tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/active-learning-16655/articlesActive learning – The Conversation2023-11-06T13:32:45Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2166002023-11-06T13:32:45Z2023-11-06T13:32:45ZSearching for the right angle – students in this course shoot pool to learn about journalism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556397/original/file-20231028-19-njpcze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C17%2C5648%2C3771&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A journalism course invites students to consider the parallels between gathering news and shooting pool.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/confident-teenage-boys-playing-pool-on-illuminated-royalty-free-image/991158980?phrase=shooting+pool&adppopup=true">Maskot / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“News Writing and Reporting II: Multimedia”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea to use pool to teach journalism?</h2>
<p>I wanted to break up the monotony of having students sit at their computers and write news stories or listen to me lecture. So I figured I’d change the venue and try something more kinetic.</p>
<p>I had been going to the <a href="https://stamp.umd.edu/centers/terpzone">TerpZone</a> – a recreational area located in the basement of the student union at the University of Maryland in College Park, where I teach – to eat and use the Wi-Fi. As I watched students shoot pool, I thought: It would be cool to hold at least one class meeting here.</p>
<p>I also thought it would be beneficial. My rationale was that I knew there were some interesting parallels between shooting pool and news gathering. For instance, accurately reporting a complex story could be compared to making a tough shot.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the day I decided to convene class at the pool tables, our regular classroom was unavailable anyway due to a <a href="https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/university-of-maryland-water-outage-after-water-main-break-some-buildings-closed/">water main break on campus</a>. So holding class at the pool tables in the TerpZone – which was not affected – ended up being quite fortuitous.</p>
<h2>What materials did the lesson require?</h2>
<p>I rented four pool tables for an hour or so. I have 14 students. Some students competed on two-player teams, so there would be up to four students per table. </p>
<p>We got the tables at half price, so it cost me $16.</p>
<p>For students who weren’t familiar with pool, I provided a link to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmfKI01S-ws">short instructional video</a> to watch before class. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BCvna-0tTpY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">“The Importance Of Angles In Pool”</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What does the pool lesson explore?</h2>
<p>We explored the various ways that good journalism is like shooting pool. To do this, I had each student interview three classmates and ask each one for a journalism/pool analogy. The idea was to have students collect a variety of viewpoints, just as if they were out covering a story in the community, which they do often for this course. </p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the pool lesson?</h2>
<p>Students reported that shooting pool gave them a visual way to understand what journalists do. </p>
<p>One student found it helpful for players to “step back and take a new look at the table before their turn” – a concept that easily applies to reporting a story.</p>
<p>“Finding the right angle for an article requires taking a fresh look at the facts and quotes,” the student wrote.</p>
<p>Another student said both journalism and shooting pool require patience. A different student touched on the benefits of remaining calm – whether as a journalist on deadline or when it’s time to sink the eight ball to win the game.</p>
<p>“Composure is key when it comes to both,” the student said. “I think there are high-pressure moments. Now you have one ball left, two balls left, and you gotta be able to keep your composure, perform under pressure.”</p>
<p>Other students noted how pool demonstrates the need to anticipate unforeseen consequences as they pursue stories.</p>
<p>“It was important to know where all the balls were on the table and how hitting one would affect the others,” the student said. </p>
<h2>Why is this approach relevant now?</h2>
<p>Americans’ trust in the media to report the news accurately and fairly is <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/403166/americans-trust-media-remains-near-record-low.aspx">at a near record low</a> – just 34%. </p>
<p>If pool – or any other game – can teach future journalists to be more thoughtful about how they pursue stories, perhaps it can lead to better coverage and help restore public confidence in what the media report.</p>
<p>There are other reasons why an approach like this makes sense at this particular time. Students are under a lot of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.886344">academic stress</a>, which can affect their overall well-being. As many pool players will tell you, shooting pool can be a <a href="https://www.thecaregiverspace.org/billiards-to-cope-with-stress/">positive way to relieve stress</a>. It also can help <a href="https://www.dovemed.com/healthy-living/wellness-center/health-benefits-billiards/">build self-esteem and improve concentration</a>.</p>
<p>Also, before we shot pool together, I rarely saw students socialize with one another so effortlessly. When we moved class to the pool hall, students socialized like never before. So it was a good team-building exercise. My only regret was not doing it sooner in the semester.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamaal Abdul-Alim works as an adjunct at the University of Maryland in College Park. He also currently serves as education editor at The Conversation.</span></em></p>A journalism professor discovers that some of the best lessons for future journalists can be taught on a pool table.Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Lecturer in Journalism, University of MarylandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2123342023-10-11T12:28:28Z2023-10-11T12:28:28ZStudents understand calculus better when the lessons are active<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548688/original/file-20230917-23-1jd7a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C312%2C5123%2C2983&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new study found that college students better understand complex calculus concepts in active learning classes. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/professor-talking-to-students-in-college-classroom-royalty-free-image/643999291">Hill Street Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>College students learn more calculus in an active learning course in which students solve problems during class than in a traditional lecture-based course. That’s according to a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.ade9803">peer-reviewed study</a> my colleagues and I published in Science. We also found that college students better understood complex calculus concepts and earned better grades in the active learning course. </p>
<p>The findings held across racial and ethnic groups, genders and college majors, and for both first-time college and transfer students – thus, promoting success for all students. Students in the active learning course had an associated 11% higher pass rate. </p>
<p>If you apply that rate to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2013.798874">the current 300,000</a> students taking calculus each year in the U.S., it could mean an additional 33,000 pass their class.</p>
<p>Our experimental trial ran over three semesters – fall 2018 through fall 2019 – and involved 811 undergraduate students at a public university that has been designated as a <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/hispanic-initiative/hispanic-serving-institutions-hsis/">Hispanic-serving institution</a>. The study evaluated the impact of an engagement-focused active learning calculus teaching method by randomly placing students into either a traditional lecture-based class or the active learning calculus class. </p>
<p>The active learning intervention promoted development of calculus understanding during class, with students working through exercises designed to build calculus knowledge and with faculty monitoring and guiding the process. </p>
<p>This differs from the lecture setting where students passively listen to the instructor and develop their understanding outside of class, often on their own.</p>
<p>An active learning approach allows students to work together to solve problems and explain ideas to each other. Active learning is about understanding the “why” behind a subject versus merely trying to memorize it.</p>
<p>Along the way, students experiment with their ideas, learn from their mistakes and ultimately make sense of calculus. In this way, they replicate the practices of mathematicians, including making and testing educated guesses, sense-making and explaining their reasoning to colleagues. Faculty are a critical part of the process. They guide the process through probing questions, demonstrating mathematical strategies, monitoring group progress and adapting pace and activities to foster student learning.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l7ch0Kf4NvM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Florida International University made a short video to accompany a research paper on how active learning improves outcomes for calculus students.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Calculus is a foundational discipline for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as it provides the skills for designing systems as well as for studying and predicting change.</p>
