Effective learning – how can we encourage it?
IEA Assessment Conference
Adelaide 9 June 2017
Gordon Stobart
Emeritus Professor of Education, Institute of Education,
University College London
What kind of learning do we want?
‘A significant change in capability or understanding’
This excludes: the acquisition of further information when it does not
contribute to such changes.
(Michael Eraut)
‘Any process that...leads to permanent capacity change’
this involves content, incentive and interaction
(Knut Illeris)
‘It’s like learning to ride a bike’
What kind of learners are we producing?
Attitudes to learning
• Surface – Reproducing – to cope with course requirements.
Teacher dependent, ‘what do I need to do to pass?’ Memorising
facts/ treating course as unrelated bits of knowledge. Finding
difficulty in making sense of new ideas. Seeing little value in
course or tasks set.
• Strategic / instrumental – Organising - the focus is on getting
good marks/grades rather than on the learning (encouraged by
low quality assessments). Effective time management and selfmonitoring. Alert to assessment criteria and lecturer preferences.
• Deep – Seeking meaning - need to understand and make sense,
thinking for themselves. Looking for patterns and principles,
relating ideas to previous knowledge and experience. Examining
argument cautiously and critically.
(Entwistle, McCune & Walker, 2001)
Creating learners: the case of Ruth
Learning the formula for each exam and practising it
endlessly. I got an A1 in English because I knew exactly
what was required in each question. I learned off the
sample answers provided by the examiners and I knew
how much information was required and in what format
in every section of the paper. That’s how you do well in
these examinations… There’s no point in knowing about
stuff that is not going to come up in the exams. I was
always frustrated by teachers who would say ‘You don’t
need to know this for the exams but I’ll tell you anyway’. I
wanted my A1 – what’s the point of learning material
that won’t come up in the exams?
What are 21st century skills?
• A global policy – the globalisation agenda, business
rather than education led?
• A wish list with some common features but arbitrary
numbers
Are students prepared for future challenges? Can they
analyse, reason and communicate effectively? Do they have
the capacity to continue learning throughout life?
PISA homepage www.pisa.oecd.org
…all young Australians [should] become successful learners,
confident and creative individuals, and active and informed
citizens
Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young
Australians (2008)
South Australia is in a privileged position
• A high trust system in terms of teacher assessment – the problems of
low trust systems
• Broader opportunities to incorporate General Capabilities (21st
Century skills) – embedded in curriculum
• Years 11 & 12 offer more opportunities for effective learning than the
NAPLAN years??
• Opportunities to innovate through curriculum renewal and
assessment (eg research inquiry)
Kinds of learning and the double duty of assessment
Assessment activities:
Have to focus on the immediate task and on implications
for equipping students for lifelong learning in an unknown
future ...they have to attend to both the process and the
substantive domain. (David Boud)
Students have learned if ‘they are able to do something
they could not do before on demand, independently and
well’ (Sadler, 2007) – in contrast to ‘criteria compliance’
Yong Zhao’s paradox - getting the balance right:
conformity, risk-taking and creativity
Communication and creativity in the classroomthe importance of talk
‘In England more than in many other countries, an educational
culture has evolved in which writing is viewed as the only ‘real’
school work’. (Robin Alexander)
Yet:
1. Language and thought are intimately related, with cognitive
development depending on language.
2. There is a ‘relative scarcity of talk which really challenges
children to think for themselves...[a] low level of cognitive
demand in many classroom questions’
Finding out where learners are
Classroom dialogue: questions, discussions
Teachers talk 70-80% of time;
ask 200-300 questions a day, 60% recall facts, 20%
procedural;
<5% group discussion or meaningful ideas;
70% of answers less than 5 secs (3 words) (Source J. Hattie 2012 )
How long do teachers wait after asking a question before
taking action?
Questions > ‘thinking time’ (wait time)> pair and share > no
hands up.
Traffic lights
Quality questioning
It’s not only what we ask but how we ask it
• Using good question stems:
‘why does...?’; ‘what if...?’; ‘how would you...?’;
‘could you explain...?’
• Poker face - the teacher’s body language does not
signal to the student what the teacher wants to hear
(keeps the focus on the task)
• Basketball not ping-pong
• Statements instead of questions
• Avoids: asking too many questions at once; answering it
yourself; only asking the best students; ignoring answers;
failing to build on answers
Misconceptions and rich questioning
1. Describe what a poem is.
2. If plants need sunlight to grow why aren’t the largest
plants found in the desert?
3. How would a tourist and a homeless person see
Adelaide differently?
4. How reliable is a school report? ( How reliable is a
historical document?)
5. Would putting a coat on a snowman help to stop it
melting?
Investigating wrong answers
‘How much is 7-4?’ Becky (age 6): ‘2’
‘How did you get that answer?’
‘I knew that 7 take away 4 is 2 because I knew 4 + 2,
is 7. And if 4 plus 2 is 7, then 7 take away 2 must be
4’.
‘The second ingredient in the cognitive stew was
more interesting than the faulty memory. She
introduced the idea that if 4+2=7 then it must be
true that 7-4 =2... A classic syllogism’
(H.Ginsburg, 1997)
A need for follow-up questions?
Which fraction is smallest: 1/6; 2/3; 1/3; 1/2 ?
• Some 88 percent of 11 year olds got this right, so we might conclude
that they have understood basic fractions. However the additional
question
Which fraction is largest: 4/5; 3/4; 5/8; 7/10?
• produced only 46 percent of correct answers, with 39 percent
choosing the same wrong answer.
So what’s the diagnosis?
Learners as questioners
Once you have learned to ask questions – relevant and
appropriate and substantial – you have learned how to
learn and no one can keep you from learning whatever it is
you need to know.
(Postman and Weingartner, Teaching as a
Subversive Activity)
Why do our pupils ask so few thoughtful questions?
Why do they ask fewer as they get older?
Using group work to encourage questioning:
•
developing questions to ask other groups
Ways of encouraging question asking
• Written questions
Question box / ‘Hold on miss I’ve got a question’ board/ Exit questions
• Role play – interview the expert
• Don’t know the answer – please research