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Research Impacting Practice in Schools: Research Impacting Practice in Schools: Learning Sciences Perspectives from SingaporeLearning Sciences Perspectives from Singapore

CheeChee--Kit LooiKit LooiNational Institute of EducationNational Institute of Education

Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeNanyang Technological University, Singapore

Outline of talkArticulating the problem of embedding educational innovations into schoolsOne strategy in Singapore: Learning Sciences LabKinds of research neededExample of a school-based projectBack to bigger picture of research impacting practice

Backdrop Backdrop ofof Research Impacting PracticeResearch Impacting Practice

““Decades of funded study that have resulted in Decades of funded study that have resulted in many exciting programs and advances many exciting programs and advances have not have not resulted in pervasive, accepted, sustainable, resulted in pervasive, accepted, sustainable, largelarge--scale improvements in actual classroom scale improvements in actual classroom practice, practice, in a critical mass of effective models for in a critical mass of effective models for educational improvementeducational improvement””

(Sabelli & Dede, 2001)(Sabelli & Dede, 2001)www.virtual.gmu.edu/SS_research/cdpapers/policy.pdfwww.virtual.gmu.edu/SS_research/cdpapers/policy.pdf

Learning Sciences Research Can Make a Difference

Learning Sciences research to understand how students learn

School‐based research to create point‐at‐able models

Learning Sciences research to inform policy makers

What is the Field of the Learning Sciences?

An interdisciplinary field that draws on multiple perspectives and paradigmsFocus on the nature and conditions of learning, cognition, development, and related areas of human performanceGoals of learning sciences research:

To develop research‐based claims about how people learnGenerate principled research that has practical, policy, pedagogical, and theoretical implications

Perspectives from the Learning SciencesPerspectives from the Learning Sciences ……. some disciplines. some disciplines

Cognitive ScienceEducational PsychologyDesign StudiesInstructional DesignComputer Science

NeurosciencesPolicy StudiesScience EducationMath Education

Our Research Work in Our Research Work in SingaporeSingapore

To foster To foster deep student learningdeep student learning

with with technologytechnology‐‐ enabled pedagogical practicesenabled pedagogical practices

for cultivating 21st for cultivating 21st 

century knowledge and skills through century knowledge and skills through learning learning  sciences researchsciences research

in Singapore schoolsin Singapore schools

Argumentation in 2nd LifeVirtual Science Inquiry Mobile Learning

Knowledge Building

Examples of LSL ProjectsExamples of LSL Projects

Modelling & Visualization

Game for National Education

The Team at LSL (old 2005 picture)

21st century skills: one framework

核心科目

评估

21世纪的

语境学习技能

21世纪的

学习內容

21世纪的

工具

Goals and Deliverables 学习科学研究所的目标与“可交付成果”

Making Deep Learning Happen 培养深度学习

Alternative Pedagogies 替代教学法

Teacher Education Models 师范教育模式

Conditions and Designs for Innovation

创新的条件和设计

Teacher Resources 教师资源

Learning Environments 学习环境

Change Strategies 策略的改变

Alternative Assessments

替代评价法

Create Point-at-Able Models of Practice创造实践范例

Work with Partner/Prototype Schools与实验学校合作

Long Term Goal: Scalability and Sustainability 长远目标：可推广和可持续的

School‐based Research Informing Systemic  Change Over Time

Goal: Align with stakeholders

Goal: Teacher development

Goal: Attain student learning gains

Strategies for change:

Point-at-able exemplars

2005 2007 2008 20122006

Beyond

Core foci of

change

IdentifyPrototype/

Partner Schools

What Kind of Research is Needed?

School‐based design research

Plan for sustainability and scalabilitytranslational research

Build capacity at different levelsresearchers

school leaders

teachers to do action research

Design ResearchDesign Research

So, does research even impact So, does research even impact practicepractice????

-- Let me talk about Let me talk about one research innovation that sustainsone research innovation that sustains

Supporting Routine Use of CSCL in the Supporting Routine Use of CSCL in the ClassroomClassroom

2 years of CSCL in classrooms!Explore systemic factors through design researchDesign principles for rapid collaborative learningDevelop technologies

So, WhatSo, What’’s The Problem?s The Problem?Dominant IRE patterns in classroomsOne key class of 21st century workforce skills relates to rapid collaborative knowledge building (DiGiano, Tatar, & Kireyev, 2006)

Problem identificationBrainstormingPrioritizingConcept mappingAction planning

TodayToday’’s Classrooms Classroom

Approach: Group Scribbles

Enables collaborative generation, collaborative generation, collection and aggregation of collection and aggregation of ideasideas through a shared space based upon based upon individual effort and social sharing of notes individual effort and social sharing of notes in graphical and textual form

Empowers teachers to design new design new collaborative and group learning collaborative and group learning activitiesactivities

Learning FractionsLearning Fractions

Distributed ComputingDistributed Computing

GroupScribbles for PhysicsGroupScribbles for Physics

AB

C DE

Chinese Language Learning Character Construction (偏旁部首组字)

Characters with same pronunciation Homophones (一音多字)

Chinese Idioms (成语接龙)

But More Systemic Issues: But More Systemic Issues: Mind the Gap or Barriers!Mind the Gap or Barriers!

