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1. ‘active learning’ & Solution Focused Pedagogy
Pedagogy 2004
‘Active learning’
&
Solution Focused
Olaf Groot
DNS2001

2. 1

3. 2
‘Active learning’ & Solution Focused- pedagogical considerations
Olaf Groot
International Teacher Training College
Skorkærvej 8, 6990, Ulfborg
Danmark
olafgroot@yahoo.com
Abstract: - To educate tomorrow’s adults has everything to do with finding the right approach and using
relevant methods. Our starting-point lies in the student and is build up around considerations such as; modern
societal demands, future expectations, global-communication ability, ‘problem-solving’ ability and solution
focused qualities. Learning is or should be a combination of theory on the one side, and praxis on the other.
Gaining competence in reading-writing skills and mathematics can no longer be the only focus point within
learning environments, and we suggest consequently that emphasis be put on life-skills rather then only the
traditional curriculum. We do not mean to be radically against certain necessary qualification’ skills, we mean
to say that an extra effort needs to be put forward. This demands an effort from both the side of the teacher and
from the side of the student. In this paper, we will come with theories related to learning and considerations on
practices in learning environments.
Key-Words: - ‘active learning’, solution focused, dialectic-idealistic-materialistic, John Dewey,
Vygotsky, Urie Bronfenbrenner, co-operation, theory-practice, real experiences.
1. The traditional learning model is not
relevant to students’ real needs
A teacher, instructor or tutors’ essential skill is
to help and assist learners to find good ways of
solving learning difficulties. This implies that
learning should put emphasis on finding
solutions for real problems.
Obviously, the teacher’s function in this is the
one of being guide and assistant for the learner:
According to John Dewey, the teacher has the
task of securing adequate ‘learning by doing’
opportunities where action, inter-action and
challenges are well presented. The emphasis
hereby should be on ‘real experiences’1
.
1
John Dewey’s significance for informal educators lies in
a number of areas. First, his belief that education must
engage with and enlarge experience has continued to be a
significant thread in informal education practice. Second
and linked to this are Dewey’s exploration of thinking
and reflection - and the associated role of educators…
Reproduced from the encyclopaedia of informal
education, www.infed.org, 14-02-2004

4. 2
This implies that the learner is active and at the
centre of the learning situation.
These demands and challenges contrast sharply
with the discrete skills, content, and assessment
methods that traditional ways of learning
favour. The new requirements for learning are
contradictory with instruction that assumes the
teacher is the information giver and the student
a passive recipient. (So called ‘banking
concept’2
).
Another consideration is the fact that during the
early schooling years, students received ready-
made information. This claim implies that at a
later stage the students are actually in need of a
next level of processing and using the gained
knowledge. This is one of the considerations in
favour of ‘solution-focused’ learning, whereas
it emphasises skills in relation to real problems
and actual solutions.
In our opinion, learning and teaching should be
active-learning orientated and not teacher-
centred and it should include ‘solution-focused’
learning pedagogic.
2
... who are aware of reality is to... The process, or a
movement, would have to start small and then slowly
spread. It would spread to teachers as well who would
then have to follow and support the movement against the
banking concept. The key lies in communication,
individual thought, and questioning. Discussing the two
concepts, comparing them, taking sides and debating
them is a way to spread the word. More and more
individuals, students and teachers, would become aware
of the danger that lies in the hands of those who support
the banking concept. Many of those supporters would
realize that they are dehumanizing the world. from Paulo
Freire’s "The "Banking" Concept of Education".
2. Thesis statement
The aforementioned indicates that the approach
and focus towards teaching and learning should
be different. The questions arising from this are
the following:
• How to define ‘active learning’ and
what is the pedagogical approach in
this?
• What is ‘solution-focused’ pedagogy?
• How do we create an ‘active learning’
environment?
• How do we secure development that is
focuses on ‘problem-solving’ and the
situation after having solved or re-
defined the problem or challenge?
• How do the two aforementioned
approaches connect?
3. Pedagogical space and human
outlook
Learning, its content and practices are always
related to a certain setting. These include our
views concerning human outlook, society,
Dannelse and learning.
3.a. Human outlook
Each pedagogical direction has its own views
on how ‘development & learning’ should be
and valued.