<p>But historically it’s been a barrier that has ended the opportunity for many students to achieve their goal of a STEM career. Only <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-engage-to-excel-final_2-25-12.pdf">40% of undergraduate students</a> intending to earn a STEM degree complete their degree, and calculus plays a role in that loss. The reasons vary depending on the student. Failing calculus can be a final straw for some.</p>
<p>And it is particularly concerning for historically underrepresented groups. The odds of female students leaving a STEM major after calculus is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157447">1.5 times higher than it is for men</a>. And Hispanic and Black students have a <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-25304-2">50% higher failure rate than white students in calculus</a>. These losses deprive the individual students of STEM aspirations, career dreams and financial security. And it deprives society of their potentially innovative contributions to solving challenging problems, such as climate resilience, energy independence, infrastructure and more.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>A vexing challenge in calculus instruction – and across the STEM disciplines – is broad adoption of active learning strategies that work. We started this research to provide compelling evidence to show that this model works and to drive further change. The next step is addressing the barriers, including lack of time, questions about effectiveness and institutional policies that don’t provide an incentive for faculty to bring active learning to their classrooms. </p>
<p>A crucial next step is improving the evidence-based instructional change strategies that will promote adoption of active learning instruction in the classroom.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Our latest results are motivating our team to further delve into the underlying instructional strategies that drive student understanding in calculus. We’re also looking for opportunities to replicate the experiment at a variety of institutions, including high schools, which will provide more insight into how to expand adoption across the nation. </p>
<p>We hope that this paper increases the rate of change of all faculty adopting active learning in their classrooms.</p>
<p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take on interesting academic work.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laird Kramer receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>Collaborative work benefits calculus students, new research shows.Laird Kramer, Professor of Physics, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1317002020-03-17T15:14:50Z2020-03-17T15:14:50ZChildren are doing archaeology – and becoming experts who enrich whole communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321026/original/file-20200317-60937-69wnct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C4019%2C3024&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/millstone-hill-cairn-snow-bennachie-background-1650106261">S Buwert/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Keig, Aberdeenshire. A gaggle of excited children are instructing community archaeologist Colin Shepherd when to drop a china mug on the floor so that they can see how it breaks on impact. </p>
<p>They will use the results of this experiment to better understand an archaeological find: the broken pieces of an old marmalade jar, last used for breakfast around 100 years ago. The children had recently excavated the jar from woodland in which they usually build dens and play hide and seek as part of an <a href="https://policypress.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1332/policypress/9781447345299.001.0001/upso-9781447345299-chapter-010">archaeological investigation</a>. </p>
<p>When children are invited to visit archaeological excavations, they rarely have much specific knowledge about the site’s history. Instead, they are usually given simple tasks like washing and sorting finds. What is less usual is to find primary school pupils working as partners with an archaeologist.</p>
<p><a href="https://policypress.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1332/policypress/9781447345299.001.0001/upso-9781447345299-chapter-010">Our project</a> let primary school children take a leading role in an archaeological investigation. This active learning brought benefits to the children by allowing them to interact with their local environment and history in a new way, and to create as well as absorb knowledge. It also forged connections between the wider community and the landscape. </p>
<h2>Local landscapes</h2>
<p>The children’s archaeological investigations were part of a larger project initiated by a community group, the <a href="https://www.bailiesofbennachie.co.uk/">Bailies of Bennachie</a>, which works to study and preserve the landscape of the Bennachie hill region in Aberdeenshire. The main project was developed with a team from the <a href="https://www.abdn.ac.uk/geosciences/departments/archaeology/the-bennachie-landscape-project-251.php">University of Aberdeen</a> and funded by the AHRC Research 4 Community Heritage fund and the Lottery. It focused on the history and archaeology of an abandoned mid 19th century settlement, located on common ground on the lower slopes of Bennachie.</p>
<p>The Bailies’ archaeologist, Colin Shepherd, set up two archaeological projects with local primary school children and their teachers as well as myself. Pupils worked as partners on an archaeological project to investigate the history of the place in which they live and go to school. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321029/original/file-20200317-60879-9a7i71.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321029/original/file-20200317-60879-9a7i71.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321029/original/file-20200317-60879-9a7i71.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321029/original/file-20200317-60879-9a7i71.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321029/original/file-20200317-60879-9a7i71.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321029/original/file-20200317-60879-9a7i71.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321029/original/file-20200317-60879-9a7i71.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The children working on their finds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At one of the schools, the excavation took place in woodland where pupils usually took part in outdoor learning. Until the archaeology project began, the children viewed the woodland as existing only in the present. Through their work they became aware of its history and the people who lived and worked in the land near their school in the past. </p>
<p>Taking on the role of the historian and working with primary source materials, such as Estate and Ordnance Survey maps, census returns and valuation rolls which record tax payments, the children were able to develop their own lines of enquiry. Their archival work suggested that there had been a water mill in the area, so their excavations set out to find it. The children, working with the community archaeologist, found evidence for this. They also discovered the remains of a 19th-20th century midden, or rubbish dump, containing many sherds of broken pottery.</p>
<h2>Creating knowledge</h2>
<p>My role as a teacher educator specialising in history education was to work alongside pupils and staff to create an exhibition for their families and the local community. Following a visit to the university’s museum, the children planned a timeline of finds and a “guess the object” game to engage visitors. </p>
<p>The children were given the use of the museum’s replica of a 17th-century collector’s cabinet for their exhibition. During the identification of the pottery sherds, one was identified as distinctive Seaton Pottery from Aberdeen, so a complete example was borrowed from the museum and included in the cabinet alongside the sherd. By using a high quality and high status exhibition space, the children’s exhibition gained a similar status to that of a museum for the parents and community members who came to see it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321031/original/file-20200317-60885-90bbls.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321031/original/file-20200317-60885-90bbls.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321031/original/file-20200317-60885-90bbls.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321031/original/file-20200317-60885-90bbls.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321031/original/file-20200317-60885-90bbls.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321031/original/file-20200317-60885-90bbls.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321031/original/file-20200317-60885-90bbls.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Creating an exhibit in the collectors’ cabinet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The project meant the children could lead their own historical investigations, and expand their understanding of the places in which they live and the heritage of their family and community. This is a key principle in the social studies area of Scotland’s <a href="https://education.gov.scot/education-scotland/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5/what-is-curriculum-for-excellence">Curriculum for Excellence</a>, the national framework for learning for children between the ages of three and 18.</p>
<p>Not only did the children learn the history of the place, they learned to understand the process of creating historical knowledge. Through their museum visit, they learned how to select items for display and to think about how to tell other people about the history they had created. Setting up the exhibition and showing it to people aided conversations between children and their community. </p>
<p>One of the children discovered that their great grandfather had once owned the Seaton pottery works. The grandmother of another child recounted her memories of making oatmeal brose in a small bowl decorated with the same floral design as a sherd on display. </p>
