Mindlab Week 4

   

Research Informed Leadership- Leadership

Media: Good Practice in Leading and Supporting a Research Team- A Guide for Research Staff and Project Managers – by Richard, Jacqui MacDonald, The Research Association, Michael Reiss, Research Careers Advisory Committee

Main points

Good Practise in leading and supporting your research group P9

Motivating staff

Developing in a job by feeling supported in deepening skills and experience

·       They need to feel respected for what they do

·       Make sure they know their strengths

·       Make sure you devolve responsibilities

·       Help individuals understand how they are developing

·       Give feedback and recognition

Delegating effectively

Motivates staff so they gain new experiences

·       Individuals solve own problems

·       Give rationale for work delegated

·       Ensure they have the necessary resources, skills and knowledge to complete work and extend skills

·       Support them to work to a satisfactory conclusion.

Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students? 

Media: Research-Informed Teaching of Adults: A Worthy Alternative to Old Habits and Hearsay by John Benseman (Journal)

Main points:

Four main ways research relates to teaching

-        Research-led (curriculum content is based on research interests of teachers)

-        Research-orientated (process of learning content is seen as important as the content itself so there’s a focus on learning inquiry skills)

-        Research-based (curriculum is inquiry-based rather than acquisition of content)

-        Research-informed (teaching consciously draws on systematic inquiry into the teaching and learning process itself. Using relevant research findings to shape and re-shape our teaching)

·       Teachers make decisions based on tradition, hearsay, advice from colleagues, observations, fads, common sense, myths, gut feelings and ‘we’ve always done it like this’ (the most common)

·       There are often discrepancies between teacher’s espoused philosophies and their actual practise

·       Teachers often teach as they were taught with the assumption that it worked for them so it will work for others (without considering the vastly different journey learners are on now)

Research can involve

·       Identifying effective teachers and studying their teaching.

·       Draw on what learners see as effective

-        Show what learners value and can increase their participation and engagement

-        They may not identify teachers who challenge them until later

-        It requires much more analysis that surface noticings

·       Refer to ‘practitioner wisdom’ of effective teachers

-        This may not match research

Research informed teaching

-        A decision-making process informed by 3 sources of influence

Evidence, practitioner’s expertise, learner values

Research types

·       Research evidence is weighted towards quantitative research over qualitative

·       Multiple studies are stronger that single studies eg BES

·       Large scale studies are more valid than smaller studies

-         they can be generalised to broader populations

-         They can identify points of good practise

·       Qualitative research complements quantitative data as it ‘fills in gaps’

Research informed teaching should be based on the best available evidence and chosen according to what is most relevant and has the highest degree of certainty.

·       Research informed practise has greater potential to improve learner outcomes and has the potential to challenge long held beliefs about what is effective practise.

Some see teaching as a creative exercise that cannot be dissected and analysed. It is a complex activity where isolating specific components leads to a simplistic picture

·       In educational research there is often contradictory studies and the weighing of evidence is complex

·       Local circumstances differ. We don’t teach people, we teach specific people in particular circumstances

Criteria

·       Employ systematic methods that draw on observation or experiment

·       Rigorous data analysis – adequate to test the hypothesis

·       Rely on measurements or observations that provide valid data across evaluators and observers

·       Accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of experts

“…. The integration of professional wisdom with the best available empirical evidence in making decisions about how to deliver instruction”

·       There is a long-standing gap between practitioners and researchers

·       Those who participate in some type of research are more likely to see research as useful.

·       Work with researchers as partners not as ‘targets’ of research

Teachers need to focus selectively on some key aspects of their teaching.

“If teachers are able to focus on several key aspects of their teaching, they are more likely to gradually implement new strategies on a realistic basis and eventually increase their repertoire of RIT in the medium term”

-        Incorporate literature reviews into planning meetings so RIT becomes integral to new directions

-        Work more closely with researchers to identify implications for practise

Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students?

