In this blog, I will consider three classroom learning environments to determine how they contribute to high student performance. I will reflect on what I do to create a high-performance learning environment.
In this video, we see that the teacher, Donna Migdol of Oceanside School District, New York, has high academic expectations of her fifth-grade students. One would assume that a fifth-grade S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) teacher would believe her pupils were very capable. She gave them a group project (PBL), designing a styrofoam roller coaster that was both fun and safe.
Migdol communicates high confidence in her students during the chiming sessions. At the beginning of the week, each team selects a student to be their chimer. The chimer reflects on last week’s design difficulties. Then the rest of the students chime in with suggestions for solving those difficulties. Migdol doesn’t interject her solutions into the dialogue thus showing her confidence in the collaborative abilities of the students. Migdol uses the vocabulary of physics and expects the students to do likewise (e.g. potential energy, kinetic energy). And she gladly provides a very limited number of construction resources and plenty of constraints because scarcity and difficulty make students better problem solvers. In addition to all these, Migdol asks questions that require critical thinking on the students’ part.
Although behavioral expectations aren’t mentioned, clearly the teacher assumes that the students will be kept busy and out of trouble by immersion in this rigorous and fun group project. Collaboration is a norm of this class, and all follow procedures such as the procedure of taking notes on the computer simulation results and determining improvements for future success.
In the second video, we hear primary students reciting math tables and (possible) math rules.
In his article, Kan Wei explains factors in Chinese math instruction that lead to high student performances. Basically, students are called on constantly to demonstrate the correct way for solving various math problems. Wei says that students develop and prove their answers to problems while standing in front of the whole class, take grade-level tests every two to three week, answer “why”, “how”, and “what if” questions, and strictly follow the proper mathematical formatting of answers. The pressure of high expectation is a norm of Chinese math students.
In this third video you can see a noisy but fun learning environment. Whole Brain Teaching incorporates movement, gestures, choral repetition, educational games and many other techniques in classroom instruction. As the name implies, this method’s goal is to stimulate as much of the brain as possible during a lesson, similar to the way video games engage the whole mind. The more the student is immersed in the subject while simultaneously being unaware of this, the more like play and less like work the educational process becomes. Boredom is not the norm for the method. Grabbing and keeping the students’ attention is the norm.
Reflection
As I compare the three learning environments, I see a similarity between the first two approaches. Both operate under the assumption that students are capable of demonstrating high levels of conceptual understanding. The first class does it by applying what they have learned to a project- or problem-based lesson. Students collaborate and are almost entirely dependent on each other to develop solutions. The second class is drilled to the point that each individual can demonstrate a high level of proficiency through various assessments. Teachers teach detailed lessons in both classrooms and expect a lot in return from their pupils.
I also see a similarity between the first and third environments. The third classroom operates under the following assumption: the degree to which students remain engaged in the learning environment is directly related to how interesting and stimulating the presentation is to the whole brain. I would say that the first environment shares this assumption because it incorporated the use of project- or problem-based learning activities. The Roller Coaster project (including the use of the computer simulation) is an incredibly interesting learning experience.
Summary
My approach to creating a high-performance learning environment more closely resembles the Chinese math approach. I work example math problems of increasing complexity on the whiteboard. I have students compete to solve problems at the front of the class. I also test them every two to three weeks. Because I do not give makeup work or extra credit assignments, my students know they have to pass my tests.
I do not drill my students repeatedly like in the Chinese math video, however. I should though! Students seem to quickly forget the rules for adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing negative integers and other concepts. They need these concepts permanently etched in their brains, and the sooner the better.
Having said that, I would prefer my teaching style to become more like the first video. I want to give more engaging assessments like project- or problem-based lessons. A blend of rigor and fun seems better than what I currently do. Some of my students are turned off to my teaching style, but they would be more engaged if given a choice of projects to complete. Perhaps this would enable those students to meet the high expectations I have of them.
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