<p>The archaeological investigations carried out by the children created a real-life context for them to play an active part in learning – educating not just themselves but their community too. By having responsibility for their investigation and exhibition, the children became knowledgeable experts and were recognised as such by adults too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Curtis . The Bennachie Landscapes Project was funded through the AHRC Research 4 Community Heritage fund. </span></em></p>Active learning brings new knowledge to children and to their community.Elizabeth Curtis, Lecturer, School of Education, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/930882018-04-11T10:34:51Z2018-04-11T10:34:51ZThe dying art of storytelling in the classroom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214144/original/file-20180410-570-xpm5vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=nbZg2iGPDY3qcHXCMtvmBQ-2-57">shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Storytelling may be as old as the hills but it remains one of the most effective tools for teaching and learning. A good story can make a child (or adult) prick up their ears and settle back into their seat to listen and learn.</p>
<p>But despite the power a great story can have, <a href="https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/2519/">storytelling has an endangered status</a> in the classroom – partly due to a huge emphasis on “<a href="https://www.cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswal/index.html">active learning</a>” in education. This is the idea that pupils learn best when they are doing something – or often, “seen to be doing” something.</p>
<p>Any lesson in which a teacher talks for 15 or more uninterrupted minutes would be regarded today as placing pupils in too passive a role. Indeed, even in English lessons teachers now very rarely read a whole poem or book chapter to pupils, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181204/110118.pdf">something which now worries even OFSTED</a>. </p>
<h2>Bringing history to life</h2>
<p>By contrast, teaching, particularly in the humanities, before the 1960s was heavily dependent on storytelling by teachers. A teacher would give a class, say, an account of the English Civil War, based on her own knowledge, reading and imagination. </p>
<p>The teacher would try to bring the febrile context, the battling causes, and the battles themselves to life. She might add an anecdote of her own visit to a village in which Charles I was said to have hidden out. The pupils would then write their own individual accounts of the history – the story – they had just heard, perhaps “from the perspective of a common footsoldier”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Storytelling can be a powerful tool for teachers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=nbZg2iGPDY3qcHXCMtvmBQ-1-85">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clearly, this approach has many limitations. There was often very little scope for critical discussion and pupils were over-reliant on their teachers’ view of events. But we mustn’t lose sight of the value of what was happening in that history classroom. </p>
<p>Pupils had the chance to become deeply absorbed in a context that was utterly alien to them – and their life experience was extended. Their imaginations were able to stitch this exotic secondhand experience to their library of personal experiences. In their retellings, they were never “just” copying, but making sense and interpreting. </p>
<h2>Layered learning</h2>
<p>Influential educational thinkers such as <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674003668">Jerome Bruner</a> have recognised the deep, contextually embedded, multi-layered learning that a story enables as a form of knowledge in its own right. My colleague Matthew Reason and I have called this “<a href="https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/2077/">storyknowing</a>”.</p>
<p>And in this way, the storytelling of teachers and the storytelling of pupils can nourish each other – as I found in my long-term collaboration with secondary humanities teacher Sally Durham. </p>
<p>A story from me about my German mother-in-law’s World War Two experiences would trigger anecdotes from pupils and teaching assistants about their own relatives’ opposite perspective on the same events – until we had built a three-dimensional picture of the situation, and gained respect for each other’s experiential knowledge. </p>
<h2>A tree falls in the woods</h2>
<p>One day our topic was rainforest destruction. We asked the pupils to share their most powerful memories of trees and forests, until the classroom atmosphere began to feel almost “wooded”. I then told the story of an indigenous Indonesian chief who was approached by government officials to sell his people’s land for logging, to make space for poor tenant farmers. </p>
<p>The usually rambunctious pupils, without exception, listened avidly for 15 minutes, until I paused at a crucial point. They then experimented with their own endings to the story (many were by now confident storytellers). </p>
<p>At first these endings were optimistic, but as the pupils played out the tensions and power dynamics of the interactions between loggers, forest people, tenant farmers, experts and officials, the likelihood of the forest’s destruction hit them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Effective storytelling lets children get to the heart of the action, however complex the tale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=sAzpQi5gEfzFJGzZoVWk2A-1-2">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the group’s suggestion, we went online to research the work of organisations which support indigenous peoples worldwide to defend at least parts of their homeland. The level of complexity in the pupils’ stories and questions was such that we felt more like university lecturers than teachers of a “low ability” class of 12-year-olds. </p>
<p>What all this reveals is that we need to challenge the idea that pupils listening to a story are in a passive (or non-learning) role. As one of the pupils in the class I worked with explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s just – you know when you’re telling a story and some of us put our heads down like that [puts head down on folded arms] – it’s only because some of us do it to, like, picture the images in our heads (Joe age 12)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And as my story shows, the more complex the area of human experience, the more need there is for building knowledge through an exchange of stories. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-experts-who-put-storytelling-language-and-better-paid-teachers-at-the-heart-of-early-education-82346">The experts who put storytelling, language and better paid teachers at the heart of early education</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Heinemeyer received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for her research into storytelling with young people.</span></em></p>Storytelling has endangered status in UK schools, partly due to a huge emphasis on ‘active learning’.Catherine Heinemeyer, Postdoctoral researcher and arts practitioner, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/771292017-06-02T02:52:29Z2017-06-02T02:52:29ZHow math education can catch up to the 21st century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171036/original/file-20170525-23232-hokg03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A student in Cape Coast solves a math problem.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/5321246556/in/photolist-97dMdh-8rMuqU-8rMtNd-7tub8y-97aGaD-8rJogv-fAuDrE-fAfmgK-eokjMs-8rJoSr-fAuC9W-fAfkp2-8rJo7R-2HGirM-fAuBG5-fAuDPW-8rJnn8-fAfjkT-8rJp4i-fAfkv4-fAfkAp-fAfmUr-fAfmPB-fAuDJY-8rJp7V-5ua7bz-fAuCwJ-fAuBM1-5dsFUh-fAuDfj-8rMufd-8cwJHq-fAfjZi-5domkt-8rJoNM-8q1J3r-fAfmzM-5dom5D-5cWBvd-5domaD-8rJoZi-8rMu6s-fAfm4t-8rMuc3-aYTnYM-aRAYUk-8rMuGq-fAfkMr-fAuCZ7-7tq9jP">World Bank/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1939, the fictional professor J. Abner Pediwell published a curious book called “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Saber-Tooth-Curriculum-Classic-Abner-Peddiwell-ebook/dp/B00G6DSY7Q">The Saber-Tooth Curriculum</a>.”</p>
<p>Through a series of satirical lectures, Pediwell (or the actual author, education professor <a href="http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1783/Benjamin-H-R-W-1893-1969.html">Harold R. W. Benjamin</a>) describes a Paleolithic curriculum that includes lessons in grabbing fish with your bare hands and scaring saber-toothed tigers with fire. Even after the invention of fishnets proves to be a far superior method of catching fish, teachers continued teaching the bare-hands method, claiming that it helps students develop “generalized agility.” </p>
<p>Pedwill showed how curricula can become entrenched and ritualistic, failing to respond to changes in the world around it. In math education, the problem is not quite so dire – but it’s time to start breaking a few of our own traditions. There’s a growing interest in emphasizing problem-solving and understanding concepts over skills and procedures. While memorized skills and procedures are useful, knowing the underlying meanings and understanding how they work builds problem-solving skills so that students may go beyond solving the standard book chapter problem. </p>
<p>As education researchers, we see two different ways that educators can build alternative mathematics courses. These updated courses work better for all students by changing what they teach and how they teach it.</p>
<h1>New paths in math</h1>
<p>In math, the usual curricular pathway – or sequence of courses – starts with algebra in eighth or ninth grade. This is followed by geometry, second-year algebra and trigonometry, all the way up to calculus and differential equations in college. </p>
<p>This pathway still serves science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors reasonably well. However, some educators are now concerned about students who may have other career goals or interests. These students are stuck on largely the same path, but many end up terminating their mathematics studies at an earlier point along the way. </p>
