, or the Third Teacher, flipped classroom, ‘maker’ movement, or backward design, and so on and we expect teachers to hop on this next train.

It’s a fast and furious world! We inundate teachers with new initiatives. Frequently.

I applaud many of these initiatives. However, they are pieces – parts of the whole. Somehow, we bombard teachers with so many new approaches and related techniques, it is difficult for them to manage. They become discouraged. Disempowered.

An important administrative role is to help teachers to understand the ‘essence’ residing in all these practices. Out of the distilled essence, teachers could then ‘construct their own knowledge and practice’ – the same as we wish for our students.

IB ImageBrick #5 – It IS about the tools.

As previously mentioned, one of the ‘myths’ I hear is that, ‘It’s not about the technology, it’s about the learning’. I understand the intent of this statement. I believe it arises from the focusing on the skills required to use the tool rather than on the ‘subject-matter’ at hand.

However, it is dangerous, in my opinion, to say that it is not about the tools. It is more about the tools than many of us might regularly think. Tools shape behaviours, cultures, classrooms, schools and contexts.

Seymour Papert said, “It is a self-defeating parody of scientism to suppose that one could keep everything else, including the culture, constant while adding a serious computer presence to a learning environment. If the role of the computer is so slight that the rest can be kept constant, it will also be too slight for much to come of it.”[3]

“If the role of the computer is so slight that the rest can be kept constant, it will also be too slight for much to come of it.“

Indeed, we want the culture and context of the classrooms to change. Let’s explicitly embrace how technologies might impact this change.

IB ImageBrick #6 – Educate the public.

Annie Kidder, Executive Director of People for Education, says something that makes a lot of sense to me. She suggests that we need to educate the public. We spend so much time educating students – but we do a terrible job at ‘public relations’. The public has really no idea what we do. I agree with her. It seems to me that until there is wide acceptance of new ideas in the general public, things don’t change a great deal.

IB Image

Jenisse Crashing into Wall CC by Louish Pixel NC ND

Through deep conversations, we can construct new understandings and progress towards ‘tearing down the wall’.

In summary…

It is apparent that I have addressed only a small number of the very complex array of bricks that stand in the way of educational change. Although many more have come to mind, I set them aside to focus on ones where I at least have some expertise – not just opinion!

I am open to, and desirous of, your comments.

Footnotes

[1] Note: the ability to ‘be in charge of one’s own learning’ is not merely related to this issue of ‘student agency’. That is a complex issue – that involves cognitive, social, emotional, & societal aspects. A topic for another day!

[2] I am a Summerhillian at heart. Always have been. A.S. Neill started Summerhill in 1921. There are, of course, many who have piped in on this topic in one way or the other over the years – John Dewey, Alfie Kohn, Ivan Illich, Gary Stager, Seymour Papert – to name a few.

[3] Computer Criticism vs. Technocentric Thinking, Educational Researcher (vol. 16, no. I) January/February 1987

Picture credit: Light Green Lego Brick – CC by Stilfehler SA

Irony – Do you see the irony in this post that indeed is a number of ‘abstracted’ ideas — and not very much in depth on any?!

This blog post is part of a series of thoughtful responses to the question: What’s standing in the way of change in education? to help inform CEA’s Calgary Conference on Oct 21-22, (#CEACalgary2013) where education leaders from across Canada will be answering the same question. If you would like to answer this question, please tweet us at: @cea_ace//

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22
Oct

Metacognition: A ‘Way of Being’ in the Classroom

Andrew Bridge (@theandrewbridge) tweeted me: “I’m looking for resources/strategies to help teach metacognitive skills in a junior math classroom.” 

I’m glad he asked me that because it really is a favourite area for me to think about.  Now I am not a math expert – but I have some ideas about metacognition, intentional learning and how to support students in ‘taking charge of their own learning’ — which embodies metacognition.

My immediate Twitter reply: “1st thought-Think of metacognition as a ‘way of being’ Build culture of ‘thinking as being highly valued’.”  This quick reply was based on a concern that plagues our profession. We have so many initiatives coming our way that they often get relegated to a set of activities or lessons to accomplish them before moving on to the next initiative. (See PBL – the New Worksheet & Another Brick in the Wall)

Wikipedia houses the standard descriptions of metacognition :-) :

“Metacognition is defined as “cognition about cognition”, or “knowing about knowing”. It can take many forms; it includes knowledge about when and how to use particular strategies for learning or for problem solving. There are generally two components of metacognition: knowledge about cognition, and regulation of cognition.”

