Learning via immersion

Much is made of the human capacity to plan/think ahead. This ability to time travel began with the invention of writing to keep records or prepare plans.

But there is a limit to our imagination. As many developers of new technologies will explain, its often hard to know how people will use a "new-to-the-world" product/service until it exists and you can play with it.

The same can be said of the rules of complex systems. It is not until you immerse yourself in a culture/system/world/activity with which you are unfamiliar, that you can really grow to understand it. Like stepping into the world of thinking/acting like a mathematician, scientist and technician.

We apply the principal of learning via immersion when we play a series of quasi-maths games to help students discover how to think like a mathematician.

We begin by asking them to list the rules for judging the winner of this game:

"Complete the series A1, B2, C3......Z26"

As soon as the students have experienced the game they can "see" the rules immediately, including quite complex variations. A task that was previously beyond them.

It's the power of our right frontal lobes to help us survive novel, dangerous situations, and which formulate possible solution. Here's a typical set of responses:


The rules for judging the winner of the game are: all the numbers from 1 to 26 and letters from a to z must correspond, capital letter only, no missing/extra letters or numbers (should not end in 25/27), no spaces, separated by commas, no spaces between the numbers and the letters.

And if you ask the students to play the next game they quickly improve their performance as well:

Complete the series, AZ, BY, CX.......ZA,

It's just like the underlying rules/standards of algebra, geometry and arithmetic that mathematicians use all the time. You know you are more likely to have a promising solution, if after applying Occam's Razor, the solution is:

* The simplest.
* The most complete.
* Unique.
* Unambiguous.
* Contains no errors.

So, when you are designing a learning activity, it's a good idea to immerse the learners in the activity, and have them discover the rules, theory or model for themselves and perfect/correct it, because when they derive it themselves they will be more likely to remember it. Here's an example. You don't have to complete all the questions...just the most relevant:


1. Go to www.worldtime.com. Look at this simulation where the sun is shining on earth. Explain what you see, why some part of the earth is in sunshine, some in darkness and some in twilight. Also explain why one of the poles is in sunlight and the other in darkness.
2. After everyone has responded, print out a copy for everyone. Then respond to these questions
3. In what ways, if any, could we make this simpler? Small, concise, tidy, looks good
4. What do we need to do to make sure this is unambiguous/exact?
5. In what ways, if any, could we make more logical? Follows what has gone before, is the next step.
6. What do we need to do, if anything, to ensure it is reliable/correct? We will get the same outcome no matter who performs the process.
7. What do we need to do, if anything, to make sure it is complete? Is everything included?
8. Write a new description that explains what is happening in the www.worldtime.com model.

Co-performance and co-visualization

Top athletes use visualization to improve their personal performances. To ski down hill like a champion. To jump higher than ever before. To swim the fastest race.

They imagine themselves winning. They practice their "moves" in minute detail, step-by-step, in real time, in amazing detail, in glorious color and with a soundtrack to boot.

What if we could use these same techniques to improve everyday joint performances? And go beyond a personal achievement.

What if we could help teachers become brilliant provocateurs, challengers and inspirers and at the same time as their students practice new roles as fabulous conversationalists, writers, pattern detectors and knowledge creators?

What if we could transform all kinds of relationships by co-visualizing co-performances for couples, families, community groups, business and sports teams?

So instead of daydreaming/watching television or just being bored, we use quiet moments together to create vivid mental pictures of doing stuff together, and "exercise" pretty much the same muscles as if we were performing the action in real time.

So here's a series of questions to start thinking about the concept of co-visualization.

