Académique Documents
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organization of the mind and brain, but all are agreed that the infants learning is
dependent on acting into the world and gaining information through feedback that allows
hypotheses to be tested and, when necessary, revised. Thus, central to this
constructivist conception of learning (Piaget 1970) is the now very generally accepted
recognition, that, because new learning necessarily builds on previous experience and
understanding, no two individuals make sense of new information in exactly the same
way.
The second change is the growing recognition that, despite the insights it has
yielded, constructivism is inadequate as a basis for planning education, since it accords so
little importance to the part played by teaching. Furthermore, it limits attention to the
learner as an individual, with little concern for the embeddedness of her or his
experiences in the particular social and cultural situations in which s/he is growing up
(Nelson 2007). To understand the essentially social nature of human development, by
contrast, we turn to the work of Vygotsky and his colleagues.
What makes humans different from all other species, they argued, is that their
development is not simply a matter of biological maturation, including maturation of the
brain; it is also necessarily cultural. From the beginning, human infants are enmeshed in
an environment shaped by the continuing effect of the solutions that preceding
generations have found to the problems of surviving and prospering in a particular
ecological niche; their learning thus necessarily involves discovering and taking over
these cultural solutions so that they can participate effectively in family and community.
Unlike Piaget, therefore, Vygotsky (1978) argued that learning is not a matter of
autonomous development but, instead, a kind of cultural apprenticeship in which, by
taking part in activities with others, the learner encounters and appropriates the tools and
practices of the community and, in the process, transforms them into personal resources
for individual thinking, feeling and acting.
Two critical differences from other species underpin the unique nature of human
development. The first is the infants innate predisposition to treat others as intentional
agents and to seek to understand their intentions; this makes possible deliberate learning
through imitation of others modeling (Tomasello 1999). The second is the emergence of
speech, which makes possible the more precise coordination of intentions and shared
reflection on the consequences of action. Together, these human characteristics account
for the amazing cultural accumulation of skills, knowledge and values in every society
and the manner in which their individual members development is shaped and fostered
by the assistance they receive as they attempt to participate in community activities
(Wells 1986).
This view of learning and development also helps to resolve the conundrum of the
relationship between the individual and society, which can now be recognized as one of
interdependence. Since society pre-exists individual learners, it is from society that they
appropriate the values, practices and knowledgeable skills that shape who they become;
conversely, it is equally the case that society is maintained and transformed over time
through the active participation of its individual members. Nevertheless, the relationship
between individual and society is never direct; rather, it is necessarily mediated by the
situated, productive activities and interpersonal interactions with specific others, in which
individuals participate on particular occasions. It is from this socially situated perspective
that we need to think about the goals and means of education.
The third key understanding about learning that has emerged in the last century is
the importance of interest and engagement (Herrera & Becht, this volume). When the task
we are working on or the problem we are trying to solve is of real personal interest,
learning becomes engaging and the desire to achieve ones personally set goal provides
the motivation to sustain that engagement. Ensuring the learners interest is thus of prime
importance in the context of formal education. As Vygotsky (1978) wrote about teaching
literacy, "teaching should be organized in such a way that reading and writing are
necessary for something Writing should be incorporated into a task that is relevant and
necessary for life" (pp. 117-118).
Addressing this issue at about the same time from a similar perspective, Dewey
(1938) argued that inquiry should be the driving force of education; this has led, in
recent years, to the proposal that learning activities should take as their object significant
and often problematic features of the students' experience and environment and have as
their intended outcome a growth in the students' understanding, where this is taken to
mean, not simply factual knowledge, but knowledge growing out of, and oriented to,
socially relevant and productive action (Cohen, McLaughlin et al. 1993).
In figure 1, we have attempted to represent schematically the way in which we see
the relationship between learning and teaching in the context of formal education.
Figure 1. A Model of the Relationship Between Learning and Teaching
and to secure external funding to do so, has diluted the realization of the initial
commitment to high quality undergraduate education. Nevertheless, there continue to be
initiatives of the kinds described above and in the remainder of this chapter we shall
present two illustrative examples, in which we have been personally involved.
