Are adult learners different from young learners?

I’m currently participating in a training course for IB educators to become officially recognised IB Workshop Leaders. Learning with and from passionate, knowledgeable and driven educators, with diverse backgrounds and experiences, is proving to be engaging and exciting. I’m enjoying the challenge of being pushed to think about learning in a different context.

I notice again and again, that the issues discussed, the tips the leaders offer, the problems we grapple with and the strategies shared all apply just as much in teaching and learning at school as they do in running adult workshops.

We reflect individually on the conditions that support and hinder our own learning, and then share in groups. There’s much commonality… and difference, of course, and the leaders point out that all these are considerations to bear in mind when running workshops for other adults.

These are some of the factors that come up in the conversation:

(Notice anything?)

As adult learners, we value…

• Opportunities to interact with other learners.
• A sense of  learning something new.
• Enough time to talk, reflect and construct meaning.
• An interesting presenter, aware of participants’ needs.
• Engaging and provocative issues to grapple with.
• A range of perspectives.
• A clear purpose.
• A variety of presentation styles.
• A safe environment in which to try out our ideas.

As adult learners, we don’t enjoy…

• Being passive while a presenter lectures.
• PowerPoints with too many words.
• Lack of internet access.
• An overcrowded agenda.
• Physical needs not being met
• Not enough time to reflect and internalise.
• Lack of support and follow-up.

We’re asked to examine a list of the characteristics of adult learners and consider the implications that these have for us as workshop leaders. It’s true we need to be aware that adults have accumulated a (longer) lifetime of knowledge and experiences that might affect our learning. Adults might come to the new learning with more preconceived ideas, stronger opinions and possibly a resistance to change. But as I work my way through the list, I’m struck again by the fact that learning is learning and there is not much difference between the way adults learn and the way children do. Before I’m criticised (yet again!) for my tendency to oversimplify, let me clarify that I am not comparing the natural curiosity and exploration of toddlers to adults studying for a PhD. (Or am I?) I’m sharing my beliefs about the ways learning works.

As an educator who thinks deeply about learning, I have spent a great deal of time over the years considering almost all the things on this list in the context of student learning. How much will I need to adjust my practice when working with adults?

These are my school’s articulated learning principles: (If you read this blog regularly, you’ll have seen these beliefs referred to repeatedly!)

Everyone has the potential to learn.

• We learn in different ways, depending on abilities, preferences and interests.
• Learning takes place through inquiry: questioning, exploring, experimenting and problem solving.
• Learning occurs by acquiring skills and knowledge, constructing meaning and transfer to other contexts.
• Learning is active and social and best takes place through collaboration and interaction.
• Learning takes place when we feel secure, valued and are able to take risks.
• Learning needs to be challenging, meaningful, purposeful and engaging.
• Learning includes meta-cognition and reflection, and requires learners to take ownership of their learning.

It seems to me that if I bear these in mind, as I always need to do in learning situations, facilitating adult workshops will not be all that different from teaching in a classroom.

IB Workshop Leader Training Day #2

Concept driven learning…

Some ‘big ideas’ about concept driven learning:

(From this week’s little #pypchat on Twitter)

• The world is changing. Knowledge is changing. The ability to view the world with a more flexible mind is invaluable. (Steve)
• Concept based learning is about big transferable ideas that transcend time, place, situation. (Ed)
• Content just focuses on facts while concept focuses on making sense of those facts and the world around us (Christianne)
• Content based teaching may not get beyond information transmission/superficial learning (Gillian)
• Concepts are a way to organize and make sense of learning. Connect disciplinary knowledge.  (Miranda)
• We can’t possibly teach everything that is important, but we can teach the big ideas. (Alexandra)
• Concept based learning is a framework to study everything. So much information. Content can change, concepts stay the same. (Mega)
• Information is useless unless you can do something with it. (Lynne Erickson)

Big Ideas in the classroom.

Since I no longer have my own class, I relish opportunities to get into classrooms. This week I’m team teaching in Year 5 with Rubi… and team learning. We bounce ideas before class, observe and listen to the kids and change the plan as the learning unfolds. The ‘topic’ is energy, but it’s inquiry learning and it’s concept driven. 

