Category: Learning

5 Characteristics of a Play World

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Earlier this week, I tuned in to a public lecture from Laureate Professor Marilyn Fleer and her team. They presented their latest findings from the Conceptual Playlab at Monash University.

The Conceptual PlayLab is a research group. They investigate play-based models for teaching young children science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The lecture shared insights from the last three years of research about how infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers think, create and collectively innovate in STEM.

A foundation of their research is the experience of a conceptual play world which I want to explore today.

In the lecture, Fleer outlined the five key pedagogical characteristics of a conceptual play world:

  1. Select a story for the Conceptual Playworld that considers the context of children’s development and their interests.
  2. Design a Conceptual Playworld space to explore concepts and social and emotional development.
  3. How to enter and exit the world.
  4. Plan the play inquiry or problem scenario.
  5. Plan teacher interactions to build conceptual learning in the role.

The notes above are from this overview from Professor Marilyn Fleer: The Five Characteristics of a Conceptual Playworld (Fleer, 2018). This short document also provides some elaborations and practices for each characteristic.

Design Worlds

I was struck by how the five characteristics remind me of facilitation, coaching and learning design.

I often refer to inviting people into a world for a workshop. As a group, we establish working norms or protocols (rules for this new world) and co-design a way to explore a challenge together.

When we perceive learning as a conceptual world to enter or exit. It allows us the opportunity to:

  • Talk about the talking.
  • Stand back and reflect on the learning experience.
  • Take on different roles or explore multiple perspectives.
  • Focus on the process of learning and notice our experience.
  • Explore what makes the most significant difference to how we learn.

Conceptual world-building is a useful mental model as a learning designer and facilitator.

Hold Space For Dialogue

Coaching is about holding space.

You might wonder, what are we holding on to?

For me, this is about maintaining the integrity of the dialogic space.

When I hold the coaching space, I limit judgement, remain in the question and invest in the relationship.

The PlayLab’s research supports the view that learning in a conceptual play world is an essential foundation for STEM learning. I wonder how we can apply these ideas more broadly across different areas of learning? What would be the implications for schools, teachers and students? How might we fold early childhood research into adult learning design?

Too Busy To Play

We are so busy and caught up in the ‘doing’ that we forget to take a step back, reflect and play.

The experience of change and innovation needs playful moments. When we play, we take risks, experiment and try things out. We also create the space to laugh at ourselves and let go of inhibitions.

The challenge for all of us is to find ways to intentionally create space for play.

Your Talking Points

Here are a few key takeaways about

  1. What benefits do you notice when using a play-based approach to learning?
  2. How can we create space for play in our everyday lives?
  3. How will you increase reflection, play and meta-cognition in your next workshop?

🕳🐇 Down the Rabbit Hole

Complement this issue with articles about play and innovation from my blog:

​Finding the edges of your page ⟶

​How our creativity is shaped by our culture ⟶

​In A World of Their Own – the features of immersive play ⟶

​Using Kinectimals to Support Play in the Early Years Classroom ⟶

Let play perish and innovation will follow

David Whitebread and Marisol Basilio, in their essay “Play, culture and creativity”, explain that play is ubiquitous in humans and that every child in every culture plays.

Read more ⟶
perish

My weekly email helps educators and innovation leaders enhance their practice by sharing provocations, ideas and mental models. Join today, and get your copy this week.

What motivates students to learn?

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Top 3 factors that predict academic motivation

Here are the top three ranked, according to this meta-analysis, from l’Université Laval, Monash University and Curtin University.

1 — 🪡 Competence (I can do this!)

Students experiencing competence are confident that their actions are impactful in shaping their academic experience.

2 — 🆎 Autonomy (I get to choose)

Students experiencing autonomy perceive that they are engaging in learning tasks freely and voluntarily, without perceived coercion.

