Innovations in Teaching & Learning: the case for Productive Failure Dr. Manu KAPUR Associate...

Innovations in Teaching & Learning: the case for Productive Failure

Dr. Manu KAPURAssociate Professor

Curriculum, Teaching & LearningLearning Sciences Lab

Copyright @ 2006 National Institute of Education. Produced by CITE @ ACIS


Overview

• 21st century skills: yet another fad? • What is really new here?• Implications for Innovative Teaching• Design Problem Solving• An example from Productive Failure• Discussion• Q&A


21st Century Skills

• Collaboration• Problem solving• Critical thinking• Creative thinking• Technology• Social networking• “Soft” skills, and so on…


Trends – what is really new?

• From STABILITY to UNCERTAINTY• Collapse of the demand forecast model

• A Fundamental Shift• Jobs that do not yet exist• Deal with unknown, novel problems• Knowledge base insufficient


Implications for Innovation in Teaching & Learning

Learn first, Apply later

Design first, Learn later

From an APPLICATION to DESIGN contexts

Context matters


DESIGN CONTEXTS

• Solving novel problems

• Inventing/generating new concepts, structures, grammar, language, constructs

• Leveraging collaboration and technology

• Feasible in schools? Basics first? Where is the opportunity?

Copyright @ 2006 National Institute of Education. Produced by CITE @ ACIS7

Year Mike Arwen

Dave Backhand

Ivan Right

1988 14 13 13

1989 9 9 18

1990 14 16 15

1991 10 14 10

1992 15 10 16

1993 11 11 10

1994 15 13 17

1995 11 14 10

1996 16 15 12

1997 12 19 14

1998 16 14 19

1999 12 12 14

2000 17 15 18

2001 13 14 9

2002 17 17 10

Who’s the most consistent?

Sec 2-3 students

THE DESIGNPROBLEM


Students’ Ideas


Students’ Ideas

Frequency of years above, below, and at

average

Consistency = Frequency of years at the

mean / below and above


Sum of deviations about the mean

Average of year-on-year absolute deviation

Sum of year-on-year deviation


THE DESIGN PROCESS

Inventing & exploringExplaining & critiquingReinventing & refiningPersisting through frustration & failureOwning – exciting & engagingPlaying & tinkeringLearning about & learning to be


PRODUCTIVE FAILURENew knowledge is built upon prior knowledge

How do you build on prior knowledge if you do not know what students know?

Engage students in designing solutions to solve novel problems collaboratively on concepts they do NOT know yet

leverage their formal as well as informal, intuitive knowledge resources…

generate, explore, critique, and refine representations and solution methods

leads to failure…BUT this may precisely be germane for learning


Empirical EvidenceTarget Concept: Standard Deviation

N = 140, 9th-grade math students from 4 intact classes

Direct Instruction Teacher explains concept, models problem solving, uses worked-out examples, practice and feedback

four, 50-min periods

Productive Failure Students generate multiple representations and solution methods during the first two periods, followed by Direct Instruction

four, 50-min periods


p = .367

p = .002, η2 = .07

p = .001, η2 = .27

p = .001, η2 = .10


More Findings

• Students that seem strikingly dissimilar on academic competence (PSLE) appear strikingly similar in terms of their design competence

• Design competence correlated with learning gains

• Teachers/experts are generally good estimators of academic competence but not of design competence

• PF teachers consistently report that they are stressed and stretched to work with students’ ideas… BUT, they themselves understood the concept of variance deeply


Issues

Student AbilityLearning StylesUncovering Prior KnowledgeTeacher Knowledge

• Content Knowledge• Pedagogical Content Knowledge• Design Knowledge

• Innovative teachers need to embody design


Thank you

Q&A

Email: [email protected]

Innovations in Teaching & Learning: the case for Productive Failure Dr. Manu KAPUR Associate...

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