The first provocation is a video showing the effects of an electricity blackout. The students’ questions are quite specific to the incident, and we realize we need to change the plan already. We ask the kids to revisit their questions and ‘grow’ them, this time considering big ideas, transferable through time and place. It only takes one example from a different context to get the idea and they are away! This round of questions is about electricity and alternative power sources, not just the blackout they saw.

Rubi introduces a second provocation to further develop their thinking. She puts on music and asks the kids to dance and jump around. There is lots of noise and energetic movement, kids remove their sweaters as they warm up and a good time is had by all (except the class next door.)  We ask the kids to discuss in groups how this activity connects to the first provocation and then come up with further questions.  This round of questions is about different forms of energy, where they come from and how they are used.

Sorting Questions.

With each question on an individual sticky note, the groups sort the questions in any way they like. Before they start I ask them what they see as the purpose this activity. Mia says it will make them read everyone’s questions and think about them. Liam says it will help them organize their thoughts. Amanda says it will  help them check their understanding. Josh says they will have to justify their thinking.

Some groups sort the questions by topic, others by big ideas. One sorts them according to the PYP key concepts. Some groups sort and re-sort in different ways. Some sort them into deep and shallow questions, open and closed questions. I’ve seen Rubi encourage this this kind of thinking by having kids analyse questions through the question quadrant. They use the language: ‘That’s a closed question,’ ‘You could just google that,’ ‘ That’s too narrow, how do we make it a bigger idea’? ‘That’s just about facts, it’s not deep enough.’  We gather the questions, type the whole lot and cut them up, ready for sorting the next day.

To sum up the lesson, we ask students to give it a title. I ask what a title does and they tell me ‘It sums up what’s important,’ ‘It tells you the main idea’, ‘It tells you what it’s all about’. ‘It makes you want to know more’. Their titles fit the bill!

A conceptual central idea.

We introduce the central idea: ‘Our use of energy has an impact on the planet.’

Each group now gets the whole class’s questions and the task is to sort the pile into two groups… Those that relate to the central idea (the overarching conceptual understanding.) and those that don’t. The students are totally engaged as we move between groups and listen to the rich conversation. There is much debate and it doesn’t take long before they decide they need three groups or even four, because it isn’t as simple as that! Through the process, questions are further developed and refined.

Key concepts.

The key concepts which will be our lens for the inquiry are function ( how does it work?) and responsibility. We ask the students to get the laptops and create a quick cartoon using Toondoo to show their understanding of one of the two concepts in a clever way. Some create cartoons that connect to our central idea, others show examples that connect to their personal lives. The choice is theirs – the results are creative and thought-provoking! Back in groups, the students now pick out questions relating to each of these  key concepts….

Big ideas about the learning:

Officially, there has been no teaching yet. A few video clips, some ideas on the class blog to think about and the time described above spent provoking and developing thinking.

Yet, already…

• Students have risen above the facts and are thinking on a conceptual level.
• They are making connections with prior knowledge and constructing meaning for themselves.
• They are asking and answering questions, organizing ideas and justifying their thinking.
• The so-called ’21st century skills’ of creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration are all evident.
• A host of other trans-disciplinary skills are being practised.
• Curiosity has been sparked and there is excitement about taking the learning further.
• Every single one of our school’s learning principles is evident.

Images: Responsibility by Amelia, Function by Gabi

Excellent resources on concept driven learning here.

What are your beliefs about learning?

Do you just go in there and teach or do you think about the ways in which your students learn best?

Just mention the periodic table and my daughter bursts into song  ‘Hydrogen, Helium…’

She has little if any interest in things scientific or mathematical. She hated maths at school and I recall a science teacher once reporting to me that she had fallen asleep during class. It was a race to see whether maths and science teachers gave up on her or she stopped trying first. She spent her final years at a school that specialized in the arts, where she focused on drama, theatre, art and music. These days, at 26, she is fluent in Spanish and runs a children’s arts and literacy foundation in Ecuador.

So how is it that she recalls the periodic tables fifteen years after learning them?

As part of a 6th grade performance, the music teacher set the elements to music. The catchy tune and the elements of the periodic table have stuck in my daughter’s head ever since.