James Flavell first used the word “metacognition”. He describes it in these words:

“Metacognition refers to one’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes and products or anything related to them, e.g., the learning-relevant properties of information or data. For example, I am engaging in metacognition if I notice that I am having more trouble learning A than B; [or] if it strikes me that I should double check C before accepting it as fact.” —J. H. Flavell (1976, p. 232).

So really it’s about understanding one’s own thinking and learning and the ability to manage that understanding.

Some questions to anyone asking the question Andrew asks are:

  • What fascinates you, as a teacher/learner, about learning, thinking, the mind, regulation, and knowledge construction?
  • What excites you?
  • What questions do you have about it?
  • Do you share these with your students?  Is it a focus of your regular classroom activity?
  • Is it evident in the physical layout of your classroom?
  • If I walked into your classroom would I see evidence on the walls that ‘thinking is a highly valued activity’?
  • What do you love to learn? How do you approach it? What are your challenges?
    • Perhaps, ‘what is your stance as a learner’?
  • What learning do you do in front of, or with your students, and how do you make that learning explicit (or visible)?
  • What is your philosophy of learning? How do you even define learning!?

To me it is about a ‘lifestyle’ – a ‘way of being’ – not a set of skills to be taught (not that I think Andrew is suggesting that).

I’m going to share some answers that I might give in response to these. Forgive me, but I am going to link to other posts rather than repeating much of those here.

I’m Confused! Thought I Was a Social Constructionist!  For years I have identified myself as a ‘social constructionist’. Much reading I have done recently has led me to understand that although that is a major mainstay, we are largely conditioned by past behaviours, learnings and by our environment. We are more influenced by Skinnerian stimulus/response reactions than I was willing to acknowledge. “Thinking, Fast & Slow” – Wondering about implications for schools also illustrates this point. So how is this metacognitive?  Well, I am constantly learning about learning and reflecting on how I learn within that context. How might this relate to metacognitive skills in a current junior math classroom? Since I started teaching – some 40 odd years ago – there has been a debate between ‘process’ vs ‘product’. It has had many names over the years but basically it has been a conflict between rote learning/memorization versus conceptual understanding of mathematics.  I personally think you need both. I also think that some kids need the conceptual understanding first, some will benefit from the memorization first to help to understand the concepts, and some will learn best with some iterative process that moves back and forth. This is not a popular view. (I’m used to that! LOL) My opinions aren’t the issue here though. What do your students think? Raise the issues. Have the conversations with them. Perhaps check out the Ontario Ministry of Education document from the Capacity Building Series entitled Grand Conversations in the Junior Classroom for strategies.

Intentional Serendipity – Unpacked! Teach kids this cool term – Intentional Serendipity. “If you hold an attuned intention to learn, then you will have sentinels at the watch for all that goes by. You will be ‘at the ready’ to opportunistically grasp anything that is useful to your learning. You are vigilant so that you do not miss events relevant to your intention. Intentional serendipity relies on the vigilance of the learner within the learning space.  The intentional learner may set the conditions of that learning space to optimize opportunities – opportunities conducive to the task at hand. It may be by turning on all the knowledge flows – twitter, text, skype, etc. Or it may be by selecting a place of silence for reflection and inner workings of the mind and heart.”  Eleanor Duckworth speaks of helping students get to where ideas can find them.  I love that!

Scaffolding for Deep Understanding  Journal writing, collaboration and scaffolding are useful ‘tools’ to make thinking explicit and discussable. But, it needs not to be an ‘exercise’. It needs to be useful worthwhile. That is the challenge.  One thing that we often did in these scaffolded, collaborative journal writing environments was to have regular group/class meetings where kids had to arrive prepared to discuss such things as: “Go through the journals of your group and find examples of where a ‘confusion’ was later solved.” Or, “…where an old idea was used in a new way.” Or, “…where there is a difference of opinion.” Etc. Then we’d have a good yak about the ideas – about the thinking – the learning.

