Thinking Allowed
Building Students’ Capacity to Learn – Using the Learning Pit as an analogy for the learning process
When was the last time you endeavoured to learn something new? How did you approach this task? Did you quietly persist until the task was mastered? Perhaps after numerous failed attempts you became frustrated and gave up. Maybe you felt so overwhelmed that you went to great lengths to avoid engaging in the task. Learning isn’t meant to be easy. The process of learning requires you to live on the edge of not knowing as you work towards making sense of unfamiliar concepts. It’s this challenge and uncertainty that makes the process of learning so exciting!
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
Alvin Toffler
An unpredictable future awaits the young people of today and indeed the young people of any generation. As educators, we are continually challenged to think about how we can best prepare our students to flourish and thrive as competent, responsible citizens in an everchanging world. The content knowledge our students will try to memorise during their 13 years of schooling is unlikely to help solve the problems of the future. Memory is an ineffective strategy for developing the deep understanding and skill transferability that is required to solve unfamiliar problems. In recent years, much focus has centred on the development of 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity. Underpinning the foundation and development of these 21st century skills lies the ability to learn. It will be the young generation’s ability to learn that will ultimately enable them to develop the skills and key competencies required to survive an unknown future.
Learning to learn is very learnable.
Guy Claxton
Empowering young people with the ability to learn is perhaps the most valuable outcome of education. Not only do teachers need to be masters of teaching content knowledge, they also need to be masters of building each student’s capacity to learn. Guy Claxton, author, cognitive scientist and educational reformer, talks about the “split-screen thinking” approach as a way to stretch and expand students’ learning capacity. On one side of the “screen” teachers are thinking about how they can impart curriculum content knowledge. “Playing” at the same time on the other side of the screen, teachers are thinking about what specific learning dispositions students will need to develop and utilise in order to successfully engage in, and learn from, the curriculum content. This split-screen approach ignites discussions about the process of learning as learning dispositions become increasingly visible and ultimately transferable.
We want our children to be competent, capable, life-long learners who have the confidence to take charge of their own learning both now and in the future. By understanding themselves as learners, students can talk openly and honestly about their learning, they can make decisions about their learning goals and they can assess and evaluate their learning. The Learning Pit, as described by educational expert James Nottingham, is an analogy that can be used to help students understand and take control of their own learning.
When a learner steps outside their comfort zone, then they begin to wobble. That is what learning is all about: wobbling.
James Nottingham
For students to experience growth, they need to engage in challenging tasks that take them to the edge of their knowing and understanding. Providing a platform for a shared language, The Learning Pit helps students to conceptualise the process of learning. Stepping into the Pit requires students to take risks and to recognise and accept that challenge is a good thing. Once in the depths of the Pit, students need to do the hard work of learning for themselves. When it comes to learning, there are no shortcuts! All learners, regardless of ability, should expect to experience discomfort in not knowing an answer. If you are doing something that you can already do, then you’re practising. Learning requires you to step out of your comfort zone and into the zone of proximal development. The zone of proximal development, as described by the famous Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, represents the “sweet spot” when an appropriate level of challenge results in maximised learning potential. As students grapple with a challenging task, they need to demonstrate attributes such as curiosity and imagination as they explore and make sense of the problem. Good learners are comfortable with feeling “stuck” when they’re at the bottom of the Pit. They recognise this as a necessary part of the learning process. Embracing a positive mindset, students utilise different strategies that enable them to think deeply and flexibly about the problem. Mistake making is an important process. Instead of responding emotionally to mistakes, good learners embrace their errors and critically analyse these. They seek and act on feedback and try different approaches as they work towards bridging the gap between not knowing and knowing. In ascending the steep sides of the Pit, good learners demonstrate attributes such as resilience and persistence until they finally reach the point of deep understanding. Learning has triumphed!
Across the Primary School, you will hear girls and teachers engaging in conversations about learning. With the aim of embracing a common language of learning, we want our classroom walls to speak “learnish”. Learning Pit wall displays provide a powerful visual image that girls can use as a ready reference for the process of learning. They can situate themselves at different points in the Pit and can actively reflect on their setbacks and successes. In helping girls to independently persist when they are at the bottom of the Pit, classrooms have developed their own strategies to help learners become ‘unstuck’. It can be nerve-racking to step into the Pit. Taking the first brave step to learn something new requires a spark of curiosity. Our learning spaces strive to nurture children’s curiosity and we actively encourage our girls to take time to wonder as evidenced by our Wonder Walls. Each classroom represents a community of learners who work together to benefit their own and each other’s learning. Our girls are challenged to think about the type of learners they want to be and which learning dispositions they need to work towards developing. The open and honest conversations we have about the learning process within the classroom continues to enhance the power the girls have over their own learning.
By focusing on the process of learning through initiatives like the Learning Pit, we aim to nurture self-aware, competent and confident life-long learners. When learning is visible, classrooms become engaging, interactive hubs of deep, hard thinking and excitement! This is what we want for our girls here at SCEGGS.
Cristi Wilsmore
Head of Teaching and Learning K-6