What does this tell us about how learning works?

What does it tell us about the ‘one size fits all’ model of school?

What are your beliefs about learning?

Asking good questions…

Cross-posted at Inquire Within

What questions do you have about this artifact? It doesn’t matter what it is. We don’t know and we don’t (as yet) need to try to find out…

Our job is simply to create questions. We are each assigned a different lens through which to view the object and ask our questions. We are artists, mathematicians, scientists, inventors and historians.

We are encouraged to frame our questions conceptually. Considering the key concepts of form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, reflection and responsibility (key concepts in the IB PYP) helps us to ask deeper and more interesting questions.

Give it a try!

I loved this activity, facilitated by Helen Morschel, our workshop leader last Tuesday, for a number of reasons:

• We could approach the task in different ways – it was naturally differentiated.
• It was inquiry based, encouraging us to question, wonder and explore possibilities.
• We were honing our questioning skills, while constructing meaning about the object and its possibilities.
• We collaborated in groups and it was active and social (and fun!)
• There were no wrong answers (or questions) and it didn’t matter what the object really was, so everyone was happy to have a go.
• It was challenging and engaging and we saw at once how it could be used in our classrooms.
• There was valuable individual and shared reflection about the process itself.

No wonder it was so successful. Take a look at our school’s learning principes…

• We learn in different ways, depending on abilities, learning styles, preferences and interests.
• Learning takes place through inquiry: questioning, exploring, experimenting and problem solving.
• Learning occurs by acquiring skills and knowledge, constructing meaning and transfer to other contexts.
• Learning is active and social and best takes place through collaboration and interaction.
• Learning takes place when we feel secure, valued and are able to take risks.
• Learning needs to be challenging, meaningful, purposeful and engaging.
• Learning includes meta-cognition and reflection, and requires learners to take ownership of their learning.

PS. It’s a quipu. Go and do your own inquiry…

Questions about curriculum…

 

Letter to an imaginary educator…

Dear Anon,

As an educational leader, do you think your decisions should be based on beliefs about how learning best takes place?

Here are my school’s articulated learning principles:

•      We learn in different ways, depending on abilities, learning styles, preferences and interests.
•      Learning takes place through inquiry: questioning, exploring, experimenting and problem solving.
•      Learning includes acquisition of skills and knowledge, constructing meaning and transferring to different contexts.
•      Learning is active and social and is enhanced by collaboration and interaction.
•      Learners need to feel secure, valued and able to take risks.
•      Learning needs to be challenging, meaningful, purposeful and engaging.
•      Learning includes meta-cognition and reflection, which support learners taking ownership of their learning.

I have a few questions for you to consider:

What are your beliefs about learning? Do they coincide with ours?

Did you know that a curriculum should not be static, but constantly revisited and updated  to be current, relevant and promote authentic learning?

Do you think a curriculum has to be a set of books with prescriptive instructions for teachers?

Are you aware that workbooks do not usually foster meaningful learning?

Do you realize that teachers are capable, thinking human beings and don’t need prescribed programs in order to teach?

Do you know that prescriptive programs tend to stifle creativity and discourage teachers from pursuing new ideas and experimenting with different options?

Have you considered investing the money you currently spend on pre-packaged programs in freeing up teachers to think, learn and construct meaningful learning experiences for their students?

Have you ever asked students about what engages them and how they learn best?

Have you spent much time in a student centred classroom seeing how inquiry fosters a love of learning ?

Have you entertained the possibility that administrative matters can be dealt with via email and conversations in meetings should be about teaching and learning?

Have you considered that people with experience and a track record in successful teaching and learning might have something worthwhile to contribute?

Did you notice that education has changed and is constantly changing and that classrooms should not look the same as they did five, ten, or fifteen years ago?

Watch this video,  it might help…

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Do you believe all educators should be learners first and foremost?

Do you lead by example?

Kind Regards,

Edna

Effective professional learning…

I listened carefully.

I thought about the subject matter.

I looked at my watch.

I focused for a while.

I checked my email.

I tried to listen.

I thought about other things.

I asked a question.

I wondered why the question wasn’t answered adequately.

I disengaged.