Deep Understanding and the Issue of Transfer ‘Bug seeking’ is a critical metacognitive skill. It refers to tiptoeing back through your thinking and actions to see where, how and why you went wrong. In the conclusion of this post, you will see how some grade twos dealt with this metaphor of ‘bug hunting’. ‘Thinking’ becomes externalized and an object for examination.

The ‘Drip Effects’ of Technology  Gavriel Salomon taught me a great deal about ‘effect with’ and ‘effects of’ using computers with kids. One of the unintended effects of my using computers with kids was the way in which I restructured my grade 2 class some years ago. It led to a great discovery. I expected kids not just to learn the content at hand, but indeed I expected them to manage the learning of that content as well.  This is, of course, what metacognition is all about.

ZPD – Who’s in Charge Here? I believe that it is important to help kids to take charge of their learning – to be able to seek the appropriate scaffolding in their Zone of Proximal Development.

The Construction Zone  I called my classroom The Construction Zone because I think that ‘naming’ is very powerful.  Names are loaded with meaning. ‘Classroom’ comes with many expectations and perhaps baggage. Maybe students walk into such a space expecting to be taught. “Do it to me!” ‘The Construction Zone’ infers that they are going to build something – to create and manufacture.  Indeed, I was referring to ‘constructionism’ and the ‘zone of proximal development’ and being in ‘the zone’ –  a state of ‘flow’ (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi).

Metaphoria and Digital Literacy

Play games with your kids – ‘bug hunting’ – and Metaphoria. This latter one has been one of my favourites. Metaphors provide students with a mental model  — a model that is durable and independent of the computer and therefore empowers students with tools with which to think.

Metaphoria – The Concept of Understanding One Thing in Terms of Another

SUMMARY!

OK!! I’m going to stop here. LOL

Thank you, Andrew, for encouraging me to revisit some of these thoughts!
Friends and colleagues, I don’t think I have provided many specific resources to help Andrew teach his students metacognitive skills in his junior math class.

I’m calling on you more practical people!  JUMP IN!!!

16
Sep

Digital Literacy & Storytelling

Thanks to Jamie Bell of the Nunavut Research Institute for this poster!

Note: This event is occurring at 7:00PM Eastern time for teachers and others who work with youth!  Please register HERE!!!

Digital Literacy GDD Webinar

4
Jun

Global Dignity Day 2013!

A Call for Participation!gdd logo

Dear Educators!

On Wednesday, October 16th, 2013, schools and organizations from around the world will once again celebrate Global Dignity Day (GD).

“…every human being has the universal right to lead a dignified life.”

What is Global Dignity?

Global Dignity (GD) (www.globaldignity.org) is an independent, international, non-political and non-partisan organization focused on empowering individuals with the concept that every human being has the universal right to lead a dignified life. Established in 2005, by HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Operation HOPE Founder, Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant and Professor Pekka Himanen, GD is linked to the 2020 process of the World Economic Forum, in which leaders from politics, business, academia, and civil society join efforts to improve the state of the world.

DAVOS-KLOSTERS/SWITZERLAND, 30JAN09 - HRH Crow...

HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Founder and Chairman of Operation Hope speaks to the students during a special ‘Dignity Day’ session at the Swiss Alpine School at the Annual Meeting 2009 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 30, 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

2012 Success Story!

Last October, 9,000 students in Canada from Nunavut to British Columbia joined 350,000 students in over 50 countries to celebrate human dignity and to empower all those around us to live with mutual respect, tolerance and kindness. Culminating with a national videoconference on Parliament Hill, which linked 1,200 students from coast-to-coast, we were thrilled with the enthusiasm and support that GD received from all walks of life.

“9,000 students in Canada from Nunavut to British Columbia.”

English: Yonah Martin, Canadian Senator from B...

English: Yonah Martin, Canadian Senator from British Columbia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In this respect, we had the privilege of rolling-out GD with our National Role Models (2012) who included: Founder of TakingITGlobal, Jennifer Corriero, NDP MP Niki Ashton, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Senator Yonah Martin, Jeffrey Copenace from the Assembly of First Nations, traditional Inuit researcher, Curtis Konek, Ryan Hreljac, the Founder of Ryan’s Well and our national event’s keynote speaker, Wesley Prankard, the Founder of Northernstarfish.

