AAEE Learning Circles
Learning Circles
Wednesday 7th December 2016, 4.00pm EST
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AAEE Learning Circles
Learning Circles
Learner centred pedagogies
Benefits and challenges - discussion
Sustainability Action process – a scaffold
Solutions for practitioners - discussion
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Learner-centered pedagogies
Learner-centred pedagogies
Student project based learning
Students as leaders of their own learning
Learner centred
Student centred
Inquiry learning
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Research
Student-centred schools
encourage students to become
active, engaged participants in
their own learning–with the
learning process guided by, rather
than centred on, the teacher.
The idea of student centred
schools draws on constructivist
theories of learning, advanced by
experts such as Dewey and
Piaget.
These schools encourage
cooperation between students,
provide forums for students to
express their views and ideas,
and connect learning to the wider
community outside the school
This approach positions students
not as passive recipients of
knowledge, but as active
participants in the learning
process, who connect new
information to their existing
knowledge, experiences, and
ideas.
(Black 2006, p4).
Black 2007; Dix 2012; Vavrus,
Thomas & Bartlett 2011).
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Benefits – the upside
shift the focus of instruction from the teacher
develops learner autonomy
skills and practices that enable lifelong learning
independent problem-solving
still includes explicit instruction (skills and knowledge)
more reflection on tasks and reflection on the learning (meta-cognitive)
encourages collaboration
supports extended investigation and deep learning
(and importantly student do more of the work than the teachers)
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Challenges – the down side
challenging to manage the direction or ‘contain’ the learning, it can
appear messy and hard to track progress of multiple groups/projects
individual student learning progress harder to track
challenging to have all knowledge to support different student inquiry
time – learner centred practice can be more time consuming
hard to sequence the teaching of explicit skills and knowledge to
accommodate all students / projects
lack of supporting scaffolds or methodology
faculty / leadership do not support implementation
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Discussion – your experience
Does or would this pedagogical approach work for you/your school?
What barriers do you find and what are the solutions?
How is sustainability suited to a student centred / project based / inquiry
approach?
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Sustainability Curriculum Framework
Sustainability Action Process
• making a case for change
• defining the scope for action
• developing a proposal for action
• implementing the proposal
• valuating and reflecting
Knowledge of Systems
• ecological
• human
Repertoires of Practice
• world viewing
• systems thinking
• futures & design thinking
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Sustainability action process – a scaffold
Climate Clever Energy savers 2009-2014 (NSW)
Funded by NSW Climate Change Fund
Evaluated by UTS 2011 and 2014
Developed into learning resources across 7 sustainability areas: Energy,
Water, Waste, Biodiversity, Transport, kitchen gardens, thermal comfort
Biodiversity (Years 3–6)
Biodiversity (Years 7–10)
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What do teachers say……
•
‘we have used this scaffold to keep us on track through this extended investigation’
•
‘the sustainability action process is now embedded in our science program for future
teachers of this topic’
•
‘the steps have helped us plan our research… we have used the headings to display our
work’
•
‘a great model to support the development, implementation and evaluation of student
ideas’
•
‘my students found it their thought processes and guided them.. Nothing was missed’
•
‘my students could see this through to completion, something very tangible happened’
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Discussion – solutions
Can you include sustainability action process in your teaching programs?
What opportunities and barriers are there currently?
Is it an issue of educational/pedagogical leadership, evidence or will?
How might you as a practitioner reduce the barriers?
What may we learn about our own professional learning?
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References / Reading
• Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and
the Arts, 2010 – Sustainability Curriculum Framework: A guide for curriculum
developers and policy makers
• Baeten, Kyndt, Strruyven, Dochy: Using student-centred learning environments
to stimulate deep approaches to learning: Factors encouraging or discouraging
their effectiveness, Educational Research Review, Volume 5, Issue 3, 2010,
Pages 243–260
• Cornelius -White: Learner-Centered Teacher-Student Relationships Are
Effective: A Meta-Analysis, Review of Educational Research, Vol. 77, No. 1,
March 2007, pp. 113-143
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