3 — 🏠 Belonging (I am not alone)

Students experiencing relatedness feel connected with important others in their school (e.g., teachers, friends)

As reported here by Jill Barshay,

Bureau [Julien Bureau — the lead author] describes the three needs — competency, belonging and autonomy — as “kindling” for intrinsic or internal motivation. “If you start doing a task,” he said, “and it’s a new task, and you feel competent in it, and you feel connected with others, and you feel autonomous in doing the task, you’ve chosen to do it. You’ll have fun doing it. You’ll want to do it more. And you’ll be interested in learning.”

We love to use the spark and fire metaphor for learning, and here Bureau explores the fuel or ‘kindling’. But I think this is limited.

You will have your preferred metaphor for learning too, but I think of competency, belonging and autonomy as part of the conditions for growth, not destruction.

Along with many other variables and environmental factors, competency, belonging, and autonomy are the nutrients in the soil that trigger growth.

Connection to Place

Reference to belonging and connectedness makes me also think of the physical learning environment. This week I have been immersed in collaborating with primary school teachers about contemporary learning environments.

When children feel ownership of the classroom, it appears the stage is set for cultivating feelings of responsibility (DeVries and Zan 1994). Classrooms that feature the products of students’ intellectual engagements, projects, displays, and construction are also found to promote greater participation and involvement in the learning process (Ulrich 2004).

This is from the Clever Classrooms, a summary report created by the Holistic Evidence and Design Project at Salford University.

They found that the physical characteristics of a learning space related to individualisation: ownership, and flexibility were particularly influential in learning progress for the 3766 primary students in the study.

Clever Classrooms is an accessible report I highly recommend. Here are some of the checkpoints for teachers about ownership (p32).

  • A classroom that includes pupil-created work in displays is more likely to provide a sense of ownership.
  • The classroom can be made readily recognisable from others by distinctive class-made displays/artwork of, for example, people, houses, animals, trees.
  • Opportunities should be grasped to allow pupils to personalise aspects of the classroom, e.g. named lockers or drawers.
  • Good quality, child-centric, furniture, fixture and equipment can be used to strongly support learning and indicate that pupils are valued.

Combine these findings and ideas with the original paper we are focusing on this week, and you have some valuable provocations.

Emotions are the Rudder

A notable missing piece of the student motivation paper is the role of emotion in learning. When I search the document for reference to ‘emotion’, the only returns I get are from citations and other works.

The role of emotion is a silent backdrop to some of these findings. Despite not being overtly stated in the paper in focus, emotion is inextricably connected to each element of competence, autonomy and belonging.

As neuroscientists Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Antonio Damasio explain:

Cognition happens because of emotion. There’s really no such thing as a thought that doesn’t have an emotion attached to it or that doesn’t have an emotion that follows it. When we take in the world around us, we have an emotional reaction to that appraisal. That emotional reaction changes the way we think in the next moment and cumulatively, over time.

And this following extract, Immordino-Yang illustrates the connection between emotion and competence.

if you’re solving a math problem and you think, Oh yeah, I recognize this; that’s a quadratic equation. That little moment of, I know this! (or alternately I don’t; am I on the right track?), that’s emotion steering the way you access your memory. Recognizing that a skill (like solving a math problem) is relevant in a particular context is an emotional recognition. We need these subtle emotional intuitions for minute-by-minute problem solving, and therefore, they become a dimension of the skill itself. As teachers, we can help students become aware of how emotions steer thinking, and help them develop well-tuned academic intuitions.

The comment that a student’s emotional intuitions become a dimension of the skill itself is fascinating to consider. A further illustration of how complex these experiences are and how emotion is independent of competency, autonomy and belonging.

I will leave you with a final provocation from Professor Mary Helen Immordino-Yang,

It’s literally neurobiologically impossible to remember or think deeply about anything that you haven’t felt emotion about. It just doesn’t happen because it would be a waste of the brain’s resources to think a lot about stuff that doesn’t matter.

Your Talking Points

Instead of more ideas, I want to close with a reminder of critical questions and provocations to grapple with when exploring evidence and research.

  • How do the cultural norms in my school intersect with these findings?
  • The Clever Classrooms findings focus on primary or elementary-age students in the UK — what is relevant for my setting?
  • Have we systematically identified the right approach to achieve these goals?
  • Is there reliable evidence it can have the desired impact if implemented well?
  • Are these concepts feasible within our context?