1. What did you first see when you woke up this morning? OR Picture what you might have for lunch today?
2. Turn to your partner and recall a most remarkable, amazing, wonderful or happy event in your life. Visualize that moment. Then describe, step by step, what happened, what you saw and heard.
3. Imagine yourself as a tight rope walker. Describe in detail what you do, how you begin, how place your feet, balance yourself, and walk along the wire, and how you feel when you reached the end of the wire. What happened? Describe what you saw in as much detail as possible.
4a. For the teacher. Pick a topic. Imagine yourself as an inspirational teacher, somewhat Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society. You get the very best from your students. You organize great conversations. You ask rich, amazing questions that guide the students through a thinking process. That keep them engaged for ages. Make a list of all the steps in the performance.
4b. For the student. Pick the same topic as your teacher. Imagine yourself engaged in conversation with other students, generating possibilities, discussing the alternatives, and giving reasons for your suggested solution. Make a list of all the steps in the performance.
6. What helped you to improve your visualization performances?
7. Make a checklist of 5-10 rules for co-visualizing your performance.
8. Choose a new activity to visualize and use the checklist to improve your performance.

Stop press: Watch this space for a series of workshops from Marie Dalloway in Phoenix, Arizona to help you practice and develop co-visualization skills.

Super-sized meals and kids

The surest way to live a long life, except for accidents, is to eat less and exercise more. But many of today's young people don't even know the difference between healthy/unhealthy foods or what kind of exercise works best.

And when you grow up in a culture that super-sizes meals of every kind it's a bit hard to know what to eat and what portions are appropriate.

This week a colleague pointed me to a newspaper article, where Arizona Schools Superintendent Tom Horne, was urging teachers to help teenagers learn the difference between apples and fries and which kinds of activities keep you aerobically fit.


I have to be careful what I eat. Traveling as much as I do, take-out and hotel meals are unavoidable. In the USA especially, it is almost impossible to be served smaller portions because the norm is:

* huge size servings, enough for two and sometimes three people.
* hidden sugars and fats in breads, biscuits, juices and soda drinks
* fries with everything
* salads awash in fatty dressings, and.
* giant sandwiches with super large servings of meats and cheeses.

The best way to kill yourself early is to eat lots of the foods that contain these fats and clog up your blood vessels, or consume sugar which is converted into fats and is stored, usually around the torso....just in case of winter or famine.

So here's the kind of conversation that young people need to have to change the way they think/feel about food and activity....

1. The size of servings in America are much larger than the size of servings elsewhere in the world. Knowing this, what could you do to reduce the amount you eat to just what you need?
2. Growing kids/teenage girls/most men/active women should consider at least four serves of vegetables and three of fruit each day. Teenage boys/active men should consider five serves of vegetables and four of fruit. Design an interesting vegetable salad combining 4-5 serves (cupfuls) of vegetables, e.g. tomatoes, asparagus and beetroot, that would be a taste temptation. Include some herbs perhaps like mint and coriander.
3. Design a delicious fruit salad in unusual combinations of the 3-4 servings of fruit e.g. oranges, blueberries and mango, that you would love to eat each day...the ones that you really like.
4. Thinking about the sugar in soft drinks and juices, imagine the sugar being converted by your body to fat and going straight to your waist, bum or thighs. What could you do to reduce the amount of sugar you consume via drinks?
5. Twenty to thirty minutes of exercise at the start of every day that raises the heart beat can help you stay fit and feel really alive. What kind of exercise do you like that you can reliably do every day?
6. Think of a fatty/greasy food that is solid at room temperature. Write a story about how fat or sugar in foods gets into your body and clogs up your arteries and kills you earlier than you'd like.
7. Choose an activity from this list and envision/describe yourself doing it and feeling good afterward. Where, how, with whom? Walk, run, swim, dance, skip rope, climb stairs, gym, weights...or add your own...remember it has to raise your heart beat. Note: Finger puppets do not count.
8. Create/invent/describe your own playground version of a reality TV/computer game you could play with your friends to discover hide/find stuff out in the playground/yard/neighborhood....that involves a mix of brain power and physical activity. And get extra points for more exertion?
9. Brainstorm a short story/mantra you could tell yourself so you say NO to foods containing lots of fat and sugar.
10. Imagine carrying around an extra 10 large bottles of soda every day. That's about 10 kilos or 14 pounds (one stone). Write a paragraph or two about the unnecessary effort required to carry around the extra weight.

