heathcote & vygotsky
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was for my paper "Transformative learning: revisiting Heathcote and Vygotsky for the digital age" presented at the IDEA Congress in Paris, July 2013. (Some additional text had been added and video clips removed in this version). As an education academic who spent many years as a drama teacher it has been an interesting journey for me to find those theorists, scholars and master practitioners whose work resonates for me, and who articulated principles and truths that I had also discovered for myself. For both Heathcote and Vygotsky, learning was a social process that recognized the importance of individual interactions with knowledgeable others and peers. Learning was not conceived of as transmission but a mediated activity involving symbolic and psychological tools. In both cases the way they conceived of childrens’ learning potential was predicated on valuing what they could do and become through interactions with concepts and artefacts from cultures. In this paper I will identify several themes in work by Vygotsky and Heathcote and explore their relevance to a recent project I have been involved in. The Water Reckoning Project was a process-based drama project enacted across five school sites around the world. It involved the use of digital technologies for capturing and sharing creative work and facilitating networked communicaitons and performative acts. The use of digital technologies increase the repertoire of potential tools available for transformative learning - with the teacher's role still remaining an active one - as the curator and designer of aesthetic encounters.TRANSCRIPT
Susan DavisCQUniversity, [email protected]
TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING: REVISITING
HEATHCOTE AND VYGOTSKY FOR
THE DIGITAL AGE Presentation for the 8th IDEA World Congress, Paris, 8-13 July 2013
REVOLUTIONARY THINKERS FROM OTHER REVOLUTIONARY TIMES - ?
Informing my
research & current practice
Vygotsky – educational theory - ZPD
Heathcote – drama
processes, Teacher-in-
role
FINDING THE COMMON CONCERNS – ABOUT LEARNING PROCESSES &
DRAMA
… as the trend began to favour the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotski rather than Piaget, she also avoided quoting from him, though curiously, she had Vygotski thrust upon her by left-wing theatre educationists who saw Dorothy’s teaching as epitomising Marxist values. And there is a sense in which they were right, for they recognised that among her deepest passions is the need for justice in society. (Bolton, 2003, p. 141)
“It is social politics so easily introduced via systems where 'people' business is central” (Heathcote 2002, p.8).
HEATHCOTE & VYGOTSKY
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He was a t eacher, a t hea t re l ove r, a researcher and revo lu t i ona ry t h inke r. He unders tood t he impor tance o f p lay, o f human in te rac t ions , o f a r t and the imag ina t ion , t he impor tance o f c rea t i v i t y and aes the t i c educa t ion fo r a l l ch i l d ren . He wro te abou t how humans th ink , c rea te and lea rn in ways tha t a re s t i l l r e levan t t oday.
LEV VYGOTSKY 1896-1934
Great interest in literature, poetry and philosophy from an early age
Particular interest in theatre, dazzling recitations as a child
Dramatic knowledge and criticism wrote theatre reviews – fi rst major work was an analysis of ‘Hamlet’ –thesis became the book ‘Psychology of Art’
Had a dynamic personal presence & inspiration speaker (Mol l , 1990)
Didn’t originally train as a psychologist but had great impact in that fi eld
Extraordinary memory – regarded as a genius – the Mozart of Psychology
VYGOTSKY
DOROTHY HEATHCOTE 1926-2011She w as an i nnova t i ve teacher w hose g roundb reak ing w ork cha l l enged no t i ons o f teach ing , o f d ram a and how to w ork w i th ch i l d ren . She en te red i n to the c rea t i ve space w i th those she w orked w i th and p i oneered s t ra teg ies such as ‘ teacher- i n -ro l e ’ and ‘m an t l e o f the exper t ’ .
