Learning through play

1. Learning Dispositions
TCHE2659 Learning through
Play

2. RMIT Classification: Trusted
“relatively enduring
habits of mind or
characteristic ways of
responding to
experience across
types of situations.”
Katz (1993) defines dispositions as

3. RMIT Classification: Trusted
 Are attitudes
 Tendencies to respond in a particular
way
 Can be negative as well as positive
 Are different from skills and knowledge
 Have long term effects on life long
learning
Dispositions

4. RMIT Classification: Trusted
•Are different to genetic
“predispositions” (temperament)
•Are acquired early and are part of a
child’s motivation to explore their world
•Are acquired from and affected by
interactive experiences with the
environment, significant adults and
peers
•Can be fostered, learned and taught

5. RMIT Classification: Trusted
So what are some dispositions?

6. RMIT Classification: Trusted
So why LEARNING dispositions?
 Successful academics?

7. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Dispositions for Learning
“A habit of mind that disposes the learner
to interpret, edit and respond to
experiences in characteristic ways”.
Margaret Carr 1999
“Being ready, willing and able to
engage profitably with learning”
Claxton &Carr 2004

8. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Learning in the Early Years
 Young children are active
learners from birth
 They learn through play
and through positive and
supportive interactions
with others
 Intelligence is not fixed at
birth. Our brain changes
as a result of our
experiences.

9. RMIT Classification: Trusted
•Dispositions to learn
•Social Competence and self concept
•Emotional well being
What Counts in Early Learning?
Tony Bertram and Christine Pascal (2002)

10. RMIT Classification: Trusted
 talk for 5 minutes about what you think are the
most important learning dispositions for children
 List the agreed top five dispositions
 What dispositions would you add or delete for
children between 10 and 15 years of age?
 And for adults?
Over to you…

11. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Key ingredients for the capacity to
know how to learn
Daniel Goleman
 Confidence
 Curiosity
 Intentionality
 Self – Control
 Relatedness
 Communication
 Cooperativeness

12. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Educative Dispositions which
characterise the Effective Learner
From Pascal and Bertram (2002)
Independence
Creativity
Self motivation
Resilience

13. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Dispositions are identified as:
Curiosity
Openness
Optimism
Resilience
Concentration
Creativity
VEYLDF Dispositions

14. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Reflect, Respect, Relate
(Active learning environment )
 Curiosity
 Communicability
 Purposefulness/ persistence
 Openness/risk taking
 Activity
 Cooperation/collaboration
 Reflection

15. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Reflect, Respect, Relate
(Wellbeing)
 Openness and receptivity to pleasure in
exploring
 Pleasure in sensory experiences
 Persistence and robustness

16. RMIT Classification: Trusted
•Confidence
•Cooperation
•Communication
•Curiosity
•Perseverance/Persistence
•Resourcefulness
Learning Together

17. RMIT Classification: Trusted
What are we looking for?
 What do dispositions look like?
 What do you see here?

18. RMIT Classification: Trusted
How do we grow positive
dispositions?
• Are acquired from and
affected by interactive
experiences with the
environment, significant
adults and peers
• Linked to secure
attachments and wellbeing

19. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Dispositions…..
 Dispositions grow within relationships
 The responses that children get reinforce
the growth of their dispositions
 Sometimes adults need to grow their own
dispositions as well

20. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Curiosity
 What does it look like?
 How do we grow it?
 How does curiosity link with learning?

21. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Cooperation
 What does it look like?
 How do we grow it?
 How does cooperation link with learning?

22. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Confidence
 What does it look like?
 How do we grow it?
 How does confidence link with learning?

23. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Linking with our work
 We all work with families
 Families are the most important influences
for children

24. RMIT Classification: Trusted
Noticing and Naming
 This is a key part of our work with families
 What is the child and family doing and
why does it matter?
 How do we share this with families?

25. RMIT Classification: Trusted
How can we work with families about developing
learning dispositions?
 What are the key concepts we work with
families about?
 Active Learning Environments?
 Attachment and relationships?
 Wellbeing?

26. RMIT Classification: Trusted
What is the goal?
 Children who are ready, willing and able to
engage with learning
 Children who grow into people who are
socially just citizens of the world