Indivisible or intersecting issotl 08

Indivisible or Intersecting?Indivisible or Intersecting?A Cross Institutional View of Active

Learning

ContentsContentsActive Learning – a brief introductionThe ProjectFindings from one aspect of the

researchComparing two ‘models’A serendipitous story

But first......this:But first......this:Take the 3 post-it notes and, one

definition/word/phrase per post it, write down:

The three things that best define Active Learning for you.......

IntroductionIntroduction The term ‘active learning’ (AL) is often used intuitively rather

than with a common understanding (Bonwell and Eison, 1991).

The link between ‘doing’ and ‘learning’ is often identified within the Confucian aphorism ‘I see, I forget; I hear, I remember; I do, I understand’ (Beard, 2008).

Such an approach has spawned a range of ‘active’ pedagogies, often termed ‘discovery learning’ (Mayer, 2004), often as a rail against lecturing (Bonwell and Eison, 1991).

Recent critiques of discovery learning have questioned its efficacy, especially those which exhibit minimal instruction (e.g. Mayer, 2004; Kirschner et al., 2006).

Mayer (2004) and the ‘constructivist teaching fallacy’ Range of literature relating teachers’ approaches to teaching

and the links between learning outcomes and teaching activities (e.g. Ramsden, 1992; Prosser & Trigwell, 1999; Biggs, 2003)

Potted highlights of my AL Potted highlights of my AL experienceexperience

As a student:◦Non-plussed in the lab!◦Too little time, too much activity?

As a teacher:◦Reinventing my own experience◦COZIP – AL is ‘learning by

doing’....what evidence did we have?

The Project MethodologyThe Project MethodologyThe initial questionnaire

◦Longevity of and confidence in use◦Examples of practice◦Locus of support◦Definition of AL

Follow up interviews◦SQUIN (Wengraf, 2001)◦Gestalt questioning methodology

(Holloway & Jefferson, 2000)

A quick reflexive A quick reflexive moment.....moment.....

Initial thoughtsInitial thoughtsWe found three ‘families’ of conceptions

With a partner, try and sort your own definitions into these groups and return them to the front

Two contrasting modelsTwo contrasting models

Testing the modelsTesting the modelsRespondant Response A Response B Response C

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INTERNAL

EXTERNAL

HOLISTIC

Some tentative Some tentative conclusionsconclusions• All respondents identified conceptions that suggest that they

believe student passivity does not promote learning.

• Ongoing debate about what this passive/active dimension looks like in class. Different teachers view student activity differently.

• This does not help us form a concrete definition of AL, except to say that it is clearer to define what it is not, rather than what it is!

• So do our students have a clue what’s going on?

• What good practice can be shared between teachers who see AL differently?

• How do these two ‘worlds’ of doing and thinking meet? Is this fixed or do approaches vary in time and context?

Return to the textReturn to the text

To listen and yet it is easy to forget

To see/perceive and yet it is easy to remember/record

To be/act as and yet it is easy to understand

New insights?New insights?Not just ‘doing’, but ‘being’Sense of ‘embodiment’, and

‘thinking as’No sense of first two lines being

used negativelyThe final character contains the

‘heart radical’ – mind and heart

Thoughts so farThoughts so farWe can identify a range of conceptions

that teachers hold, concerning ALBy and large, an individual views AL as

a complex mix of the physical and cognitive

It is not just ‘learning by doing’, and, in fact, it NEVER was!

The need to introduce practice that promotes self-reflection and internalisation of learning

“One's action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be a mere

rushing on..”D. H. Lawrence

Indivisible or intersecting issotl 08

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