5. 3
The different ways to approach these issues
contain a particular view upon humanity: a
human outlook. A human outlook influences
different pedagogical related areas like; aims of
teaching, educational principles, educational
content and teacher-student relation. Our
thoughts evolve from the following concepts:
The dialectic-materialistic outlook
The dialectic-materialistic outlook implies the
following; an individual changes, through
action, his/her material world and in turn
changes through this his/herself. One could say
that the material world is a reflection of the
inner world and vice versa. Through the
exchange where the individual is both a subject
(influencing) and object (influenced), a constant
change/exchange will take place within the
individual. This in turn will secure and create
the conditions for more reflection, thus
development. The dialectic-materialistic
outlook finds it starting point in the facts that all
children can be taught, and that all children
have a developmental- and learning- potential.
It also claims that learning is an active process
between work and game.
Within the dialectic-materialistic human
outlook, the idea in education and pedagogic is
that development and learning are
complementing each other. Within the dialectic-
materialistic outlook, we can find part of our
own view and aim within education, namely
that through the essential exchange with his/her
surrounding a child will develop a
communicative and social competence. This is
essential within education; it defines how we
think education is, and should be.
The dialectic-idealistic outlook
On the other hand, we also embrace the opinion
that it is inherent for humanity that we develop
through inherent contradicting or conflicting
discussions connected to feelings, attitudes and
ideas, which in turn are a reflection of the
material world. This relates to a dialectic-
idealistic human outlook.
Therefore we can say that our human outlook is
somewhere between the two aforementioned
concepts.
3.b. Society
We live in a democratic information-based
society. Borders and boundaries are crumbling
and the space or stage where interaction with
others takes place becomes more and more a
global multi- stage. Individuals are encouraged
to be ‘out on the corner’, meaning [inter-] active
participants in society in a more socially
individual manner, equipped with open and
wide ranging [global] communication skills.
Individuals are encouraged to be ‘out in the
open and seen’.

6. 4
3.c. Why Dannelse and not adaptation
There are two particular ways of socializing:
a) Dannelse.
b) Adaptation.
These two ways represent the process of
becoming a member of the society.
Adaptation focuses on the way individuals
become members of society through ‘learning
the rules of the game’3
without knowing that the
rules can be discussed and changed.
Adaptation-models reduce people to objects of
societal [political] processes without them
realizing this. An adapted person is thereby
easier controlled, in contrast to an acting and
thinking person. We do not favour this model.
Dannelse aims at developing the knowledge,
skills, moral values and understanding required
in all aspects of life rather than knowledge and
skill relating to only a limited field of activity.
The purpose and idea behind Dannelse is to
provide the conditions essential for young
persons and adults to develop an understanding
of the traditions and ideas influencing the
3
‘Social Institutions and Social Adaptation’, Toshio
Yamagishi, “Cultural and Ecological Foundations of the
Mind”, Hokkaido University, June 23-26, 2003
(http://lynx.let.hokudai.ac.jp/COE21/presentation/1stcefo
m21/Yamagishi.ppt)
society in which they live and to enable them to
contribute to it. It prepares a student to take a
responsible place in society and to appreciate
his/her own work in the context of society’s
needs and the individual’s needs. Through
Dannelse, an individual becomes ideally a
subject; controlling, instead of becoming
controlled. One that has accepted the
responsibility for what, how and when one acts
and uses acquired knowledge in an ethical and
morally consensus.
This brings us automatically to our views upon
learning and learning-environments’ focus
points.
4. The ‘active learning’/ student-
centered approach
There are different aspects that are important in
facilitating and optimizing the ‘active learning’
approach. What will follow is a short summary
of elements within the concept:
4.a. Learner – teacher contact
Learning relies upon how well teachers and
students interact personally, building upon the
mutual recognition of students and teachers as
collaborates in a shared undertaking. A
teacher’s recognition of a student’s identity and
a student’s recognition of a teacher’s leadership
in learning are both needed for effective
learning. A teacher owes students a well-

