We live in an age where
science denial has become the norm and where textbook
multinationals are to education what the tobacco
companies are to human health.
As Ken Robinson says, our
children learn to walk and speak in the first two years
of life and then spend the next 16 years sitting on a
chair in silence. If they start to fidget, we think they
are ill and give them amphetamines.
For at least 130 years,
educators and scientists have been telling us how
children learn and we ignore all the evidence with a
determination only matched by our politicians who
refuse to act on the climate change emergency. Einstein noted
that
human stupidity is infinite.
If, however, you really
care about your country and you truly want children to
prosper, listen to the bloody science and act on it.
I am very fortunate in
that the headmaster and staff of my school give me the
space and time to put science into action. Our children
still have to cope with standardized testing because
that is what the national curriculum requires but they
are also given the opportunity to learn in the ways they
are preset to learn.
As the science of
education is in continual development and as I discover
what is especially effective for my students, my
approaches vary and evolve. Nevertheless, I outline
below the essential elements I am putting into practice.
My yardstick is always the same. If the children are
happy, I'm doing it right.
TEN TENETS OF
LEARNING THEORY
BUFF UP YOUR
LEARNING THEORY
1.
When learning is fun,
success is guaranteed.
When learning is boring,
education fails.
In the natural world,
playing and learning are
often the same thing.
Permanent learning involves many
different parts of the brain.
This scientific fact forms the
basis of the
Whole Brain
Teaching method developed by
Chris Biffle.
3.
Our
brains learn by by searching for
and analysing patterns. These
processes are associated with
the neocortex and the
hippocampus. These processes are
natural and automatic and we know that
learning changes us physically,
no matter what our age.
4.
Permanent learning does not take
place without lots of repetition
and practice.
5.
Knowledge is emergent because
all new knowledge and
understanding are based on what
we already know. We can see
learning being shaped like an
inverted cone spirallying
upwards and outwards as we
advance. Textbooks based on
discrete units with little or no
relationship to each other are
therefore worthless.
6.
Intelligence is not "knowing
stuff". Intelligence is seeing
the possibilities new knowledge
gives us. See the work of
Jerome Bruner.
7.
Emotional development and
linguistic development go
hand-in-hand and so we can see
the importance of roleplay
activities in acquiring a
non-native language.
8.
Cognitive neuroscience and
healthy habits are intrinsically
linked. These habits, as
established by
Professor Steve
Peters include:
Smiling
Good manners
Saying sorry
Trying new things
Being kind
Accepting a no
Talking about
feelings
Sharing
Asking for help
Doing your tasks
9.
It has now been statistically
proven that students who have
discovered that reading is a
pleasure do better at school,
including in mathematics and
have more prosperous and happier
lives. See
the research paper by
Dr Alice
Sullivan and Matt Brown
and also the
lecture on
reading by
Stephen Krashen.
10.
Peer teaching or collaborative
learning is more effective
than lecturing for both the peer
who is learning and the
peer who is instructing. This is
where the teacher becomes a
guide-on-the-side as opposed to
a sage-on-the-stage. See the
TED
lecture by Joe
Ruhl.