Enacting Theories of Education in Practice
Five years ago, the first author of this chapter was given the assignment of teaching
Education 92B, Introduction to Theories of Education, a required course in our
departmental program and also one designated as meeting the universitys General
Education requirements. This course regularly enrolls 300 students and was, at that time,
taught through three 70 minute lectures each week with an additional 70 minute meeting
in sections of 30, each led by a graduate teaching assistant (TA). His first response was to
refuse, on the grounds that in its organization and manner of delivery the course was a
travesty of the educational principles that the department espoused. As he wrote:
What is particularly challenging about teaching this course is that, when students
are encountering theory about how teaching may best support learning, they
should do so in a context that enacts that theory. In other words, the instructor
should practice what s/he preaches. Following a CHAT (cultural-historicalactivity theory) approach to learning and teaching, I believe that learning-andteaching are interdependent processes, wherein teaching is seen as both leading
and supporting learning and where the teacher is also a learner with and from the
students.
Pressured to take on the course, he agreed to do so provided that it could be
redesigned to practice what it preached. At this point, the second author agreed to be
the lead TA and, together, we attempted to design a course that would indeed enact the
model described above. In other words, in addition to introducing students to the work of
educational theorists, we wanted to encourage them to adopt a reflective stance to their
own learning by challenging them to explore and critique their own learning practices,
their role in educational institutions, and their assumptions about how people learn. At the
same time, we wanted to make it possible for them to engage more directly and critically
with their peers by providing opportunities for small groups to connect, relate and
compare the diversity of their own previous learning experiences with their experience
and understanding of the topics presented in this course. Finally we wanted the format of
the course to foster a sense of agency and ownership among the students, a design that
would position them as both protagonists and authors of knowledge-building activities
rather than as conscripted information-processors with regard to the ideas of
acknowledged experts in the field.
Briefly, the design we settled on retained the three meetings per week but changed
their function. Key to the new organization was that, within the ten sections of 30
students, they would work in self-selected study groups of four to six students. In each
week, the three meetings were as follows: on Monday there was a lecture for all the
students and TAs; then, at some time during the remainder of the week, each study group
met for one to one-and-a-half hours on their own and reported on their work at their
following section meeting; finally, at the section meetings, the TAs encouraged their
students to make connections between their group activities and the readings for the
week.
In the first half of the course, the study groups were presented with a variety of
tasks that highlighted different forms of intellectual challenge that might be incorporated
into curricular units in schools. Then, having completed the task for the week, they were
encouraged to adopt a metacognitive stance to the processes in which they had engaged
and to relate them to the theories they were encountering in the required readings.
Building on these earlier activities, the final challenge presented to each group was to
design a grade-appropriate curriculum unit, using those theoretical principles that they
had appropriated from the course. One of the main intentions for these study-groups was
that they would foster a more intimate peer-network, a safe-space in which, in the
absence of authority figures, students would be more likely to engage in knowledge
building and less likely to assume a passive role.
The large weekly lecture session, in contrast to the more student-centered
orientation of the other aspects of the course, provided an introduction to each new topic
and an overview of the principles and ideas that it involved. At the same time, in keeping
with CHAT theory, each lecture also incorporated more interactive episodes in which
video-clips, demonstrations, and open-ended questions were used to stimulate interaction
between students, followed by more general discussion, in an attempt to involve them
more actively in collaborative knowledge building and thereby to sustain their interest
and engagement. Finally, within the overall organizational framework, section meetings
were intended to provide an arena in which the different levels and aspects of the course
could be mediated and integrated.
A further and, for many, a disconcerting feature of the new course
organization was the absence of tests and exams. In their place, students were required to
submit a substantial portfolio at the end of the course, in which they demonstrated their
understanding and engagement with the theories presented in two written assignments
and in regular journal entries. Students were informed on the first day of class that they
would not be receiving formal grades for individual assignments but that the final grade
would be based on these portfolios and on their participation week by week. In this way
we hoped to move students away from the traditional paradigm, in which engagement
with course material tends to be motivated by external incentives. As we knew from
experience, test questions that elicit single correct answers can lead students to package
and memorize information with little regard for how it functions in a system or relates to
their own purposes. Instead, our intention was for them to take ownership of, and
responsibility for, their own learning and to devote their time and effort to developing
lines of inquiry that they perceived to be personally and socially relevant rather than
detached from their lives and interests.