5 Assessment Questions for Better Measures of Success

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In this post, I share some guiding assessment questions and provocations about the value system that education is built on.

There is also a 10-page workbook to download to support your reflection and action planning on assessment and the impact you have on students.

The Most Complicated Object in the Universe

My teaching journey started when I was studying psychology. I chose teaching because of formative experiences in 1995 when studying how we think, develop and learn. Learning elements of developmental psychology was a catalyst to my career.

[sharable-quote tweet=”The human brain has 100 billion neurons, each neuron connected to 10,000 other neurons. Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe. ~ Michio Kaku “]

The brain seemed an incredible mystery we were all attempting to unravel. As you reflect on your assessment practices, keep that complexity in your mind.

The Draw-a-person Assessment

The drawing test was devised in 1926 by Florence Goodenough, a psychologist from the University of Minnesota. It was developed as “a new approach to measuring young children’s intelligence, ” as her paper is titled.

Children have ten minutes to draw a person, and the results are scored according to strict guidelines. Goodenough argued the drawings were a proxy for intellectual development.

I recall conducting the Draw-a-person test with children at a local primary school or nursery. Deciphering the mark-making and the developmental cues was fascinating.

[sharable-quote tweet=”Teaching is at the intersection between an enduring mystery and a social imperative.” template=”dark”]

Stay Curious About Assessment and Learning

My interest in developmental psychology waned after years in the teaching profession. That is strange to write, as you might expect one to multiply the other.

Perhaps the mystery was overwhelming. Or the distractions incumbent to the teaching profession got in the way. Maybe it was the shiny gloss of technology?

Looking back on my teaching, I wish I had stayed curious for longer about the mysteries of how we learn and assessment questions.

First Principles Questions

Nowadays, I am motivated by the provocation and utility of first principles thinking. A mental model I would take back to 1998 and offer to myself.

We can all find great clarity from the fundamental truths and principles of what we might be exploring. To use first principles, ask questions like these:

  • What are the enduring truths about building positive relationships?
  • What are the first principles of a community?

And the central question:

  • What are the fundamental truths about learning?

Making Sense of What Works

The Draw-a-person test is an interesting exhibit in the story of how teaching is changing. Although widely used, it was also critiqued and fell out of favour as a measure of intellectual development.

I put this down to the scale of the mystery of our brain.

It may have fallen out of favour due to what I call the solution shard effect. This effect occurs when we explain part of a grand mystery.

To begin with, we present a possible truth – a solution shard (fragment). It is not the complete answer, and questions may remain. A part of the truth is presented and explored, and challenged.

However, when this fragment is refuted, it impacts the established elements of truth around it. The second-order effect is a ripple of doubt.

How does this relate to education?

The complexity of how we learn and what teaching should look like can be overwhelming. What we thought worked is no longer valid. Practices that were in favour and widely adopted now languish on the pseudo-science scrap heap.

You might reflect on some of these assessment questions

  • How do I distinguish what works for my students?
  • How can I possibly control so many different aspects of the learning experience?
  • The experience with my students is contrary to the research I have read; what does that mean?

[sharable-quote tweet=”If we solve in silos, there is the potential of adding more fragments to decipher, more heuristics to navigate and more contradictory options of what works.” template=”quote”]

In a way, the confusion, uncertainty and part-truths are not surprising. Teaching is at the intersection between an enduring mystery and a social imperative.

draw a person test assessment questions new metrics
Photo by Jerry Wang

Better Assessment and Measures of Success

A further aspect of Florence Goodenough’s work that is relevant today is the need for broader measures of success and better assessment questions. She asked children to draw as a way of expressing their intelligence and development. It wasn’t just a number.

Jonah Lehrer explains in his article about Goodenough’s test:

there are countless ways to measure human intelligence, whatever that is. We’ve settled on a particular concept of intelligence defined by a short list of measurable mental talents. (Modern IQ tests tend to focus on abilities such as mental control, processing speed and quantitative reasoning.) But Goodenough’s tool is proof that the mystery of smarts has no single solution. The IQ test could have been a drawing test.

