This document summarizes a presentation given at a history symposium about redesigning history education. It discusses how traditional history education focuses on facts without context, and how this leads to "pedagogical inertia". It proposes a new approach centered around inquiry-based learning tasks designed around 7 dimensions of historical literacy. This was piloted as an assignment with teacher education students, who had mixed reactions. While some found value in stimulating debate, others found the approach vague and difficult without explicit instruction. The conclusion is that changing established approaches requires buy-in from students and staff, and a systems approach to support different learning styles.
Their Work, Not Mine: The Student Centered Studio Classroom 2014Rebecca MissRoberts
This is a narrative version of the presentation Their Work, Not Mine, given by Rebecca Roberts, at The 2014 National Art Education Association Convention in San Diego, California.
According to UNESCO Constructivism is learning theory which places the learner at the center of the educational process on the understanding that the learner actively constructs knowledge rather than passively receiving it.
According to Brader - Araje and Jones (2002), Constructivism can be defined as “the idea that development of understanding requires the learner to actively engage in meaning-making”.
Development circle professional teaching in higher ed session 4Julia Morinaj
Teaching students is part of academic life. Whether it’s a workshop or a seminar, quality teaching is what matters most in students’ experiences and outcomes. Improve your (online) teaching with just a few tips and tricks. Profit from the opportunity to set and achieve your teaching goal, present your work, and get personal feedback. In this development circle, you will also learn about the principles of efficient and effective communication with students, essential traits of great teachers, resilience and well-being in the workplace, evidence-based teaching practices that work, and a fundamental basis of effective online pedagogy. You can apply the inputs in your own course, developing course content at your own pace. Even if you have a rich teaching experience, you can use this time to reflect on your teaching with close and careful attention and embrace feedback as a learning opportunity (pipes still can become clogged over time and need to be cleaned!). Each of the twelve sessions outlined below will include instructor inputs, reflection on the individual weekly goal, creating and sharing the goal for the next week, and getting feedback from the instructor and other participants of the circle. Participants may volunteer to provide more detailed information about a current challenge; the others contribute their ideas towards a solution. By making contributions that might be helpful to other people (e.g., sharing your work and experiences, offering your attention or feedback), you are making a positive difference and strengthening the meaning of a relationship. With time your contributions build trust and cultivate a greater sense of competence and connection with other people, increasing the chances for information exchange and collaboration. You become more effective at work and feel in control too, because you have access to more people, knowledge, and opportunities. Positive relationships—more opportunities. The Development Circle Workbook will walk you through what to do each week. You will meet your peer support group for 1 hour per week for 12 weeks. The course aims to provide you with the tools to improve your teaching skills as well as offer you the opportunity to develop a meaningful network.
Intro Week Induction and Inquiry-based Learning: Varying Approachescilass.slideshare
The University of Sheffield has considered strategically the induction
process undertaken by departments during Intro Week in order to
facilitate the transition to university for new students. The approaches from three
departments Human Communication Sciences, Automatic Control and Systems
Engineering, Mechanical Engineering will be showcased in the symposium. Two
main aims were:
(i) welcome students into the department and discipline,
(ii) begin the education of students into a new way of learning,
specifically independent learning. Topics included:
How was intro week organised to meet the aims?
Which aspects of good practise might be usefully summarised for other
departments?
International Higher Education Teaching & Learning Association - Scholarship of Teaching and Engagement, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, January 20-22, 2015.
1. بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
2. Active learning
What is active learning?
Learning:
Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences
Active learning:
approach to instruction that involves actively engaging students with course material.
discussions, problem solving, case studies, role plays and other methods.
This is a student center aproach in which the responsibility for learning is placed upon the student.
3. With the goal of teaching mindful learners who actively pursue knowledge, teachers become more actively engaged in how they teach the curriculum and how they develop each student's learning potential. They mix and match a variety of ... tactics to ensure that students not only learn more, better, and faster -- they also learn smarter.
-James Ballencia
4. Teacher’s Role in the Active Learning Classroom
In active learning teachers are facilitators rather than one way providers of information.
Overall," a 2011 study found, "teachers play an influential role in increasing students' situational interest in the active-learning classroom."
teacher's social connection with students and subject matter
expertise "significantly influence the level of students' situational interest in the active learning classroom.”
