Mediated Learning Experiences

Pupil Support Worker ConferenceGillian Ruddock – Educational Psychologist

Tuesday 18th August 2015

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Overview

• ‘Getting to know you’ activity • Aims of session • Learning something new• What do you currently do to support children?• Introduction to mediated learning experiences• Reflections/next steps

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Getting to Know You

Activity:• In groups of 4:– Using the prompt sheets provided, find out the

names and a few facts about the other people in your group.

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Aims of Session

• To think about how we learn something new• To reflect on what you currently do to provide

support to the children you work with• To introduce mediated learning experiences• To develop knowledge, understanding and

skills in mediation• To identify next steps in your learning

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How We Learn Something New

Activity:• Think of a task/skill you can perform well – How did you learn the task/skill?– Who helped? How did they help?– Were there any other factors present?

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Learning Model

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Learning Model

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What do you currently do?Activity:• Within your role you often

work with children to support them with tasks, what support do you provide?– Think about how you provide the

support/types of support and at which stages of the task

– It may be helpful to imagine watching a video back of yourself in slow-motion – what do you see/hear?

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Mediatore.g. PSW

Learner

TaskLearning Model

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Mediated Learning

What?• Focus is on the process of learning, rather than on the end

goal– Rather than focusing on the answer, it’s about the steps to get there

• Mediator (e.g. teacher, PSW, parent) adapts and organises the task so it is appropriate for the child– Can be done through different types of mediation/support

• If the process is successful, the child’s skills and abilities can be developed and applied in different settings– E.g. planning skills may be transferred to the home context,

attention skills may be transferred to individual tasks

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Mediated Learning

Imagine that the child is a stranger in a new country, curious about all new things, with the caregiver as tourist guide, pointing out the important and interesting things around, reacting affectionately to them and giving them meaning and explaining and

helping the child to behave and orient itself in the new environment.

Karsten Hundeide

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Mediation: How?

Verbal• Use of verbal interactions to focus, guide and direct

– Includes altering tone of voice, questions, labelling aspects of the task, instructions, observations/naming what the child is doing, thinking out loud, verbal feedback.

Non-verbal: • Use of non-verbal interactions to focus, guide and direct

– For example using gestures, pointing, moving task materials into student's line of sight, hand over hand guidance.

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Mediation: When?

Mediation can be given at different stages of the task:

• Before/when starting a problem or task

• During a problem or task

• After/when finishing a problem or task

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Examples of Mediation QuestionsWhen starting a problem/task During a problem/task When finishing a problem/task

• What do you have to do here? Where will you start?

• How does this relate to what you already know?

• What do you know about this already?

• What do you expect to find out?

• What will you do next?• Is there another approach

you could use? Is your approach a good one?

• What do you need to do next?

• Tell me how you did that?• What do you think would

happen if…?• When have you done

something like this before?• Yes but how do you know it’s

right?• When is another time you

need to do this?• What do you think the

problem is?• Why is this better than that?• How can you find out?• How is this like/different from

that?

• Is your solution correct? Do you need to change it? Do you need to add anything else?

• What have you learned?• What did you like/dislike

about this activity?• What did you find easy?• What did you find difficult?• How could you do better next

time?

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Mediation

Activity:• Reflect on the supports you identified in the

earlier activity– Identify those you would provide before, during

and after an activity– Identify those that are verbal and non-verbal– Consider why you are providing that support– Can you think of other supports you provide and

their purpose?

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Mediation: Why?

• To develop and strengthen children’s skills• To teach vocabulary and ideas/concepts needed

to be good problem solvers• To increase motivation • To encourage children to be aware of their own

learning and what they are doing and why• To develop children’s independence in their

learning

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Mediated Learning

Success Criteria:• You explain the purpose of the task, e.g. why it is being done• You are directing the interaction to develop the child’s skills• The child responds and is focused on the task• You link the activity with others, e.g. generalising skills, ‘can

you think of when you have done something like this before?’

• The child makes connections between the activity and other things, e.g. ‘I need to plan when I am going swimming at the weekend’

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Mediation: Top Tips• Provide no more support than is necessary

– Do not over assist!– Do not take away a learning activity

• Ask lots of questions– To find out what the child is thinking– To encourage them to explain what they did and why– To help them make connections

• Model ‘thinking out loud’– ‘I’m going to look at this one because…’– Helps child to solve problem next time on their own

• Encourage children to reflect on their task– To check their answer– To think about what they learned

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1. Encourage child to identify the problem/what they need to do, e.g. ‘What do you need to do here?’

2. Help child determine own approach to the task, e.g. ‘Where will you start?’

3. Suggest an approach, e.g. ‘Why don’t you try…?’

4. Lead child to a response, e.g. ‘Let’s look at this together…’

5. Provide part of the response, e.g. ‘Let’s see what would happen if we try this..’

6. Model the response and provide another opportunity, e.g. ‘I’m going to do it like this because…’ . Return to the lowest level of mediation.

Lowest

Highest© Ruth M Deutsch

Mediation: Levels of Assistance

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Mediated Learning

Activity • Imagine you are going to play Knots and Crosses with

a child who has never played it before– With a partner consider how you would make this a

mediated learning experience for the child – you may use role play if you wish!

– Remember:• Different types of support, e.g. verbal and non-verbal• When you would use the support, e.g. beginning, middle, end• Levels of assistance

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Next Steps

• To develop your skills in mediation, what is the first thing you are going to try?– Who will notice that you are doing something different?– What will they notice? – How will you know it is working?– What support, if any, will you need to continue to develop

your skills?

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Recap of Aims

• To think about how we learn something new• To reflect on what you currently do to provide

support to the children you work with• To introduce mediated learning experiences• To develop knowledge, understanding and

skills in mediation• To identify next steps in your learning

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Final reflections

• On the pink post-it note down:- The part of today’s workshop you found most useful.

• On the yellow post-it note down:- Any ways in which you feel the workshop could be improved.

Thank you for listening, any questions?

gillian.ruddock@westlothian.gov.uk

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