What is Required?

There is no cost to take part in GD and events have been designed to range anywhere from 15 minutes, to two hours, or even a full day. What’s more, GD celebrations are flexible and easy to integrate into any classroom setting. This year’s “Many Faces of Dignity” campaign celebrates the varied and diverse interpretations of human dignity and how these forces play out in our lives. By extension, this provides students with the opportunity to explore issues like youth empowerment, anti-bullying, cultural diversity and beyond.

“GD celebrations are flexible and easy to integrate into any classroom setting.”

In the attached agenda, you will find an overview of GD, complete with learning objectives. Throughout the GD process, students will learn about the importance of dignity in their own lives and the lives of others. From there, they will learn how to express what dignity means for them and they will learn how their own dignity is mutually dependent on the dignity of others.

Students Can Make a Difference!

Overall, it is our hope that by acknowledging existing inequalities, students will see that they have the ability to impact and enrich the lives of others through their own actions and choices, thereby promoting awareness and a social consciousness during a key time in their development.

“…promote awareness and a social consciousness…”

I encourage you to consider championing this global movement and help us to transform young lives, revitalize communities in Canada’s North, and mobilize young people from around the world to act for global change.

Register Your School

Please register your school / organization by visiting here

and share this invitation with any individuals, groups and organizations who may be interested in supporting, volunteering or encouraging more people to participate in this important movement. Visit www.globaldignity.ca for more info. (New site will be up REAL SOON!!!!)

Thank you for supporting our youth!

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will learn about the importance of dignity in their own lives and the lives of others.
  • Students will learn to express in their own words what dignity means for them and their lives.
  • Students will learn about how their own dignity is mutually dependent on the dignity of others.
  • Students will name something they are for and what they want to do during the course of the next year to strengthen the dignity of others.

Connections to Education:

Character development must be a whole school effort.

Character development supports student achievement because it: develops the whole student as an individual (as an engaged learner and as a citizen); contributes to respectful, safe, caring and inclusive school environments that are prerequisites for learning; creates learning environments that are positive and collaborative so that teachers spend less time disciplining and more time doing what they do best – namely, teaching.

The increasing diversity of Canada’s population creates an opportunity for us to determine the beliefs and principles we hold in common. When school boards engage a wide cross-section of their communities in building consensus on character attributes, they are, in essence, engaged in a process of finding common ground.

The principles and attributes of character development are universal, based in equity and transcend differences as well as other demographic factors. Empathy for others and respect for the dignity of all persons are essential characteristics of an inclusive society

Connections to 21st Century Skills:

Global Awareness

  • Learning from individuals representing diverse cultures, religions and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect

Communication and Collaboration

  • Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts
  • Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions
  • Use communication for a range of purposes (e.g. to inform, instruct, motivate and persuade)

Global Dignity Principles:

  • Every human being has a right to a dignified life;
  • A dignified life means the opportunity to fulfill your potential. This means having a humane level of healthcare, education;
  • Dignity means having the freedom to make decisions about your life and to be treated with respect with regard to this right;
  • Dignity should be the basic guiding principle behind all actions;
  • Ultimately, our dignity depends upon the dignity of others.

Global Dignity Day Overview (approx. 2 hours total):

Screen Shot 2013-06-04 at 11.38.57 AM

Kindly register your school by October 10th at the latest if you intend to participate.

Sincerely yours,                                       

Giovanna Mingarelli
Chair, National Steering Committee
Global Dignity Day Canada
giovanna@globaldignity.ca
 
Peter Skillen
National Steering Committee
Global Dignity Day Canada
peter@globaldignity.ca


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29
Apr

The Science of Passion Based Learning

Originally posted by  on Apr 9, 2013 in PLP’s Voices for the Learning Revolution –  Passion Based Learning, The How of 21st Century Teaching

“You can’t separate intellect and feelings in the work of the mind. They’re both there all the time. Real learning—attentive real learning, deep learning—is playful and frustrating and joyful and discouraging and exciting and sociable and private all at the same time, which is what makes it great.” ~ Eleanor Duckworth

Know when to memorize. Know when to mesmerize!