At the end of the course each year, the students were asked to complete a
questionnaire that sought their reactions to the different aspects of the course format as
well as its content; they were also invited to offer their ideas about how the course could
better meet their needs. Many took up this latter opportunity and their suggestions helped
us to make several significant improvements, as we shall discuss below.
Reviewing the responses received over the years, it is clear that some
undergraduates were disconcerted at least initially by our efforts to grant them greater
agency as inquiring learners. Here is a comment from the first year.
I have found myself struggling to create my own structure in this class, but despite
what I create as a structure there are still expectations. Usually the
expectations of the teacher create the goals of the student, especially in this
university setting. And this is where I am faltering I dont know the expectations
of the teacher (except that I have to turn in a portfolio at the end) and so my goals
concerning the class arent forming well.
A major reason for the difficulty that such students experienced was insightfully
expressed by another member of the class.
Our current educational system takes the structured aspect to such an extreme
that this approach ends up arresting the students ability to function in and take
advantage of the other approach. People seem to have such a hard time accepting
Education 92Bs philosophy and expectations and this is only because their
previous school learning developed certain modes of operation, habits,
approaches to problem solving, ways of thinking that stand in stark contrast to
the 92B approach. Their acquired skills lose their meaning and capacity for use in
this new setting. Undoubtedly it must prove perturbing for students to find
themselves in a context where they are unable to use the habits and skills they
have refined through their years in school.
However, from the outset, there were also many students who did understand and
appreciate the value of having to collaborate in constructing both questions and answers
rather than simply accepting a teachers protocol. The following comment also shows that
the emphasis we placed on creating opportunities for students to reflect metacognitively
on their experiences during the course enabled some students to gain a better
understanding of themselves as learners.
As with all aspects of life, diversity is key. When a problem has a definite
answer, once it is found, the learning essentially stops. I feel therefore the acts in
which we all shared and took in the strategies and thought processes of our group
members was more beneficial. Listening to what they are doing may make your
mind in turn start looking at new strategies which would not have been considered
on an individual basis.
Furthermore, it was clear that the majority of students really enjoyed the
opportunity to work in small groups without an instructor although some were initially
skeptical about how the work would be distributed among them and the value or
feasibility of being given responsibility for deciding how to use that time. However,
despite appreciating this novel opportunity, a substantial proportion remained unclear
about how the group activities they were asked to carry out were related to the central
topics of the course.
This led us to make several changes. The first was to consolidate the group
activities under a single inquiry theme that runs throughout the course. In the most recent
offering, we chose the theme of sustainability because of its current importance not
only for them but for the global community as a whole. In the first half of the term,
groups chose a particular aspect of the theme to research in preparation for a mid-term
forum at which they presented their findings to their peers; then, in the second half, they
drew on the same material to construct a curriculum unit for a grade level of their choice.
The second step we took was to be more explicit about our reasons for organizing
the course into two phases with respect to this theme. We explained our conviction of the
value of an improvable object as a focus for group inquiry and pointed out that the
forum presentation and the curriculum unit were, together, intended to serve this function.
We also emphasized that the various activities they undertook in creating and improving
these objects would provide a solid basis for their metacognitive reflection on their own
and others learning. In sum, we tried to explain how the processes in which they engaged
in relation to this inquiry theme would allow them, as active learners, to experience, in
practice, the theories of learning-and-teaching that the course was about.
On the evidence from the most recent students evaluations, these changes seem to
have been successful. Many more students than in previous years came to value their
experiences during the course, reporting that, for the first time during their undergraduate
careers, they had learned to work toward their own personal goals and, as a result, felt a
new sense of empowerment around their education and their work. The positive tone of
the following, fairly representative, quotations suggests that these students are now
getting the point and enjoying as well as benefiting from the experience.
It has been a real rewarding experience taking this course. I signed up for it at the
last minute to satisfy a [General Education requirement], yet it has transpired into
so much more than that. I applaud and am inspired by the dedication, willingness,
and desire people have shown (TA's included) to change our education system for
the better. I have learned a great deal about what needs to change not only in the
classroom, but in the public's eye as well, when in comes to assessment, teaching,
and understanding. If I ever go into teaching in the future, I will look back on this
course as one of the cornerstones that sparked my interests in informing society of
not only how to teach, but how to enlighten the public on the many issues that we
are facing in our warming world.
I really appreciated [the] method of teaching. It inspired me to want to learn new
ways of learning.