5. Incorporate Active Learning in Your Course
Get student attention and increase motivation
Assess students' prior knowledge
Promote problem solving
and application, and deepen student understanding
Assess whether students understood the material
Help students review materials for an exam
Prepare students for a major assignment
Explore the relevance of the course material in students professional or everyday lives
6. Advantages
Interactive engagement
Collaborative learning
Problem-based learning develops positive student
Increased student engagement and understanding
Better attention (breaks between lecture segments)
More student ownership of learning process
Greater enjoyment of course material
Greater retention
7. Dis Advantages
Time and topic coverage
Preparation
Student participation
Lack of individual accountability
Misconception generation
Outside perceptions
Any Question?
*Thank you*
Their Work, Not Mine: The Student Centered Studio Classroom 2014Rebecca MissRoberts
This is a narrative version of the presentation Their Work, Not Mine, given by Rebecca Roberts, at The 2014 National Art Education Association Convention in San Diego, California.
According to UNESCO Constructivism is learning theory which places the learner at the center of the educational process on the understanding that the learner actively constructs knowledge rather than passively receiving it.
According to Brader - Araje and Jones (2002), Constructivism can be defined as “the idea that development of understanding requires the learner to actively engage in meaning-making”.
Development circle professional teaching in higher ed session 4Julia Morinaj
Teaching students is part of academic life. Whether it’s a workshop or a seminar, quality teaching is what matters most in students’ experiences and outcomes. Improve your (online) teaching with just a few tips and tricks. Profit from the opportunity to set and achieve your teaching goal, present your work, and get personal feedback. In this development circle, you will also learn about the principles of efficient and effective communication with students, essential traits of great teachers, resilience and well-being in the workplace, evidence-based teaching practices that work, and a fundamental basis of effective online pedagogy. You can apply the inputs in your own course, developing course content at your own pace. Even if you have a rich teaching experience, you can use this time to reflect on your teaching with close and careful attention and embrace feedback as a learning opportunity (pipes still can become clogged over time and need to be cleaned!). Each of the twelve sessions outlined below will include instructor inputs, reflection on the individual weekly goal, creating and sharing the goal for the next week, and getting feedback from the instructor and other participants of the circle. Participants may volunteer to provide more detailed information about a current challenge; the others contribute their ideas towards a solution. By making contributions that might be helpful to other people (e.g., sharing your work and experiences, offering your attention or feedback), you are making a positive difference and strengthening the meaning of a relationship. With time your contributions build trust and cultivate a greater sense of competence and connection with other people, increasing the chances for information exchange and collaboration. You become more effective at work and feel in control too, because you have access to more people, knowledge, and opportunities. Positive relationships—more opportunities. The Development Circle Workbook will walk you through what to do each week. You will meet your peer support group for 1 hour per week for 12 weeks. The course aims to provide you with the tools to improve your teaching skills as well as offer you the opportunity to develop a meaningful network.
Intro Week Induction and Inquiry-based Learning: Varying Approachescilass.slideshare
The University of Sheffield has considered strategically the induction
process undertaken by departments during Intro Week in order to
facilitate the transition to university for new students. The approaches from three
departments Human Communication Sciences, Automatic Control and Systems
Engineering, Mechanical Engineering will be showcased in the symposium. Two
main aims were:
(i) welcome students into the department and discipline,
(ii) begin the education of students into a new way of learning,
specifically independent learning. Topics included:
How was intro week organised to meet the aims?
Which aspects of good practise might be usefully summarised for other
departments?
International Higher Education Teaching & Learning Association - Scholarship of Teaching and Engagement, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, January 20-22, 2015.
1. بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
2. Active learning
What is active learning?
Learning:
Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences
Active learning:
approach to instruction that involves actively engaging students with course material.
discussions, problem solving, case studies, role plays and other methods.
This is a student center aproach in which the responsibility for learning is placed upon the student.
3. With the goal of teaching mindful learners who actively pursue knowledge, teachers become more actively engaged in how they teach the curriculum and how they develop each student's learning potential. They mix and match a variety of ... tactics to ensure that students not only learn more, better, and faster -- they also learn smarter.