To help kids explore the issues of growing up there's a Zing collaborative title Relating Well with 100 workshops just like this. See:

www.relatingwell.co.uk

A new kind of man

Ever wonder why your plumber, roofer, motor car mechanic, machinist or electrician has suddenly become the new rich?

It's not because boys don't want to do these newly reinvented, more complex jobs, it's because many of them can't. It's mostly boys who are ending up in the unemployable queue, who once upon a time could fool around at school, and get a job in their mid-20s that employed their physical abilities - laborer, farm-hand or truck driver.

These labor intensive, low brain-power jobs are becoming scarce.

The time has come to reinvent how we think about men, and what we expect them to be. No more competitive, ego-centric, comfort-seeking, super-sexualized, predators concerned with social status, that drop out of school. Not merely a uni-dimensional Jock.

More an improvement/enhancement to the current styles, Jock, Military man, Sportsman, College Joe, Rebel, Cowboy, Hunter, Joe College, Sportsman, Businessman, Man About Town, Dandy and Nerd. More able to empathize with others, work in a team, lead others, use technology and solve problems. More responsible. More robust. More assured of themselves, but with a greater degree of humility.

In some industries there are looming shortages of skills, which are driving up the cost of services....think plumbing and electrical work around your home or someone to fix your car's computer. Shortages of some highly skilled workers are limiting big corporation's abilities to transform themselves, to make use of new flexible systems, or install or maintain sophisticated systems.

What used to be skilled trades are demanding ever higher literacy, numeracy and computer skills. No more mindlessly performing a narrowly designed/defined job on a production line. The machinist who makes parts for jet aircraft or makes molds for plastic parts, or machines components for engines has to use brain power as well as brawn to do his work.

With each wave of societal change, not only have we automated the work of the earlier techno-cultural periods, but with each successive wave, the new tools we create have a multiplier effect back through the system.

In the current shift from the Information Age to the Knowledge Age, new tools are being invented that transform highly physical Hunter-gatherer, Agriculture and Industrial age jobs into brawn+brain jobs. The few remaining original jobs that require heavy lifting only, are being driven, little by little, to extinction.

So, as teachers of these young people, here's a workshop to explore how we can change the way we think about and engage with young men, so we guide them to prepare for more complex ways of working:

1. Brainstorm a list of the attributes of tomorrow's man, the kind of young man who is able to participate fully and responsibly in society
2. Who are the role models for this new kind of man, and how can they exert a powerful influence over him and the worlds in which he moves?
3. What do we have to do to ensure that we create learning environments in which this new kind of young man will not only survive, but also thrive?
4. What should we do, so that people with whom this new kind of man interacts, positively reinforce his new image of himself?
5. What new kinds of support structures in the family, home and community do we need need to create that can encourage this new kind of man?

What young people want from school

There has been a switch in emphasis in recent years to schools asking their students what they like/don't like about school, their lessons and their teachers.

The answers are universally the same. Focus groups on four continents show children are generally bored by their teachers’ lectures and are fearful of closed questions because they are used as a behavior control method. They especially loathe sarcasm and put downs. They regard copying from the blackboard or making notes from lectures as time wasting. They would much prefer to have discussions, use technology and engage in hands-on activities.

Most want to go to school. It's important for their social life. Its a place to do what human's do really well...interact, converse and play together. So the idea of no-school or home school for many is a non-starter.

But sadly not all schools are listening to their "student voices". What began as laws in 1844 to provide British children working in mines and factories with some education and which was made mandatory in 1890 and free in 1891 for 5 to 12 year olds has become a millstone around their necks. The laws which govern education historically put power in the hands of teachers, parents and administrators rather than students.

