|
Home The place of ICT in Learning and Teaching Inquiry Learning Activities and Ideas Workshop Notes SAUCE Information Literacy Models Articles Questioning Questioning-Skills - wiki Future Learning Now - Blog Links Author
|
|||||
|
A Definition and Methodology |
|||||
|
To define high quality learning we must have some concept of what actually is happening when a person is acquiring knowledge and understanding. The following diagram is my adaptation of Ham’s Tree of Knowledge that I feel demonstrates the learning process.
As teachers we must be must be aiming to develop in our pupils: § the growth of knowledge and understanding § the ability to apply knowledge and understanding in real life situations § the ability to make valid, appropriate and insightful decisions, § the ability to share competently their understandings, opinions and ideas.
DEFINITION Quality Learning is learning that
fosters the individual’s ability to be
acquire,
knowledge and understanding which is then utilised within real situtions to make
valid, informed decisions, and also enhances the individual’s ability to be
positively involved in the sharing of ideas, understanding and opinions. A methodology How then do we make high quality learning happen? We Can’t! Each individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own learning. But we can provide an environment that fosters and encourages quality learning. There are three factors that are mandatory for us to include in any learning experience we provide for our pupils here in New Zealand. These can be identified by the ASK acronym. Each learning activity must incorporate 1. The learning activity must incorporate the development of Attitudes and Values.
2. The learning experience must incorporate the development of 1 or more of the Essential Skills. The Ministry of Education states in their website: “All the essential skills are important if students are to achieve their potential and to participate fully in society, including the world of work. In planning learning programmes, schools need to ensure that all students have the opportunity to develop the full range of the essential skills to the best of their ability”.
“These
skills cannot be developed in isolation. They will be developed through the
essential learning areas and in different contexts across the curriculum.” 3.
The learning experience must involve
knowledge
from 1 or more of
the
Essential Learning Areas from our National
Curriculum. The Ministry of Education state in their website on ‘Sharpening
the Focus’ that “Schools may achieve a balanced and broad curriculum in a
number of ways; for example, by organising their programmes around subjects, by
using an integrated approach, or by using topics for thematic approaches.
Schools have the flexibility to plan programmes to meet their particular needs.
…. In whatever way programmes are organised, they must incorporate the
knowledge and understanding described in all seven learning areas”. The
document then states “The essential learning areas are broad, recognisable
categories of knowledge and understanding. They provide the context within which
the essential skills, attitudes, and values are developed”. This
highlights the intent of the framework document which states clearly that the
learning areas are actually the context within which we are to teach, develop
and extend the essential skills, attitudes and values. The other vital factors which need to be provide are:
* Hattie (1999) states “the most powerful single moderator that enhances achievement is feedback;” It is when we move pupils into the situations where they have to collaboratively form opinions, solve problems and meet needs that we simply and easily create a learning environment that contains the majority of the factors listed above. Setting Up In creating a quality learning experience we must pay particular attention to two crucial aspects of setting up and preparation: § Setting the learning experience up to focus on Higher Thinking Skills § Setting the learners up for success
Setting
up Higher Thinking Activities. If we are to structure Higher Thinking Activities we need some tool to help us develop the right sort of questions or tasks for our pupils. We need to avoid the low level tasks that only require our pupils to gather information and present it to us in some form. We need to push them into the Higher Thinking Levels. Bloom’s Taxonomy provides such a tool. However it is important to be aware of the revision to Bloom’s Taxonomy as outlined below.