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designed program of learning and discovery,
and a student owes a teacher active acceptance
and further development of that program. In
time, students will be able to see how teaching
can be done effectively in various ways, and
teachers come to understand how learning
variously occurs.
When instructors and students in co-operation
define and solve learning-goals it will
contribute to the intensity of student-teacher
interaction.
This is also called: ‘classroom democracy’4
.
4.b. Co-operation among students
Working with others often increases
involvement in learning. Sharing one’s own
ideas and responding to others’ reactions
sharpens thinking and deepens understanding.
Working together with other students on
projects and assignments creates opportunities
for students to, work out, share, and build upon
their personal ideas. Students working together
in learning activities can learn more than, if
they would work alone. Peer tutoring enhances
learning outcomes for students (both the one
4
John Dewey’s concerns with interaction and
environments for learning provide a continuing
framework for practice. His passion for democracy, for
educating so that all may share in a common life,
provides a strong foundation for practice in the
associational settings in which informal educators work.
Reproduced from the encyclopaedia of informal
education, www.infed.org, 14-02-2004
teaching and the taught). The teacher needs to
incorporate into their courses appropriate
activities that lead students to cooperate in
learning ventures. Students need to take
advantage of the opportunities for peer-to-peer
teaching and for becoming the ones that teach5
.
4.c. ‘active learning’
Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do
not learn much just sitting in classes listening to
teachers, memorizing pre-packaged
assignments, and spitting out answers.
The most powerful force that an instructor can
take in, in the task of teaching, is the student’s
desire to learn. "People by nature desire to
know"6
. Knowledge about one’s students is
what best gives a teacher the ability to engage
students’ natural desire to know and learn.
Learning is not a passive experience. ‘active
learning’ environments include collaborative
activities, goal-driven tasks, intellectual
discovery, activities that heighten thinking,
activities that provide practice in learning skills,
tasks of a student’s own invention, instructional
variation, linkage of different activities and
5
Scaffolding; Bruner’s metaphorical term ‘scaffolding’
has come to be used for inter-actional support, often in
the form of adult-child dialogue that is structured by the
adult to maximise the growth of the child’s intra-
psychological functioning. Scaffolding refers to the
gradual withdrawal of adult control and support as a
function of children’s’ increasing mastery of a given task.
(http://www.uea.ac.uk/menu/acad_depts/edu/learn/morph
ett/bruner.htm)
6
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/aristotle12
4922.html

8. 6
tasks, and appropriate, use of new technology
and traditional resources.
A well-designed, effective, student-centred
learning environment that encourages ‘active
learning’ will typically use a rich variety of
relevant and effective instructional methods that
engage students intensely.
Students need to contribute as active partners in
the learning process. Students need to be
willing and unafraid to ask questions. Students
need to be willing to trust a learning
environment, to struggle with challenge, to take
risks. Students need to be able to develop when
not succeeding the first time at a new task.
The teacher needs to identify and present
content that is relevant and appreciated. It is the
teacher’s task to present content in meaningful
contexts that can activate critical thinking,
‘problem-solving’, discovery, definition of
tasks, and completion of those tasks. In addition
emphasis should be placed on ‘what comes after
finding a solution’, it implies learning as an
ongoing process which never stops. The teacher
needs to provoke and grasp the students’
imagination actively by posing problems and
he/she needs to use a variety of teaching
strategies, techniques, and methods to enable
students to acquire content through active
participation in and out of the classroom. Each
teacher needs to be willing to experiment with
alternative methods (new or old) and create an
innovative curriculum along the way. In this
way, the student is always at the centre of the
learning-situation.
5. The ‘solution-focused’ approach
“…The essential idea of ‘‘solution-focused’
pedagogy’ connects theoretically on a
conjectural7
/hypothesized and constructivist8
view of learning…”9
Meaning the following:
Under the idea of ‘solution focused pedagogy’,
educators focus on making connections between
facts and development of new understanding in
students. Teachers should customize their
learning-strategies to students’ responses and
encourage students to analyze, interpret and
predict information. Emphasis is on open-ended
questions and he/she should encourage [inter-]
active dialogue amongst students.
The focus is on looking beyond found solutions.
To predict an assumed outcome or solution and
already before it is found the students should be
working towards the practical use of their
7
A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete
evidence. Wordweb dictionary.
8
Constructing or tending to construct or improve or
promote development. Wordweb dictionary.
9
Solution-Focused Problem Solving: Finding Exceptions
That Work by David X. Swenson & David N. Anstett,
www.css.edu/users/dswenson/web/Solfocus.htm.