On the other hand, marketers see children as knowledgeable and capable of making their own decisions about who they are through what they buy, making choices or being influencers from an early age for both family and personal purchases of food, books, clothes, entertainment and sophisticated technologies such as computers. They learn brand loyalty before they can read and make specific requests for brand name products. By age eight, children have acquired the necessary skills from parents, peers and TV to become independent consumers, have their own money to spend and have a say in the purchase of household items. Many cook for themselves, buy food for their families or participate in family shopping.

This is the most technology and information savvy generation ever. Most are plugged directly into the giant newsroom, library, supermarket and entertainment center the web has become. Many have their own mobile phones, televisions, computers and even their own debit cards.

So what do they want? Most students said they would like school to be more “fun” or "fun, fun, fun" and have access to “more technology” more often. Students said they use computers “at home lots” and “at school never” or "rarely" and would like this to change. They want more “interesting teachers”, to “sit where you want” and more “class discussions” so that “everyone is involved” resulting in “better relationships with other people". Schools should “make the classes more interactive” and employ “better teacher techniques” to suit “different types of learners". "Smaller classes" would ensure people were “more comfortable and confident to say what they want within reason". Students should be allowed “to take more control over their own learning” and “have their own opinions” even if their teachers do not agree with them.#

So, what if we regard the learner as our customer? What if we acknowledge that many children know what they want but are afraid to give voice to their opinions? Here's a "student voice" workshop to start the process:

1. What do you like about your lessons?
2. What could be improved about your lessons?
3. Describe the most boring lesson you have ever had. What happened?
4. Describe the most exciting lesson you have ever had. What happened?
5. Which of these learning activities do your really like and why? Problem solving, teamwork, using technology, internet research, library research, discussion, making things, answering the teachers questions, listening to the teacher, copying from the blackboard, text book exercises.
6. Which of these learning activities do your really dislike and why? Problem solving, teamwork, using technology, internet research, library research, discussion, making things, answering the teachers' questions, listening to the teacher, copying from the blackboard, text book exercises.
7. What are the rules for your classroom? What is expected of you?
8. If you could invent some new rules for your classroom what would they be?
9. What does your teacher do to teach you? e.g. ask you questions.
10. If you could change the way school is organized what would you do?
11. In what ways is your home life different from your school life?
12. What kinds of tools/things do you use at school as part of your learning e.g. books, computers and how do you use them?
13. What kinds of tools/things do you use at home as part of your life e.g. books, computers and how do you use them?
14. How much opportunity is there in school to use the tools that you use in your home life? e.g. phone, computer, internet, chat rooms etc.
15. Describe some ways that you might use some of these tools in how you learn within the school?
16. How much time do you spend at school using computers in your learning and how much time at home?
17. What is your preferred way of learning and why?
18. What way of learning do you least prefer and why?
19. Describe the kinds of activities in which you feel really excited and engaged, so that time passes quickly.
20. What are your hobbies, sports, interests?
21. What do you do really well?
22. What kind of career do you think you will pursue?

# Findlay, J., Fitzgerald, R.N. & Hobby, R. (2004). Learners as customers. Proceedings of the International Conference on Educational Technology (ICET), Singapore, September 9-10, 2004.

The power of rich questions

It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are two pictures created using social network analysis software that illustrate the differences between two types of conversation.

The charts represent the conversations between students in a classroom in response to closed and open-ended questions. The red dots represent the students, Jane, Tom, Dick, Harry etc. and the blue dots are their responses, numbers 1,2,3...etc.

The first image is the students' response to a closed question such as "What color is the sky?" It shows how the conversation comes to an abrupt halt. One main idea. Once said, there is nothing more to say.


The second image is the student's response to an open-ended discussable question/task, such as "Thinking about all the different emotions you feel, e.g. fear, sadness, happiness, etc. how do they impact on what you do/how you respond to these situations?" It shows a conversation that develops, and generates an explosion of ideas. And someone who had nothing to say.


The questions that generate the richest conversations catalyze reminders to related concepts, which belong in families which Ludwig Wittgenstein called "language games".

