They Actually Ran Towards the School!
My friend Adam was visiting a few years ago and we asked if he could walk our kids to school as both my wife and I had to work early. Adam grew up in Chicago and his elementary schooling was a chore, something to avoid if at all possible. He was astonished that morning to watch as our children - once they had reached the park that surrounds our school - waved ‘goodbye’ and sprinted towards the school grounds. “They actually ran towards the school!” He just couldn’t believe it.
What is it that makes some people run towards learning and others run from it? And what can we, as teachers, do to direct more of this enthusiastic traffic in the right direction? These were my central questions upon admission to the master’s of education program at Michigan State University (“MSU”). The intent of this essay is to summarize some of the larger conceptual educational issues that I’ve struggled with and debated during the process of obtaining my master’s degree as I’ve tried to improve my skills and abilities as both a teacher and a learner. |
How do we learn?
My first course at MSU - EAD 860 Concepts of a Learning Society - asked us to define what is meant by a Learning Society, the importance of life-long learning, how people learn and how they can be motivated to learn. Understanding how people learn and how they are motivated to learn is key to assessing and reflecting on the efficacy of our own teaching process. As teachers we need to ask ourselves if our approaches are guiding our students towards or away from school.
My first course at MSU - EAD 860 Concepts of a Learning Society - asked us to define what is meant by a Learning Society, the importance of life-long learning, how people learn and how they can be motivated to learn. Understanding how people learn and how they are motivated to learn is key to assessing and reflecting on the efficacy of our own teaching process. As teachers we need to ask ourselves if our approaches are guiding our students towards or away from school.
Warner Bros. Pictures, 1971. A Clockwork Orange. Dir. S.Kubrick.
In a scene from A Clockwork Orange the central character, Alex, is strait-jacketed and bound to a chair with his eyelids pinned open and forced to watch videos considered important by his captors. As students we can empathize with Alex. Although we may not have always enjoyed the process I think we do have to admit that sometimes the ‘lecturing to a captive audience’ approach to education actually works. As educators we should however, question whether there are better, more effective and efficient - and hopefully less traumatic - ways for us to facilitate learning.
There is an old adage, amended for education, that you can “lead students to learning but you can’t make them learn” (Weimer, 2002). Learning is very much a student driven process. Students that run to school, that want to learn, tend to have a few things in common:
1. They are interested in what they are learning
2. They have a voice in what they are learning
3. They are able to construct knowledge rather than simply receive knowledge.
There is an old adage, amended for education, that you can “lead students to learning but you can’t make them learn” (Weimer, 2002). Learning is very much a student driven process. Students that run to school, that want to learn, tend to have a few things in common:
1. They are interested in what they are learning
2. They have a voice in what they are learning
3. They are able to construct knowledge rather than simply receive knowledge.
While this is a much more student driven process it does not mean that the inmates are running the asylum or that there is no role for educators in education. Weimer continues “... It’s the teacher's job to put salt in the oats so once the horse got to the water it was damn thirsty...it is our responsibility to take explicit actions that will motivate student learning.” Students that have an interest in what they are learning are more motivated to learn, the questions and issues ‘speak’ to them and they have a desire to solve their mysteries. According to “theories and research related to self-regulated learners, students’ motivation, confidence, and enthusiasm for learning are all adversely affected when teachers control the processes through and by which they learn” (Weimer, 2002). So we need to find ways to ensure students have input into their education beyond merely selecting which class they will take. Finally, students obtain “deep” as opposed to “surface” understanding when they are able to “construct knowledge” by, for example, working together to try to solve a problem, rather than simply “receiving knowledge” as they might do during a typical lecture. These elements as a whole tend to create student motivation and initiative to learn.
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H. Gardner - preschool4all.com
What should we teach?
The Great Books supporters posit that there are key intellectual landmarks that all students should be familiar with. Tolstoy, Twain and Shakespeare, amongst other authors canonized on most “great books” lists, offer often unparalleled insights into our human narrative. Unfortunately a Great Books approach violates some of the central tenants to learning theory as the content is imposed from above. A “You will learn Shakespeare” mandate may not easily mesh with a student who says “But I’m really interested in the Watchmen”. This is a challenging problem. Ultimately is it more important to read Hamlet or to apply critical reading skills to whatever book (or website) may draw your attention? Is it specific content that is most valuable or the ability to critically assess any content?
