Page 143 - Microsoft Word - The Future of Learning April 2017.docx

The previous table sequences the concepts and the ‘learning statements’ for three of the science concept frameworks. Educators will need to assist learners connect their new learning to their existing learning so they can progressively build each concept framework. Prompts can be used to initiate curiosity and questioning, which sets the stage for the development of knowledge and by interrogating that knowledge via effective questioning, learners gradually build their understanding. Learners may then create an artefact to represent this new understanding.
Our learner has a clear understanding of the concept and can apply this to other contexts. One way of demonstrating their understanding of each concept is via taking on the role of being an educator and assisting their peers to develop the concept that they have just learned. In this way, the notion of the learner-educator is fulfilled. The best way to learn is to enable another group of learners to understand a specific concept that another learner may already understand.
The Learning Process may focus on finding specific outcomes to specific issues, or as in the case above of the skateboarding cat, it may generate outcomes that are unintentional. As educators, we have been quite good at encouraging learners to develop intentional solutions to specific problems, but we have been less adept at allowing learners to engage in ‘free thinking’ processes without defining what a successful outcome may specifically look like. This is the essence of creativity; something we would like to encourage more within schools, by allowing learners to follow their passions and develop new products, systems, environments and media.
Innovation and ingenuity thrive when there are high rates of change in our communities, hence the rate of change we are experiencing now, offers up an abundance of new needs and opportunities. Consequently, we want to encourage our learners to look for needs and opportunities that may appear to be difficult, or even impossible, and see if they can develop creative solutions.
Learners need to be constantly looking for items they use every day that do not work well, frustrate us or are unavailable, and ask the questions, “Could I do something about that?”, or, “what knowledge or understanding can I contribute to that possible solution?” This attitude to learning requires a positive mind-set, risk taking and the competence to apply the Learning Process successfully. Learners can also look at needs in their communities and see how they may be able to create solutions for those needs, as well as looking for opportunities.164
Resource 64: Square Wheels for Skateboards?164
164 Shark Wheel. (March 17 2015). Shark Wheel 60mm IndieGoGo Campaign 2015 "longboard wheels" Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPoFz7PREuY
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