For example, when we are asked to think about a motor car engine, we might recall piston, crankshaft, valves, petrol, lubricating oil, water to cool the engine exhaust etc. When we are asked to think about emotions we might recall anger, fear, sadness, happiness etc. Sometimes, the questions are so rich and powerful, they help us create/represent knowledge about how the concepts connect/relate to each other.

It is our ability to ask these kinds of questions, that help us become capable "knowledge workers", to work with others to create new knowledge from our observations of what is happening in the world that we may not have experienced or noticed before. We could of course, use Blooms Taxonomy, to help us think about the different kinds of questions/thinking operations we could use. You might also consult Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blooms_taxonomy.

So here's a method to craft fantastic question sequences/thinking methods:

1. Describe a topic/issue in five words or less.
2. What is the context for the learning activity? Discipline, focus, age and experience etc.
3. What will/could excite, engage or amaze the learner?
4. Make a list of all the ideas/concepts/relationships between concepts we would like the learner to discover.
5. Make a list of all the ideas/concepts/relationships between concepts we could expect the learner to already know.
6. Craft open-ended RICH questions that explore the topic in engaging/amazing ways. Include scaffolds, rich language etc.
7. How will we organize the questions into a logical sequence that builds knowledge as the learner follows the pathway? Start with the tacit knowledge/prior knowledge/a simple experiment and end up a question for creating a model, proposing a theory, reaching a decision, devising an action plan etc.

No right or wrong answers, just better

What if there were no right or wrong answers in maths? What if we learned maths like we learn life? Just better guesses, or closer approximations to the "truth".

Here's an approach to learning that turns students into investigators/good guessers and makes them more responsible for their own learning, in the same way that workers on the factory floor in many industries are now responsible for their own productivity/quality improvements.

It's an approach that has helped the Japanese motor car and electronics industries become extraordinarily successful. But they had a lot of help from a mentor, Edwards Demming, one of the father's of the quality movement around the world. He was more famous in Japan, where his methods were adopted, than America, where he lived.

He developed methods for the collection and statistical analysis of manufacturing and process errors to improve product and service quality. But his most important new idea was to give the workers responsibility for finding errors and working out what to do, rather than management going around with a stop watch or micrometer and apportioning blame.

We first tried this error detection method in the late 1990s with a group of 12 secondary school students in years 7 through 10 who had a shaky knowledge of multiplication tables. They used a team learning system to collect their responses anonymously (they could not see each others' contributions) to 100 multiplication problems e.g. What's 5 x 9?

When the contributions were revealed, the students looked for patterns of errors, brainstormed ideas for eliminating them and applied their ideas to new problems.

They noticed that most errors occurred with 7x, 8x, 9x, and 12x tables, and generally with the higher numbers in these series. They also realized that difficult to remember multiplication tables could often be inferred from a lower (or higher) table that was easier to remember, for example 9 x 10 is easy to remember, but 9 x 9 = 81 is difficult. So start with 90 and subtract 9.

They shared techniques they had learned individually. For example, add a zero to a number to multiplying by 10, e.g. 8 x 10 = 80. To calculate numbers multiplied by 11, repeat the number, e.g. 9 x 11 = 99, at least up to 9. They also trialed a method to become familiar with the numbers in each multiplication table, by completing both ascending and descending series, for example 7, 14, 21 etc. and 99, 96, 93, etc.

At the start of the four session trial the error rate was 37.5% and at the end 7.5%.

So here's the method:

7 x 7
8 x 3
9 x 2
6 x 4
...more tasks
8 x 8
12 x 11
5 x 9
Thinking about our performance, where did we perform well?
Thinking about our performance, where did we make most of our mistakes?
What happens in your mind when you get it right? What do you feel?
What happens in your mind when you are having difficulties? What do you feel?
Describe a trick/technique you use to remember?
How could we improve our performance?
Apply new rules to: 10 x 10
6 x 3
12 x 6
7 x 9
12 x 8
....more tasks...