Our group project on sustainability was a welcome twist to how to teach a course. I
did not like it at first, but as the course progressed, I found it to be very effective.
Preparing a curriculum unit was difficult but it really hammered home everything
we had done up to that point and all of the effective teaching methods we learned.
Honestly our project and the ones I saw in my section were better than most
activities Ive ever done in classes Ive taken in elementary or secondary school!
10
I felt that by having to develop our own curriculum we were carried to a better
understanding of specific theories. This class was amazing.
These comments suggest that, as a result of the form as much as the content of the
course, many students had not only changed their perceptions of learning and teaching,
but had also achieved a better understanding of themselves as learners and of their
responsibility as well as their potential to contribute to the improvement of the world
around them.
While the undergraduate course just described was explicitly designed to enact the
model of learning-and-teaching represented by the model in figure 1, the second case
study concerns a program that already existed on our campus. Nevertheless, as will be
seen, its underlying aims were very much in conformity with the same model.
Learning and Teaching in a Science & Technology Research Center
Since the year 2000, our campus has been home to the headquarters of the Center
for Adaptive Optics (CfAO), one of eleven interdisciplinary Science & Technology
Centers supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation; its charge is to develop and
implement advances in educational practice and broaden student participation. In the
opening years of its operation, the NSF officers, reviewing the progress of CfAO towards
the above objectives, challenged CfAO leaders to be bolder in the development of
educational initiatives. At the same time, members of the organization recognized the
continuing need to develop structures and programs that would address apparent
inequities involving the race/ethnicity, class and gender of those working in advanced
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In response to these
challenges, the incoming Director of Education and Human Resources at CfAO, Lisa
Hunter, worked with center leaders and members to strategize a framework for new
educational initiatives.
In both academia and in industry, those who play the most critical roles as mentors and
instructors have rarely trained as educators and so have had little exposure to learning theory
or research in the social sciences. So, while these mentors have developed expert knowledge
and skill in their respective fields, they have typically spent less time thinking about how to
effectively facilitate the entry of newcomers into the profession. The lack of preparation of
member researchers to teach in higher education was recognized by the educational leaders of
CfAO, as was the organizations ability to take the initiative in this respect, given its strategic
position and resources.
To this end, striving to develop research-based practices grounded in the learning
sciences, a core group of CfAO members embraced the principle of inquiry as a
pedagogical strategy and, working with staff at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, began to
develop curriculum that would serve the professional development of current and future
science and engineering faculty, while creating advancement opportunities for undergraduate
students from non-dominant backgrounds who might otherwise not have had access to
advanced research in STEM fields. One of the most substantial outcomes of these efforts was
the concurrent development of two interdependent strands: an annual Professional
Development Program (PDP) and an internship program specifically designed to increase
access to college for students from non-dominant backgrounds.
11
In the first strand, the professional development program, current and future science
and engineering faculty are re-positioned as the learners who, with partners of their choice,
complete several inquiry activities that have been carefully designed to contrast different
pedagogical strategies. These activities enable PDP participants to investigate and reflect on
their experiences as learners (or as shadow facilitators if they are returning participants)
while concurrently exploring and discussing literature on educational practice. PDP
participants spend the last few days of this immersion workshop in design teams, creating
sets of learner-centered content, process, attitudinal, and community goals and then working
backwards from these goals to create lab activities tailored to specific venues. Members of
these curriculum design teams are then responsible for trying out their planned activities on
site in order to develop their skills as facilitators and to explore the outcomes of the resulting
learning activities. This iterative process of experiencing inquiry-oriented learning, reflecting
on that experience in light of new information about learning theory, and then implementing
the designs they have created, promotes a sense of ownership and thus a conscious
investment in understanding contingencies and intersections between learning and teaching
that they might otherwise take for granted.
The second strand of the initiative integrates college-level students into the research
environment through a thoughtfully designed internship program. Each summer, before going
to their respective research sites, CfAO interns spend an intensive introductory week together,
learning about ongoing research in the world of adaptive optics and preparing to participate in
cutting-edge research projects. This Short Course includes a range of self-guided yet
highly structured lab activities that are designed by PDP participants to encourage CfAO
interns to practice valued research skills while gaining confidence as scientists and engineers.
