Constructing Knowledge in a Geography Class
My 2017 Year 13
Geography class is a mixed ability group of 20 students; 13 boys and 7 girls.
The students have entered Y13 Geography from a number of different pathways;
ranging from a student who gained a NZQA Scholarship in Geography in 2016 as a
Year 12, to students who have no experience of studying Geography at any level.
My school runs a 1:1
laptop programme where every student is expected to have a laptop. The
predominant software used within the classroom is OneNote. This platform gives
the class the basic online structure to aid the delivery of academic content.
This teacher inquiry
will seek to redress a concern that I have about the social atmosphere of my
classroom; specifically the fact that increased, and perhaps poorly executed,
technology integration into the classroom has led to a lack of deeper knowledge
construction.
Stakeholders:
Students: Teacher inquiry must be
student-centred, and I have concerns about the social direction of this class.
Ultimately, I feel students are not reaching the depth of understanding and
critical analysis of information - and this may be due to a flawed example of
technology integration. In short, is 1:1 laptop use increasing the isolation of
students as individuals? Students are obviously the most important group of
stakeholders in this inquiry.
Geography Colleagues:
This research is
directly applicable to other staff in my department. There are two other year
13 Geography teachers, and we are in constant dialogue developing pedagogy. If
I can draw a clear conclusion in this area, then the implications are clear for
these other staff, and their students.
Other Teachers
We are supported to
complete a teacher inquiry each year and are invited to present and share our
findings. Even though this inquiry is being completed in my class, potential
findings have connotations for all senior subjects. I will have the opportunity
to share my progress within my small Professional Learning Group at our Monthly
meetings, and at the end of the year to all staff.
Spiral of Inquiry
This inquiry will be
structured around the Spiral of Inquiry model (Timperley, Kaser & Halbert,
2014). This model has been chosen as it is student centred, and gives me more
opportunity to respond to the needs of a particular group of students. It is
also the model used at my school, and therefore I feel familiar with its
implementation. A further strength of this model is that its cyclical nature
allows for a strong reflective aspect which can lead to a clear implementation
and readjustment in the future.
Scanning and Focusing (Early Term 1)
Early this year I
began to notice the lack of interactions by many of students in the class. I
hypothesised that the students use of OneNote and 1:1 devices has led to a
reduction in the positive social interactions that should be present in a
productive learning environment. I have concerns that my pedagogy has become
too predictable, and the by-product of this is that the quality of the class'
interactions is declining. They seem to display less initiative in their
learning and their productivity is relatively low.
The second concern
is that by providing the majority of learning materials via OneNote, I am
concerned about a reduction in students' construction of their own knowledge
resulting in decreased meaningful, independent thought being evident in my
classroom. I have always felt an infinity to the theory of constructivism, and
I feel that my pedagogy in this class has deviated from this.
Developing a Hunch (Term 1)
Is my pedagogical
reliance on OneNote and the supplying of students their notes to ensure that
all students have easy access to them, actually hindering their engagement and
achievement? What research has been previously done around students
constructing their own knowledge in a technology rich classroom?
Jean
Piaget and Lev Vygotsky wrote in the early 20th Century that students construct
their own knowledge. Whilst Piaget essentially argues
that learning is an individual process, informed and influenced by past
experience, Lev Vygotsky took a different, more social, approach; that learning
is a social activity and knowledge is constructed in conjunction with others. A
clear articulation of Vigotsky's theory can be gained from Kim (2001) who
defines Social Constructivism as “the importance of culture and context in
understanding what occurs in society and constructing knowledge based on this
understanding” (p.2). Powell and Kaline (2009) concur, and note that “social
constructivism is based on the social interactions a student in the classroom
along with a personal critical thinking process” (p.242).