Students DO NOT know how to collaborateStudents DO NOT know how to collaborate

How teachers manage collaborative activities in the classroom?

Some school leaders and teachers’ mindset: class discipline comes first; low tolerance of noise

Learning spaces in classroom not conducive to group work

Technologies in classroom do not support collaboration well

ON DOING SCHOOL-BASED RESEARCH

Engaging Change Classroom Practices

Our work on GS seeks to change classroom practices from IRE to collaborative group workGroup work in lessons in science, math and Chinese languageCo‐design lessons with teachers

School-Based Research in Mayflower Primary School2 years research (July 2007‐Apr 2009)

1 high ability & 1 mixed ability class (size =40)

More than 100 GS lessons‐

2007: 10 weeks of Science

‐

2008: 16 weeks of Math, Science, Chinese, Higher Chinese

‐

2009: 8 weeks of Science

5 Teachers involvedExtensive PD sessions (weekly basis)

Today, they are planning GS lessons on their own!

Predict the ShadowPredict the Shadow

Math ActivityMath Activity

A Chinese Language CSCL Activity

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Managing Small Group CollaborationManaging Small Group Collaboration

Individual posting --- group posting --- group exchange posting to improve on their work ---class posting

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STORY OF ONE CLASS IN MAYFLOWER PRIMARY SCHOOL

Research Spreads to 2 Secondary Schools

2 sec schools since Jan 2009 (working with 5 teachers)‐

Fuhua Sec (Higher Chinese, Math & Science; 2 classes involved)

‐

Whitley Secondary (Chinese & Physics from the same class)

‐

10 lessons per class for the Jan 2009 semester

To explore possibilities in sec school’s context ‐

To develop a wider collection of GS collaboration activities

Fuhua Secondary – Testing the stability of using GS in a wireless infrastructure for a class of 40

RESEARCH FINDINGS: WHAT WE LEARNT SO FAR…

One Perspective: Efficiency vs Innovation

Achieve innovation while retaining the efficiency that is believed to undergird the world‐beating results in international comparisons

Schwartz, Bransford, and Sears (2005) Adaptive Expertise framework

Learning EffectivenessBetter understanding of content knowledge

Gain collaborative learning skills, start to build a KB community

Active participation in collaborative learning

More effective group work

Better communication skills – articulate their ideas better

Positive change of attitude towards different subjects and collaborative learning 

Traditional assessment scores comparable to other classes

GS classes excel in open‐ended questions

Teachers’ ChangeMore motivated to design GS lessons

Able to incorporate effective pedagogiesVoluntarily use GS for other subjects

Improvement in implementing the lesson as well as classroom management Teaching Philosophy

“It has changed from last year. I was teaching them just to pass their exam, but then now I want them to become better problem solvers.”“…not so much on teaching them the Math and the Science but also have the thinking skills.”

9 Principles for GS Activities1. Volunteerism2. Spontaneous Participation3. Multimodal Expression4. Higher‐order Processing5. Improvable Ideas 6. Idea Diversity 7. Epistemic Agency 8. "Democratized" Knowledge 9. Symmetric Knowledge Advancement

How GS Works in ClassroomsIndividual Level

Students focus on individual idea generation before being exposed to the ideas of others and discussing with them

Group LevelGS makes group work visible and persistent so that everybody can easily see what has been accomplished by members

Class Level Whole class is connected by GS 

Why It Works…Networked technology

Simple and easy to use

F2F CSCL

GS design principles

Tap on existing curriculum

Co‐design of lessons

Extensive PD

Enculturation effort

Routine use

Our International CollaboratorsSRI International (USA)

Robin Lin

NHCUE (Taiwan) 國立新竹教育大學

JeremyRoschelle

CharlesPatton

NathanDwyer

DanielSuthers

U of

Hawai’i (USA)

GroupScribbles (GS) Team

Technical Team

Research Team

Strategic Initiatives

COMING BACK… RESEARCH IMPACTING PRACTICE

Back to the Big IssuesBack to Sabelli & Dede’s quote:

“Decades of funded study that have resulted in many exciting programs and advances have not resulted in pervasive, accepted, sustainable, large‐scale improvements in actual classroom practice, in a critical mass of effective models for educational improvement”

Gap between articulated policy goals and what actually happens in classrooms

It is also about epistemology!

Alignment between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment

Bridging Research to Practice:Bridging Research to Practice: Challenges to Innovations in Challenges to Innovations in SchoolsSchools

Research communities and schools (practice communities) are 2 separate ecologiesInnovation needs systemic change (and alignment!)How to sustain research innovation in the schools involved in the research?How to “translate” to more classes/schools?

What Can We Do as Researchers?Create sustainable models of innovation in schools

Build up capacity of researchers and dialogue with stakeholders ‐‐‐MOE, school leaders, pre‐service teachers, in‐service teachers, parents, etc

Recognize synergies across projects for models ofMethodology and research design

PD

Theory improvement

Sustainability and scalability

Assessment

Our Goals as a Research Initiative

Build capacity in the learning sciencesCreate impact by informing and designing classroom practices through Learning Sciences research Create strategies for rigorous learning and rich pedagogy through enacting research in practice

The End

Contact me at: cheekit.looi@nie.edu.sg