The Short Course thus not only serves as an intensive transition into CfAO research for
students who might not otherwise have access to this elite community, but it also serves as a
teaching lab for the graduate student mentors.
All eight of the interns interviewed by the second author of this chapter spoke about
how strikingly different the Short Course learning activities felt in comparison to the many
lab exercises they had completed at school. One of the biggest differences, they said, was
that they did not start the activity already knowing the answer they were supposed to get.
Several noted discovering that what they initially ignored as mistakes often later proved to
be important sources of information that led to the resolution of the problem or question they
were investigating. One intern confided her realization during the Short Course that not only
could she not differentiate between [her] findings and [her] conclusions but that she had
never previously thought to look for the difference in the first place. In addition, they all felt
that Short Course activities were critical for building the confidence necessary to be able to
work on problems or questions that at first they found incomprehensible. Indeed in an
interview midway through the summer program in 2006, one intern specifically credited Short
Course activities for helping him move past pre-existing fears of feeling incapable when
uncertain about how to begin work on a research problem:
Remember how I told you whats the worst possible scenario? I told you: if I have
no idea about how to approach the problem? Well it happened! Cause like for the
ummm for the color one, for the filter one that I did the presentation on, I had no
idea how to approach it and I was tripping out And my interpretation of the question
was way different than [my partners].I was like, what kind of question are we
12
trying to answer?! But in the end, I liked it I knew then I could have that feeling
and get through it, and that helps for the internship for sure.
Finally, five interns confessed that whereas in school they were unwilling to share their
work and felt competitive with other individuals, during this course, because the activities
explicitly required innovation and creativity, they unequivocally felt they benefited from
working with others.
As facilitators during Short Course activities, graduate students are encouraged to
draw on their PDP training in the effort to counter certain tendencies they understand to be
common to classrooms and other instructional settings. In typical classrooms, students
working within a fixed set of parameters may come to expect that the answers they
produce have also been fixed and will be evaluated by an authority. The goal then becomes
to finish rather than to work on knowledge-building. Consequently little initiative or effort
is required on the students own part to determine the validity or limitations of their
conclusions or how the issue could be explored further. Such assumptions are evident in the
following exchanges between two interns, Abu and Keri, who were using hand-held
spectrometers, colored filters, an adjustable resistor and a selection of different light bulbs to
investigate whether changing the brightness of a light source affects the spectrum. This
activity had been scheduled to occupy the better part of two days, but after only ten or fifteen
minutes of peering through spectrometers at their station, Abu and Keri decided they were
done:
Abu
Keri
Abu
Keri
Abu
Keri
Abu
Its not changing the color it's just making it More brighter or not. But so,
But we can look at it directly [rather than through the plastic filter]
oh yeah
((looks through the spectrometer again, this time bypassing the blue
filter)) Yeah it just gets dark. Its still not really changing
Yeah I know its not changing at all! Well. we're done!
Well, but thats sort of boring.
The graduate students facilitating this pair of interns were responsible for noticing
these moments and finding ways to motivate and sustain further problem-solving activity. So
when Abu, who was confused about how they were expected to spend the remainder of the
allotted time, approached Jan, one of the facilitators, asking if they were really expected to
continue the same investigation into the next day, Jan responded with an attempt to kindle the
spirit of inquiry by suggesting that scientists are never done: There's always more questions.
You can always push it farther. You can understand everything: the whole universe comes
together.
Subsequently, turning back to his station, where Keri was writing down their
conclusion (it doesnt change it just makes it more defined) in her notebook, Abu ventured a
way they might explore further (we can try to explain WHY it doesnt change), then offered
his own theory. However, he was again persuaded by Keri that a basic statement would be
sufficient to satisfy their instructors.
Abu
Yeah we're not changing the color too much - my theory is we're not
changing the xxxxx wavelength
Keri
13
Abu
Keri
Have you looked at any other bulbs? Because you can actually unplug
that bulb.
Oh, and try different ones? That's a good idea. OK.
