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Effective Learning PDF
Effective Learning PDF
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a. Learner
Characteristics
c. Teaching -
Learning d. Outcomes
Processes
b. Teaching
Characteristics
e. Classroom Context
f. School and Wider Context
4
Figure 2: A contextual model for school learning, developed from Biggs and Moore
Figure 2 does not portray a linear mechanical model: the Learners’ conceptions of learning reflect their
arrows denote influence in both directions, recognising, educational experiences – the style of teaching, the
for example that outcomes affect characteristics of disciplines followed, and the assessment systems in
teaching, that particular outcomes for learning will which their learning has occurred.
accentuate particular learner characteristics, and that the
qualities of classroom and school context affect the What is the learner’s approach to learning?
process of learning.
Learners vary in their beliefs about success, their goal
We now expand each element of Figure 2, before orientation in learning, and their responses to difficult
defining “effective learning”. 11
tasks .
A positive pattern: A negative pattern:
“learning orientation” “performance orientation"
a. Learner Characteristics
• belief that effort leads • belief that ability leads to
Learner characteristics are not fixed: current state, to success success
previous competence, previous experiences and beliefs • belief in one!s ability • concern to be judged as
influence the learning being considered. to improve and learn able, to perform
• preference for • satisfaction from doing
challenging tasks better than others
What state is the learner in? • personal satisfaction from • emphasis on competition
success at difficult tasks public evaluation
When approaching any new knowledge, a learner’s state • problem-solving and • helplessness: evaluate
may reflect his/her current sense of competence and self-instructions when self negatively when
5 engaged in task task is difficult
view of the need to learn. Dubin suggested four states.
concern for improving concern for proving
Unconscious Conscious one!s competence one!s competence
(of a need to learn a specific
skill or knowledge) A focus on performance is associated with negative
effects for learners:
11
Unconsciousin Consciousinco • greater helplessness “I‘m no good at X”
Incompetent competence mpetence • reduced help-seeking12
• less strategy use, and worse performance13
Unconscious Consciousco • more maladaptive strategies 14
Competent • greater focus on grade feedback, and worse
competence mpetence
(relative to a performance15.
specific skill Approach to learning is learned, alongside and linked
or knowledge) to other aspects: gender, cultural experience, etc.
Figure 3: Four possible states of the learner It is shaped by the prevalent ways of talking about
learners and learning in school, family and society.
The state of “conscious incompetence” may be valuable
at the start of a learning experience. What about “learning style”?
Some uses of this notion suggest learners have a
What is the learner’s view of learning? preference for particular channels of reception (e.g.
16
visual, auditory) . It would seem hazardous to
From age 4, children’s conceptions of learning develop,
encourage learners into “thin” descriptions of
from learning to do towards learning to know, and in
6 themselves as learners (e.g. “I’m a visual learner”).
some cases learning to understand .
17
By age 12 pupils’ learning conceptions vary from naïve Other uses focus on stages in a learning cycle :
7 Activists
to functional to developmental . When asked, learners
may report different conceptions of learning: - involve themselves in new experiences
- tackle problems by brainstorming
• increasing one’s knowledge
Reflectors
• memorizing and reproducing
- like to stand back to ponder experiences
• applying - observe from many different perspectives
• understanding Theorists
• seeing something in a different way - like to analyse and synthesise
• changing as a person - focus on assumptions, principles, theories, models
(seeing oneself in a different way)
8 Pragmatists
- like to try out ideas to see if they work in practice
However, important differences between these may not - take the first chance to experiment and apply.
be so clear to learners as they are to researchers: 14
Each individual is likely to have a profile containing
and 15 year-olds have been said to have no clear
9 more than one of these styles. As Figure 1 indicates,
understanding of how they learn . A learner’s conception all are needed for the full learning process. It is crucial
of learning affects how s/he goes about learning: those to help every learner extend her/his range. This may
early in the above list are associated with simple be best achieved through promoting richer
10
approaches rather than focusing on understanding . descriptions of learning, not categories of learner.
