I am reading Enquiring Minds by Microsoft. It is a document with theory, tips and resources geared to help you help your students think… no it helps you to demand that your students think critically and creatively. “Enquiring Minds is a research and development project exploring questions of educational change. The aim of Enquiring Minds is to enable students to take more responsibility for the content, processes and outcomes of their learning.”
Interesting guide with basis on making a shift to empowering students more.
http://www.enquiringminds.org.uk/pdfs/Enquiring_Minds_guide.pdf
Their philosophy is a change from what some people have called ‘transmission’ pedagogy to a ‘co-constructive’ pedagogy / ‘enquiry’ pedagogy).
Transmission pedagogy (teacher as lecturer) has a number of features:
- teacher teaches and students are taught
- teacher knows a great deal and students know little
- teacher thinks and students are thought about
- teacher talks and students listen
- teacher chooses and enforces her/his choice and students comply
- teacher chooses the course content and the students adapt and respond to it.
Features of enquiry pedagogy (teacher as facilitator/learner) include:
- teacher and students are co-learners
- teacher uses her/his knowledge and understanding to elicit
- and bring on students’ knowledge
- the classroom is a place where teacher and students think together
- teacher and students develop ways to talk together
- students take on more responsibility for how the classroom
- should be and how learning takes place
- students choose the course content and teachers adapt and respond to it.
The guide doesn’t re-write the way to teach, it just tweaks it a little so that the student has more authority over their own learning. It can only work if a teacher is using best practice techniques coupled with a caring and sharing learning community.
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