Essential Question: To what extent should we allow students to figure things out for themselves?I think struggling only makes us stronger. However there is a limit to this. If something is too hard then you risk defeat and giving up. Otherwise, when you have to figure out something for yourself you feel more empowered by the information you find. You have this personal connection to it because you worked hard to get it. It has more meaning. Tinkering and making are a good source of healthy struggle. You will be able to figure out something but how far you take it is up to you. Tinkering is more like the way scientists, mathematicians, and engineers complete their work. They have to "follow hunches, iterate, make mistakes, re-think, start over, argue, sleep on it, collaborate, and have a cup of tea." Tinkering engages the learner in making connections and school seems to be so disconnected with step-by-step solutions that seem to be fixed.Tinkering is not neat, but can be worthwhile because the real world is not this clean and easy process. There is no "perfect road map." Students must design and redesign and this in the long run will lead to a better "understanding of requirements, tools, and materials as they make tradeoffs and try to improve their prototype" (Martinez & Stager, 2013). Strauss (2015) discusses essays that teachers wrote about why students should struggle. In all the essays they talk about a common thread of allowing students to make their own meanings and encouraging risk in a safe environment. "We want students to be able to engage with novel material, to be able to tackle new situations with the confidence that they might not know, but they will know." We need to teach students to not give up because they will learn more if they keep trying and continue to struggle. This is evidenced by a study published in the Journal of the Learning Sciences, where Kapur and Bielaczyc, applied the principle of productive failure to mathematical problem solving in three schools in Singapore. They tested 2 classes. Paul (2014) discusses how this study focused on 2 separate groups. One group got intensive instruction with lots of scaffolding and the other group received no instruction and were encouraged to talk with classmates. This group was not able to solve the problem correctly. "When the two groups were tested on what they’d learned, the second group 'significantly outperformed' the first. This is called hidden efficacy." Struggle is all around us. Students need to be exposed to struggle to be able to live in the real world and not just the classroom. Struggle involves making choices. The choices you make determine where you end up. Here is a picture I found on Twitter demonstrating what happens when a student is not motivated enough. The zero net force shows that no learning is going to happen. We need to find the point where students are motivated to learn because if not the students will not grow. Maybe formal tests are not the way to go. Who is motivated for a test? Is this an accurate display of what a student knows? Sources
Martinez, S. L., & Stager, G. (2013). Invent to learn: Making, tinkering, and engineering in the classroom [Kindle]. Paul, A. M. (2014, February 24). The Brilliant Blog. Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://anniemurphypaul.com/2014/02/when-and-how-to-let-learners-struggle/ Strauss, V. (2015, April 21). What is the value of letting students struggle in class? Teachers answer. Retrieved June 02, 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/21/what-is-the-value-of-letting-students-struggle-in-class-teachers-answer/
6 Comments
Catherine
6/2/2016 07:45:31 pm
"Students need to be exposed to struggle to be able to live in the real world and not just the classroom." I often think about this statement you made, but in reverse. I have students who have done nothing but struggle in the real world, but give up way too often in class before we've even started. I think about how can I help them see they can do it. They have grit they don't even realize.
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Sara Lucas
6/5/2016 06:51:45 am
That is a great point! Those students are overwhelmed. How can we show them that the classroom is a safe place to struggle? They haven't felt successful and how can we show them that success is possible? I don't know the answer to these questions, but it is definitely something to ponder.
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Aleta May
6/2/2016 08:06:29 pm
Hi Sara,
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Sara Lucas
6/5/2016 06:55:35 am
I agree that the time for tea is definitely about reflecting. Sometimes you get too involved and need to take a step back to re-evaluate the situation from another perspective. This is a skill that many students lack. They want to do something quickly and be done. It is hard to get some students to just sit back and think.
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Josie Leach
6/5/2016 06:18:28 am
Hi Sara,
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Sara Lucas
6/5/2016 06:59:07 am
This is my main takeaway from the week as well. I have never thought this much about struggle. As a teacher we always try to give students a challenge, but I have never thought about how much of a challenge.
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