b. Teaching Characteristics c. Teaching - Learning Processes
Characteristics of assessment and curriculum will create To arrange activities which promote the process of
tensions in teaching. These impact on conceptions of learning is a complex challenge in any situation, and
teaching, and on the process and outcome of learning. especially so in a classroom. The deceptively simple
National systems and dominant models of assessment hyphen in the phrase “teaching-learning” embodies the
challenge teaching by encouraging mechanistic and core task of the teaching profession.
fragmented approaches, which in turn disadvantage Bruner 24 helps us see how we are steered in helping
18
groups of students . Classroom practice can still assess children learn by four models of “folk pedagogy”:
in a way that promotes qualities such as collaborative 1. Learning by being shown
and thoughtful approaches to learning, by staying close 2. Learning by being told
to learners’ experiences and remaining supportive to 3. Learning by constructing meaning
19
learners . 4. Learning by joining a knowledge-generating
community
National “curricula” framed to assist assessment rather
The second is probably the most adhered to line of
than promote important development, lead schools and folk pedagogy in practice today, but as Mark Twain put
teachers to adopt strategic responses. Teaching it “If teaching was as simple as telling, we’d all be a lot
methods focus on “coverage”, and the quality of learner smarter than we are”.
20
experience declines .
The ways in which we talk about teaching-learning
In this context, teachers are faced with key tensions: processes may reflect different conceptions or
• Issues of responsibility for student performance (is discourses of learning:
authority vested in external policies or knowledge of 1. S/he taught me … [Instruction]
student needs, and do teachers have agency in 2. I made sense of … [Construction]
promoting student success?) 3. We worked out that … [Co-construction]
• Issues of focusing on learning (is knowledge The first has been most dominant in the 20th century,
transmitted or constructed, and is instruction a matter to the point that when asked about learning many
of delivery or of creating an environment for seeking people talk about teaching.
knowledge?)
• Issues of professional culture (is teaching a job or a Social
Tasks
profession, and is it a solitary or collegial act?). structure
Teachers’ conceptions of teaching vary, with two main
orientations - learning facilitation and knowledge
21 Goals
transmission . The associated approaches to teaching
are in turn linked with qualitatively different approaches Resources Role
to learning: when the approach to teaching is focused on
the teacher and knowledge transmission, students are
more likely to adopt superficial approaches to learning. Time and
Conversely, when the approach to teaching is oriented pacing
towards students and to changing their conceptions, Figure 4: Elements in teaching activities
learners adopt significantly richer approaches to
22 Teaching activities are composed of elements shown
learning . in Fig. 4. Different patterns of teaching activities
Teachers’ conceptions and approaches influence those display different conceptions of learning (Fig 5).
of learners. With learning facilitation, students of all Similarly, practices such as “feedback” may be
approaches focus on their own process. By contrast, in handled differently depending on the conception of
teacher-centred approaches students focus on learning invoked25.
transmission and reproduction, whatever the approach
23
to learning they bring
Figure 5: Patterns in teaching activities display different underlying views of learning:
Teacher controls
time: !pace" seen Longer time blocks, Time seen as less
as key student-paced relevant
Closing Reflections
Review What reflections about your own learning and teaching did your reading of this paper stimulate?
How do your school practices and policies focus on learning and support effective learning?
Learn In what way have you enriched your view of effective learning as a result of your reading?
What new visions for classrooms and schools have these ideas stimulated?
Apply How would you tell a story of these ideas with some of your colleagues?
In what ways can you review with your pupils their views about their learning?
What experiments can you plan to undertake in classroom activities for effective learning?
Written by Chris Watkins, Eileen Carnell, Caroline Lodge, Patsy Wagner and Caroline Whalley.
Series editor: Frank McNeil, f.mcneil@ioe.ac.uk
19 34
Carr M (2001), Assessment in Early Hogan K (1999), “Thinking aloud
Childhood Settings: Learning Stories , together: a test of an intervention to foster
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