A New Culture of Learning

“Tell me, and I’ll forget. Teach me, and I’ll remember. Involve me, and I’ll learn” (Franklin, n.d.). This quote exemplifies the thinking educators need to embrace as they shift their classrooms to a more holistic view of learning. But if Ben Franklin’s lifespan was from 1730-1774, then why is instruction still teacher-centered? Why are educators still telling students what they need to learn? The answer to these questions aren’t abundantly clear, but the truth remains, learning environments need to change.

The current classroom backdrop is still geared toward outdated methodologies, ones that don’t match up with the times or sufficiently prepare students for jobs of the future. As Thomas and Brown declare in the book, A New Culture of Learning (Thomas and Brown, 2011), the old methods are “mechanistic," and a one-size-fits-all approach cannot possibly meet the needs of all learners or adequately prepare them to embrace change. Telling students what to do, say, write, and think minute by minute as they sit in today’s classrooms will not teach them to think quickly on their feet, monitor and adjust, or adapt when new innovations and alterations come their way. They need to learn to remain fluid in a world that is constantly evolving, but what is the best way to teach this all-important skill? Current research proves the solution may be found in the adoption of a holistic view of learning along with the creation of significant learning environments.

Moving toward a holistic approach in teaching and learning seems to be the direction all educators should consider, but what are the best ways to transform the classroom environment and create a new culture of learning? As a secondary educator, I will apply ideas from the book, A New Culture of Learning (Thomas and Brown, 2011) to my current teaching environment to help spark some ideas for other educators. Some of the things I am considering are explained below. Keep reading!

21st Century Skills

A recent internet publication created by Envision EMI claimed that the critical 21st Century skills students need to develop are collaboration and teamwork, creativity and imagination, critical thinking, and problem solving (Potter, Sikorsky, and Whitener, 2014). Most of the concepts introduced in A New Culture of Learning (Thomas and Brown 2011) coincide seamlessly with these four areas, and it is refreshing to have guidance as far as the direction educators need to move while attempting to renovate their classrooms. Based on what I have learned through my research and reading, the fundamental ideas I would like to adopt in my classroom are peer-to-peer learning, combining the personal with the collective, inquiry-based learning, and learning through play.

Peer-to-Peer Learning

As Thomas and Brown argued, “In the new culture of learning, people learn through their interaction and participation in fluid relationships that are the result of shared interest and opportunity” (2011). Historically, students have been learning from each other for quite some time, but the connection between this concept and the development of 21st Century skills is a relatively new concept. Since collaboration and teamwork are vital to the success of future endeavors, a classroom layout should be one that is conducive to peer-to-peer learning by allowing for flexible seating. Once this setup has been established, students will be likely to form alliances with each other, build trusting relationships, and the end result will be the establishment of the all-important “collective” (Thomas and Brown, 2011).

The utilization of a collective in a learning environment is proven to enhance educational outcomes along with making students adaptable to change (Thomas and Brown, 2011). When individuals participate in a collective learning environment, they bring their own unique knowledge and education to the group and learning is enhanced by collaboration and the exchange of information. Person-to-person, learners build on the ideas of one another, lifting each other up when a deficit is encountered, and leaning on each other as they search for answers when no one is in the know. This concept is not new or revolutionary, but with the added benefit of 21st Century technology tools, there may be enough ammunition to take any challenge head-on and possibly even take the world by storm. Student collaboration combined with endless resources at their fingertips could yield unimaginable results.

An added benefit of establishing a collective is the ability to cultivate a student’s tacit knowledge. There is accuracy in Thomas and Brown’s assertion that, “we know more than we can say” (2011). This is especially true for those quiet students in the class who are afraid to contribute to class discussions or the ones who find it hard to get a word in when the talkers in class tend to dominate the conversation. Providing learners an opportunity to collaborate in small groups in conjunction with a virtual environment can give teachers a chance to see how much students really know since the pressure to provide perfect answers is eliminated when you take the whole-group setting out of the equation. New voices will be heard as a teacher walks around and listens to the conversations taking place in small groups, and learning will be documented electronically as students collaborate through blog entries and online discussions. Additionally, one idea will often lead to another, and students will draw out understanding they have never articulated as they respond to comments and observations made by their classmates. Since all individuals are unique, one learner may think of expressing a connection a fellow student hadn’t thought of but has knowledge of, so he or she will chime in with some additional ideas. Through the repetition of this process, learners will continually participate in tacit learning, and these experiences will generate higher-level thinking and knowledge retention.