<p>In fact, students who struggle early with the traditional singular STEM pathway are more likely to fall out of the higher education pipeline entirely. Many institutions have identified <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/10/09/354645977/who-needs-algebra">college algebra courses</a> as a key roadblock leading to students dropping out of college altogether. </p>
<p>Another issue is that there is a <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/15/math-science-skills-add-up-to-more-job-opportunities-survey.html">growing need</a> for new quantitative skills and reasoning in a wide variety of careers – not just STEM careers. In the 21st century, workers across many fields need to know how to deal effectively with data (statistical reasoning), detect trends and patterns in huge amounts of information (“big data”), use computers to solve problems (computational thinking) and make predictions about the relationships between different components of a system (mathematical modeling). </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171035/original/file-20170525-23230-15qjovd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171035/original/file-20170525-23230-15qjovd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171035/original/file-20170525-23230-15qjovd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171035/original/file-20170525-23230-15qjovd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171035/original/file-20170525-23230-15qjovd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171035/original/file-20170525-23230-15qjovd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171035/original/file-20170525-23230-15qjovd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New technology offers unprecedented mathematical capabilities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kosheahan/4009828196/in/photolist-77kqdU-4HZ3fV-4J4cuJ-4TC8zV-21EH7M-fh2dMQ-8Ahkos-5LJbpH-QMsaX-aPr5mn-6MH67-CpmDp-aPqYNZ-aPr3AP-CiKXa-aPr1sV-Cpmvg-zQ3Q3-6HVf6B-4v6ue-QMbRz-CpmoE-4J4dCo-4PENW-CiKQr-5CmU4d-bRwBMZ-QLpSA-QLpAj-zQ3fK-bsKvA-4sobRc-zQ37h-4ssaJm-FvWeu-h5PJV-4so3kv-h5PbY-4ssfLQ-4ss6eb-h5Pjw-4so6QX-4ss4xE-4so5Ec-4sseyU-njnKGG-4sseHA-4so3sa-4ss4tJ-4ssae7">kosheahan/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s more, sophisticated computational tools provide us with mathematical capabilities far beyond arithmetic calculations. For example, large numerical data sets can be visually examined for patterns using computer graphing software. Other tools can derive predictive equations that would be impractical for anyone to compute with paper and pencil. What’s really needed are people who can make use of those tools productively, by posing the right questions and then interpreting the results sensibly.</p>
<p>The quest to improve student retention has led schools to consider other pathways that would provide students with the quantitative skills they need. For example, <a href="http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mathchat/mathchat025.shtml">courses that use spreadsheets</a> extensively for mathematical modeling and powerful statistical software packages have been developed as part of <a href="http://epublications.bond.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1178&context=ejsie">an alternative pathway</a> designed for students with interests in business and economics. </p>
<p>The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has created alternative math curricula called <a href="https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/in-action/carnegie-math-pathways/">Quantway and Statway</a> as examples of alternative pathways – used primarily in community colleges – that focus on quantitative reasoning and statistics/data analysis, respectively. </p>
<h1>Lectures aren’t enough</h1>
<p>These alternative pathways involve activities that go beyond students writing examples down in their notebooks. Students might use software, build mathematical models or exercise other skills – all of which require flexible instruction.</p>
<p>Both new and old pathways can benefit from new and more flexible methods. In 2012, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED541511.pdf">called for a 34 percent increase</a> in the number of STEM graduates by 2020. Their report suggested current STEM teaching practices could improve through evidence-based approaches like active learning.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168417/original/file-20170508-20738-1hz978a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168417/original/file-20170508-20738-1hz978a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168417/original/file-20170508-20738-1hz978a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168417/original/file-20170508-20738-1hz978a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168417/original/file-20170508-20738-1hz978a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168417/original/file-20170508-20738-1hz978a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168417/original/file-20170508-20738-1hz978a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calculating the best way to learn math.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/schoolgirl-glasses-solving-math-problem-on-167441195?src=msBh2Y81MF_nzOMV89qUTw-1-39">ESB Professional/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a traditional classroom, students act as passive observers, watching an expert correctly work out problems. This approach doesn’t foster an environment where mistakes can be made and answers can be questioned. Without mistakes, students lack the opportunity to more deeply explore how and why things don’t work. They then tend to view mathematics as a series of isolated problems for which the solution is merely a prescribed formula. </p>
<p>Mathematician <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2011/07/the-worst-way-to-teach.html">David Bressoud</a> summarized this well:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“No matter how engaging the lecturer may be, sitting still, listening to someone talk, and attempting to transcribe what they have said into a notebook is a very poor substitute for actively engaging with the material at hand, for doing mathematics.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Conversely, classrooms that incorporate active learning allow students to ask questions and explore. Active learning is not a specifically defined teaching technique. Rather, it’s a spectrum of instructional approaches, all of which involve students actively participating in lessons. For example, teachers could pose questions during class time for students to answer with an electronic clicker. Or, the class could skip the lecture entirely, leaving students to work on problems in groups. </p>
<p>While the idea of active learning has existed for decades, there has been a greater push for widespread adoption in recent years, as more scientific research has emerged. <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/23/8410.full">A 2014 analysis</a> looked at 225 studies comparing active learning with traditional lecture in STEM courses. Their findings unequivocally support using active learning and question whether or not lecture should even continue in STEM classrooms. If this were a medical study in which active learning was the experimental drug, the authors write, trials would be “stopped for benefit” – because active learning is so clearly beneficial for students. </p>
<p>The studies in this analysis varied greatly in the level of active learning that took place. In other words, active learning, no matter how minimal, leads to greater student achievement than a traditional lecture classroom. </p>
<p>Regardless of pathway, all students can benefit from active engagement in the classroom. As mathematician <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2319737?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Paul Halmos</a> put it: “The best way to learn is to do; the worst way to teach is to talk.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary E. Pilgrim receives funding from National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Dick receives funding from National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>By embracing a style beyond the typical classroom lecture, math education can serve all of our students better.Mary E. Pilgrim, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, Colorado State UniversityThomas Dick, Professor of Mathematics, Oregon State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/722402017-03-03T13:20:56Z2017-03-03T13:20:56ZActive lessons can boost children’s learning and health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156413/original/image-20170210-23354-dkd71a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A physically active lesson in action in a Leicestershire primary school.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The natural order of the classroom has always been for pupils to sit. Whether this involves, talking, discussing, working in groups, or listening to the teacher, most of the time this is all done from the comfort of a chair.</p>
<p>Most primary school children spend on average, <a href="https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/bitstream/2134/19729/3/Clemes%20et%20al%20%20Standing%20Desk%20paper%20-%20accepted.pdf">70% of their classroom time sitting down</a>. Outside the classroom, the number of children walking to school has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/476635/travel-to-school.pdf">decreased</a> and, at the same time, many more children are spending longer staring <a href="https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-016-0419-1">at screens</a>. Children aged five to 16 now spend an average of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32067158">six and a half hours a day in front of a screen</a> compared with around three hours in 1995.</p>
<p>In light of these changes to children’s habits outside school, how children spend their time in school is becoming increasingly more important. And the UK government’s recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action">childhood obesity strategy</a> recommends “active lessons” as one way schools can work towards providing children with at least 30 minutes of physical activity during the school day.</p>