-James Ballencia
4. Teacher’s Role in the Active Learning Classroom
In active learning teachers are facilitators rather than one way providers of information.
Overall," a 2011 study found, "teachers play an influential role in increasing students' situational interest in the active-learning classroom."
teacher's social connection with students and subject matter
expertise "significantly influence the level of students' situational interest in the active learning classroom.”
5. Incorporate Active Learning in Your Course
Get student attention and increase motivation
Assess students' prior knowledge
Promote problem solving
and application, and deepen student understanding
Assess whether students understood the material
Help students review materials for an exam
Prepare students for a major assignment
Explore the relevance of the course material in students professional or everyday lives
6. Advantages
Interactive engagement
Collaborative learning
Problem-based learning develops positive student
Increased student engagement and understanding
Better attention (breaks between lecture segments)
More student ownership of learning process
Greater enjoyment of course material
Greater retention
7. Dis Advantages
Time and topic coverage
Preparation
Student participation
Lack of individual accountability
Misconception generation
Outside perceptions
Any Question?
*Thank you*
Glen Coutts, WAAE presentation. Learning in Context: Creativity in EducationGlen Coutts
Learning in Context: Creativity and Professional Development in Initial Teacher Education
A presentation by Glen Coutts, Julie K. Austin and Liz Mitchell at the WAAE 2009 World Summit: Towards a Paradigm of Creative Education for the 21st Century
Newcastle, UK
Digital literacy and digital participation #FLRIFuturelab
Digital participation: Exploring the development of digital literacy in subject teaching. An overview of the recent research given at Futurelab's research insights day, April 29th 2010 in London.
Sarah Payton & Cassie Hague, Futurelab
3. The notion that students must first be given facts and then at some distant time in the future will ‘think’ about them is both a cover-up and a perversion of pedagogy. … One does not collect facts he (sic) does not need, hang on to them, and then stumble across the propitious moment to use them. One is first perplexed by a problem and then he makes use of the facts to achieve a solution. (Charles Sellers in Williams, 2010)
5. Traditional toy box Teacher-centric Content-focused Teaching ‘facts’ for ‘just-in-case’ ...
6. Tension between rhetoric and reality Lendol Calder noted: “When I claim that the typical, coverage-oriented [technique] is a wrongheaded way to introduce students to the goodness and power of history, I am not saying anything outrageous or new. But pedagogical inertia happens.” (Calder, 2006, p. 1359)
7. Similarly, Tony Townsend observed seven years earlier: “As far back as 1981, Menzies argued that previous educational reform had been similar to rearranging the toys in the toy box, when what we really needed was a whole new box”. (Townsend, 1999, p. 26)
8. Introducing a ‘new history toy box’ A ‘new toy box’ for history learning and teaching for trainee teachers Following historical literacy descriptors adapted from Taylor and Young (2003) Consisting of 7 Dimensions
14. Teacher is on the lookout for ‘teachable moments’ Organic curriculum development
15. Teacher collaboration Getting a ‘flavour’ of the social studies network and its relationship to future-oriented learning
16. Learning through assignment work A key message for teacher education students in this unit is the story itself. It is the starting point of their assignment: History is all around us, embedded in the most unlikely situations and daily products a running shoe’s name and its historical roots, ready to be (re)discovered.