9. 7
proposed or assumed solution into the field of
practice.
In this approach, we aim to develop the ability
in students of ‘looking one or more steps ahead’
and using their hypothesized knowledge in a
constructive way. …Always working towards
the future instead of working only in the ‘now’
or in the ‘past’…
In this pedagogical approach it is important to
stress ‘solution-focus’ alongside ‘problem –
solving’. The amounts of problems in learning
are numerous, and new problems come up
constantly everyday. The amounts of
alternatives for solutions are less, compared to
the amount of challenges; the same solution
might fit many different problems. Some of the
problems might be the kind where the teacher
and the learner have to generate an entirely new
type of a solution-model. Mostly however it is
enough, that there is the ability to use the
existing tools skilfully in order to take on
several different tasks. Which in turn make it
possible to look beyond the solution of that
particular task; having defined a task and
combining it with the right tool already make
up for the solution.
The ‘solution-focused’ pedagogy aims to find
ways, in which the teacher is able to improve
the already existing skills in teaching. It is not
the actual new method together with other
methods amongst pedagogical theories, but it
strives to take even better into consideration the
conditions of the learner and the learning
situation10
.
It is often said that the solutions are not
interesting but the problems are. Maybe on the
one side this might be true. We believe that
learning can be seen as ‘problem-solving’, but it
is important to stress the end of the sentence
“solving”. The important angle towards
learning is being ‘solution-focused’. ‘‘solution-
focused’-’problem-solving’’ can also be seen as
a dimension, in which ‘‘solution-focus’’ is
stressed both at the beginning in learning as
well as in ‘reflective-learning’.
6. ‘Active & solution-focused-learning’
and psychology
When looking at students’ development, we
cannot discard the setting in which development
takes place. We want to mention three theorists
that have an impact on the way we think
teaching should be:
10
In the hands of Dewey the doctrine that practical
consequences are the criteria of knowledge and meaning
and value, evolved into a philosophy that saw man as
formed through interaction with his natural and social
environment. Dewey always viewed the educated person
in a social context. Neither the individual nor society had
any meaning without the other. Dewey created a model of
the educated person as the reflective man, one who was
critical of the authority of custom and tradition as the
determinant of belief and action and who preferred the
method of science, of "organized intelligence" as the best
way to solve his problems.

