Into the fishbowl ... Prac Session 1.

'I hear, I forget, I see, I remember, I do, I understand.' - A Chinese proverb, frequently used to support open education...

Prac with year 6 -Session 1.

My school has recently implemented  'open education',  the separating wall between the two classrooms has been removed  in an attempt to create  a 'learning community in which students actively engage with the material and take ownership of their individual learning experiences.' ( Hodge, 2006 p.156)

While not a new phenomena, being particularly prevalent in the 1960's & 70's, this learning style promotes a level of inquiry based learning aimed to develop problem solving, critical and analytical skills required of 21st century learners. (Melbourne Declaration, p. 4) 

Inquiry based learning - an overview...

This learning environment keeps transmission learning to a minimum, with  the only direct instruction that students received during the day was an informal, non-compulsory 'workshop' on equivalent fractions. While this meant that the workshop was highly productive, as the students who were there really wanted to learn, I couldn't help but feel concern for the students who chose not to attend. There was one equation that certainly didn't have any equivalence - the teachers passion for the topic, and the students willingness to learn about it.

 As discussed by Marsh ( 2010, p. 136) there are a multitude of benefits that students can gain from inquiry based learning, but unfortunately- I have seen evidence within my prac - that the reliance upon a single method of pedagogy,  isn't conducive to a successful learning environment.I have noticed that often students are not engaged with the task at hand, and often the teacher is unable to attend to the need of each group. Killen ( 2009, p. 86) discusses the proposition that variation in student academic success can be influenced greatly by a mismatch between teaching and learning styles. In my own classroom, I am concerned for the needs of the students who do not warm to this teaching style.

Similarly, critics of open-education contend that the visual and audible distractions of open-education has been greatly underestimated. ( Marsh, p. 136) Within my own classroom, I frequently found that students were off task due to the distracting and overstimulating environment. Needless to say, managing classroom behaviour was difficult.

I have learnt that for this environment to be conducive to successful learning, it requires

• a greater number of staff to support individual groups
• the ability to minimise external distractions
• a high level of self-motivation from the students.

For more information on open education & inquiry based learning see:
'Open verses self-contained classrooms'
 Marsh, C (2010). Organising classroom structures and routines. In Becoming a teacher. ( p 135-6) Sydney: Pearson.

Reynolds, R.(2009) Inquiry learning. In Teaching studies of Society & Environment in the primary school. ( p. 32-61 ) Sydney: Oxford university press.

References:

Hodge, J.K ( 2006) Top ten things I have learned about discovery based learning. Priumus, 16(2):154-161.
   
Killen, R ( 2009). Planning for quality teaching and learning. In Effective teaching strategies. 5th edn (p. 77-100) Melbourne: Cengage learning.
  
Marsh, C (2010). Organising classroom structures and routines. In Becoming a teacher. ( p 135-6) Sydney: Pearson.

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs Australia  (2008)  Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. [electronic resource]  Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs , Melbourne :  http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-93985