I thought about effective professional development…

Have you ever been to a PD session like that? (Rhetorical question! I know you have.)
Staff at my school spent some time last year developing shared beliefs about learning. Why shouldn’t these principles apply to teachers’ learning too?

• We learn in different ways, depending on abilities, learning styles, preferences and interests.
• Learning takes place through inquiry: questioning, exploring, experimenting and problem solving.
• Learning includes acquisition of skills and knowledge, constructing meaning and transfer to different contexts.
• Learning is active and social and is enhanced by collaboration and interaction.
• Learners need to feel secure, valued and able to take risks.
•  Learning needs to be challenging, meaningful, purposeful and engaging.
• Learning includes meta-cognition and reflection, which support learners taking ownership of their learning.

Help me write my latest post in the ’10 ways…’ series. I’ll start and you can add points via comments…

10 ways to ensure effective professional learning…

1. Teachers need to be responsible for their own learning. 

To inspire others to learn, you need to be a learner yourself. Actively seek out professional learning opportunities.  Engage with educators via social media. Read blogs. Sign up to Twitter.

2. Differentiate.

Don’t plan whole staff sessions for teachers with different levels of experience and varied needs. Include choice.

 

Changing school culture…

How can school culture be changed?  This huge question was asked by Tyler Rice and I expressed my thoughts in a letter to Tyler posted a week or so ago. He replied in a post on his blog and I have been thinking all week about how to respond.

Dear Tyler

You raise some huge issues which I understand must be all-consuming in a setting such as yours.  As you know, my experience in education has been very different from yours and I wouldn’t even presume to try to address these:  ‘How are failing schools turned around?’ and ‘What shifts take place that prepare kids for a life beyond high school while also keeping them in school?’

I’ll attempt to answer the question you’re specifically asking me... “how to go about creating learning principles that are the ‘right’ principles while also getting all teachers to buy in? We know you can’t force people to buy in to anything. So, how do you get everyone on the same page?”

Start small. Influencing culture and instigating change is a very, very slow process.  Don’t even try to shift the people you can’t change (yet?)

Collaborate with a handful of teachers who share your beliefs (even if there are only two of you! ) Focus on the students. Focus on the learning. Explore the learning principle that really resonates with you,  that ‘Learning takes place through inquiry’. I know you have had success in this area already and I know you realise the value of reflection along the way and of including students in the reflection processs. But I strongly suggest you don’t try to persuade your ‘textbook teachers’ to make a drastic shift into inquiry-learning  in one leap.

Work with those who are even slightly open to change. Establish a small group of people who will at least talk and listen. Agree on one or two learning principles that you share, such as ‘ Everyone learns in different ways’ and ‘Learners need to feel secure in order to learn‘. Unpack these to see what they might look like in practice within your school context and what steps might lead towards their meaningful implementation. Create an atmosphere of trust. Build a common language. Have one conversation at a time. Recognise people’s issues, fears and concerns and make sure they know they are being heard.

Take it slowly. It might take some time before you are ready to explore inquiry learning as an option with this group. It should follow on from the one or two principles you have already established. Student centred learning is really hard for people who are entrenched in the ‘teacher is the boss of learning‘ way of thinking. You need to go very slowly, demonstrate one little aspect of letting go, at a time. Use the gradual release of responsibility (model, share, guide, apply) without any judgement.

Try and get admin involved, without them feeling they are responsible for change. Show them what the core group is achieving with one student, in one classroom at a time. Try and get them to work and learn with you in the second group.

Empathise. Remember that we teachers are not that different from our students. We all learn in different ways, are at different levels of understanding and experience, come from different backgrounds, have our own issues.  Like with our students, if we want to instigate change,  first we need to form relationships, understand where individual teachers are at, what baggage they bring, how they learn best, what their passions are.

I really have no idea if my suggestions will work in your context, but I hope you will find something useful that you can apply. Thanks for the opportunity to think this through for myself, as much as for you!

By the way, I loved  your overarching question: ‘ How do we honor the uniqueness of every student while ensuring that each is developing a skill set and knowledge base that will prepare them for higher learning and responsible, informed citizenship?’  Isn’t this the question every single educator should be asking themselves every single day? Don’t we address some aspect of it in every unit we plan, in every lesson we teach, in every relationship we form with our students, in every decision we make in our schools? 

