How People Learn: Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

This chapter discusses how learning environments should be designed to optimize learning for all students and also benefit the teacher. There are four perspectives when discussing learning environments, they are as follows: learner centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, and community centered. The goals for the 21st century are very different from the goals of earlier times. In the 1800’s the goal was to teach students the mechanics of making notation as dictated by the teacherin order to imitate simple text examples. In the 1930’s the emphasis was having primary school student express themselves in writing, shifting from merely being able to write your name to word decoding and reading for new information. However, the vision of the school system back then was more of a "factory" image where the students are the raw materials and the teachers were the technical workers who carried out the directions set by their supervisors (administrators). Now the goal is to help students to understand the current state of their knowledge and build on it, improve it, and make decisions in the face of uncertainty. In order to help students achieve the above, students need to rethink what is taught, how teachers teach and how what students learn is assessed. All of the different learning environments need to be thought of a system of interconnected components that support one another.

Learner-Centered Environments

In learner-centered environments careful attention is paid to the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs that learners bring to school. In order to do this teaching practices should be “culturally responsive”, “culturally appropriate”, “culturally compatible”, and “culturally relevant”. “Diagnostic teaching” also needs to be done where the students attempt to discover what they think in relation to the problems at hand, discussing their misconceptions sensitively, and giving them situations to go on thinking about which will enable them to readjust their ideas. Learner-centered instruction needs to be practiced and this includes sensitivity to the cultural practices of students and the effect of those practices on classroom learning. Leaner-centered teachers respect the language practices of their students since it provides a basis for further learning and is able to connect their everyday speech to the academic language. Overall teachers would attempt to get a sense of what students know and can do as well as their interests and passions—what each student knows, cares about, is able to do, and wants to do. Accomplished teachers “give learners reason”, by respecting and understanding learners’ prior experiences and understanding.

Knowledge-Centered Environments

Knowledge-centered environments take seriously the need to help students become knowledgeable by learning in ways that lead to understanding and subsequent transfer. This type of environment intersects with learner-centered environments when instruction begins with a concern for students’ initial preconceptions about the subject matter. It becomes difficult to predict what the students will understand about the new information when the teacher doesn't know what kind of background knowledge the student is bringing to the learning situation. Knowledge-centered environments also focus on the kinds of information and activities that help students develop understanding of disciplines and it puts an emphasis on sense-making (helping students become metacognitive by expecting new information to make sense and asking for clarification when it doesn’t. Students should be able to not just repeat the steps that they learned in class but actually apply the knowledge to something meaningful and realistic. Instead of using a “rutted path” curriculum a “learning the landscape” curriculum would be more beneficial because students learn how to live in an environment: learning your way around, learning what resources are available, and learning how to use those resources in conducting your activities. The traditional curricula often fails to help students “learn their way around” a discipline. However, the challenge for this environment is based upon balancing between activities designed to promote understanding and and those that are designed to promote automaticity of skills.

Assessment-Centered Environments

These types of environments provide opportunities for feedback and revision and that what is assessed must be congruent with one’s learning goals. There are two types of assessment; formative and summative assessments. Formative assessments are administered in classroom for feedback to improve both teaching and learning and it includes the teacher’s comments on works in progress such as projects of papers. Summative assessment is a measure of what students have learned at the end of a unit of study. These include teacher made tests given at the end of a unit, state and national achievement tests that students take at the end of the year. Ideally these assessments are aligned with the state and national assessments students take at the end of the year.

    Formative assessments and feedback

Both assessments and feedback must focus on understanding and not just memorizing procedures and facts. The opportunity for feedback should occur continuously and effective teachers will help students build skills of self-assessment. In order for feedback to be most valuable it needs to give students the opportunity to use it to revise their thinking as they are working on a unit or project. Giving students the ability to work collaboratively will also allow increase the quality of the feedback available to students. Another type of formative assessments is a portfolio assessment but it can’t just be a folder in which students put their work, a discussion needs to take place in order to provide them valuable information about their learning progress over time.

A major challenge for implementing good assessment practices is in regards to changing the model of what effective learning looks like to many teachers, parents, and students. If successful though, appropriately designed assessments can help teachers realize the need to rethink their teaching practices.

Community-Centered Environments

When we discuss community-centered environments we are referring to a classroom community, and the degree in which students, teachers, and administers feel connected to the larger community of homes, businesses, states, the nation and even the world. Social norms need to be practiced in the classroom and both students and teachers should have the freedom to make mistakes in order to learn. Unfortunately students are afraid to make mistakes for fear of ridicule. Expectations should be the same for all of the students as well as consistent so that the students can feel secure with any differences between their home environment and their classroom environment. When you connect school with outside learning activities you also increase the learning that is taking place in the classroom. This can be done by putting together presentations or exhibits for museums. Introducing the students to experts outside of school can have an inspiring affect on the them since they get to meet adults that have spent a good amount of their lives becoming specialists in an area that the students are learning about. A key environment for learning includes the family as well. Children should have conversations and other interactions with their family that talk about things of interest to them with trusted, skilled adults and child companions; this is powerful for their learning.

Television

There is an impact on student’s learning from television, which should be taken seriously, but it is neither beneficial nor harmful. What they learn from television can either be in isolation or with an adult. When they watch with an adult they are able to ask clarification questions that will help them understand the material at a deeper or more realistic level. They have noticed that children learn sex roles and stereotypes from television and then take these ideas with them to school, not only from television programs but also commercials. The content of what students watch has an important effect on what they learn and there is evidence that educational programming has beneficial effects on school achievement while non-educational or entertainment viewing can have negative effects on learning.

The Importance of Alignment

Aligning goals for learning with what is taught, how it is taught, and how it is assessed is important because otherwise teachers will not understand what the students are learning. It is also important to align these ideas with the entire school. When teachers and principals work together to define a common vision for the entire school learning can improve. A systems approach can promote coordination throughout the school; some schools for example have checklists of innovative teaching and assessment practices. Activities within the school must then also be aligned with the goals and assessment practices of the community. Ideally, teachers' learning goals for the students would fit with the curriculum they teach as well as the school's goals and in turn would fit the tests of accountability used by the school system Retrieved from "http://edutech.csun.edu/eduwiki/index.php/How_People_Learn:_Chapter_6"