Empowering Professional Teaching in Engineering. John Heywood

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СКАЧАТЬ on and bringing a critical eye to one’s practice, that is, educational criticism. Eisner wrote: “As one learns to look at educational phenomena, as one ceases using stock responses to educational situations and develops habits of perceptual exploration, the ability to experience qualities and their relationships increases. This phenomenon occurs in virtually every arena in which connoisseurship has developed. The orchid grower learns to look at orchids in a way that expands his or her perception of their qualities. The makers of cabinets pay special attention to finish, types of wood and grains, to forms of joining, to the treatment of edges. The football fan learns how to look at plays” (set pieces in soccer), “defense patterns and game strategies. Once one develops a perceptual foothold in an arena of activity—orchid growing, cabinet making, or football watching—the skills used in that arena, one does not need the continual expertise of the critic to negotiate new works, or games or situations. One generalizes the skills developed earlier and expands them through further application” [8].

      To develop this skill of connoisseurship I suggested to my trainee graduate teachers that at the end of the day they should reflect on what had happened in a class, by trying to visualize that class as an impressionist painting. I hoped it would help them understand (perceive) what had happened that was educationally significant. Exhibit 2.1 shows two reports from student teachers on what happened in their classes when their students were taught a problem solving heuristic. It might be argued that teacher (b) shows more insight than teacher (a) but this is not to say, that with further experience teacher (a) would not show an increase in insight, particularly if he/she had had sight of examples considered to have met the criteria.

      The idea is to see the classroom in a different light. The skill of connoisseurship can only be developed with practice and conversation. To further develop the skill I asked my graduate trainees to provide me with an overall evaluation a week or so after the lesson had been conducted, and after they had analysed the results of the test they had designed to evaluate the strategy used. In the cases shown in Exhibit 2.2 they had been asked to evaluate a reported research on the effect of examples on teaching a concept (see Journey 10). To enable them to complete the final evaluation, I had provided them with a chapter from a book by Howard on concept learning in order for them to make a judgement based on theory and the evaluation practice.

      Eisner’s view that skill in educational criticism requires an adequate theoretical base was met by the provision of Howard’s book. Eisner clarifies what he means by this when he relates it to reflective thinking which he regards as the base for curriculum thinking. He calls the reflective moments that a teacher has “preactive teaching,” a term coined by P. W. Jackson. Such moments occur, Eisner writes, “prior to actual teaching; planning at home, reflecting on what has occurred during a particular class session, and discussing in groups ways to organize the program. Theory here sophisticates personal reflection and group deliberation. In so far as a theory suggests consequences flowing from particular circumstances, it enables those who understand the theory to take these circumstances into account when planning.”

      “In all of this, theory is not to be regarded as prescriptive but as suggestive. It is a framework, a tool, a means through which the world can be construed. Any theory is but part of the total picture… In one sense all teachers operate with theory, if we take theory to mean a general set of ideas through which we make sense of the world” [8].

“All teachers whether they are aware of it or not use theories in their work. Tacit beliefs about the nature of human intelligence, about factors that motivate children, and about the conditions that foster learning in classrooms. These ideas not only influence their actions, they also influence what they attend to in the classroom, that is, the concepts that are salient in theories concerning pedagogical matters also tend to guide perception. Thus, theory inevitably operates in the conduct of teaching as it does in other aspects of educational deliberation. The major need is to be able to view situations from the varied perspectives that different theories provide, and thus, to be in a position to avoid the limited vision of a single view” [9].

      a. “As is normal in these research classes students are issued with the relevant handouts, and began beavering away. The first handout issued related to their emotional and motivational states (questionnaire), the second to their decision making models, the third was a repeat of the Payne experiment, while the fourth familiarized them with the daily decisions of science, the fifth tested the application of problem solving skills. The class was divided in half, one group were given the problem solving sheet (questionnaire 4) and were not shown how to subsequently solve the problem. A second group were tested and subsequently shown the correct way of solving the problem, and then both groups were retested. Discounting memorization this should (by comparative analysis of the scores of group A and B) illustrate if problem solving skills can be taught. Distribution of questionnaires takes up a large proportion of the student teacher’s time in such a class and efficient organization is essential. The sequence of using the questionnaires together with a specified place for each completed set must be designated beforehand by the researcher. Sloppy organization makes for a badly run class and much time can be lost as a result. Students enjoyed playing with the information search ‘card’ sheet which was passed around the class and as students completed the questionnaires. The typing of the questionnaire by the school secretary was of immense benefit, as students were not strained into deciphering my handwriting as is usual, in these exercises where there is usually a large volume of hand written material. Students were patient in filling out the forms and in listening to the initial ‘talk’ given about Kolb, the importance of educational research and decision making skills to examination performance. They co-operated but class noise levels were abnormally high. This exercise extended across 4 classes and what has been included here is a general impression of all classes.” (See Journey 12)

      b. “The first problem set to the class was a chemistry problem and approximately half the class got it correct. I then asked the class to offer their views on what problems they might encounter in their lives. This led to a discussion on the various types of problems that first years (13 years of age) might typically encounter including exam questions, and to how to do away with teachers they didn’t like.”

      “I then explained what a heuristic was, and outlined the steps in the heuristic class to them. We went through the steps in the heuristic and ‘solved’ the problem already given to them. One of the pupil’s (Jordan) thought that four and five were the same, or at least there was not much of a difference between these two steps. Some of the others in the class said that they already used these steps and it was just stating the obvious. They were then set a second problem which they solved by themselves in class, using the heuristic. However, I am not totally convinced that they actually understood the heuristic to the problem. I think that maybe some of the pupils may have grasped the idea of a ‘plan of action’ in order to solve a problem, but the rest have not realized the significance of the heuristic and have not used it to help them solve the problem.”

      “Although the pupils seemed to enjoy the discussion of problems in general (which were not subject related) they did not appear willing (or maybe able) to apply the heuristic. I don’t think this lesson was the most successful lesson I have ever taught.”

Exhibit 2.1: Two reports from student teachers on what happened in their classes when their students were taught a problem solving heuristic.

      (a) “In conclusion, I wish to say that the whole exercise was a very interesting process in which I learned something new about educational theory, my subject, my students, and myself. I feel that this single small experiment was an imperfect attempt to assess the СКАЧАТЬ