Keep using other’s research to inform and challenge our ‘hunches’ and hypothesise as part of the discussions around our own inquiries during level team and whanau meetings. 

Use the media from Mindlab and also from DMIC to do this.

Keep working closely with Bobbie and Jodie to access informative and challenging research media.

Be aware of the strengths and frailties of the data.

Collaborative, Constructionist, Contructivist- Digital  

Media: Constructivism in 21^st Century Classrooms (video)

Main points

J Piaget – kids learn by doing and creating their own learning experiences constructivism

Seymour Papert –When technology is integrated with constructivist activities children create for themselves new ways of thinking – constructionism

1.     Learning by designing within a community

-        Children learn best when they initiate and design projects that are useful to themselves and their communities.

-        They discuss, evaluate and improve their project

-        They integrate and collaborate

2.     Technology

-        Develops fine motor skills

-        Hand/eye coordination is developed

-        They get immediate feedback

3.     Powerful and wonderful ideas

-        New ways of thinking

-        Technology means engaging with and testing new ideas

-        Technology offers an incubator for new ideas

4.     Learning about learning with technology

-        Documenting and sharing experiences with constructionism

Technology

-fosters emotional growth

-develops confidence and competence

-develops skills and knowledge to use it safely

-enables envisioning a better world

Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students? 

Our students need to be learning by doing and creating their own learning experiences.

Play and problem-based learning with enable students to do this

Technology can enhance their learning experiences in significant ways. We need to ensure they have access to and can use technology in transformational ways to enable them to develop confidence and competence in ability to learn as well as their competencies.

Media: Theories of Learning - (video)

Main points

10 Theories of Learning

Theories of learning are about changes in observable behaviours

1.     Conditioning (Pavlov)

-        Behaviour leads to reinforcement

-        Learners need rapid feedback

-        Programmed learning

2.     Connectionism – Law of Effect

-        Stimulus – response

-        Reinforcement

3.     Progressive education (John Dewey)

-        Self-governing

-        Learning by doing

-        Teachers as guides

-        Outdoor ed

-        Individual devt

-        Home/school

-        Hands on learning

4.     Constructivism - Social Devt. Theory (Lev Vygotsky)

-        Teacher is facilitator not content provider

-        Zone of proximal devt. (area between what the pupil can do independently, and what they need help to do)

5.     Constructivism – Equilibrium (Jean Piaget)

-        Intelligence is dynamic and involves interaction with the environment

-        Drive to achieve balance with the environment

-        Stages of development

-        The educational environment should provide opportunities for discovery

6.     Social Cognitive Theory (Albert Bandura)

-        Anything can be learned by direct experience (observation/modelling)

-        Teachers act as models

-        Media can have negative effects

7.     Situated Learning/Cognition (John Seely Brown)

-        Learning is embedded in an activity, context and culture

-        Learning is interacting with others through shared activities and language

-        Learning is about performing in situations, not acquiring knowledge

8.     Community of Practise (Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger)

-        Within the domain of community

-        Learning is unintentional and situated within authentic activity, context and culture.

-        It is based on relationships

-        Very much collaborative learning

9.     Constructionism (Semour Papert)

-        Learning by doing

-        Learning with physical materials leads to learning abstract concepts

10.   Connectivism ( George Siemons) – for the digital age

-        The internet means new opportunities to learn

-        Learning across peer networks

Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students? 
Each of these theories can be applied to play-based and problem-solving learning but Situated Learning/Cognition, Community of Practise,  Constructivism and Connectivism seem to be more applicable.
* Learning is embedded in an activity, context and culture
* Learning is interacting with others through shared activities and language
* Learning is about performing in situations, not acquiring knowledge
* Learning is within the domain of community
* Learning is unintentional and situated within authentic activity, context and culture
* Learning is based on relationships
* Learning is collaborative
* Learning is doing
* Learning with physical materials leads to learning abstract concepts