~Edna

How do you change school culture?

How can the culture of a school be changed? I was recently asked this question by Tyler Rice, a teacher whose ideas, beliefs and practice I admire and with whom I have collaborated from the other sides of the globe, although we have never met. Here’s my response…

Dear Tyler

It’s taken a few days of thinking to even begin to formulate a response to this huge question. I’m sure a quick search would uncover thousands of books and articles, whose authors have thoroughly researched the topic and whose ideas have been widely tested in a variety of educational settings. I’m certainly not an expert. I can, however, examine my own experience and context and share the factors which I think have influenced the culture of my school. Hopefully your responses will push my thinking further and we can explore some ideas together, with input from everyone else out there reading along…

One thing I believe is having a powerful impact on our school culture has been articulating our shared beliefs about learning. Can you be a successful teacher if you don’t know what you believe about how learning occurs? Can a school function effectively if the core beliefs about learning are not shared by key players? 

I  came across this diagram at a workshop presented by Jay McTighe on whole school change. At first I didn’t think we needed a statement of our learning principles. I thought we already knew what we believed. I thought we could work from there forward and not waste time spelling it out.  

Developing those principles turned out to be a valuable process, however. We can refer to them at any time and know we are speaking the same language. When people disagree on learning related issues, we have a documented statement of our school’s beliefs to which we can refer. We can try to ensure these beliefs underpin all important decisions. Our learning principles form the foundation on which we plan and build our teaching and learning experiences. We’re working hard at helping teachers apply them in our new open-plan learning environment. The principles have helped support the gradual implementation of technology in a meaningful way. 

I’ve blogged before about the process of establishing our learning principles. We are constantly unpacking what they look like in practice, during conversations, collaborative planning and teacher PD sessions.

Our learning principles: 

• We learn in different ways, depending on abilities, learning styles, preferences and interests.
• Learning is active and social and is enhanced by collaboration and interaction.
  
• Learning takes place through inquiry: questioning, exploring, experimenting and problem solving.
• Learning includes acquisition of skills and knowledge, constructing meaning and transfer to different contexts.
• Learning includes meta-cognition and reflection, which support learners taking ownership of their learning.
  
• Learners need to feel secure, valued and able to take risks.
• Learning needs to be challenging, meaningful, purposeful and engaging.

 Can articulating shared learning principles help ensure a positive culture in a school? I look forward to hearing what you think.

Edna 

 

 

Do you care what students think?

A friend and I were discussing the idea of student evaluation of  teachers in order to improve teaching and learning. At the particular institution where this friend works, the idea was not well received by teachers. It might have been the way it was presented, perhaps the teachers feel threatened or are afraid of what might be revealed… or it might be the different perspective of a country and culture in which students are expected to show respect for teachers irrespective.

I was surprised that teachers might not want to know what their students think. Thinking about the learning process is just as important as thinking about what you learn. But, as Dylan William says in the video below, there are many teachers who ‘try to cause learning without the students’ help.’

I’ve posted before about how we articulated our learning beliefs and are constantly unpacking them to help teachers shift the focus in our school from teaching to learning.

Principle #5: Learning includes meta-cognition and reflection, which support learners taking ownership of their learning.

So…

• Learners are actively involved in the learning process.
• Learners set specific learning goals and are supported in achieving them.
• The learning process is just as important as what is being learned.
• Students constantly reflect and make connections between past and new learning.
• Learners are always aware of the purpose of a task and how it will further their learning.
• There is a classroom culture in which thinking is valued and questioning is encouraged.
• The teacher doesn’t do  all the talking or make all the decisions.
• Teachers invite feedback and act on it.
• At student led conferences, students talk to parents about their learning, their strengths and weaknesses, their goals and achievements.

Previous posts illustrating the learning principles:

Principle #1: We learn in different ways, depending on abilities, learning styles, preferences and interests.

Principle #2: Learning is active and social and is enhanced by collaboration and interaction.

Principle #3: Learning takes place through inquiry: questioning, exploring, experimenting and problem solving.

Principle #4: Learning includes acquisition of skills and knowledge, constructing meaning and transfer to different contexts.