The POSBGIL Revolution
www.taolearn.com All slides ‐ www.taolearn.com/articles/article63.pdf
“Teaching is the canny art of intellectual temptation” - Jerome Bruner “Teaching involves putting children into difficult situations out of which they can only get by thinking” – John Heron
What are the characteristics of these children? • curious
• self‐motivated
• interested
• self‐managed
• adventurous
• self‐directed
• courageous
• self‐regulated
• good skills
• autonomous
• good learners?
• independent • lifelong learners?
Are the children in your school like this? • Why do you think it is that the longer children stay in school ‐ the less curious they are? ‐ the less questions they ask?
The most motivating learning ..... ..... is always self‐regulated SRL – self‐regulated learning
Some facts: • • • • • • • •
6 billion cell phones in the world 85% of new phones are web enabled 2 billion broadband subscriptions 255 million websites 150 million blogs 8 trillion text messages sent in 2011 107 trillion emails – 89% of which are spam Youtube – 48 hours uploaded every minute – 3 billion videos viewed every day
What if ..... • every piece of subject matter was available to your students on the internet, and • they all had access to internet linked tablets, and • they all had access to high speed broadband all day.... What would teaching look like then?
DSRL ‐ POSBGIL Developing Self‐Regulated Learners through Process Oriented Skills Based Guided Inquiry Learning
Factors making POSBIGIL possible: • A focus on the teaching of ATL skills in the new MYP • The proliferation of high quality school subject based websites • The ubiquity of internet accessible devices • The availability of high speed broadband • The high level of comfort your students have with the digital world
The Digital World ‐ what is reality anyway?
• Hyper‐reality 1 • Hyper‐reality 2
In an SRL classroom teachers would: • Teach learning skills not content • Pose questions, outline problems, set challenges, give clear measurable objectives • Put students into small groups • Enable them to connect to the best subject based internet resources • Facilitate their journey
In an SRL Classroom what would children need to be able to do? • They would need to have all the skills of Self‐ Regulated Learning – they would need excellent learning skills
Including the skills of how to ..... set learning goals plan out their study ask good questions generate motivation and perseverance process information effectively – sift, sort, compare, verify, try out different ways to learn • work to deadlines • reflect on their achievement – both process and content • make changes to their learning processes where necessary
• • • • •
These are all skills – learning skills • Do your students have all these skills?
They know how to learn but do they know how to study? • 73% of university students report difficulties preparing for an exam • most tertiary students have been found to have weak or ineffective strategies for processing information both in the classroom and in their own study • when making notes from lectures or from text most students miss 60 ‐ 70% of the key points ‐ good note making is positively correlated with academic achievement ‐ material omitted from notes has only a 5 ‐ 15% chance of being recalled
Even when they have good notes many students still have great difficulty organising the information they have collected. • 52% admit that their notes are disorganised • 61% report having trouble sequencing the ideas to make coherent sense
Even given well organised, well structured notes with summaries provided: • two thirds of students at the secondary level study for tests purely by rereading their notes • more than half of them do that reading the day before the test or exam • around 12% of students do nothing more than recopy their notes verbatim • 50% use passive repetition of key points as their single study technique.
The direct teaching of learning skills is still an uncommon topic in most school programmes • Only 20% of teachers believe that teaching students how to learn is a priority • only 17% of students report that teachers actively help them learn or improve their ‘study skills’
Learning Skills Are a combination of • cognitive • metacognitive and • affective processes, skills, techniques and strategies
Cognitive skills ‐ active information processing and retrieval strategies – ‘study skills’ • Organising, transforming and summarising information • Using structural writing planners • Timetabling and time management • Note making – in class and for studying • Memory techniques • Idea generation, metaphorical thinking • Questioning • Calibrating own learning preferences
Affective skills ‐ enabling the student to gain some control over mood, motivation and attitude • Persistence and perseverance • Focus and concentration, overcoming distractions • Self‐motivation • Mindfulness • Reducing anxiety • Delaying gratification • Managing impulsiveness and anger • Developing resilience
Metacognitive skills – monitoring the deployment of cognitive and affective skills • Reflecting on the success of processes used, skills practiced and the understanding and retention of content • Being prepared to change ineffective strategies, learn new skills
Learning Skills – in the UK • 2007 DfE research ‐ Learning Skills And the Development of Learning Capability concluded:
“The results suggest that the development of learning skills and capabilities should be embedded in the curriculum, as well as being taught explicitly to pupils.”
