This article, Innovation with Teaching and Learning Pedagogy, is delivered from research via SRI International, the UK Academy movement and my personal Educational leadership experience having been Principal of schools in New Zealand, London and Kuala Lumpur.
These pedagogical innovations are already in place and hold true educational currency but, as yet, have not yet had a profound influence on education. I believe that they should, and that they will. Innovation with Teaching and Learning Pedagogy is a needed thought change to enable our young people to meet the demands of the future, and to take up the careers of the future, these careers and roles that currently do not exist.
Innovation With Teaching And Learning Pedagogy
1. Crossover Learning
Crossover learning (innovation with teaching and learning pedagogy) is an extremely successful and powerful way for schools and institutions to capitalise on the student learning that happens in informal settings, such as museums and after-school clubs,
Crossover learning links educational content with everyday experiential learning and issues that matter to students in their lives.
These experiential learning connections work in both directions.
- Learning in schools and colleges can be enriched by experiences from everyday life;
- Informal learning can be deepened by adding questions and knowledge from the classroom and school environment.
These connected experiences spark further interest and motivation to learn and lead to innovation with teaching and learning pedagogy.
One of the most effective method is when the teacher proposes and discusses a question in the classroom. From this initial discussion the learners are then required to explore/research that initial question on a museum visit or field trip, collecting photos or notes as evidence, then share their findings back in the class to produce individual or group answers.
These pedagogical crossover learning experiences draw n the learning strengths of both environments and provide students with authentic, real and truly engaging opportunities for learning. Since we are lifetime learners the crossover learning occurs throughout a lifetime, drawing on experiences across multiple settings, the wider opportunity is to support learners in recording, linking, recalling and sharing their diverse learning events.
2. Learning Through Argumentation
When looking specifically at curriculum related innovation with teaching and learning pedagogy students can advance their understanding of science and mathematics by arguing in ways similar to professional scientists and mathematicians.
This pedagogical methodology of Argumentation helps students attend to contrasting ideas, this deepens their true understanding and their learning. It takes the pedagogy of technical reasoning and makes it public, therefore is available for all to learn. It also allows students to refine their ideas in discussion and openness of thought with others.
Once our students gain confidence to share their thoughts, their reasoning and their argumentation with others they understand and utilise the methods in which scientists work together to establish or refute their academic claims.
The role of the teacher is paramount. Using Argumentation as part of their innovation with teaching and learning pedagogy can spark meaningful discussion in classrooms by encouraging students to ask open-ended questions, re-state remarks in more scientific language, and develop and use models to construct explanations.
When students argue in scientific ways it opens truly educational scientific dialogue, it realises true scientific educational experience and our learners internalise concepts required for lifetime learning success such as how to take turns, listen actively, and how to respond constructively to others.
As educators we realise that this methodology is abstract to our taught “teacher thought” so schools and higher education institutes must ensure professional development of faculty. Professional development can help teachers to learn these strategies and overcome challenges, such as how to share their intellectual expertise and experiential learning with students appropriately.
3. Incidental Learning
Incidental learning, as it sounds, is unplanned or unintentional learning. Incidental learning is one of our top areas for Innovation With Teaching And Learning Pedagogy.
Incidental learning occurs while carrying out an activity that is seemingly unrelated to what is actually being learned. The early research into incidental learning came to educationalists from possibly unrelated research into how people learn from their daily routines in their current workplaces.
A prime example of incidental learning emerged from how technology and mobile devices have now been integrated into our daily lives, providing many opportunities for technology-supported incidental learning.
Using technology in our everyday lives has led to much learning and pedagogical change. Unlike formal education, incidental learning is not led by the teacher, nor does it follow any form of structured curriculum. Likewise it does not offer any result in formal certification.
Incidental learning is completely different from “self gratifying learning”. It offers no direct self benefit. Incidental learning may actually be the way in which we, as learners, trigger self-reflection and can be used to encourage us as learners to reconceive what would otherwise be isolated learning fragments and use as part of a more coherent and longer term learning journey.
4. Context-Based Learning
Context enables us to learn from experience.
Contextual Learning means we interpret new information in the context of where and when it occurs and we are able to relate it to what we already know.
Innovation With Teaching And Learning Pedagogy – Contextual Learning means we come to understand contextual relevance and meaning.
In a classroom or lecture theater, the context is typically confined to a fixed space and limited time. Beyond the classroom, learning can come from an enriched context such as visiting a heritage site or museum, or being immersed in a good book. Experiential learning combines with the contextual and adds depth and breadth to our learning journey.
We all have continual contextual opportunities to create contextual learning moments, by interacting with others, with the natural surroundings, with the environment, holding conversations with others in our lives, by taking and making notes, and by our opportunity to modify nearby objects. We also learn contextually through our ability to impact the design of our learning life path and exploring the world around us.
It follows that to design truly effective sites for learning, our schools, our universities, our colleges, our museums and our websites, requires a deeper understanding of how contextual learning shapes and is shaped by the process of learning.
5. Computational Thinking
Computational thinking is a truly powerful Innovation With Teaching And Learning Pedagogy approaches to thinking and problem solving.
It involves the breaking of larger problems down into much smaller ones (called decomposition), it also involves the recognition of how this relates to problems that have been solved in the past (called pattern recognition).
Computational Thinking involves the ability to set aside unimportant details (abstraction), identify and develop the steps that will be necessary to reach a solution (algorithms) and refine these steps (debugging).
Such computational thinking skills can be valuable in many aspects of life, ranging from writing the recipe you love and enable you to share your favorite dish with friends, through to planning a wonderful holiday or long time desired expedition, to deploying a scientific team to tackle a difficult challenge like an outbreak of disease.
Innovation With Teaching And Learning Pedagogy via computational thinking is to teach children to structure problems so they can be solved.
Computational thinking can be taught as part of the structured curriculum. This can be via mathematics, science and even in the arts or in other settings. The aim is not just to encourage children to be computer coders, but also to master an art of thinking that will enable them to tackle complex challenges in all aspects of their lives. Thinking and structure enable Innovation With Teaching And Learning Pedagogy and bring lifelong learning strategies to the forefront of the learning experience.