<h2>The benefits of an active classroom</h2>
<p>It is becoming increasingly clear that in adults a lifetime of sitting can <a href="http://annals.org/aim/article/2091327/sedentary-time-its-association-risk-disease-incidence-mortality-hospitalization-adults">lead to a higher risk</a> of early death, type two diabetes, and heart disease. And while the evidence is still limited when it comes to children’s health, there is certainly an argument that, as <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/sitting-and-sedentary-behaviour-are-bad-for-your-health.aspx">sedentary behaviour habits</a> are formed early in life, targeting children is a logical step. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159213/original/image-20170302-14699-ufzj00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159213/original/image-20170302-14699-ufzj00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159213/original/image-20170302-14699-ufzj00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159213/original/image-20170302-14699-ufzj00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159213/original/image-20170302-14699-ufzj00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159213/original/image-20170302-14699-ufzj00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159213/original/image-20170302-14699-ufzj00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Get children moving in the classroom from a young age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps more important for schools is the growing evidence that points to a link between increased physical activity in the classroom and educational benefits. This includes improved <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27235602">attention to tasks</a>, as well an an increase in pupil’s <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X17300094">enjoyment of lessons</a> and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1612197X.2012.682368">motivation to learn</a>. And for some pupils in certain subjects <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2016/02/22/peds.2015-2743">academic achievement</a> has also been shown to improve. </p>
<h2>Walk like an Egyptian</h2>
<p>Of course, many teachers already lead an active classroom, and many more may only need to tweak their teaching practice a little to make them more active. A range of <a href="http://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(14)00175-3/abstract">initiatives to introduce physical activity</a> into the classroom <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00614.x/abstract">have been trialled</a> in some countries such as the US and Australia. Typically these studies have implemented either physically “active breaks”, or physically “active lessons”. </p>
<p>An active break is a short interjection of a few minutes to perform some simple physical activity. And this could include children moving around the classroom pretending to be a certain animal, or even someone from a certain period of history. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159143/original/image-20170302-14717-1l8jtiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159143/original/image-20170302-14717-1l8jtiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159143/original/image-20170302-14717-1l8jtiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159143/original/image-20170302-14717-1l8jtiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159143/original/image-20170302-14717-1l8jtiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159143/original/image-20170302-14717-1l8jtiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159143/original/image-20170302-14717-1l8jtiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers can adopt classroom physical activity into their routine teaching practice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In some cases curriculum content can be also integrated into these breaks, for example by jumping or squatting a number of times to indicate the answer to a mathematical question. </p>
<p>Physically active lessons go further than this and actually “teach through movement” for a portion of, or even the whole of a lesson. As an example imagine younger primary children physically embodying punctuation marks as a classmate reads aloud a passage from a book. </p>
<h2>Physically active learning</h2>
<p>This is why at Loughborough University we are leading a project called <a href="https://vimeo.com/182069184">Class Pal</a> to help get children in the classroom moving. As part of the project, we have worked collaboratively with teachers to develop a one-day training workshop. This gives educators the chance to develop and share ideas – along with methods on how to better implement “active” teaching. </p>
<p>As well as the workshop, we’ve also set up a <a href="http://classpal.org.uk/">website</a> with online examples of active breaks and lessons. Over the 2016-17 academic year we are evaluating how <a href="https://vimeo.com/206548946">teachers use this training</a> to create a more active classroom. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/182069184" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This evaluation includes investigating what processes and structures within the school support active classrooms – and what the challenges are to delivery. This is all in an effort to better evolve the support for teachers in this emerging area. </p>
<h2>Jump around</h2>
<p>Given that schools have the reach to target children from all backgrounds, there is clearly an opportunity to try to help alter this culture of sitting by offering physically active learning in classrooms.</p>
<p>Schools are often set up to be the panacea to cure societal ills – and their staff’s responsibilities and workloads only ever seem to grow. </p>
<p>But we believe that by supporting teachers to make small changes to their routine practice, a more active, fun, and engaging classroom environment can be created for both pupils and teachers alike.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why we need more physical activity in the classroom.Ash Routen, Research Associate in Physical Activity and Public Health, Loughborough UniversityLauren Sherar, Senior Lecturer in Physical Activity and Public Health, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/529942016-01-15T04:36:57Z2016-01-15T04:36:57ZSchools must get the basics right before splashing out on technology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108003/original/image-20160113-10414-e1nawh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Technology can help kids learn – but the devices themselves aren't a silver bullet.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kobi Gideon/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For years, schools and education experts have debated whether technology belongs in the classroom. Now the discussion has shifted and even schools that had thus far resisted the educational tech revolution are being swept into what’s become a <a href="https://www.docebo.com/landing/contactform/elearning-market-trends-and-forecast-2014-2016-docebo-report.pdf">multi-billion-dollar market</a>. </p>
<p>The question now isn’t whether technology has a place in schools, but which devices would work best: laptops, tablets, smartphones or something else entirely? However, maybe it’s not the device that schools should be preoccupied with – but rather how students use them to learn.</p>
<h2>Leaning back or leaning forward</h2>
<p>The “lean back” vs “lean forward” model was originally developed by Danish academic <a href="http://www.nngroup.com/articles/media-velocity-tv-vs-the-web/">Jakob Nielsen</a> in 2008. It considers the position people use when engaging with technology and the impact this has on its use. </p>
<p>For example, when I grab a laptop I naturally want to sit at a desk. This is lean-forward device usage. When I use my iPhone or iPad I am more likely to do so while sitting on a chair – lean-back device usage. </p>
<p>Using a lean-forward device typically leads to greater brain activity. This is associated with skim reading, searching and content creation. But it also shortens users’ <a href="http://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-users-read-on-the-web/">attention spans</a>. </p>
<p>Lean-back devices, <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/EMEAHQ/the-difference-between-lean-back-and-lean-forward">on the other hand</a>, encourage deeper reading and consumption of content, particularly during “dead time” when the user is commuting or waiting.</p>
<p>When it comes to learning, <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/entelequiafilosofiapratica/aconselhamento-filosofico-1/the-structure-and-function-of-a-socratic-dialogue-by-lou-marinoff">lean-forward</a> and <a href="http://courses.educ.ubc.ca/etec540/Sept04/arthurp/researchtopic/index.htm">lean-back</a> approaches have been around for centuries. The development of tablets and specifically the iPad has resulted in <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/EMEAHQ/the-difference-between-lean-back-and-lean-forward">a return</a> to lean-back engagement.</p>
<p>One of the problems that’s arisen from this shift is the phenomenon of “second screen” <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/EMEAHQ/the-difference-between-lean-back-and-lean-forward">syndrome</a>. This sees people simultaneously using their smartphones or tablets while watching TV. From a learning perspective, this practice is resulting in shorter attention spans and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/conquering-cyber-overload/201305/is-background-music-boost-or-bummer">increased cognitive load</a>.</p>
<p>While Nielsen’s model is useful, it predates the rise in the past five years of smartphones and tablets. As such it doesn’t consider other potentially important aspects, especially when it comes to education. A newer model may hold the answers for schools.</p>
<h2>A new way of thinking about learning</h2>
