A New Culture of Learning
Thomas Douglas and John Brown assert that the world is changing so quickly that skills have a very short shelf life. Certain skills may lose their “legs” after a while, but most subjects learned in school will have a life-long effect upon our students to utilize for the duration of their life span.
The way in which I can shift towards creating a significant learning environment in my class is to change the way I present the information that they need to learn. In the book, A new culture of learning: cultivating the imagination in a world of constant change, Douglas and Brown emphasize play as a matter of engaging the students. Games offer a challenge to beat and will awaken and engage students’ competitive nature and the desire to see what they are capable of doing. Ultimately, they will need to prove competency and mastery of the game. According to the authors, a significant learning environment should be fun, challenging, collaborative and cooperative; it should engage the student’s passion and it should help awaken their questioning curious nature.
One of the major hindrances I have encountered in my class when attempting to shift towards a more significant learning environments is student confidence. I would say, the class is split in half. Half of the students are confident, and the other half lacks the confidence of being productive without added motivation. This is a problem because the students who are lacking, resort to becoming disruptive towards others in order to draw attention away from themselves. When small group instruction is present, they can get the job done effectively, but without it, some cry, become depressed, or completely shut down. As a result, their effort towards learning is depleted, which accumulates with extra time being spent on them to catch up with the rest of the class.
Ideally, they would prefer the traditional styles of teaching. Sitting and listening to a lecture would better suit their choice of learning. It becomes simpler to say, “I don’t understand”, “this is too hard” opposed to seeking out information on their own. Some do not understand the concept of ownership towards learning and prefer everything to be done for them. What I need to do in order to be able to implement a significant learning environment is to rid students of this toxic thinking which is at odds with a competency-based mentality.
Another hindrance to implementing a significant learning environment in which the students are actively working and building their own knowledge and skill set is the logistical and practical side of not having enough time to plan everything. This has been an ongoing occurrence within the district. Too much time is generated towards planning and not enough focus on the students. Teachers become overwhelmed and discouraged in the process. This is where technology can render aid and play a significant role in lightening that planning, and preparation load as well as the assessing load.
After close observation, I’ve come to realize that students retain more information and progress more in an active learning environment.
I have also realized that students who are disorganized, lack self-motivation and who prefer to breeze through the transition, do not do well in this type of an environment. They shut down because it requires an effort on their behalf.
The book had several good suggestions which I intend to implement, the main one being play. Play, questioning and imagination lies at the heart of Douglas and Browns theory of learning. I value all of these and intend to implement them in my teaching.
In order to encourage competency and mastery of skill while keeping an interactive gaming atmosphere, I intend to provide gaming tickets for each student in which they will collect tickets once they have mastered a skill. Much like accumulating points in a game, this will positively promote accomplishments through encouraging further development while helping them to obtain the next objective. I firmly trust that active play engages students, makes class fun, adds a social component to the activity and breaks up the monotony of otherwise sitting there simply listening.
Questioning is an important part of learning and I agree with Douglas that often the questions are more important than the answers and can lead to deeper understanding. It’s better to ask rather than not ask and miss out on critical information. Generating thoughts enables the learner to utilize metacognition, which is a part of the foundation of learning. Douglas claims that questions do not become obsolete as quickly as information, which is constantly shifting. Students aren’t taught to question well in school, yet some are afraid that their question will not stand up to the likes of others.
A significant learning environment is one that welcomes questions, encourages questions, and even requires questions from the students. This can be in the form of a homework assignment or a group project or a one-on-one interview, but it needs to be made part of every main activity. As students learn to question and to properly engage, they will decode and analyze on a deeper spectrum, thus wrestling with the material and owning the understanding that they take from it.
Imagination is the final point that I will take from Douglas and Browns theory of learning. Creative projects certainly allow for and even invite imagination. Students function better with creativity and I have learned with some who feel like they have no creativity, work better if they’re in small group settings with others. This will exclude such negative thoughts with peer interaction which will allow them to tap into their creative thinking process. The gaming process works in both favors which allow mental stimulation to flourish in a creative sense. Meaning, constraints and obstacles are an even greater way to engage the imagination, since students automatically must begin figuring out a way around the rules or the constraints of a game, and because of their desire to win and to beat the game they are highly vested in coming up with a creative solution. I fully intend to use this in the classroom by adding a twist to most of our competitive games.
The last part of a new culture of learning that I will implement is the idea of a collective, meaning the collaborative side of learning. Within the classroom, we rearranged the desks to focus on the Active Learning approach. The setup in the classroom will promote unity and have our students with a “move as one unit” outlook. Having student’s desk arranged in groups symbolizes learners as team-mates; with them, they would figure out the student-centered approach. Students would compete against each other, practice their conversations, and help each other with their class work activities.
Next year I think that I will create groups of 6 people, as well as an online forum discussion spot for the students to use so that they can help each other out as well as share tips, solutions, and any other resources that will be useful as they are building their skills. Such resources will become beneficial which is impactful and useful for their classmates. Collectives are powerful forces that can help you to reach your goal much faster. Working with others will enhance students’ performance through adoption of social communication. Students work well with one another. The more we focus on student engagement, sharing collective knowledge will only enhance and speed up the learning process as well as make it less stressful for students.
The book had enough resources that will aid in creating a significant learning environment next year. There are multiple sources that can provide students with the information that they need. Furthermore, I will include multiple contacts and connect them with multiple sources to enhance their learning.
References
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. S.l.: S.n.
(2012, September 12). Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://youtu.be/lM80GXlyX0U