TBers, The next Teaching Breakfast get together is tomorrow (Nov 5) at 8 am in Morris Hall. We will be talking about ways to invite dialogue in the classroom. As a reminder, one way to invite dialogue is reposted below. Please bring your thoughts/ideas on this teaching method. I hope to see you tomorrow. Jim G. > From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:57:10 -0400 > To: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]> > Conversation: On Teaching and Learning - Posted to TB List by Jim Greenberg > Subject: On Teaching and Learning - Posted to TB List by Jim Greenberg > > TBers, > > The posting below looks at the importance of asking open-ended questions in > our teaching. It is from Chapter 7, Open Questions Invite Dialogue, in the > book, On Teaching and Learning: Putting the Principles and Practices of > Dialogue Education into Action, by, Jane Vella, who among other things is the > founder of Global Learning Partners in Rleigh, North Carolina. She can be > reached at: [log in to unmask] Published by Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint > 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741-[www.josseybass.com]. > Copyright © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted > with permission. > > > Open Questions Invite Dialogue > > The simple tactic of asking open questions in educational design can become a > strategy. Open questions do invite dialogue. There is no more powerful tool to > stimulate authentic, constructed knowing and vigorous learning. A learning > task is an open question put to a small group with all the resources they need > to respond. > > Open questions elicit the power of context and life. The open question assumes > respect for learners and for their experience and current knowledge. Open > questions often begin with How: How would this theory work in my setting? How > will I teach this skill to my colleagues? How will this help me respond to my > problematic situation? How does this all relate to my life and context? > > When an open question has been asked of a group, it is imperative that the > teacher sit still, be quiet, and pay attention. There is a great temptation to > respond ourselves to the question just posed. This can mean our stealing the > learning opportunity from the learners. The quiet that occurs before dialogue > around a meaningful open question is sacred and essential to their learning. > > Closed Questions > > Most of us have spent a great deal of our lives as school-based learners > responding to closed questions. In church school, the catechism did not even > put the answer at the back of the book: it was right there! That "learning" > involved question and response-repeat the question, give the printed response. > > Whose learning were we learning? In those classrooms, all disciplines had the > textbook with the pink cover (teacher's edition) with the answers to all the > tests in the back. Little wonder we grew up as linear thinkers, knowing for > certain that there was one answer and it was in the back of the (pink) book. > > In some bleak pedagogical archive there must be a text describing a method of > teaching that looks much like fishing. The teacher says: Today we will cover > the political geography of Europe. What is the capital of the United Kingdom? > And of France? Of Germany? Of Belgium? > > At this moment, classes in university, community college, and technical > schools are beginning with a set of fishing questions. This behavior is as far > from dialogue education as is possible. These are not open questions, but > closed questions with a sting of domination. I know; you do not know. > > From Closed to Open Questions > > London was indeed the capital of England and Paris of France-but how did that > happen? Why London? Why Paris? What is the relation of one to the other? What > would have been the effect of making a coastal town in France the capital > city, or of making Belfast the capital of the UK? How does this dialogue > relate to the Middle East and the issue of Jerusalem? Imagine the difference > in the quality of dialogue and of learning with this kind of thinking: the > opposite of linear thinking. Such open questions invite connected, circular, > profound, open thinking. Dana Zohar (1997) suggests this is quantum thinking. > She explains these differences through quantum physics in terms of three > functions of the brain: the one-to-one leap of energy between neurons on a > neural tract, which she calls serial thinking; the leap of energy in a pattern > across a neural network, which she calls patterned or associative thinking; > and the explosion of energy throughout the whole brain using a network of > neural networks, which she names quantum thinking. > > Here are some examples. > > Serial thinking: What is the capital of Portugal? The capital of Portugal is > Lisbon. > > Patterned thinking: What do you notice about many of the capital cities of > Europe? Many of the capitals of