<p>Craig Will, a cognitive psychologist working for Cognitive Research & Design Corporation in California, has proposed what he <a href="http://johnnyholland.org/2012/03/engagement-styles-beyond-lean-forward-and-lean-back/">calls</a> the Mind:Engagement model.</p>
<p>Will maps activity and absorption. The middle area of this graphic is dominated by <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-binge-watching-is-to-blame-for-kids-not-learning-51056">consumption</a>. The upper right quadrant, which would be considered the goal of educators – high activity and high absorption – is where students are using their devices for search, curation and communication. In other words, activity. </p>
<p>Educators should be focusing on that upper right quadrant. It’s also where educational technology marketers ought to <a href="https://gigaom.com/2013/08/10/leaning-towards-a-better-way-to-gauge-consumer-media-interaction/">concentrate</a>, too.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108002/original/image-20160113-10447-1dg63g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108002/original/image-20160113-10447-1dg63g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108002/original/image-20160113-10447-1dg63g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108002/original/image-20160113-10447-1dg63g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108002/original/image-20160113-10447-1dg63g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108002/original/image-20160113-10447-1dg63g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108002/original/image-20160113-10447-1dg63g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108002/original/image-20160113-10447-1dg63g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Craig Will’s Mind:Engagement model.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is because it’s not the device – the mode of consumption – that matters. Instead, it’s how that device is put to use in a classroom. As my <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-binge-watching-is-to-blame-for-kids-not-learning-51056">research</a> has found, schools tend to simply replicate old consumption based approaches with new technology devices.</p>
<p>And so blackboards have become smartboards, books have become ebooks, and teachers have become YouTube videos. Approaches grounded in consumption are simply receiving a new silicon coating. What is needed are methods that encourage active engagement in the classroom, not passive content consumption. So which device is doing this best?</p>
<h2>What’s the next big thing?</h2>
<p>The rapid rise in tablets has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/tablets-proliferate-in-nations-classrooms-and-take-a-swipe-at-the-status-quo/2014/05/17/faa27ba4-dbbd-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html">prompted predictions</a> that tablets will take over the classroom. But those analysts who favoured lean-back devices such as tablets over lean-forward devices have been surprised.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/03/googles-chromebooks-make-up-half-of-us-classroom-devices.html">recent</a> report revealed that Google’s Chromebook makes up half of US classroom devices. Chromebooks – also called Netbooks – are lightweight laptops that have little onboard storage. Most of their applications and data reside on the web.</p>
<p>Has this shift arisen from <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/sour-apple-los-angeles-schools-want-refund-failed-ipad-program-n342771">the highly publicised failure</a> of a massive school iPad program in the US? Or is it an organic move by schools from consumption-based approaches to more <a href="http://www.activatedclassroom.com">activated classrooms</a>? </p>
<p>Whatever the reasons, technology giant Apple has already taken note, as indicated by the recent entry of the iPad Pro into the market. This new device, which combines a larger screen size plus an optional keyboard and pen, is clearly targeted at both content consumption and content production. That’s everything from the middle to the top right quadrant of the Mind:Engagement model. </p>
<p>Early reports suggest that the iPad Pro is already <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ianmorris/2015/11/27/apple-ipad-pro-claims-its-first-victim-as-it-destroys-googles-flagship/">eroding</a> Chromebooks’ dominance in US classrooms.</p>
<h2>Don’t get distracted</h2>
<p>These developments suggest that blogger Jason Saltmarsh was right when he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-saltmarsh/2015-educational-technolo_b_6413936.html">warned</a> Huffington Post readers to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Forget the device. Focus on web-based applications that best meet the needs of your students and teachers … more schools will officially embrace what has already been happening under the radar for years: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Students will bring in all kinds of technology ranging from smartphones to laptops.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I would add that when it comes to education technology, it’s important to focus on the education – not on the technology. Train teachers rather than choosing devices. It’s when we consider how technology is used that schools will have the best chance at transforming their classrooms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52994/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Blewett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s a great deal of debate about what devices schools should be using. But educators should be focusing on how children learn, not what they learn on.Craig Blewett, Senior Lecturer in Education & Technology, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/510562015-12-02T04:15:37Z2015-12-02T04:15:37ZWhy ‘binge watching’ is to blame for kids not learning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102824/original/image-20151123-18267-121nbao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Merely consuming digital content doesn't do much for kids. But digital tools can introduce them to new ways of creating.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Collins English Dictionary unveiled a thoroughly modern concept as its word of the year for 2015: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34723515">binge watching</a>. It usually refers to consuming endless hours of movies or series on Netflix, one after the other. But binge watching is about the more fundamental issue of the world’s obsession with content consumption. </p>
<p>A recent report on media use reveals that teens are now spending more hours consuming media <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens">than sleeping</a>. The average American teenager is spending about nine hours a day on entertainment media alone. Is this really the huge problem it’s made out to be? Partly, yes - because while they are engaging with a lot of information during those nine hours, they are creating barely any content of their own in this time. </p>
<p>This passivity is being replicated in classrooms. What will it take to replace these with engaged, active classrooms?</p>
<h2>Consuming - but not creating</h2>
<p>All too often, parents see their children on devices and say: “You’re wasting your time.”</p>
<p>There may be times when this is true. But today’s devices are not like the single function radios and televisions their parents grew up with. In the past if a child was spending lots of time in front of the TV it was obvious they were doing only one thing - watching TV. Modern devices allow for a wide range of activities from consumption to conversation to creation. Even sitting in front of a TV a child today could be doing anything from having a conversation, playing a game, watching a movie or creating a world in <a href="https://minecraft.net/">Minecraft</a>.</p>
<p>The problem arises when children aren’t doing any of these things during their nine hours of entertainment media. The research shows that on average, kids are spending about 40% of this time on “passive consumption” compared with just 3% of their time on content creation.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102819/original/image-20151123-18267-1srnzcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102819/original/image-20151123-18267-1srnzcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102819/original/image-20151123-18267-1srnzcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102819/original/image-20151123-18267-1srnzcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102819/original/image-20151123-18267-1srnzcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102819/original/image-20151123-18267-1srnzcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102819/original/image-20151123-18267-1srnzcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102819/original/image-20151123-18267-1srnzcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children barely spend any of their time online actively creating content.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.commonsensemedia.org/census">Common Sense Media</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It would be easy to dismiss this if it only happened at home, in children’s own time. But there ought to be concern when this trend is picked up and implemented in classrooms. This is unfortunately exactly what’s happening.</p>
<h2>New tech, old methods</h2>
<p>Schools are making a headlong rush to <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/education-technology-spend-reaches-13-billion-2014-06-11">digitise the classroom</a>. The media is awash with stories about tablets being rolled <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2015/07/20/Over-300-Gauteng-public-schools-to-get-tablets">out</a>, <a href="http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?id=144795">smartboards</a> being installed or <a href="https://theconversation.com/youtube-a-valuable-educational-tool-not-just-cat-videos-34863">YouTubed</a> classrooms. All of these technologies have great potential - yet at their core they are all about consumption. They do little to move the learner from a passive consumer to someone who is actively engaged.</p>