Community Engagement (Term 2)
Feedback
was sought from three parties: SP, the HOD of Geography, and two other Year 13
teachers, KL and DC. The feedback was gained during an informal conversation;
Geography Department meeting on May 8 2017. KL was immediately in agreement,
upon hearing my hunch, noting that "I feel the same way. Students are
hiding behind their screens, instead of engaging with the class." (KL, personal communication, May 8, 2017). SP's response was that
she was happy for me to stick to my original plan, but she had some concerns
with students undergoing a potentially dramatic pedagogical change so late in
their schooling (SP, personal communication, May 8, 2017). DC, as a teacher new
to the school, also concurred to some extent, noting that "I'm still
trying to find a positive balance in my class - it is very different to where I
came from" (DC, personal communication, May 8, 2017).
This feedback was
carefully considered, and as a result a slight adaptation to the original idea
is to be implemented. Whilst students will still be exposed to a more varied
pedagogy, they will still have access to the class notes via OneNote. This is
an attempt to mitigate concerns some students have when their peers in other
classes may still have their work on OneNote. My original plan was to eliminate
the use of OneNote entirely, and remove that 'safety net' for students
regarding access to their class notes. On reflection, and due to the discussion
described above, I agree that that is possible a step too far, and the
compromise was agreed.
Inquiry
Question:
Based on
my hunch I am going to investigate:
Will a Social Constructivist teaching approach with a
Year 13 Geography class have a positive influence on students?
- What impact will have it have on student engagement in class?
- What impact will it have on the verbal communications in class?
- What impact will it have on student achievement in summative NCEA assessment tasks?
Learning (Term 1)
From my literature review, it was observed that the amount of literature
dedicated to constructivism is declining. There was relatively little recent,
meaningful research examining how increasing integration of technology is
impacting student knowledge construction. One of the few contemporary examples
referenced was Schrader (2015). She writes
“Constructivism is the psychological foundation and explains the necessary
theoretical scaffolding necessary to construct new meaning in education created
by the abundant and novel building blocks of technology” (p.32). Despite this
enthusiastic rhetoric, the lack of a solid research base in this area will be a
barrier to my successful redefinition of the pedagogy in the classroom. This
will realistically mean that the focus of this inquiry will be relatively
narrow in its focus with only a few strategies being implemented in the time
available.
Taking Action (Term Two)
As a result of the
reflections above, and my scanning and focussing on the issue, I plan to:
- Reduce 1:1 computer use; instead utilise computers in small groups to ensure that great positive communication is occurring.
- Reduce the pedagogical reliance on the provision of class notes to students through OneNote
- Plan learning activities that have a Constructivist approach to increase the incidence of positive social interactions in the classroom
- Evaluate by analysing student feedback and summative assessment results
Checking (Term Three)
Checking the effect
of these actions will be threefold. Firstly, there will be the ability to
resurvey students and compare the results of this second survey to the results
obtained from the formative survey. Secondly, classroom observations will
provide evidence. The final aspect of the checking process will be final
assessment results of upcoming summative assessment opportunities.
Impact of Findings
The findings of this
inquiry have many potential impacts. Firstly it will help me to further
consolidate my evolving pedagogical musing regarding successful implementation
of technology in my classroom. The students will potentially become more
engaged, and resultantly enjoy my classes more.
While the inquiry
and experimentation will be limited to one of my classes, the findings are not
limited in the same way. If successful, there is the potential for my findings
to have relevance across the senior school of the college. All staff are reflecting
on the best way to implement technology successfully in their own classrooms,
and any discussion generated is important discussion.
References:
Kim, B. (2001).
Social Constructivism: From Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology
Powell,
K. C., & Kalina, C. J. (2009) Cognitive and Social Constructivism:
Developing Tools for an Effective Classroom. Education,
130(2), 241-250.
Schrader, Dawn E.
(2015). Constructivism and Learning in the Age of Social Media: Changing Minds
and Learning Communities. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning, (144), 23-35.
Timperley,
H., Kaser, L., & Halbert, J. (2014). A
framework for transforming learning in schools: Innovation and the spiral of
inquiry. Melbourne:
Centre for Strategic Education.
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