Europe are on waterways. > > Quantum thinking: Political and economic realities are and have always been > deeply entwined. Notice that all of the capitals of Europe are on waterways. > How is the Internet, which we are using for this course, a global waterway? > Where do you think the capital of the Internet lies? > > Open questions are involved in patterned and quantum thinking. > > Teaching as dialogue invites quantum thinking and quantum learning (Vella, > 2002). It is the transformational learning that Mezirow (1991) defined. The > quality of such learning may be one cogent answer to current problems in > education at every level. The open question does not belittle facts and > figures; it moves directly to examine them , to analyze the connections, and > to consider the implications. Whatever you are teaching, a linear recital of > facts and figures is hardly worth the effort. The definition of a learning > task includes reference to open questions. A learning task is an open question > put to a small group with all the resources they need to respond. The > resources (facts and figures) can be incontrovertible data. However, this is > not what you are teaching. Such data is available on the Internet with a flick > of the finger: go to Google or to any search engine with the right question. > Here are examples of data: > > Over thirty thousand humans have been killed in the Iraq war. > China's population in 2007 is estimated to be 1,321,851,888. > Mozart composed twelve operas from 1767 to 1791. > The seven design steps of dialogue education are Who? Why? When? Where? What? > What for? and How? > > The content of your teaching is not mere data or information, but the meaning > of that information in a particular context. Testing is often an examination > of learner's retention of data. It often involves serial thinking. Evaluation > in dialogue education is not testing: it is rather an examination and > evaluation of behavioral indicators that show constructed, quantum knowing > (see Part Four, Sure). > > Examples > > Here are two dialogue education designs showing quantum knowing that includes > serial and patterned knowing. > > Dialogue Education Lesson 1: The Fatalities of the Iraq War 2003-2007 > > What? (content): > > Thousands of men, women, and children have died in this Iraq war (2003-2007). > > What for? (achievement-based objectives): > > By the end of this class, all will have > > * Calculated the cost of the Iraq war in human lives; examined pictures of the > dead. > * Identified contemporaries among them. > * Composed a short letter to the family of a contemporary killed in this war. > > How? (learning tasks and materials): > > * Examine these charts of up-to-date data at your table. > * Look at these sets of pictures of war dead: Iraqi and Coalition forces. > * Identify contemporaries: men and women your own age. > * Compose a short letter from your table group to that person's family. > > Dialogue Education Lesson 2: China's Population Growth 2007 > > What? (content): > > China's population in 2007 is estimated to be 1,321,900,000 > > What for? (achievement-based objectives): > > By the end of this class all will have > * Identified on a map of china the areas of most rapid growth. > * Named strengths and problems in this growth pattern. > > How? (learning tasks to be done in small groups): > > * Examine this graph of China's population in 2007. > * Identify on the wall map of China areas of growth. > * Name strengths and dangers of this growth pattern for China's development. > > Notice that the steps in this learning task are indeed open questions, and > that they move across cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects of > learning. > > Implementation Challenge 7A: Face-to-Face > > Consider a course you are now teaching or designing for a face-to-face > situation. How do you see using your understanding about serial, patterned, > and quantum learning? How can this knowledge enhance your design? > > Implementation Challenge 7B: On-Line > > Consider an on-line course you have designed or taught or are teaching, or one > that you have taken. How would changing closed questions to open questions > affect that design? Where in that course do you see serial, patterned, and > quantum learning? Mr. James B. Greenberg Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Milne Library SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, New York 13820 blog: The 32nd Square at http://32ndsquare.blogspot.com wiki: The 32nd Square at http://32ndsquare.wikidot.com email: [log in to unmask] phone: 607-436-2701 fax: 607-436-3081 IM: oneontatltc Twitter: greenbjb Yammer: https://www.yammer.com/users/greenbjb Identi.ca: http://identi.ca/jimg/all Plurk: greenbjb Myspace: greenbjb Pownce: greenbjb Friendfeed: greenbjb Spoink: greenbjb orkut:Jim Greenberg "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever" P Think before you print! Please consider the environment before printing this email