The Draw-A-Person Test – Jonah Lehrer

What do we value in schools?

Even in the 1920s, Goodenough attempted to develop better assessment questions and methods for understanding young children’s growth and development. Although an enduring mystery, a century later, a growing number of educators, schools and systems are asking, “is there a better way to measure success?”

The challenge of figuring this out at a student and system level is significant. Again, if we solve in silos, there is the potential of adding more fragments to decipher, more heuristics to navigate and more contradictory options of what works.

Trainee Teachers

Imagine for a moment the experience of new trainee teachers. Do we want that experience to be coherent and clear of the swirling mix of ideas? Or is better teaching practice forged from seeking a pathway through the mire?

We need leadership from research organisations, schools and education systems. An example of this is the New Metrics for Success project from Melbourne University.

a collaborative research venture between The University of Melbourne and selected forward-thinking schools to work in partnership to address the meta-problems faced by Australian schools today and in the future.

I wonder what peer projects link to this work from Melbourne University that exists worldwide?

Your Assessment Questions and Talking Points

To support your thinking and dialogue, return to the question of “What are the fundamental truths about learning?”.

Five guiding assessment questions and provocations

Here are five key guiding questions and provocations to frame your next step:

  • What are the fundamental truths about learning that we know work here (in your context)?
  • For this student, what am I doing that is making the biggest difference to their learning growth?
  • What is one truth about learning that I don’t currently do frequently enough?
  • From the strategies I have tried, what are the patterns of impact and change?
  • How can I collaborate on “the truth for us”, the fundamental components of learning design?

Download my 10-page workbook to reflect on these assessment questions, plus 30 more provocations about assessment and new measures of success. Explore the provocations and consider some action planning to improve your teaching.

Restart, Reframe or Recast

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Let’s unshackle from the present pressures and look ahead to a further horizon.

See these as provocations you can use with your teams as you begin to navigate your way through the next few months. How will you process the transition? What language will guide your thoughts and actions?

Restart

Is it even possible to go “back to normal”? Where would we be going back to?

Restart the race. Restart your modem, Restart your Fitbit. Turn it off and on again. “Just restart it and it should return to normal”. Is that what we will be doing in this transition?

The challenge with the restart disposition is that it implies everything else has remained constant. We can achieve the same outcomes in our schools and businesses with ideas that worked before. Relying on an assumption they will work again.

Everything has shifted and maybe our approaches and ideas need to adapt.

Taking a hardline on this may also be a blindspot. “This is not a restart, everything has changed” may also be implausible. Let’s stay connected to the amazing ideas we had two months ago and adapt those that had the highest impact. Don’t lose sight of what works.

Your Talking Point
What has remained true and constant? Why are those ideas and approaches more resilient than others?

Reframe

Framing and reframing a problem is a common approach in creative problem-solving processes like design thinking.

What benefits might there be from approaching the transition as an opportunity for reframing what we do?

In therapy cognitive reframing is used to help explore a range of different perspectives and restructure experiences.

a psychological technique that consists of identifying and then changing the way situations, experiences, events, ideas, and/or emotions are viewed. Cognitive reframing is the process by which such situations or thoughts are challenged and then changed.

We might not be able to change the circumstances we are facing and real changes we experience, but reframing helps us to see alternative perspectives.

A simple example of this would be the difference between saying, “we are stuck at home” compared with “we get to spend more time with our loved ones”. That is an example of reframing.

Approaching our transition to a new pattern of work and learning, through reframing would help you:

  • Identify and understand different perspectives
  • Recognise competing truths
  • Challenge assumptions
  • Identify opportunities for growth and development

Your Talking Point
How is your frame of reference, for work and learning, different to your colleagues? Reflect on something that you have recently changed your perspective or opinion on.

Recast

To recast is to take the existing parts and to reshape them into a new form. Is that what we might experience with school? With our work-life?

Recasting the role of school in our society. Recasting the experience of learning for students. Recasting what it means to ‘work’.