17. Inquiry-based history assignment for learning task design The ‘Nike Quest’ scenario example Illustrating the difference in student/teacher roles, motivation and skill requirements All student groups design different products All student groups use different processes No ‘one right way’ of approaching complex problem tasks No guarantee to getting it ‘right’ the first time Requiring much effort, resilience and self efficacy
18. How did teacher education students react? I enjoy stimulating debate and ... I have enjoyed putting the webquest together. I think many people in the course are questioning the approach you take, and wonder how much they are learning, but I think they won’t see the value until much later in their lives, when they find themselves in classrooms with kids who need to discuss stuff and they refer back to the [history class] in their minds and ‘facilitate!’ … I have valued your lectures and your tutorials and most especially this assignment. Thank you. (Student teacher, 2010) I have attended all but one of the lectures and tutorials and I still don’t know what you have been trying to teach us. I know as much about teaching [history] now as I did before the start of the semester. … The assignment guidelines are so vague and disjointed; it is nearly impossible for someone like myself, who requires explicit instruction, to get the point. Considering the first four weeks of the semester was spent with students asking [the lecturer and tutor] what the assignment was about, goes to show there was a fundamental flaw in the design of the assignment. …. I am still extremely frustrated by this subject and understandably terrified about failing it. (Student teacher, 2010)
19. What have I learnt? Students’ ability and willingness to engage with a new toy box varies Student and staff buy-in is crucial A systems-approach is the only feasible way forward
20. What have I learnt ? (con’t) A prevalent culture of learnt behaviour Dependency on extrinsic motivation and traditional ‘teaching’ The monitoring of teacher education students’ learning behaviour and self-management skills (or the lack thereof), is warranted Teacher education students may need special training to help them understand the value of complex assessment for learning tasks
21. Conclusion Inquiry-based history assessment for learning tasks may form one of a number of tools to change the current toy box of history learning and teaching as we undergo a curriculum renewal process and look forward to the Australian History Curriculum implementation.
22. Any questions or comments?Please keep in contact e.dobozy@ecu.edu.au
Editor's Notes
As Lendol Calder (2006) so eloquently notes: “When I claim that the typical, coverage-oriented [technique] is a wrongheaded way to introduce students to the goodness and power of history, I am not saying anything outrageous or new. But pedagogical inertia happens.” (p. 1359).
Similarly, Tony Townsand (1999) observed seven years earlier: “As far back as 1981, Menzies argued that previous educational reform had been similar to rearranging the toys in the toy box, when what we really needed was a whole new box” (p. 26).
Learning/assessment task design underpinned by the 7 dimensions of historical literacy
Situated problem tasks embedded in real-world storyAs exemplified above in ‘the Nike Quest’, the primary school children in the scenario were exposed to two different views of Nike: the brand name and the ancient figure. The problem arose when one child in the story (Norman) speculated that there is an ancient figure called Nike, which led to the name of a modern consumer item (also referred to as Nike). Whereas Nick is interested in the difference, Natalie seems to be oblivious to the fact that there might be an ancient Nike figure as Nick implies and Norman asserts. Unsurprisingly, the children in the story have different ‘truth claims’, presenting the teacher education students with a need for some inquiry. All learning scenarios (see Figure 2) were deliberately framed using a structured controversy approach and consisting of a number of sub-plots describing teachable moments, teacher characteristics and spontaneously occurring learning dilemmas.
The specific history learning curriculum (the excursion to the History Museum) is made explicit illustrating that practical off-campus learning forms an integral part of contemporary history learning and teaching (see Table 2).
Moreover, the main story is deliberately infused with some incidental learning through dialogue between the children as they are on their way to the Museum. The dialogue soon turns into an argument that erupts out of a spontaneous discussion involving a historical figure (Nike) and its relationship to the children’s lives (see Table 3). The argument is deliberately not settled, leaving teacher education students wondering if there is indeed a historical figure called Nike that may or may not have a direct relationship to the brand name Nike.
The two intersecting storylines (main story and sub plot 1) are followed by a further expansion or ‘twist’, namely that the teacher is thinking of a webquest that can be developed and is providing the title: The Nike Quest (teacher education students’ assignment). One implicit message is that the teacher is actively looking out for ‘teachable moments’, looking to consider the incorporation of history curriculum ideas that are developing organically. A second implicit message is that the teacher is well connected in a Social Studies network of likeminded teachers (see Tables 4 & 5). These teacher traits are essential for the development of a signature pedagogy for history.
A key message for teacher education students in this unit is the story itself, which forms the starting point of their assignment: History is all around us, embedded in the most unlikely situations and daily products (eg. running shoe), ready to be (re)discovered.
The inquiry-based history assignment for learning task design, as exemplified through the ‘Nike Quest’ scenario, makes apparent the difference in teacher education ‘student visibility and accountability’, traditionally referred to as engagement and taken-for-granted generic skill levels and prior knowledge, as student teachers of history are required to grapple with complex ideas and real-world scenario work
How did students react? Come embraced the challenge and others were terrified by it!