Creating empowered learners

“How can we raise Learner Agency and Capability through a STEM Programme?” was the focus question for teachers at Whakarongo School’s Teacher Led Innovation Fund (TLIF) project.

The need for more effective teaching and learning of science and technology through improved implementation had been identified through Whakarongo School and across the Kāhui Ako as a focus for development. The concept of learner agency is closely linked to the idea that education is the process through which learners become capable of independent thought, which in turn leads to autonomous action. This idea can have a profound impact on educational theory and practice. Learner agency is when learners have the “power to act” and have ownership and independence. Learning therefore involves the initiative of the learner through activity. The first strategy we identified was that teachers could only have a real impact on student agency when they actively developed the various learning behaviours that underpin student agency. This became very clear with the deliberate acts of teaching that focussed on questioning, identifying next steps and so on. Teachers cannot expect these behaviours to develop significantly without teacher input. Clear goals need to be set and deliberate actions need to be planned. Teachers also need to model these behaviours. To develop learner agency three important areas were focused on: Questioning, Making Connections with Prior Learning, and Identifying Next Steps. To develop questioning skills, teachers could use a questioning matrix and the “ASK” stage of the design process. Making connections could be developed by teachers identifying and making specific connections in many ways: via activating prior knowledge, making connections between students and their whānau, the community, the wider world and between texts/ information to engage students. Use of tools such as the GROW coaching model, weekly reflections and peer review can assist in students identifying next steps. Providing students with suitable tools also has a significant impact on the students’ ability to effectively reflect on their progress, set goals and problem solve. Tools that we identified as very useful include GROW and Computational Thinking. These models/tools need to be explained, modelled and practiced in class. Students need to develop a good working knowledge of them, experience some success using them and feel confident in the use of them for them to have real impact. Teachers have to set time aside to do this. We introduced the GROW model as we found that simply using goal setting has proven not to be as effective as expected. Including the GROW steps in the planning process gave students more ownership of the goals and enabled students to set more realistic and achievable goals. We also implemented early Computational Thinking (CT) practice and encouraged students’ fluency in, and cross-curricular implementation of, the CT language, and fostered positive student attitudes towards the use of CT as a tool. The third strategy was that STEM needs to be seen as much more than simply a combination of science, technology and mathematics. STEM is fundamentally about developing innovation and problem solving through hands on activities, not just the development of subject knowledge and skills. STEM learning is not just technical skills and knowledge based. It is much broader and should include aspects like the 6 C’s (Michael Fullan) and the design process. The focus is not only on how to do something, but also on all the other learning that is possible, e.g. developing communication, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and so on. The impact of this is that learning is much “richer” and is easier to integrate into learning. STEM thus provides a rich learning experience with many possibilities for integration and personalisation of learning. Other key factors that increased the effectiveness of a STEM programme include: Integrating STEM (e.g. through an integrated curriculum) so that it contributes to the authenticity of the learning and provides more choice and higher levels of engagement. Using a STEM Integration Rubric can be also beneficial.

Focusing on problem solving, rather than only outcomes, provides better learning and development of problem-solving skills, inquiring and thinking skills. High levels of hands-on opportunities combined with student choice also contribute significantly to student motivation and engagement.

This project has shown that learner agency can be significantly improved through a STEM programme by seeing STEM as a broad learning area, integrating STEM into the learning programme, deliberate teacher actions and providing learners with the tools needed.

Article provided by Whakarongo School.