Reform-based instruction

All of this talk about education reform, I thought I would post some thoughts on my conception of reform. Importantly, reform is something that can happen in individual classrooms.  While systemic paradigmatic shift would be great, this kind of change is not likely nor practical.  Instead, the individual teacher has the power to implement reform.  The teacher has a critical role in promoting an environment conducive to high levels of student mental engagement and active participation.

Student views of learning: Change your teaching

As teachers, we must take steps to communicate desirable views on learning throughout instruction. While specific strategies and activities that directly confront student views of cognition will impact student views, more careful attention ought be paid to the implicit messages sent via general instructional practices.  Some of the implicit instructional strategies I have used to convey desirable views on cognition are outlined below.

Student views of learning: Desired outcomes

As with all content, if we are to help students deeply understand new material, we must clearly conceptualize what is to be taught.  By wrestling with the content ourselves, we prepare ourselves to react more proficiently to various student views.  To move students toward more desired views of learning/thinking, we must first understand what concepts or ideas are part of learning views.  Views of learning are very abstract notions, so clearly understanding how we conceptualize the ideas is of utmost importance.

Student views of learning: Past work

For more than thirty years, researchers in science education have been interested in studying students’ scientific misconceptions and how teachers can help students overcome these misconceptions.  From this research, we have begun to understand that learning is the result of the interaction between what a student is taught and his or her current ideas or concepts (Posner et al., 1982; NRC, 2000; Driver & Easley, 1978).  While much research has been done on changing students’ scientific concepts, little emphasis has been placed on changing students views about learning and thinking, or more succinctly, cognition.

Open-investigation (Video)

Just a quick video I took walking around the room while students worked on an open ended investigation. Each group is investigating their own questions, creating their own research plan and sharing their results with each other online.  Hence the laptops and ipod touches.

Managing open-ended projects

In my class I try to encourage students to make as many decisions for themselves as possible. Toward that end I use quite a few open-ended investigations in my class.  During these investigations students create their own research question and investigate the question by designing their own investigation techniques, analyzing their own data and coming to their own conclusions.  They then create a “product” that they share with their classmates both in class and online.  This post highlights some ways I manage these projects.

Student views of learning: Introduction

Helping students develop as learners must include helping them understand how to learn. Of course nearly every teacher would say they want their students to learn how to learn and many notions of education reform call for students to be actively thinking about their own learning and their own thinking. Unfortunately, the dominant message being sent to students concerning learning is that the teacher is the holder of knowledge and their job is to pour that knowledge into students’ heads. This “student as empty vessel” model was once popular among teachers, but education reform documents call attention to the learners’ role and the need for active mental engagement in order for conceptual change to take place (Posner et al., 1982; NRC, 2000; NRC, 1996; AAAS, 1989). Unfortunately, teaching practices that focus too much on recall, completion of worksheets, and cookbook activities do not make clear the role of the learner in learning.

Failed reform

Education reform and failed attempts at reform has been a hot topic for quite a while.  I have become even more attuned to these issues lately with several pieces I have read.  Below I summarize some of the recent things I’ve read and my own thoughts on education reform.  Importantly, I believe we must address teacher beliefs of learning before any reform efforts will pay off.

Lessons learned…from twitter

I often note many of the downsides of technology in school and learning.  Yet, I am a technophile and recently examined what benefit I have had from engaging in social technology such as twitter.  While I am the first to admit we must carefully examine technology and its side effects, I also get annoyed by people who too quickly dismiss the value of new technologies just because it is new.  So below are just a few lessoned I think I have learned or have been enhanced through via my twitter experience.

Teach Naked – let students behind the scenes.

A few weeks ago there was some buzz around a university administrator who was asking their professors to teach without technologies such as powerpoint.  The idea was referred to as “teaching naked”.  I like the idea of throwing out improper use of technologies in classrooms, but thought I might try a different take on the phrase “teach naked” to inform our classroom instruction.

Consider how removing the veil from our instructional decisions might enhance student learning.  We as teachers make decisions based on what we know about how people learn, yet we often keep these decision making processes from our students.