The first step in creating my significant learning environment will be shifting my classroom setup and arranging my students in small collaborative groups to help facilitate the establishment of several working collectives in each section that I teach. I believe grouping them based on personal interests is the key since it will help to fulfill the next step in my plan: combining the personal with the collective.

Combining the Personal with the Collective

Since the evolution of the Internet, individuals have been using social media sites, message boards, and chat programs for personal enjoyment and to explore individual interests. They often form a "collective" (Thomas and Brown 2011) online with people who share similar hobbies or recreational pursuits, but as Thomas and Brown conclude, “…although they are constantly learning about the things that really interest them, those things are rarely acknowledged in educational environments” (2011). It is true that often a student’s personal interests are held separately from the learning they are acquiring at school. In order to enhance engagement as I recreate my learning environment, I plan to combine the personal and the "collective" (Thomas and Brown 2011) by having the students create a personal interest blog and add to it daily. We will then post the links for our blogs by category, and students will share ideas and comment on other blogs of classmates with similar hobbies. The blog posts will include the analysis of informational articles and videos to expose the students to the expository writing that is required of them in 9th grade. Additionally, researching a familiar topic will create an environment that includes another important piece of fostering a holistic approach to learning: inquiry.

Inquiry-Based Learning

Thomas and Brown declared that, “Inquiry is an extremely powerful technique for learning because it produces stockpiles of experiences” (2011), but what is the best way to foster a learning environment of inquiry and discovery? After doing some quick research to identify a strategy for implementing an explorative method in my classroom, I feel that Project Based Learning is the perfect solution to help me adopt a holistic learning approach. For those who are unfamiliar with PBL, here is a quick overview of its premise:

PBL is the ongoing act of learning about different subjects simultaneously. This is achieved by guiding students to identify, through research, a real-world problem (local to global) developing its solution using evidence to support the claim, and presenting the solution through a multimedia approach based in a set of 21st-century tools (Wolpert-Gawron, 2015).

Based on the definition and many facets of PBL, it seems to match up with many of the ideals behind holistic learning. It may look a little different in my classroom since students will be working through the activities in their “collective” (Thomas and Brown, 2011), but the process of researching real-world problems, collecting evidence, and presenting solutions with 21st Century tools is exactly what needs to take place if I am going to adopt the new culture in my classroom. One example of a PBL that might be assigned in an English classroom is the topic of survival in connection with Andy Weir’s book, The Martian (2014). Students will explore NASA, space travel, and elements of survival in outer space to bring the problems the protagonist faces in the novel to life throughout the reading (Fix, 2016). Since group survival in outer space is a fun and interactive, real-world topic, this PBL will help to fulfill the next item on my implementation list: learning through play.

Learning Through Play

No matter what age, all humans enjoy the opportunity to learn something new through play. Hobbies like gaming, sports, crafting, cooking, and woodworking all require a person to, “hang out and mess around” (Thomas and Brown, 2011) while practicing the skill until they get it right or until their leisure time has ended. The same principles can be applied to the learning environment and can help to enhance educational outcomes. In addition, play can be good for a student’s state of well-being. Hillary Conklin’s study found the following:

One of the casualties of current education reform efforts has been the erosion of play, creativity, and joy from teenagers’ classrooms and lives, with devastating effects. Researchers have documented a rise in mental health problems—such as anxiety and depression—among young people that has paralleled a decline in children’s opportunities to play (2015).

Given this information, it is imperative that educators find ways to reintroduce play in their classrooms, even at the secondary level. I believe that my plan to, “[combine] the personal with the collective” (Thomas and Brown, 2011) will be the first important step in incorporating play into my daily routines. Since students will be interacting in groups with similar interests while researching and writing about those interests, that will help to bring an element of fun to our learning environment.

Another way I like to bring play to the classroom environment is through the use of games. For example, I teach a group of students who are learning to speak English, and I love to play Scrabble with them. They enjoy competing against other as they form words in English, and it helps to build their vocabulary.

In the future, I would like to experiment with some online gaming in conjunction with my curriculum. I recently heard about a role-playing classroom management system called Classcraft (Young, 2013) where an educator can gamify instruction in a similar manner to the character development in World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004) and other massive multi-player online role-playing games. Since many of our students have been gaming since they were small children, I believe the introduction of online gaming will elevate engagement and change the overall look and feel of my classroom environment. The one obstacle I may face when trying to implement this playful strategy is gaining buy-in from leaders in my organization. They may feel the students are not working when they see a video game being played in my class, and this thought leads me to my next topic of exploration: implementation challenges.