Bloom's Original Taxonomy Anderson's Revised Taxonomy Knowledge Remembering Comprehension Understanding Application Applying Analysis Analysing Synthesis Creating Evaluation Evaluating
§ The names of six major categories were changed form noun to verb forms to reflect the idea that thinking is an active process and verbs describe actions § The knowledge category was renamed because knowledge is a result of thinking not a form of thinking. This level of thinking relates to recall and memory. § Comprehension and synthesis were renamed understanding and creating in order to better reflect the nature of the thinking that takes place in those categories. http://www.modsthps.sa.edu.au/Brain/blooms.htm |
|||||
| Category | Description | ||||
| Remembering | Ability to recall previously learned material | ||||
| Understanding | Ability to grasp meaning, explain, restate ideas | ||||
| Applying | Ability to use learned material in new situations | ||||
| Analysing | Ability to separate material into component parts and show relationships between parts | ||||
| Creating | Ability to put together the separate ideas to form new whole, establish new relationships | ||||
| Evaluating | Ability to judge the worth of material against stated criteria | ||||
| The easiest way to utilise the Taxonomy as a tool for creating High Level Tasks is to focus on the type of thinking you want to move the pupils into and then use relevant verbs from the appropriate levels in structuring the task. | |||||
Quality Learning
|
BEHAVIORAL
VERBS APPROPRIATE FOR EACH LEVEL OF BLOOMS’ TAXONOMY |
|||||
|
Knowledge |
Comprehension |
Application |
Analysis |
Synthesis |
Evaluation |
|
Define |
Choose |
Apply |
Analyse |
Arrange |
Appraise |
|
http://www.clat.psu.edu/homes/bxb11/Objectives/bloom.htm Setting up activities for higher thinking is then relatively easy.
Setting
up for SUCCESS The most common failure area is when learners can’t find information relevant to the activity that has been set. It is vital to ensure that our pupils have access to relevant, appropriate resources that they can locate and refer to as they build up the information on which they will build their decisions. This comes in two stages. Sadly this is the most difficult aspect. With all the money we spend on our libraries it is surprisingly difficult to locate relevant information that can be used to solve a problem or meet a need. It is easier to find suitable resources and then structure topic and task based on the available material. Some hints: §
Use a good search engine e.g.
http://google.com http://dogpile.com § Use Boolean based searching methods + when looking for more than two things e.g. +fire +causes Incorporate k12 for educational material e.g. +fire +causes +k12
To
lock the search into lower academic levels take 5 away from the general age
level you want and search on tat number with K
e.g. I want material suitable for 10 year olds on space so 10-5 = 5, my
search will be
+space +k5 § Look for webquests on the topic. Webquests are activities structured by teachers for use within classrooms, they should link to appropriate resources.
E.g.
+space +webquest § Don’t forget to tighten searches by using phrases
A
phrase is two or more words bound together. Eg. I might be wanting resources on night and day.
Search
on
+”night and day” +k12 Secondly set your pupils up for success in locating and accessing relevant information. Do this by embedding in the task the key words and phrases that will lead your pupils to the appropriate resource.
Don’t
give them the journal with the article in it, rather give them access to the
journal search and ensure that when they use key words and phrases from the task
it will lead them to the relevant information. Do this with web resources, cd
resources and library resources.
Sergiovanni
(1995, p191) states “Knowledge is limited or generative. Limited knowledge
leads nowhere. It is simply accumulated stored and recalled. Generative
knowledge leads to more learning, new learning, more expansive learning and the
transfer of learning.”
Hopefully
these notes will help you to move your pupils into generative knowledge
References http://www.ero.govt.nz/AcctRevInfo/ERO_BOOK_AS_HTML/ERO_CONTENTS_HTML/Contents.html
Hattie,
J. 1999. “Influences On Student Learning”. Inaugural Lecture: Professor of
Education.University of Auckland. August 2, 1999. http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/edu/staff/jhattie/Inaugural.html
Ministry
Of Education (NZ), NAG, National
Administration Guidelines Frequently Asked Questions. http://www.minedu.govt.nz/web/document/document_page.cfm?id=5133
Ministry
Of Education (NZ), NAG, The National Education Guidelines. http://www.tki.org.nz/e/governance/negs/guidelines/index.php
Ministry
Of Education (NZ), NAG, The New Zealand Curriculum Framework. http://www.tki.org.nz/r/governance/nzcf/index_e.php
Sergiovanni,
T.J., (1995). The Principalship: Reflective
Practice Perspective (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon Tyson, Harriet. March 1990. Reforming Science Education/Restructuring The Public Schools: roles for the Scientific Community, (22, 24). Prepared as a background paper for the New York Academy of Sciences and the institute for Educational Leadership Forum on restructuring K-12 education. New York; Academy of Sciences. For More Information Contact:
|