Howard Gardner, one of the key educational figures studied in ED 800 Concepts of Educational Inquiry, is an advocate of “learner-centered” teaching and has been described as a foil to “standardized testing/content” approaches advocated by individuals such as E.D.Hirsch. Gardner is often championed by educators as being very pro-student (which he is) and pioneering while Hirsch is often unfairly maligned as an anti-student, antiquated standardized testing advocate. Of course their arguments are more complex and both are very concerned with the well-being of students, the direction of education and ways in which it can be improved. It is fair to say however that Hirsch, through his Core Knowledge proposal, is an advocate for expanded content instruction in the classroom. The counter question proposed by Gardner and others is “how much content is enough?”
In each educational domain there is so much potential information that we are often inclined to fill our syllabus and every moment of our class time with new content or technical information. We should consider whether this is, indeed, the best use of our class time. Many educators question whether there is value in this ‘maximum content’ approach and are concerned that retention is negligible. “That students retain little understanding of course content has been documented so many times and in so many different contexts that it is impossible to list all the research - not that we need research evidence. We see it all too clearly when we teach the next course in the sequence. Sitting before us are students A’s and B’s in the prerequisite course, and yet when asked a question that draws on prior knowledge, they look perplexed and confused; most do not venture even a guess” (Weimer, 2002).
So if retention of content is nominal, what can we provide of value to our students in the classroom? In my profession, accounting, I would argue that students need a basic understanding of key foundational concepts and then, beyond that, they need to know how to research from source documents (the Income Tax Act, the CICA Handbook etc.), apply facts to the criteria in the source documents, consider alternative solutions and provide supported conclusions. We are not ignoring content. Instead we are placing content into an appropriate context and helping our students learn to apply it. So we provide value by exposing our students to critical thinking and learning theories, challenging them to use these processes to analyze content from source documents and asking them to apply their knowledge to real life scenarios. Content is learned not on its own, but in conjunction with learning skills and critical thinking approaches. In CEP 818 Creativity in Teaching and Learning, Professor Mishra argued that creativity must also be integrated into our curriculum as it is creativity and ingenuity that will allow our students to thrive within the increasingly complex and evolving knowledge economy that we live in. By fostering creativity, he believes, we provide our students with tools to succeed in a very unpredictable future. As with learning skills, Mishra argues that creativity can best be learned in conjunction with academic content. In my situation I was challenged to apply principles of creativity (abstracting, embodiment etc.) to my field of study - accounting. Not only was this process fun, it was also very rewarding and provided a refreshing lens to view what had become very familiar academic territory. Although often presented as such, content, active learning approaches and creativity are not enemies. In fact most research indicates that active learning is most successfully achieved when presented in conjunction with content. Still, we only have so many hours to teach and often the list of required content is very long. I think it’s important that we assess which content is ‘essential’ and consider how we can find space for more active learning and creative approaches to educational content within our respective domains. |
M. Wiemer -
facultyfocus.com
How do we teach?
When I entered the Master’s program at MSU one of my objectives was to ‘become a better teacher’. Obtaining a conceptual understanding of how people learn and what is important to learn is a fundamental element of becoming a better teacher. But, ultimately, there is limited value to teaching theory unless you put it into practice. This next section summarizes my thoughts on teaching best practices and how they might be applied in the classroom. The importance of being an expert in your domain, carefully crafting lectures and establishing the trust of your students etc. are well documented and the benefits are understood by most teachers. I will focus on a few other areas, discussed in depth in EAD 866 Teaching in Post-secondary Education, that follow from the arguments presented above namely: planning, motivation, learning environment, assessment and the use of educational technology.
When I entered the Master’s program at MSU one of my objectives was to ‘become a better teacher’. Obtaining a conceptual understanding of how people learn and what is important to learn is a fundamental element of becoming a better teacher. But, ultimately, there is limited value to teaching theory unless you put it into practice. This next section summarizes my thoughts on teaching best practices and how they might be applied in the classroom. The importance of being an expert in your domain, carefully crafting lectures and establishing the trust of your students etc. are well documented and the benefits are understood by most teachers. I will focus on a few other areas, discussed in depth in EAD 866 Teaching in Post-secondary Education, that follow from the arguments presented above namely: planning, motivation, learning environment, assessment and the use of educational technology.