Paying teachers to be innovators

It was the 1960s. The inspectors expected us to teach to the curriculum and to employ a modest range of acceptable pedagogical methods. That's the aspect of maths teaching I now regard as worrisome. On the other hand, Martin, our maths coordinator encouraged us to be inventive. That's the aspect of teaching of which I am proud.

One of my classes was Year 9, the testosterone years. They were the weakest group and had a maths age of about Grade 2. There was absolutely no point adding to their confusion by filling them up with abstract algebra and geometry, which demanded a solid foundation.

I discovered that most of my students did not understand the concept of numbers, let alone more complicated mathematical ideas. I remembered my automatic knowledge of basic arithmetic was learned by playing cards from about the age of two with my parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents.

So we trialed snap, poker, twenty-one, gin rummy and euchre. They quickly caught on and learned a a whole bunch of other mathematical ideas such as sets (Spades, Clubs, Hearts and Diamonds), series (1,2,3. etc.), variables (wild cards which can be another card) and probability, such as turning up a specific card (1 chance in 52 less the number of cards dealt). And they had a lot of fun!

Since then I have had the pleasure to work with Ian, a brilliant maths teacher at a secondary school in the North of England. He routinely asks his students to scour the web and find fun simulations and images around which they can design and facilitate their own learning activities. It takes just one year for the students to learn to think and work like mathematicians, by discussing the meaning of mathematical concepts, and exploring how they can be applied to real world situations. In the maths class, they stay on task for hours, help/lead/coach each other and are confident, because they learn about/discover how they learn. When they go to other classes, they return to being feral.

So teachers, let's innovate, with the help of the customer. Let try new tools/methods/approaches in the classroom and encourage students to do the same, and in the process devise new ways of learning. And for both students and teachers to be researchers, to establish which methods work best. And why not pay teachers to be innovators, so that's what we focus on? Constant improvement!

So here's a workshop to conduct with students on pedagogical innovation:

1. Brainstorm a list of tools/technologies/methods that we do not currently use in the classroom, and why we you don't use them e.g. twitter....
2. Choose one of the list of tools/technologies/methods you currently do not use in the classroom and explain how you could use it for a highly engaging/interesting learning activity.
3. How could student become the designers and facilitators of their own learning activities? Give some examples of things to do.
4. How could students measure/evaluate new teaching/learning methods so they have greater responsibility for their own learning performance improvement? Give examples of things to do.
5. Devise a scheme that pays teachers to be innovators, and constantly improve learning performance, student engagement and enjoyment.

We are the children of the stars

Darryl Reanney, philosopher, scientist and author of the book "The Death of Forever", once observed that "we are the children of the stars".

It is an interesting slant on a big scientific idea, that helps us to discuss the subject in a very direct, personal and meaningful way.

When we look up at the night sky, we are observing our ancestry. The heavier atoms such as oxygen and iron from which our bodies are made, were forged in the furnaces of the stars, fused from the simpler elements of hydrogen and helium during the collapse of stars nearing the end of their lives, and then blasted into space. The dust from these gigantic galactic explosions, or supernovae, coalesced to form new stars and planets, and ultimately us.

On our own planet earth, these heavy elements are the foundation for life as we know it. The water in our bodies, the air we breathe, the iron to make haemaglobin which gives our blood the red color and transports oxygen around, the steel for knives and forks, houses, skyscrapers, cars or railway lines, which are the tools of our creation. A 14,000 million year journey.

So here's some questions for you and your science/philosophy students to consider:

1. When you look up at the night sky and see all the stars, what amazes you?
2. If light from the furthest part of the observable universe has taken 14,000 million years to reach us, what does this say about a human lifetime of 70-80 years, and our place in the universe?
3. Thinking about the idea that "we are the children of the stars" describe your ancestry over the past 14,000 million years.
4. Imagine you are an atom of oxygen(O), forged in a star 10,000 million years ago, that is now part of a water molecule (H20) in your body. Describe your journey...