Nevertheless, mastering the creativity and discipline required to maintain learnercentered assistance and guidance while aiming to satisfy content and process goals planned
for the activity remained challenging for the graduate facilitators. At times, in their struggle to
find that balance, they sometimes slipped into more didactic explainer roles. At other times,
their own understanding of the phenomena at stake seemed to prevent them from
understanding the full relevance or potential of the connections the interns were making and
this led, in turn, to breakdowns in communication or other impasses. For instance, the
following day, after they had had the opportunity to use more sensitive instruments, Abu and
Keri became invested in understanding the differences between the spectra produced by a
fluorescent bulb and those produced by incandescent bulbs. Excited about their discovery,
Abu eventually articulated a fairly sophisticated hypothesis to explain the differences they had
noticed:
14
Abu
something that I think that is exciting: all these- all these how do you
call these bulbs?
Jan
Incandescent
Abu
- these incandescent bulbs - they all had the same kind of spectra lines
irrespective of the watts. This one is different, it has-
Jan
Oh, interesting.
Abu
- like discrete lines
Keri (to Abu) Non-continuous, is that what you said?
Abu
I'm just guessing that the reason for that [the continuous spectra] is due
to electro magnetic radiation and that [the discrete spectra] is due to the
pressure of the gas
Jan
Abu
Jan
else?
Abu
Jan
Abu
Abus hypothesis was the product of a divergent line of inquiry that he had initiated with
his partner, fairly independently of input or assistance from the instructors. Indeed this was
part of what made it interesting and exciting to him. On this occasion, Jan interpreted Abus
account as explaining an interesting but sort of tangential effect and then went on to make
suggestions that drew attention away from comparisons of the two kinds of bulbs and back to
the narrower relationship between temperature and blue light. However, still interested in their
own discovery, Abu and Keri treated her repeated references to making use of the available
thermometers as more a distraction than a helpful hint.
As it was, the learners own agenda, namely to come up with something new, and the
instructors commitment to curricular objectives impeded the coordination of the kind of joint
focus, necessary to establish and sustain collaborative work on an improvable object. With a
different facilitation strategy at this phase of investigation one which further pursued the line
of inquiry initiated by Abu, Jan might ultimately have led these interns to grasp the
relationships between heat, intensity, and the frequency of wavelengths at the blue end of
the visible spectrum as intended by the designers of the activity. Thus, through even more
sensitive, precise and responsive facilitation moves it could have been possible for Jan to help
combine the partially divergent agendas that surfaced on this occasion.
Short Course activities are intended to use strategic timing and careful selection of
materials rather than direct instruction to scaffold activity, allowing the interns to retain a
sense of initiative and control of their own learning so that later activities can build on
earlier ones incrementally. Throughout the Short Course a range of different skills is
introduced in sequence while procedural supports are deliberately withdrawn. The aim is
to enable the interns to become more confident in and aware of their ability to manage
their own investigations. But, as this example shows, it is often a challenge to manage
this transition. Facilitating this kind of learning is a significant departure from more
traditional teaching approaches, and it requires skill, guidance and practice.
15
As is clear from this brief account of the CfAO initiative, enacting what we have
called dialogic inquiry is a challenge for teachers and students alike, even when, as in
this case, conditions are favorable a small group of specially selected interns working
with prepared mentors and facilitators in a self-contained program. In the Short Course,
both teachers and learners are struggling with a lifetime of classroom instruction in
science that encourages the teacher to explain and the learner to expect to be given the
answer.
Reflections on the Case Studies
While there are obviously important differences between the two cases we have briefly
described, they share some important commonalities. One, unexpected, feature common
to both cases was the culture shock that interns and undergraduates experienced when
they were challenged to embark on self-directed inquiries that required them to formulate
and attempt to evaluate answers to their own questions rather than accept the questions
asked and answers expected by the experts. Many of the students and interns who
contributed their perspectives commented on how different their experiences were from
what they had encountered in school; indeed, some of the undergraduates were aggrieved
as well as disoriented by the unfamiliarity of the new approach that they were suddenly
expected to adopt. Although most were eventually able to take steps in this direction, we
learned how important it is to employ explicit structures to ease the transition.
As we noted in the introduction, a perhaps unintended result of the imposed
emphasis on coverage and the importance of the economy of grades is that schools tend
to inculcate learning strategies that, once acquired and found effective for success in
doing school, are hard for students to give up. This was particularly the case for the
undergraduates in 92B, since their familiar strategies continued to be successful for many
of the courses they were taking concurrently. What we have realized, therefore, is that it
is not sufficient simply to explain to students why the banking model of education
(Freire, 1970) is not appropriate for life in the 21st century. Nor is it enough to emphasize
the need to understand rather than merely become acquainted with the material that is
presented in lectures and in the accompanying reading. We recognize that our attempt to
explain our expectations and create opportunities for inquiry and wait for the students to
take up the invitation must be accompanied by a great deal more structured support. If
you cant swim, it is scary to be pushed in at the deep end along with many other novice
swimmers if there is only one lifeguard on duty.