Planning - We need to identify the learning goals for our course and maintain an almost myopic focus on these learning goals as we create activities and assessment. The learning goals can be fluid and malleable, but we need to ensure that these outcomes - whatever they might be - are consistent with our activities and assessments. We should consider whether our learning goals can be broader than simply “learn all the capital cities in Canada”. Think big and identify active learning goals so that our students are able to learn how to learn, research, assess and apply the content.
Motivation - Although much of this is internal to the individual, we can play an important role in the motivation of our students. Consider allowing the students to have a voice in the classroom, provide them an opportunity to choose from a variety of assignments or give them a say in how classroom participation might be defined and assessed. Try to make it so the students are interested in the problems identified in the classroom and interested in solving the puzzles. Salt the oats.
Learning environment - Make your classroom a place for questioning, for exchange of ideas, for invention and creativity. There is significant research evidence indicating that students have ‘deeper’ learning experiences when they are able to construct knowledge rather than simply receiving knowledge (via a lecture for example). So we should consider providing space for our students to discuss, research and debate issues rather than solely having them listen to us opine on topics at the front of the class.
Assessment - Students are very aware of the importance of grades, which are often a significant extrinisic motivator. We need to ensure that our assignments, tests and other methods for assessment are challenging and consistent with the learning objectives established during planning for the course. If, for example, we want our students to be able to demonstrate their ability to apply knowledge beyond a superficial level to real-life scenarios we may need to re-think the exclusive use of multiple choice questions as an examination technique.
Technology - in several courses at MSU I was challenged to re-assess both my relationship with digital technologies and my understanding of the role and application of technology in education. I continue to believe that the Internet and related digital technologies provide us with amazing educational tools and we would be wise to consider ways to integrate them into our classrooms. That said I also believe that we need to be wary of claims that these same technologies can be a panacea for all of our educational ailments. They are a tool. You don’t use a hammer to chop down a tree.
Motivation - Although much of this is internal to the individual, we can play an important role in the motivation of our students. Consider allowing the students to have a voice in the classroom, provide them an opportunity to choose from a variety of assignments or give them a say in how classroom participation might be defined and assessed. Try to make it so the students are interested in the problems identified in the classroom and interested in solving the puzzles. Salt the oats.
Learning environment - Make your classroom a place for questioning, for exchange of ideas, for invention and creativity. There is significant research evidence indicating that students have ‘deeper’ learning experiences when they are able to construct knowledge rather than simply receiving knowledge (via a lecture for example). So we should consider providing space for our students to discuss, research and debate issues rather than solely having them listen to us opine on topics at the front of the class.
Assessment - Students are very aware of the importance of grades, which are often a significant extrinisic motivator. We need to ensure that our assignments, tests and other methods for assessment are challenging and consistent with the learning objectives established during planning for the course. If, for example, we want our students to be able to demonstrate their ability to apply knowledge beyond a superficial level to real-life scenarios we may need to re-think the exclusive use of multiple choice questions as an examination technique.
Technology - in several courses at MSU I was challenged to re-assess both my relationship with digital technologies and my understanding of the role and application of technology in education. I continue to believe that the Internet and related digital technologies provide us with amazing educational tools and we would be wise to consider ways to integrate them into our classrooms. That said I also believe that we need to be wary of claims that these same technologies can be a panacea for all of our educational ailments. They are a tool. You don’t use a hammer to chop down a tree.
Children running to school. Freedomnewspaper.com
How do we get students running towards school?
“Human beings are curious animals. People learn naturally when trying to solve problems that concern them.” (Bain, 2004). Let’s make sure we pose interesting questions and involve our students in the creation of these questions. Let’s try to make room in our content saturated classrooms for learning skills and creativity. Let’s ensure that we maintain our focus on broader learning goals and ensure our activities and assessments are in accordance with these goals. Let’s motivate our students to learn. Let’s salt the oats and run with them to school.
“Human beings are curious animals. People learn naturally when trying to solve problems that concern them.” (Bain, 2004). Let’s make sure we pose interesting questions and involve our students in the creation of these questions. Let’s try to make room in our content saturated classrooms for learning skills and creativity. Let’s ensure that we maintain our focus on broader learning goals and ensure our activities and assessments are in accordance with these goals. Let’s motivate our students to learn. Let’s salt the oats and run with them to school.
References
Weimer,M. Learner-Centered Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.