<p>The result is fuelling our students’ “binge watching”, passive consumption diet. It is also leading to more and more <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34174796">studies</a> suggesting that technology is not working in the classroom.</p>
<p>However, maybe it’s not the technology that isn’t working, but the <em>way</em> we’re using it. There is no doubt that our education system needs a revolution. That doesn’t mean doing what we have always done and just <a href="https://theconversation.com/outdated-teaching-methods-will-blunt-technologys-power-40503">silicon coating it</a>. A revolution needs new approaches to teaching and learning. It must be based on activity, not passivity.</p>
<h2>Active classrooms are possible</h2>
<p>What is exciting is that the seeds for an activated classroom approach are already found in children’s current media habits. All that teachers and parents need to do is harness them. Another way to look at Common Sense Media’s <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens">research</a> is in terms of the active things children are doing with media. </p>
<p>While they may be spending 40% of their time on passive consumption, they are spending 3% of their time creating content, 25% on “interactive consumption” and 26% communicating. That means they’re spending more than half their time actively engaging with media. It is these activities that hold promise for the future of classrooms. </p>
<p>Teachers must encourage a move away from passive content consumption towards active engagement with media in their classrooms. For example, rather than providing students with prepackaged course content, students can source and curate their own content using tools like <a href="http://www.flipboard.com">Flipboard</a>. Rather than passively watching videos, students can be actively involved in creating their own videos about the content. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T3IU0danX6Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Students create a video to learn about chemistry.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather than simply reading content through books or ebooks, students can rather engage in conversations around the content, with tools like Google Hangouts.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eabYzQqoMwA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Using Google Hangouts for conversations.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Towards an activated classroom</h2>
<p>While the binge watching trend may signal a worrying focus on consumption, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x/abstract">research</a> shows that active teaching and learning approaches are good for students. The future of our classrooms relies on teachers harnessing this energy, combining it with the benefits of technology - then activating learning in the classroom. By moving students from passive readers and hearers to active curators and creators, teachers can significantly impact both students’ enthusiasm in the classroom and how much they learn.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51056/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Blewett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Teenagers spend more time consuming media than they do sleeping. Most of this consumption is passive - a habit that’s creeping into classrooms, too.Craig Blewett, Senior Lecturer in Education & Technology, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/426242015-06-23T04:42:16Z2015-06-23T04:42:16ZBeing seen as well as heard can transform children’s lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84852/original/image-20150612-1481-11qpyop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children need to get involved in classroom decisions that affect them, rather than just answering questions when prompted to do so.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Mukoya /Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children thrive when they are allowed to get involved in making decisions and given space to ask questions about things that concern them. They <a href="http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/Putting_Children_at_the_Centre_final_%282%29_1.pdf">learn</a> to communicate well and believe in themselves. This is particularly true in a classroom setting.</p>
<p>The concept of participation is multi-dimensional and has been interpreted in many different ways. At its simplest, participation is about allowing children to get involved in making decisions that affect their own lives. For instance, this will involve the teacher giving children a say in how one area in a classroom should be set up. </p>
<p>But some teachers and other adults still believe that children should be seen rather than heard. Children are not encouraged to ask questions in class, or are urged to respond only to a teacher’s instructions. </p>
<h2>How teachers view participation</h2>
<p>In South Africa, <a href="http://www.southafrica.info/services/education/edufacts.htm#02">Grade R</a> – also known as the reception year – is the entry year into the foundation phase of primary schooling. Children are four or five when they enter Grade R.</p>
<p>There is a great deal of research which shows <a href="http://magazine.good.is/articles/why-early-childhood-education-matters">how valuable</a> early childhood education is to overall learning and development. As with many countries’ school systems, the major focus in South Africa is on ensuring that children can be promoted to the following grade. This means that even in Grade R there is little or no emphasis on child participation. Instead, teachers are trying to prepare their young learners for entry into Grade 1.</p>
<p>Part of my research was into how Grade R teachers understood child participation and how – or if – it was implemented in their classrooms. Five Grade R teachers who worked at public and independent (private) schools in the Western Cape province were interviewed. </p>
<p>It was found that teachers’ beliefs about child participation are not standardised and universal. They are socially, culturally and contextually constructed. The context in which teachers grow up and their own memories of childhood have a bearing on their ideas on childhood, images of children and their notions of child participation. </p>
<p>It’s not just teachers who are reluctant to prioritise child participation. Some student teachers at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology told me they viewed child participation as a challenge or problem. They were worried that if they let children get more involved, discipline would suffer, especially in overcrowded classrooms. There are <a href="http://www.childrencount.ci.org.za/indicator.php?id=6&indicator=44">supposed to be</a> 40 learners per teacher in primary schools, but <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Overcrowding-at-6-000-schools-20080113">in reality</a> that figure is often far higher. </p>
<p>Most student teachers have also never seen what active child participation looks like during their teaching practice sessions. They struggle to imagine how it could be productive or constructive.</p>
<h2>Children love to take charge</h2>
<p>The children I observed showed the highest levels of participation during <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/how-finland-keeps-kids-focused/373544/">free play time</a>, which is when they are given the chance to choose what they’d like to play with, and where.</p>
<p>They showed great agency, shaping their own agendas and displaying strong levels of assertiveness. They proved to be skillful negotiators and, through imaginative play, displayed strong levels of agency. </p>
<p>As soon as teachers were present, though, the adults took on an instructive role, made decisions and expressed their opinions. The teachers didn’t see the value of and the rich meanings that emanated from the children’s participation.</p>
<p>Initially I hoped to talk to children about what they liked and disliked and what they were doing, but this proved to be difficult. This has led me to think about new ways of researching <em>with</em> children in future endeavours.</p>
<h2>Where to from here</h2>
<p>This research makes it clear that a paradigm shift is needed. Teachers need to listen to their young learners and value their opinions. Children must have the space to make decisions about issues that affect them. These imperatives are already <a href="http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf">enshrined</a> in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which South Africa is a signatory.</p>
<p>If this paradigm shift occurs it will enhance learning and this can ultimately help shape a new citizenry. It will also bring South Africa into line with the approaches of countries like <a href="https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/archive/2003-involving-children.pdf">New Zealand</a>, Australia, the <a href="http://www.participationworks.org.uk/about-us">UK</a> and Portugal. They are all serious advocates of listening to children and subscribe to ways of teaching that encourage participation.</p>
<p>This can only happen if teachers are trained to improve their approach to teaching. They must learn what child participation actually means and how to invite it into their classrooms. It’s also important that parents embrace the concept of participation and come to understand how it can help their children to learn and develop.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naseema Shaik received funding from the National Research Foundation for the research discussed here.</span></em></p>At its simplest, participation is about allowing children to get involved in making decisions that affect their own lives and their own learning experiences.Naseema Shaik, Lecturer, Language in Education, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/399232015-05-06T19:48:22Z2015-05-06T19:48:22ZHow ‘digital natives’ are killing the ‘sage on the stage’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80388/original/image-20150505-8382-fbla0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Digital technology, and those who have grown up with it, are forcing the venerable lecture to adapt to the times.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">uniinnsbruck/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea that <a href="http://theconversation.com/ignore-the-fads-teachers-should-teach-and-students-should-listen-39634">teachers should teach and students should listen</a> presumes that teachers know more than their students.</p>