2008 QCA ‐ “A Framework of personal, learning and thinking skills that are essential to success in learning, life and work”: •
Independent enquirers
•
Creative thinkers
•
Reflective learners
•
Team workers
•
Self‐managers
•
Effective participators
2011 ‐ QCA is disbanded and its functions absorbed by DfE
1997 ‐ Singapore MOE Teach Less Learn More Remember Why We Teach – more… • for the learner • to excite passion • for understanding • for the test of life and less… • to rush through the syllabus • out of fear of failure • to dispense information only • for a life of tests
Learning Skills ‐ in the USA EIC ‐ Elementary Integrated Curriculum Framework – core curriculum adopted by 47 states (2011) Academic Success Skills: •Collaboration •Effort/Motivation/Persistence •Intellectual Risk Taking •Metacognition Creative Thinking Skills: •Elaboration •Flexibility •Fluency •Originality
Critical Thinking Skills: •Analysis •Evaluation •Synthesis
NZ Curriculum – Five Key Competencies • Thinking • Using language, symbols and text • Managing self • Relating to others • Participating and contributing Poland, Belgium, Italy, Korea, Mexico, the Slovak Republic, Spain, and Turkey all have developed similar necessary learning skill sets for students
Learning Skills ‐ in the IB The Learner Profile – all IB learners strive to be:
Approaches To Learning ‐ 7 Learning Skill clusters (potential)
•Inquirers •Knowledgeable •Thinkers •Communicators •Principled •Open‐minded •Caring •Risk‐takers •Balanced •Reflective
Collaboration
• Communication &
• Self Management • Information & Media Literacies • Critical Thinking • Creativity & Innovation • Reflection • Transfer
If the aim is to develop lifelong learners this can now be achieved by: • Focusing on teaching ATL skills rather than subject content • Allowing students to find the required subject content themselves using good quality internet resources • Enabling self‐regulated learning to occur in the classroom • Using self‐assessment of content, process and ATL skill development to develop full metacognitive awareness
SRL Exercise 1 1) Divide into 4 subject groups 2) Form intra‐subject groups of 3 people per group with one internet connected device per group 3) Connect to www.taolearn.com/students.php 4) Find a link to a website in your subject that none of you are familiar with 5) Evaluate that site for: • structure – how is the information presented? • breadth – what range of topics are presented? • depth – what levels of schooling are covered? 6) Move on to another site 7) Evaluate 3 new sites
But of course: • Students differ in the degree of self‐regulation they have the skills for • Teachers differ in the degree of self‐regulation they allow in the classroom
Regulatory styles of Students • High self‐regulation skills ‐ student manages all aspects of own learning ‐ student thinking at a maximum, teacher involvement at a minimum • Intermediate self‐regulation skills ‐ student manages much of own learning, asks the teacher questions, gets help occasionally ‐ students thinking engaged, teacher as guide and support • Low self‐regulation skills ‐ student totally passive, needs to be ‘taught’ everything, have all questions answered, helped through every step of learning ‐ student thinking at a minimum, teacher totally involved in all phases of student learning
Regulatory styles of Teachers • Strong teacher regulation ‐ teacher controls all information, answers all questions ‐ student thinking at a minimum, teacher as mental crutch • Shared regulation ‐ teacher provides skills training, problem statements, concepts ‐ students actively engage in finding information, solving problems ‐ students thinking engaged, teacher as guide and support • Loose teacher regulation ‐ teacher’s only functions are supplying the learning objectives and assessing their achievement ‐ student thinking at a maximum, teacher engagement at a minimum
Degree of Teacher Regulation of Learning
Degree of Student Self‐regulation
Strong
Shared
Loose
High
Destructive friction
Destructive friction Congruence
Intermediate
Destructive friction
Congruence
Constructive friction
Low
Congruence
Constructive friction
Destructive friction
Shared Style ‐ with provision 1) Assess for ability to self‐regulate learning 2) Allow for 3 levels of self‐regulation in every class 3) Groups of 3‐4 with one computer + high speed internet 4) Work directly with the low SRL students teaching them the appropriate learning skills 5) Help the intermediate SRL students where required 6) Allow the high self‐regulated learners to work independently 7) Pose problems, set challenges, give measurable objectives, help them to ask the right questions
Must have provision for the highly self‐regulated learner at all levels – for all students to aspire to • What percentage of your lessons are available to students as well structured and supported, fully independent learning experiences? • Are you aware of all the websites that have resources for your subject? Take a look at: www.marktreadwell.com/Digital_Resources www.marktreadwell.com/Image_Libraries
How do you teach learning skills? • Two books developed this year: IB Skills ‐ A guide for Teaching ATL Skills IB Skills – A students’ guide for Learning ATL Skills ‐ see page 16 of conference programme
How do you assess learning skills? • By the successful understanding, retention, transfer and recall of content? • But does the successful passing of content based tests give any indication of the effectiveness or efficiency of the learning skills employed?
Framework of Skills Development Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Novice
Learner
Practitioner
Expert
‐ observation
‐ emulation
Observes others Copies others performing tasks performance of and using the skill the skill
‐ demonstration ‐ self‐regulation Can demonstrate Can perform the the skill on skill without demand thinking
Can teach others Medium level of High levels of Minimal teacher the skill scaffolding from scaffolding scaffolding teacher needed needed No teacher required scaffolding required
Developing Metacognitive Awareness Self‐assessment by reflection on today’s lessons: Content – understanding of subject matter ‐ what don’t I understand yet? ‐ what questions do I have? ATL Skills – progress towards mastery ‐ what skills have I practiced today ‐ how competent do I now feel in each skill Strategies – effectiveness of learning/teaching strategies ‐ what strategies have I used or been exposed to today? ‐ how effective was each one for me?
Metacognition Exercise 1) What I don’t understand yet is ..... 2) I would rate myself as Novice Æ LearnerÆ PractitionerÆ Expert in: Collaboration, Communication, Team work, Listening Note‐making ... 3) The strategies that worked best for me were: Listening to the teacher talking, his personal stories, the video clips, the group discussion, the researching on the internet,
Process Oriented Teaching • Tim Bedley – group work and problem solving around reaching consensus over Math problems
1999 Netherlands Project ‐ Implementation Nationwide innovation in secondary education aimed at developing self‐regulated learners: 1) Students becoming ‘owners’ of the learning process 2) Learning as the active construction of knowledge 3) Students learning in collaboration with other students Sounds just like the IB doesn’t it?
2010 Netherlands Project ‐ Review Conclusions: 1) Good PD not available to support teachers in developing SRL 2) Teachers found it very difficult to stop teaching 3) ‘Transmission teaching’ still rules
To develop Self‐Regulated learners • Teachers must learn how to stop teaching and allow learning to take place • Only by being allowed to practice the skills of self‐regulated learning will students become self‐regulated learners.
Three key strands of PD for SRL Teach the teachers: • how to teach ATL skills within the context of their subject based lessons • how to turn the classroom experience into guided inquiry learning • how to help students to self‐assess their content, skills and strategy use through reflection