Implementation Challenges

The challenges of shifting my classroom environment to a holistic one will be personal, managerial, and organizational. Personally, I will struggle with giving up control of the instruction and it will be hard to resist the urge to tell the students what they should be learning. I will need to strive to give meaningful feedback throughout the process rather than provide strict guidelines as to how the projects will be completed. From a managerial perspective, there will be new challenges in managing student behavior and making sure they stay on task. In the past, when I seated the students in cooperative groups, I experienced problems with excessive talking and disruptions. I will need to be strategic in grouping the kids to make sure I mix the talkers in with the quiet students who get their work done. Finally, organizational challenges will be found as I strive to convince my administration of the importance of holistic learning. They still have the expectation of observing the traditional “mechanistic” (Thomas and Brown, 2011) methods of instruction. I fear I will not receive a proficient observation until they have an understanding of 21st Century teaching strategies, but I believe once they see the results, it will help to sway them.

Impact on My Organization

The results of the changes being made to the look, feel, and routines in my classroom will be evident by student achievement on standardized testing, ACT and SAT scores, technology fluency assessments, and performance in UIL competitions in connection with public speaking and writing measures. Increased college readiness will also be an added benefit since universities are moving toward a collaborative curriculum where students must build on the ideas of others in both electronic and group settings. Last but not least, students will become accustomed to an environment that is constantly evolving and changing and this will prepare them for jobs of the future. Although the many benefits of creating a significant learning environments are obvious to me, I cannot solely make the change since it needs to influence my organization as a whole. This leads to me consider some of the ways I can influence holistic thinking among my peers.

Influencing Holistic Thinking

Some of the ways I can influence holistic thinking in my organization are through education, modeling, and student achievement and feedback. I would love to encourage my entire organization to read A New Culture of Learning (Thomas and Brown, 2011) and complete a book study among colleagues on each individual campus. Exposing them to the learning I have acquired through Lamar University by forming a “collective” (Thomas and Brown, 2011) will be a good way to get buy-in from those who are resistant to change. Once they have read the book, I know many teachers will have questions as they try to implement the strategies from the book, and that is why modeling will be an important facet of the process as I strive to initiate this organizational change. In addition, evidence of elevated student achievement through data analysis will provide proof that my holistic strategies are effective. Finally, student testimonies and word of mouth will have the biggest influence over the staff as I encourage a shift in our learning environments. Those students who become accustomed to collaborating through “collectives” (Thomas and Brown, 2011) will want their other core teachers to adopt the same philosophies, and many will not be afraid to vocalize their wishes. Since the students are our toughest customers, other teachers will be eager to make the switch in order to elevate student engagement once they hear of the success of my classroom strategies. After all, the reason we are all here is for the students, and it is our job to make instruction meaningful for them and to give them a reason to love coming to school each day.

References

Bigstock Images. Education Concept. Digital image. Wix. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.

Blizzard Entertainment. (2004). World of Warcraft. Retrieved from https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/

BrainyQuote. (2016). Benjamin Franklin Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/benjamin_franklin.html

Conklin, H. G. (2015, March 3). Playtime Isn't Just for Preschoolers-Teenagers Need It, Too. Retrieved from http://time.com/3726098/learning-through-play-teenagers-education/

Fix, L. (2016, July 27). The Martian -Problem Based Learning Novel Unit (Common Core Aligned). Retrieved from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Martian-Problem-Based-Learning-Novel-Unit-Common-Core-Aligned-2687402

Potter, A., Whitener, A., & Sikorsky, J. (n.d.). Envision Blog. Retrieved November 19, 2016, from https://www.envisionexperience.com/blog/13-essential-21st-century-skills-for-todays-students

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.

Weir, A. (2014). The Martian: A novel. New York: Crown.

Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2015, January 26). What the Heck Is Project-Based Learning? Retrieved November 19, 2016, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-heck-project-based-learning-heather-wolpert-gawron

Young, S. (2013). Classcraft - Make learning an adventure. Retrieved from https://www.classcraft.com/?utm_expid=106313100-29.Bbrc8z9mSdWCWXQKx10F_g.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.classcraft.com%2Foverview%2F