If we want students to learn deeply and efficiently we need to understand the role emotions play in different types of learning. We could spend much time discussing what it means to learn. In fact, Seymour Sarason has a whole book called “And What Do You Mean by Learning?”

Without getting into it too deeply, we could probably agree that we want students to acquire some knowledge, skills and attitudes. So how should kids ‘get that knowledge’? A constructivist approach would suggest that kids need to assimilate information into existing schema or indeed construct new schema to accommodate new information and ideas. Lev Vygotsky might add that this happens best in a social setting.

Should Students Memorize Content?

Skillen1-boy-deskOther approaches would involve getting students to memorize content or procedural knowledge. While I believe there are times when this is quite appropriate, rote memorization continues to be an overused strategy that is often implemented without a deep understanding of its nuances. It becomes “memorization of decontextualized facts” rather than “active construction of new schema.”

These days, there is a very vocal anti-memorization movement! We hear about collaboration, project-based learning, student agency, constructionism, and passion. All of which I support. I’ve been a fan of passion-based learning since I started teaching in 1970. Somehow it just seemed a matter of ethics and the culture of the day. Kids should love learning and love school. It was after all, the “love, peace and happiness” era.

Passion Constitutes More than Engagement

Passion-based learning has gained more ground recently. Why? Apart from the anti-memorization sentiments, the main rationale seems to be focused on engagement and motivation. Students are more likely to learn if they are captivated, motivated and engaged with the curriculum or projects in hand. We could unpack types and levels of engagement, but I’m sure we’d all agree on this: if the child is deeply engaged in a task there is greater likelihood that she will attend to it better and build requisite understandings and new schema that serve to increase the base of content and process knowledge desired.

But passion isn’t just about the motivational aspect. It’s deeper than engagement.

There are cognitive processes in the brain that are “turned on” by emotion – be that passion, anger, anxiety or other emotions.

baby-with-big-ideas-200Emotions Impact Cognition

Here’s a sampling of thoughts from some great voices:

Eleanor Duckworth suggests that “…you can’t separate intellect and feelings in the work of the mind. They’re both there all the time. Real learning—attentive real learning, deep learning—is playful and frustrating and joyful and discouraging and exciting and sociable and private all at the same time, which is what makes it great” (in Teaching by Heart: The Foxfire Interviews, Sara Day Hatton, 2005, p. 21).

Paulo Freire, the great Brazilian educator, often suggested that we must teach with both our hearts and our minds, while Lev Vygotsky recognized the limitations of trying to explain ‘superior thinking processes’ without addressing the effects of emotion.

Nellie J. Zambrana-Ortiz in Pedagogy in (E)Motion suggests that “emotions color our ideas, move the reason, and stretch cognition.”  She says, “Emotions are related to body as well as mind. There is no cognition without emotions, or emotions outside the limits of a cognitive experience, and progressive explanations of human learning and development must take into consideration the fusion of both.”

It’s real now that “science” says so

Why is it not a widely accepted fact that emotions impact cognition and why is it not central to our educational systems? My guess is that all the psychologists, philosophers and educators who have spoken about the centrality of emotions in learning haven’t been considered ‘real scientists’ by our western societies. We tend to like ‘hard’ science.

Well, now we are getting some ‘hard science’ as a result of breakthroughs in neuroscience research.

Antonio Damasio, a great neuroscientist, has researched this phenomenon extensively in recent years and has discovered that emotions are absolutely necessary in the decision-making process. He describes them as the “engine of the limbic system” – our “emotional brain.”

Priscilla Vail in her article “The Role of Emotions in Learning,” says ‘Emotion is an on/off switch for learning…the emotional brain, the limbic system, has the power to open or close access to learning, memory, and the ability to make connections.’

Magic-hat-wand-145When students are passionately engaged in their learning – when they are mesmerized by their learning environment or activities – there are myriad responses in their brains making connections and building schema that simply would not occur without that passion or emotion.

Much of what we ask kids to “memorize” has little emotional charge to it. Emotions can significantly alter the creation and recall of memories. People are better at remembering information that is emotionally charged – rather than information that is neutral or flat.

So when you are designing learning environments, remember that mesmerization trumps memorization!

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