Mathematics Education (Signadou)
Teaching with Learning Objects:
Excellence in Pedagogy
Beginning ambitiously with the idea of excellence in pedagogy has been made a little easier in recent years with explicit attention being paid, not only by researchers but by Government education authorities, who have begun to formally embrace ideas and practice associated with "authentic" (Newmann, 1996), "productive" (EQ, 2001) and "quality" (D.E.T., 2003a, 2003b) pedagogy. Such models offer teachers both a research-grounded framework and a language by which they can recognise and describe features of their own teaching and classroom practice which may be contributing to or detracting from quality student learning. I suspect that teachers have always been able to recognise aspects of quality in their own practice and that of others, but this knowledge has generally been tacit and difficult to articulate. My own experience in moving back and forth between schools and universities over the past decade has made it clear to me that identifying and describing positive and negative aspects of my teaching was no trivial matter. For many of us, good teaching practice becomes automated and subliminal over many years. Making good practice explicit has been a challenging learning experience for me.
It may have been this experience which caused me to respond this year with such positive recognition to the quality pedagogy frameworks, and to seek to accommodate my own teaching to incorporate as many of the elements as possible. The New South Wales Quality Pedagogy model describes three principal domains of pedagogy: promoting intellectual quality, a quality learning environment and significance in what is being offered. Each domain is described in terms of six elements which are readily associated with good teaching practice and link directly to good learning on the part of our students.
Intellectual Quality Creating a Quality
Learning EnvironmentSignificance Deep knowledge Explicit quality criteria Background knowledge Deep understanding Engagement Cultural knowledge Knowledge as problematic High expectations Integration of knowledge Higher-order thinking Social support Inclusivity Metalanguage Self regulation Connectedness Substantive communication Student direction Narrative Promoting Intellectual Quality is seen as overarching in its importance. It aspires to deep knowledge and understanding, to a view of knowledge as problematic (rather than something to be transmitted in a static well-established form). Higher-order thinking is a necessary component, as is an explicit focus on the words and language being used (metalanguage). Teachers aiming for intellectual quality in their classrooms seek to promote substantive communication in order to achieve these goals.
The idea of creating a quality learning environment seems obvious to those seeking to understand requirements of good teaching practice. Achieving this, however, requires certain essential ingredients. Assessment assumes a leading role within models of quality pedagogy. No longer the "afterthought" of the planning process, but a very early and central consideration, it offers one of three central questions which need to be asked in planning for effective learning: What do I want them to learn? What are they going to do in order to learn? How will I know when they have achieved the goals I have set for their learning, and how well they have achieved them? Making your criteria explicit has long been recognised as a powerful incentive for learning, and few would disagree that engagement (both physical and cognitive) will form a vital part of any effective learning experience. High expectations are always associated with the best teachers, and with these come self-regulation and some measure of student direction in the learning process. Of course, any quality learning environment must be a socially supportive place, characterised by collaboration, positive reinforcement and shared responsibility for goal-setting.
If every teacher is a story teller, then the best teachers are those who work hard to ensure that their stories are worth telling. The significance of what is to be learned for the students has, perhaps, not been as strong a consideration in our domain of mathematics as it should have been. The familiar cry of "When are we ever going to use this?" still resonates in far too many classrooms. The best teachers are not just good communicators: they are motivators who recognise the primary importance of placing all learning within a context that is meaningful and relevant to their students. Quality learning values background and cultural knowledge, and treats knowledge as integrated not isolated. There is prominent attention paid to the needs of all students through inclusivity. Connectedness both within the domain of study and to other domains and experiences is essential, especially for mathematics, which links and supports so many areas. Finally, the element of narrative may seem a little unusual among these other aspects of significance. But if students cannot tell the story of their learning, cannot relate it back in their own words and in an integrated and coherent way, then that learning has neither been deep nor significant. It is not only the teacher in any classroom who has stories to tell.
Every classroom, every learning experience, even each learning object, will satisfy some of these wonderful criteria to varying degrees. Neither is it claimed that these cover all possible elements of quality teaching and learning. They do, however, provide an excellent starting point by which to evaluate the quality of the experience for both teacher and learner. In particular, it is possible to use this framework as a lens by which to view these new technological tools for learning which are soon to be a part of all our classrooms.
Gifts from a Federal Santa Claus?
Stephen Mark
ARNOLDRoom 206 Phone 02 62091142