Voracious readerEarly interest in literature, history,
geography and theatreStrong personal presence –
inspirational teacherPerformance experience and
professional acting trainingGreat memoryDidn’t train as a teacher but had
greatest impact in educationIntelligent, many regard her as a
genius
HEATHCOTE
Learning emerges out of social (external) & internal interactions
Involves active role of teacher and or knowledgeable others
Involves co-constructing solutions to problems Utilises mediating tools and signsIn the arts – these tools can activate the
imagination and crystallise beliefThe arts utilise form and structure to express ideas
and emotions Specific nature of drama for (creative) learning and
working with imaginationThe importance of both external human activity and
internal interactions (and reflection) for learning
SIMILAR BELIEFS ABOUT LEARNING
There are many aspects that could be compared within their work
For the purposes of this presentation, the focus will be on a couple Zone of proximal development and the role of the teacher Mediation and the role of tools The special qualities of (improvised) drama for learning
SOME SIMILAR THOUGHTS ABOUT LEARNING
ZPD… is the distance
between the actual development as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers
(Vygotsky,1978, p 86)
Role of teacher and others
An essential feature of learning is that it creates the zone of proximal development, that is, learning awakens a variety of internal developmental processes, that are able to operate only when the child is interacting with people in his environment and in cooperation with his peers (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 89)
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT & ROLE OF TEACHER/OTHERS
Wagner on Heathcote In drama children live
“in advance of themselves” as it were: they face challenge and crisis in imagination before they find themselves overwhelmed by them in real life. They gain the feeling of mastery over events, the sense that they are equal to life. (Wagner 1976)
Heathcote … in the presence of an
empowering adult a child can reach beyond his own capacity in carrying out a task. Teacher-in-role enhances this particular adult function. The teacher, through her role, provides a model of high expectations for the enterprise that at fi rst seems out of reach.. In time he has no choice but to aim beyond his normal abil ity – and to break the confi nes of rigidly held concepts
(Heathcote & Bol ton 1995)
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT, DRAMA & TEACHER IN ROLE
Vygotsky
Humans (subjects) achieve objects and act upon the world through external mediation and interactions with various tools.
Tools include culturally learned processes or conceptual tools, signs such as language, as well as physical tools, artefacts and technologies
MEDIATION
Living at life-rate, with agreement to pretence, … experiences of life which cause people to reflect & take note… consequent selectivity and diff erent permutations of response to be tried (Heathcote in Johnson & O’Neill p. 69)
The dramatic process is a ‘tool’ and also involves use of specific selected content/narrative frames, conventions and processes – these can all be considered as ‘tools’
DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL MEDIUM
Vygotsky
Tools, Signs & artefacts mediate learning & culture (between mind and others)
Heathcote
Would often use concrete tools and artefacts (maps, paintings, letters, photographs etc) within a drama – to ‘help crystallize belief’. (Wagner p. 71)
TOOLS, SIGNS & ARTEFACTS
What is form?... The first component would appear to be the ordering of the miscellaneous and reducing miscellany to order…the second ingredient would appear to be a process of simplification.. Selection and rearrangement of the available materials… Third, form is ‘fitness of purpose’ (Heathcote in Johnson & O’Neill p. 76 drawing on Rugg)
“Art experiences insist upon a restructuring of ordinary perceptions of reality so that we end by seeing the world instead of numbly recognising it” . (p. 128)
FORM IS ALSO A TOOL - HEATHCOTE
“Art is the social technique of emotion, a tool of society which brings the most intimate and personal aspects of our being into the circle of social life” (Vygotsky, 1971, p. 249).
“… drama, which is based on actions, and, furthermore, actions to be performed by the child himself, is the form of creativity that most closely, actively, and directly corresponds to actual experiences … Thus the dramatic form expresses with greatest clarity the full cycle of imagination…” (Vygotsky, 2004, p 70)
“Drama, more than any other form of creation, is closely and directly linked to play, which is the root of all creativity in children. Thus, drama is the most syncretic mode of creation, that is, it contains elements of the most diverse forms of creativity.” (Vygotsky,2004, p. 71)
VYGOTSKY ON ROLE OF ART & DRAMA
“The staging of drama provides the pretext and material for the most diverse forms of creativity on the part of the children. The children themselves compose, improvise, or prepare the play, improvise the roles or sometimes dramatize some existing piece of literature”
“That is why plays written by the children themselves or created and improvised by them as they are played are vastly more compatible with children’s understanding ” (Vygotsky , 2004 , (p . 72 )
Being the closest to actual living, drama more than any other art has had to create a special frame. This frame is called theatre. Theatre is life depicted in a no-penalty zone. (Heathcote in Johnson & O’Nei l l p . 130)
VYGOTKSY & HEATHCOTE ON PROCESS AND IMPROVISED DRAMA
Object/motive
Outcome/s
Subject/s
Mediational meansTools, signs, artefacts
One of the early tasks of the teacher is to create experiences of intensity because these are the one which will commit the class to further work as they give instant success feedback. (Heathcote in Johnson & O’Nei l l , p. 74)
Ideas from Vygotsky and Heathcote
Active role of ‘teacher’ in crafting and interacting within the encounter
The selection and orchestration of the use of a range of appropriate ‘tools’ – conceptual, actual, technological, relational requires mastery and artistry
TEACHER’S ROLE - CRAFTING OF THE AESTHETIC ENCOUNTER
+EXAMPLEThe Water Reckoning – Rolling Role Projectwww.water-reckoning.net (based on Heathcote’s Rolling Role concept
# Fictional frame (tool) Discovery of a lost culture of frozen people underwater who experienced times of crisis
# Who were these people and what happened? (Problem)
# Use of physical artefacts, images, music, dramatic form and digital tools
Jason deCaires Taylor imagery
ARTEFACTS
TEACHER IN ROLE / CREATIVE SCAFFOLDING TOOLS
DIGITAL TOOLS AND PLATFORMS TO ENABLE SOCIAL INTERACTIONS
The importance of finding and creating the aesthetically charged tools for engagement
The power of using digital technologies to create and share creative work
Students (as drama students) happy to have teachers play recording and editing role
Learning and reflection was often stimulated by viewing their own edited work shown back to them
Students were not all that keen to use the technologies themselves in school drama
The importance of identifying and naming the use of dramatic form
The active role of teacher’s in designing and shaping the aesthetic encounters, laying trails, opening up the spaces for student creativity BUT then identifying and responding to what they create.