10. 8
6.a. Lev Vygotsky, Urie Bronfenbrenner and
John Dewey
Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Sociocultural theory focuses on how culture
(the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a
social group) is transmitted to the next
generation. Vygotsky’s theory has been
especially influential in the study of cognitive
development. Vygotsky views cognitive
development as a socially mediated process,
dependent on the support adults and more
mature peers provide as children try new tasks.
Vygotsky proposed the term “zone of proximal
development”11
to describe the gap between
what the child can achieve alone on a task and
what the child can achieve with the assistance
of a more experienced “teacher”. When we put
this into the context of learning, it gives an
indication as to how we believe development
and learning take place. The inter-action
between the individual and his/her surrounding
is a key feature. It can be looked upon in the
light of what Urie Bronfenbrenner proposed
when he talks about ‘development in context. It
11
The zone of proximal development is the gap between
a learner's current or actual level of development
determined by indedendent problem-solving and the
learner's emerging or potential level of development. That
is, it is the set of knowledge that the learner has the
ability to learn currently but does not yet understand --
things that are "just out of reach". Lev Vygotsky says that
learners' are generally not able to bridge a large gap of
learning without some cognitively related prior
knowledge to 'hang' the new information upon.
is our believe that development and/or learning
is not an isolated individual matter. Vygotsky
also emphasizes through the concept of ZPD,
the effectiveness of support by ‘more
experienced’ individuals in relation to learning.
When thinking along these lines, Bruner’s
concept of ‘scaffolding’ comes to mind. It also
can be looked upon in relation to the learning
pyramid, which we introduce in chapter 7.
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems
Theory
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems
theory views the person as developing within a
multi-layered system of relationships. The
environment consists of four nested structures:
the Microsystems, the Mesosystem, the
Exosystem and the Macrosystem. The
Microsystem is the innermost level of the
environment and includes bi-directional
influences in the person’s immediate
environment (e.g. the child’s school and home).
The Mesosystem is composed of connections
among Microsystems that foster development
(e.g. Parent-teacher meetings). The Exosystem
contains contexts that do not include the
developing person but affect the individual’s
Microsystems and Mesosystem experiences
(e.g. the work environment of the child’s
parents). The Macrosystem is the outermost
layer that includes a culture’s laws, values, and
customs, which influence everyone who is a
member of that broader culture. Ecological

11. 9
transitions, or shifts in contexts, are important
turning points in development.
Figure 1. Development in context: adapted from ‘A
systems model of human behaviour and development’
Author: W. Huitt 2003.
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/materials/sysmdlo.html
John Dewey and Learning by Doing
In general, Dewey refers to education as a
“social need and function”. By this, he
perceives education, in its informal or formal
modes, above all as a “process of living” and
“growth” which includes both a social and
individual aspect that are mutually dependent
on each other. From the social viewpoint, this
means that education is essential to the
continuous existence and transformation of the
organisation of social life in all its shades and
grades. From the perspective of the individual,
this implies that education principally serves as
a method to enable individuals to play an
effective role as members of a human
community or society respectively.
With this broad conception in view, one has to
focus on education as a means to provide
possibilities for an individual to partake in joint
activities with fellow human beings. For only
by having and gradually developing a vital
share in associated life, human beings are able
to grow as persons to their full stature, and only
in this connection they contribute to the general
progress and reform of the entire community in
a creative and sustainable way.
These three theorists think along the same line.
Learning and development is an inter-active
venture. The inter-active relation between a
learner and his/her surrounding environment at
any given time makes up the foundation of
development, learning and finding solutions,
which in turn secure further development. We
stress the word ‘inter-active’, because it should
be a bi-directional or dialectic process, whereas
the learner is ‘object’ as well as ‘subject;
influencing, as well as influenced.
7. How do the ‘‘active learning’-’ and
‘‘solution-focused’- approach’
connect?
This can be seen with the help of the following
figure.
It shows the different elements that all
environments concerned with learning should
have in common.

12. 10
When we speak of ‘retention’ in the context of
‘active learning’, ‘retention’ means: ‘…The
ability of keeping in mind and recalling past
experiences…’
The learning pyramid
Figure 2. Learning pyramid, adapted from the National
Training Laboratory, Bethel, Maine, USA.
The Learning Pyramid charts the average rate of
retention for various methods of teaching.
These percentages represent the results of
research conducted by National Training
Laboratories in Bethel, Maine. According to the
chart, lecture, the top of the pyramid, achieves
an average retention rate of 5%. On the opposite
end of the scale, the "teach others/immediate
use" method achieves an average retention rate
of 90%.
When we put this in the light of ‘active-
learning’, we are able to connect the model to
the assumed theory of ‘solution-focused’
‘Active learning’ increases the effectiveness
and efficiency of the teaching and learning
process. We want students to leave a class with
knowledge and or skills they did not have when
they began the class. Months later, we want
those same students to keep hold of the
learning, apply it to new situations, build upon
that learning to develop new perspectives, and
continue the learning process.
This level of learning, resulting in memorizing
and transfer, occurs most efficiently through
concrete activity-based experiences.
The principle/core idea is based on the
assumption that true learning occurs through:
1. Input: ‘active learning’ involves input
from multiple sources through multiple
senses (hearing, seeing, feeling, etc.).
2. Process: ‘active learning’ involves
process, interacting with other people
and materials, accessing related
schemata12
in the brain, stimulating
multiple areas of the brain to act.
3. Output: ‘active learning’ involves
output, requiring students to produce a
response or a solution or some evidence
of the [inter-]’active learning’ that is
actually taking place.
The latter ‘output’ is related to the ‘solution-
focused’ approach. This is the stage in the
‘active-learning’ process where we mean to put
emphasis on solutions.
12
An internal representation of the world; an organization
of concepts and actions that can be revised by new
information about the world, word-web dictionary.

