Change Isn’t Easy. Is it Necessary?
The Importance of Active Learning: Real World Work Environment.
“So really you need to think about that these student brains come into the classroom ready to be transformed by their educational experience. And the better their educational experience, the more their brains are changed.” - Carl Wieman, 2001 Nobel Prize Winner.
The Science of Learning
More than just a container for data.
Carl Wiseman describes the current approach to education and how students are viewed: “So the norm is really this paradigm of, you've got a brain, and it's a sort of fixed thing, and you fill it up with knowledge. And how well it can absorb that knowledge is just determined by the characteristics of that brain. And so colleges spend lots of time focusing on, ‘OK, how do we select the brains that'll absorb the most with admissions and tests and such?’ … That's the old and still largely pervasive paradigm.”
When it comes to helping students develop durable skills, filling their brains with knowledge is not enough. Active application of what they have learned is needed.
From knowing to doing.
Carl’s research in education was prompted by a phenomenon he observed while conducting his physics research. Carl states:
“I had these graduate students come in to work in my research lab doing physics, and they'd had many years of great success in physics courses, but they really didn't seem to know how to do physics when they came in to work for me.” He continues, “I saw this happening over and over again, and I saw actually sort of a correlation, that the really top students in coursework never turned out to be the better physicists, I decided there was some fundamental question here about learning and thinking.”
Graduate students eventually became good physicists, but only after a few years of working in the lab. Even though they excelled in academic studies, it was the actual practical application of what they had learned that allowed them to progress to the point of becoming contributing members of the research team.
Real-world work environment.
From years as professionals, we know that the most effective way to help anyone develop durable skills is to have them experience a real-world work environment, period. Again, Carl explains, “And the best form of that education that essentially does the best transformation of the brain is really having the brain practice the thinking you want it to learn. And so rather than sitting, listening to somebody, drone away, giving information where the brain is doing very little — essentially just taking in sounds — it needs to be actively thinking about ideas, solving problems, figuring things out with feedback and guidance as it's practicing. That it's strengthening, essentially, through the right kind of mental exercise. And so that's really the different paradigm, is how do you exercise the brain in the right way to best develop new capabilities in it.”
To truly empower students and ignite the transformation needed for durable skills development, nothing beats the hands-on experience of a real-world work environment.
DIG DEEPER:
Read EdSurge’s interview with Carl Wiseman here. Or view his Ted Talks Short video.
Contextualized learning promotes transformation.
Puting It to use.
One of the keys to the effectiveness of our durable skills certificate program is that it takes place in a real-world work environment. There's no better way to help students develop durable skills for the long term than by allowing them to experience the workplace and understand how and why durable skills are essential in that environment.
“By contextualising learning to the workplace and other real-world contexts, students will be able to better understand, transfer and apply their knowledge outside of the classroom. Contextualisation adds another element to the learning experience and can spark interest, curiosity, motivation and engagement with content.” - Annemaree Carroll is head of the Science of Learning Research Centre Learning Lab
The MindSage Difference.
We recognize that teachers have limited time to cover essential academic core skills with their students. Asking teachers to Introduce durable skills in a real-world work environment with live projects can seem daunting or even impossible in our current educational system.
We want to take that load off their hands. We are eager to collaborate with teachers and school districts willing to embrace additional support for their students. This approach involves establishing an Open Talent network in the same way business are now using Open Talent Networks. For more on Open Talent Networks, you can read this series.
“Context counts. Learning in context can help students appreciate the relevance of disciplinary knowledge and skills, increasing their motivation and engagement. Meanwhile, learning that takes place outside the context in which knowledge and skills are to be applied can limit or reduce a student’s capacity to transfer and use that knowledge in the real world or in a new environment. While contextualising learning can present challenges for educators and designers of learning experiences, leveraging context can enhance the learning experience and learner outcomes.” www.timeshighereducation.com
The MindSage Durable Skills Certification program and trainers are here to support teachers and districts in every way possible.
Real-world assessment:
High education research indicates that real-world, contextual learning is a powerful tool for helping students develop durable or soft skill. When it comes to assessment, note the following suggestion from www.timeshighereducation.com:
“Putting learning in context can make the learning experience more engaging and internally motivating for the student. This in turn can connect the learning experience more closely to life outside the classroom, thus making it relevant and memorable and reducing difficulty when applying new concepts to unfamiliar situations. Authentic learning and authentic assessment are common approaches used to place learning in the professional context. In these approaches, the learning framework draws on real-world tasks, situations and problems.”
DIG DEEPER:
Read Contextual learning: linking learning to the real world here.
Lessons in Learning, The Havard Gazette..
Experiential Learing
Learning that is considered “experiential” contain all the following elements:
Reflection, critical analysis and synthesis.
Opportunities for students to take initiative, make decisions, and be accountable for the results.
Opportunities for students to engage intellectually, creatively, emotionally, socially, or physically.
A designed learning experience that includes the possibility to learn from natural consequences, mistakes, and successes.
The MindSage Durable skill certification program was designed with these recommendations in mind. Our program aligns with the following from Boston University:
“Experiential learning has the following elements (Association for Experiential Education, 2007-2014):
Experiences are carefully chosen for their learning potential (i.e. whether they provide opportunities for students to practice and deepen emergent skills, encounter novel and unpredictable situations that support new learning, or learn from natural consequences, mistakes, and successes).
Throughout the experiential learning process, the learner is actively engaged in posing questions, investigating, experimenting, being curious, solving problems, assuming responsibility, being creative, and constructing meaning, and is challenged to take initiative, make decisions and be accountable for results.
Reflection on learning during and after one’s experiences is an integral component of the learning process. This reflection leads to analysis, critical thinking, and synthesis (Schon, 1983; Boud, Cohen, & Walker, 1993).
Learners are engaged intellectually, emotionally, socially, and/or physically, which produces a perception that the learning task is authentic.
Relationships are developed and nurtured: learner to self, learner to others, and learner to the world at large.”
Source: Boston University
THE DNA OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Image credit: Toronto Metropolitan University
THE DNA OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
During experiential learning, the faciltiators role is to:
Select suitable experiences that meet the criteria above.
Pose problems, set boundaries, support learners, provide suitable resource, ensure physical and emotional safety, and facilitate the learning process.
Recognize and encourage spontaneous opportunities for learning, engagement with challenging situations, experimentation (that does not jeopardize the wellbeing of others) and discovery of solutions.
Help the learner notice the connections between one context and another, between theory and the experience and encouraging this examination repeatedly.
Source: Boston University
Why Call the Certificate Program an Internship?
We encourage participants to mentally envision themselves at work rather than in a classroom. This shift in mindset can make a significant difference. As mentioned earlier in the training, some negative traits and mindsets develop unconsciously in the school environment. The internship terminology and environment assist us in addressing and correcting these negative traits and mindsets.
Regarding Internships, note the following from Boston University:
“It is often a credit-bearing, free-standing activity in a student’s field of interest not connected to a theoretical course. It is usually assessed by a faculty member and supervised by an employer who is not a faculty member. The student may work with practicing professionals, complete a project, attend public events, interview and observe constituents and employees. The student may or may not be paid for this experience. When attached to a classroom course, a student may spend several hours a week volunteering in an agency, supporting co-curricular activities, shadowing a professional in the field, or observing people in their natural environments. Key to this form of experiential learning is some type of guided reflection. The mission of this experience may be to support the integration of theory and practice, explore career options, or foster personal and professional development.”
Source: Boston University