PROJECT OUTCOMES
Object
Learning goalsdrama & life concepts, versions of self & world
Embodied Experience
Subject Reflective process
Phase I Mediating tools# Drama learning medium, conventions of artform# Fictional ‘what if’ context and associated ‘problem’# Teacher-in-role - Character, history, relational positioning# Artefacts and tools – aesthetically charged tools of the imagination
Potential outcome Drama and other learning & identity formation
Phase II Mediating tools# Educator out-of-role # Reflection and debriefing tools - connecting classroom and ‘real-world’ context# Tools and artefacts to mediate meaning making
Some assume that all students are ‘digital natives’ – engage in technological romanticism -’ kids can all do it, leave it to them.’ Side-step an active teacher role.
Digital tools just add to the tool-kit, alongside the other types of tools already considered.
Transformative learning involves extending the scope of the tools available and building on aspects of the role for the teacher as already identifi ed by leading practit ioners and theorists such as Heathcote & Vygotsky.
Heathcote – teacher as actor, director, playwright and audience Vygotsky – teacher as more capable peer prompting interaction and
extending learning
NOW
Teacher as curator and designer of aesthetic encounters uti l ising aesthetically charged tools as gateways to the imagination and connected learning.
SHIFTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Bol ton , G . (2003) . The Dorothy Heathcote Story : B iography o f a Remarkable Drama Teacher . London: Trentham Books .
Heathcote , D. (2002) . Contexts for Act ive learn ing - Four models to fo rge l inks between schoo l ing and soc iety . Paper presented at the NATC, B i rmingham. ht tp : / /www.moeplanning.co.uk/wp-content /up loads /2008/05/dh-contexts - fo r-act ive-learn ing.pdf
Heathcote , D. , & Bo l ton, G . (1995) . Drama for learn ing: Dorothy Heathcote 's mant le o f the expert approach to educat ion . Por tsmouth , NH: Heinemann.
Johnson, L . , & O'Ne i l l , C . (Eds . ) . (1984) . Dorothy Heathcote: Co l lected Wr i t ings on Educat ion and Drama . Evanston, I l l ino is : Northwestern Univers i ty Press .
Vygotsky , L . S . (1930/2004) . Imaginat ion and creat iv i ty in ch i ldhood. Journa l o f Russ ian and East European Psycho logy, 42 (1) , 7 -97.
Vygotsky , L . S . (1931/1998) . Imaginat ion and creat iv i ty o f the ado lescent (Ha l l , M. J . , Trans . ) . In Re iber , R. (Ed .) , The co l lected works o f LS Vygotsky : Vo lume 5, ch i ld psycho logy . New York: P lenum Press . Retr ieved f rom http : / /www.marx is ts .org /arch ive/vygotsky /works /1931/ado lescent /ch12.htm
Vygotsky , L . S . (1962) . Thought and language . Cambr idge MA: MIT Press . Vygotsky , L . S . (1971) . The psycho logy o f a r t . Cambr idge, MASS: MIT Press . Vygotsky , L . S . (1978) . Mind in soc iety : The development o f h igher psycho log ica l
processes . Cambr idge MA: Harvard Un ivers i ty Press . Vygotsky , L . S . (1998) . The co l lected works o f L .S . Vygotsky - Vo lume 5 ch i ld
psycho logy (Ha l l , M. J . , Trans . ) . New York & London: P lenum Press . Vygotsky , L . S . (2003) . Imaginat ion and creat iv i ty in ch i ldhood. Journa l o f Russ ian
and East European Psycho logy, 42 (1) , 7 -97. Wagner , B . J . (1976) . Dorothy Heathcote: Drama as a learn ing medium . Wash ington
DC: Nat iona l Educat ion Assoc iat ion o f the Un i ted States .
REFERENCES