<p>While this was generally true back when textbooks were a rarity, and may have been partly true since the invention of the public library, it is most likely untrue for at least many students in this era of the “<a href="http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/tutorials/active/what/">active learner</a>” (AKA “<a href="http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf">digital natives</a>”). </p>
<p>After all, with a smartphone in every student’s pocket and Google only a tap away, how can the humble sage expect to compete as the font of all online knowledge?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CZ5Vy9BgSeY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>The world is a stage</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly9BPvFJfqo">very birth of the lecture</a> comes from medieval times, when books were difficult to make and experts were few and far between. Back in those days, the best way to record knowledge was for a monk to stand up the front of the room and recite the passages from a manuscript or book, while the novices below him hurriedly wrote down exactly what was said. </p>
<p>As universities emerged, this tradition continued, with the expert at the pulpit and the juniors in the audience. Hence was born the “sage on the stage”: the expert providing their knowledge to others so that they could learn from this font of all wisdom.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80386/original/image-20150505-8411-lyayfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80386/original/image-20150505-8411-lyayfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80386/original/image-20150505-8411-lyayfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80386/original/image-20150505-8411-lyayfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80386/original/image-20150505-8411-lyayfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80386/original/image-20150505-8411-lyayfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80386/original/image-20150505-8411-lyayfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80386/original/image-20150505-8411-lyayfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lectures haven’t changed a great deal since Michael Faraday delivered a Christmas lecture at the Royal Institution in 1856.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faraday_Michael_Christmas_lecture.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since then the role has evolved, but the basic principle has remained the same. Throughout the decades leading towards the end of the 20th century, models were extended with tutorials, laboratories and workshops. But the academic remained the expert, providing their knowledge to (sometimes eager) students. </p>
<p>As part of this role, it’s the academic’s job to entertain, and we have all known academics who take this part of the role very seriously, getting dressed up for class, using props or even planning out a performance with costumes and mask in advance. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kDgsTjEAdf0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>These academics are embracing the “stage” part of the job, in line with the recent article noted above on <a href="https://theconversation.com/ignore-the-fads-teachers-should-teach-and-students-should-listen-39634">explicit teaching</a>, but the core idea still remains: they are the font of knowledge, the single basin from which students should ‘drink’, building their knowledge of the subject matter through contact with an expert.</p>
<h2>The 21st century: when it all changes</h2>
<p>But something happened around the turn of the millennium. With the rise of the internet and the beginnings of search engines such as Google, no longer was the expert (or the public library) the only place to acquire knowledge. </p>
<p>All of sudden, if you were out to dinner and somebody asked you who directed The Lord of the Rings movies, it was a quick tap and a search for you to yell out “Peter Jackson”. Pub quizzes changed forever, and all of a sudden we found ourselves with a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips. Even worse, the answer you read in (or copied faithfully from) a book several years ago may no longer be the answer now.</p>
<p>This change flowed to academia. But as with much in academia, it took some time to take root. While students were already starting to bring their mobile phones into the classroom (to the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/nov/27/should-mobiles-be-banned-schools">chagrin of some academics</a>), academia was struggling to <a href="https://theconversation.com/online-vs-face-to-face-learning-why-cant-we-have-both-34135">move away from tradition</a>. </p>
<p>By and large, lectures still existed. But they were supplemented by blended learning, flipped classrooms and Massive Open Online Courses (<a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/massive-open-online-courses">MOOCs</a>). All of these technologies looked to keep the “sage on the stage” mentality, but supplement it with other resources, so that the internet and its resources could serve as a supplement to the expert on the pulpit.</p>
<p>But we’ve started to notice something over the past couple of years. All of sudden, students don’t think lectures are as important as they once were. We already know students sometimes don’t attend their timetabled lectures, but what has changed is the reason. </p>
<p>Rather than sleeping in or being too busy with homework, the common reason we now hear from our undergraduates is that there is no need to come to the lecture. Why come and listen when they can access YouTube videos on the subject, or read a host of web pages where experts lay it out step-by-step? </p>
<p>And yes, they can even do this from their iPad after they roll over in bed after a big night out! </p>
<p>No longer are academics the sole expert at the pulpit, the sole basin from which students can drink. We are now just one of many possible fonts from which a student can sate their thirst for knowledge.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80380/original/image-20150505-8426-rysgpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80380/original/image-20150505-8426-rysgpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80380/original/image-20150505-8426-rysgpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80380/original/image-20150505-8426-rysgpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80380/original/image-20150505-8426-rysgpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80380/original/image-20150505-8426-rysgpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80380/original/image-20150505-8426-rysgpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80380/original/image-20150505-8426-rysgpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When students are standing up and recording a lecture on their phone, you know you’re doing something right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Denver/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The lecture as a performance piece</h2>
<p>So, what is the humble sage to do in this new paradigm? How do we deal with the fact that our stage is gone, replaced by an garden of different fonts of knowledge? </p>
<p>One option could be to embrace the performance art aspect of the role even more.</p>
<p>Talk to any creative type and they will tell you that the real impact of their work is not just the performance, but how it makes the audience change. How it makes them think deeply about the subject. </p>
<p>A creator has really done their job when a movie such as The Imitation Game is not only entertaining, but encourages the viewer to read more about <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/alan-turing">Alan Turing</a> or the Enigma machine. Or perhaps even to contemplate the attitudes to homosexuality in the early 20th century and now. The performance serves as a launching point for investigation of the area, and “moving the furniture” in the mind.</p>
<p>Perhaps the academic needs to aim for the same? Make the lecture an entertaining performance piece on the area that causes the students to look into it more deeply. Recognise that students can get information from many places and embrace this by aiming for the lecture to be a highlight reel and a teaser rather than an expert at the pulpit. </p>
<p>Yes, this means every lecture should be a special occasion, but is that really a bad thing? If it gets our students thinking, then hasn’t it done its job?</p>
<p>If academics begin to do this, then maybe we can reclaim the role of “sage on a stage” in a different way. We can move from our old fashioned pulpit to a digital stage, providing a highlight reel of our discipline and becoming a truly digital sage for the active learner. </p>
<p>If this happens, then maybe the measure of success will be a measure of how many students are using a mobile phone in the classroom rather than how many are putting it away!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cris Brack has received a cash prize (Carrick Institute) for teaching using digital educational technology. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Cowling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Lectures and lecturers will have to adapt to modern times in order to stay relevant.Michael Cowling, Senior Lecturer & Discipline Leader, Mobile Computing & Applications, CQUniversity AustraliaCris Brack, Assoc Professor Forest measurement & management, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.