In this respect, the intensive short course that launches the CfAO internship is
much more successful. As the vignette presented above makes clear, such success
depends to a considerable extent on the ready availability of teachers and mentors who
are attuned to the interns perspectives and skilled in providing appropriate guidance and
assistance. Here, in addition to the carefully planned exploratory activities that encourage
interns to ask and attempt to answer their own questions, there are also multiple
opportunities for them to reflect on and explain their developing understanding with peers
and teachers who are interested in what they are doing and thinking. For this reason,
although it will be more challenging in the case of the large undergraduate class, we have
become even more convinced of the importance of carefully planned opportunities to
support them in the transition to self-directed learning.
16
17
to focus on HE in isolation from the wider society of which it is a part, for colleges and
universities play a pivotal role not only in shaping the lifelong learning of all individuals
but also albeit less directly in channeling the development of society as a whole.
Here, we should like to draw attention to three levels that we think are important.
First, the designation higher education implies that students entering college or
university have already completed a basic education and have excelled in the course of it;
indeed, the extent of their excellence is the chief criterion for admission. However, since
entry to higher education is increasingly the goal to which all young people are
encouraged to aspire, the entry criteria have a powerful impact on the organization of the
preceding stages. One baleful effect, in schools in the U.S. and elsewhere, is the early
tracking of students according to their apparent ability to meet these criteria and the
generally restricted learning opportunities provided for those who do not (Oakes 1990).
An equally serious issue is the use of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Grade Point
Average (GPA) in high school as the metrics of success and the influence these have on
the way in which learning is conceptualized and assessed. When reception and
memorization of mainly factual information is what counts, as this is what can be
measured by multiple-choice tests, and when breadth of coverage rather than depth is
emphasized, educational institutions imply and students learn that being successful is
more about developing strategies for doing well on tests than attempting to understand
the implications or applications of what is being learned.
A second way in which universities and colleges impact education in the
preceding years is through their role in preparing future educators. This has the potential
to be an important means of improving public education. By equipping those who will
teach children and administer schools with a more critical and reflective understanding of
what should be the goals of schooling and of effective ways of achieving them,
university-based professional development can significantly affect educational practice at
the local level. It can also fire teachers and administrators with a commitment to social
justice and to the eradication of inequitable treatment of non-dominant groups. Similar
arguments hold for professional preparation programs in other fields. Since HE is
responsible for preparing students for a wide variety of professional careers, it has a
strong influence on the values and the kinds of knowledge that shape the various
professions and organize the world of business and industry.
But most important, in our view, is that the majority of students entering HE in
the U.S. and in other countries are at the point where they are exploring and establishing
the goals and values for their future lives. Clearly, advanced academic study in the
discipline(s) relevant to their personal interests and envisaged careers should be an
essential part of their undergraduate learning. But, in addition, it is important that they
develop a wider understanding of the social, cultural and political contexts in which the
knowledge they are gaining will be put to use. In other words, HE should not only focus
on the development of individual expertise in a specific discipline or professional field
but should also contribute to the creation of a more just and democratic society by
providing opportunities for students to develop understanding of contemporary issues and
the disposition to participate critically and collaboratively in public discussion in order to
take effective action (Dewey, 1966).
We are not suggesting that institutions of HE fail to recognize their
responsibilities to students and society at large. But we are suggesting that they tend to
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all those who made this chapter possible, including the
participants in the two case studies, our editors, and the other authors contributing to this
anthology. Special thanks go to Lisa Hunter, Director of Education and Human Resources
at the Center For Adaptive Optics, for her substantial contributions to the preparation of
this chapter and helpful suggestions during the revision process. This work was supported
in part by the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Adaptive
Optics, managed by the University of California at Santa Cruz under cooperative
agreement AST 98-76783. We are also grateful for the support offered by the Center for
Teaching Excellence, University of California at Santa Cruz.
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