Bellfounding is the casting of bells in a foundry for use in churches, clocks, and public buildings. Broken or out of tune bells would often be melted down and recast into something new.

Bell metal was considered so valuable that the first bronze coins for England were made in France out of melted-down old bells.

If our approach to transition is to recast, this is fundamentally different from restarting. We apply an intentional force to what we have. Reshaping it to a new form of our own design. Not simply restarting with what we had.

It also differs from reframing. We are not simply describing our situation in a new light. We are not just thinking of the opportunity as opposed to the hurdle. We are creating something new from the salvageable, unimaginable and valuable experiences we face.

Your Talking Point
What aspects of education and work need to be recast and reforged? What do you think Winston Churchill meant when he said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”.

Restart, reframe and recast. Perhaps our transition to normality, the repeatable habits and patterns we enjoy, will incorporate a whole range of approaches. As always, let me know what resonates with you.

The Language of Learning in Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬

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This special project update was first published in Issue #163 of the Dialogic Learning Weekly Newsletter.

Welcome along to another weekly newsletter. This week a full update about a project I just completed in Papua New Guinea.

On Wednesday I landed back on Australian soil after spending four days in Papua New Guinea working with 50 teachers from 12 provinces.

Chris Harte invited me to co-design and facilitate a 2-day workshop on learner-centred pedagogies. It was lovely to work alongside him again.

The workshop was part of PNGAusPartnership Secondary Schools. A new initiative partnering 12 PNG and 12 Australian high schools to strengthen education, leadership and people-to-people links.

Here are some of the insights I take from an amazing trip.

Sharpening Our Tools

Our 2-day course focused on learner-centred pedagogies. We spent time together exploring a range of teaching and learning strategies.

Building the toolset was a deliberate aspect of our time. One of the teachers explained that she had used some of the ideas before, but our work had helped to sharpen our tools. 🛠

Another explained there was a lack of language to accurately describe some of the strategies. It made me reflect on the importance of a shared language and names for these strategies, and how this mediates collaboration.

Papua New Guinea has 832 living languages (languages, not dialects), making it the most linguistically diverse place on Earth. With that in mind you can understand that sharing practice, ideas and strategies is challenging.

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Exploring some new project ideas.

Commitment to the Teaching Craft

Within hours I began to reflect on the teacher’s purposeful attitude. They were there to improve their craft. 🖐

There was a clarity about what was valued in the session. The strategies and techniques that shift the emphasis away from too much teacher talk. Our participants were soaking everything up.

Even the methods Chris and I used to co-facilitate were noticed and explored. We modelled, then developed the skillset through collaboration and dialogue.

One of the teachers explained that in many of the rural communities teaching students was significantly challenging, but “thankfully and hopefully it might not be anymore”, due to the skills she had learned.

When we have choices in our pedagogical toolset and a broad skill base to enact them, we might feel a little less worried about the challenge.

Ready to Learn

There was no question about the mindset of the teachers in the room. They were ready to learn and open to improve their teaching. 🧠👐

Although they may have been teaching in a teacher-directed and centred way, they were not obstinate about this approach. It was dominant amongst the secondary teachers we worked with, but they were ready to improve and change.

For many of the teachers, this was a new approach to professional learning. We modelled pedagogies and offered an abundance of strategies. Some participants felt it revealed what sort of teacher they were.

Here is some feedback from one teacher.

I used to think that I should dominate the lesson on how students should learn. But, now I think that I should be more flexible and design lessons in a way that provoke more curiosity, discover their capabilities and what they can contribute in the real world.

It was exciting and refreshing to help teachers who were so humble and open in their efforts to get better.

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Smiling after the final presentations

–

Perhaps the most important insight for me was that despite 832 living languages and all of the challenges these teachers experience, many of which I am only beginning to understand – we gathered together as one group and connected around the language of learning. A universal human truth.

Thanks for taking the time to read the update this week. See you next time.

~ Tom Barrett

You can access all of my previous newsletters using this link or subscribing using the forms on this blog 👇🏼