13. 11
8. Conclusion
In chapter 1, we defined that traditional learning
is un-sufficient in relation to the demands of
nowadays society. Learning should take place
in accordance with real-life. Real experiences
and learning by doing should be just as
important as skills and qualifications, with this
respect that we put emphasis on Dannelse and
working towards solutions and the future tasks
that might become relevant at a certain point in
time.
In chapter 2, we defined the outline and
questions related to the matter we worked with.
These questions are real and relevant in relation
to the developing individual in a modern
society, where we consider it a necessity to be
socially aware, active and future focused.
In chapter 3, we defined our pedagogical space:
human outlook, societal outlook and Dannelse.
We defined ourselves within the frames of a
dialectic-materialistic-idealistic human outlook.
The emphasis is on ‘dialectic, meaning;
learning and development are active, bi-
directional exchanges between individuals,
peers, teachers, and society and future tasks.
This in turn implies the individuals impact and
influence in shaping the [global-] community
and vice versa, and why we consider Dannelse a
more appropriate approach then adaptation.
In chapter 4, we put up the frames that,
according to us, make up and secure an active
process of learning. This includes the ‘why’ and
‘how’ of the concept of ‘active learning.
Emphasis is on ‘active exchange’, real
experiences and ‘dialogues’.
In chapter 5, we defined the ‘solution-focused’
approach towards learning, seen in the light of
‘why’ and ‘how’ it is important in learning. The
emphasis is on solutions in relation to the future
and the ongoing dialogue between the learner
and the development of their surrounding. At
the same time, we put forward some
considerations as to how we think it should be
implemented. The solution-focused approach is
working towards betterment of the conditions
and approach towards the learner and the
learning situation.
In chapter 6, we combined the two approaches
with the theories and ideas of Lev Vygotsky,
Urie Bronfenbrenner and John Dewey.
Vygotsky’s theory provide for a frame that
gives us the possibility to approach the social
development of a learner in relation to their
surrounding. It also stresses the impact that
acknowledgement of the ZPD has on learning.
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s theory gave us the
notion or proof of the exchange, influence and
ratio of development. Whereas it is shown that,
the actual sphere of influence is bi-directional
and that development is an inter-active process
between the individual and the four circles
surrounding him/her.
John Dewey led us to believe that development
is a process of ‘learning by doing’ and that it
involves both an individual as well as a social
aspect. It implies education as a tool for an
individual to be actively involved with other
individuals and in turn, contribute to the
development of their surrounding and which
makes up society.
In chapter 7, we connected ‘active learning’ to
‘solution-focused’ in relation to the three
aforementioned theories. We came up with
considerations and methods that should be
implemented in every learning environment.
We mentioned as key-points: ‘input’, ‘process’
and ‘output’. This implies active involvement of
both learners and teachers, which in turn is
focused on development of new perspectives
and a continuous learning-process, which
ideally never stops.
Overall we conclude that learning cannot be
detached from the concept of ‘activity’ and
should implement ‘a solution focused approach’
in relation to securing development of an
individual at any given time in the bigger
perspective of society, but with regard of each
individuals’ rights.