Holding space for deep learning through conversation
Sally Carr, Learning & Teaching Curriculum Leader, Mary MacKillop College, Nundah, Queensland (2018)
Published in Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia (AGSA) is In Alliance, an official magazine published for member educators, students, and parents.
As educators of young women, we are in the business of encouraging self-direction, resilience, curiosity and creativity so students can understand their identities, build their cultural capital, and learn how to make an impact on the world. Brain Club is a ‘beyond curriculum’ activity that provides an opportunity for rich conversations that challenge the boundaries of thinking and the way we have been socialised. Furthermore, it impacts our engagement with the world and how students can influence the lived experience and perspectives of their peers, through sharing within the school community, and hopefully back at the dinner table. An individual’s ever-growing cultural capital is a collection of knowledge and skills that can be accessed to recognise and understand various socio-cultural phenomena, historical patterns, motivations and ideologies, and enable an appropriate response to contemporary issues and events. The development of this capital is important for young people so they can make sense of what it is to be human. Many of these skills are touched on within the curriculum; however, time and perception constraints can limit a student’s deep engagement in learning for learning’s sake. Also, in a world of social media, where people express their inner workings to complete strangers, and put themselves in a vulnerable position with little recourse, young adult learners need opportunities for real conversation so they can expand their cultural capital and be prepared to challenge narrow-focused perspectives.
Deep learning beyond the curriculum
Brain Clubbers grapple with complex ideas and have delved into notions of identity, deviance, ethics, culture, and truth-telling, while also sitting with the discomfort of not yet knowing enough to feel completely safe in sharing their ideas. Some topics from Brain Club in 2018 included: challenges of identity, cultural appropriation versus appreciation, villains, taboo, existentialism, women in leadership, compassion for all animals — pet vs food, perceptions of mastery, dumbing down the media, uncovering the myth of non-violent leadership, and other issues that challenge young people today. Inquiry and conversations around these types of topics allow for deep learning to occur through higher order skills such as analysis, critical thinking, evaluation, reflection and metacognition. Students can build their capacity to deepen their knowledge and develop opinions, but “deep learning doesn’t happen by accident…[it] needs to be deliberately supported, cultivated and encouraged by educators and educational settings; that is, we must teach for deep learning” (The University of Queensland, 2017).
Climbing into the pit
Students need to be pushed to a point of discomfort in their learning so they can build resilience because playing it safe does not lead to learning growth. James Nottingham’s (2017) “The Learning Challenge” explores how students move through cognitive stages as they challenge their own thinking and seek effective learning habits to move their learning forward. Embedding struggle is integral to the feeling of success. We want to encourage students to climb into the ‘pit’ to be challenged, so they can practise those new learning habits that can get themselves out. As educators, we need to be creative, seek challenge, reflect on our classroom practice, and share ideas with peers so they can be inspired to be the next generation of thinkers and leaders. The layers of cognitive progress evident in Nottingham’s learning challenge work have multiple applications. Not least is allowing teachers to feel safe in risk-taking, as well as providing a structure for some rigorous meta-cognitive reflections, to enable students to believe they can get to their “eureka” moment rather than skimming the surface. This is when real deep learning happens.
Questioning to deepen the conversation
Teachers and Brain Club coaches can challenge students to seek deep learning through effective questioning and collaborative thinking. Social construction of knowledge happens when we interact with peers so we can see our own perceptions, assumptions and values in relation to others (King, 1995). Ritchhart, Church and Morrison (2011) and Project Zero (2016) have strategies on making thinking visible through questioning and thinking routines. Using thinking routines in the classroom and Brain Club, particularly around metacognition and peer discussion of ideas, helps students to organise theories and thinking, and to seek next steps for complexity. Understanding how they are thinking can help if they are ‘stuck’ in the shallows. Thinking routines, such as ‘Speed Dating’, concept mapping, question routines or ‘see-think-wonder’ also give the teacher confidence to take a risk and let the ideas flow, rather than trying to control and plan the “conversations” to the end. Speed Dating is peer sharing rounds under time constraints, where each person is holding space and attention for the other to share thinking, and in return enable them to give meaningful feedback. This process has multiple benefits, including clarification of ideas, practise articulating an argument or perspective, and embracing the collective responsibility to support the whole group in deepening their thinking through challenging surface level ideas. Often the best work from our students comes when they are “poked” with questions to extend their thinking within engaged conversations had in real time, human to human.
Curiosity and thinking about learning
Brain Club can be a forum for students to find their love of complex thinking. Intrinsic motivation to engage curiosity can push learning further because students desire to know more about their topic. When students are motivated to know more, their learning becomes a joy rather than a chore. Complexity is key – when students desire to dig down into the layers of understanding they find their own space for meaningful learning to occur. Furthermore, they benefit from thinking about their thinking. Students must be realistically aware of their own cognitive resources and learning processes, and how they can control them. Biggs as cited in Jensen (2016) calls this ‘meta-learning’. Questions they might ask to deepen thinking include: What kind of thinking am I doing while I sit in conversation on this topic? What is going on in my head? What bias am I bringing to the table? How automatic is my response to that idea? How might I lean into the resistance I feel because I am challenged by that concept? According to King (1995), “formulating questions (even if not answered) is an act of critical thinking”. Students could employ statements such as “I used to think…, and now I think…”, and strategies that result in “verbal tug-of-war with questions” (Jensen, 2016). Therefore, supporting students through meta-cognition and questioning can influence their engagement and motivation to tap into curiosity for deeper learning.
Risk and vulnerability are desirable
Leading this activity means taking risks to not hold on too tightly to preconceived ideas of where the learning is going. One must take the time to just be present while students dip their toes into topics and grapple with their fixed ideas. Vulnerability invites change; it can be a powerful gift for someone to be open and willing to challenge their own thinking. Today’s students are consuming information at high rates due to social media and insta-fame. Brain Club is more about long, slow, deep conversations over time, that allow for rich engagement and real human connections. It allows for empathy by diving into the perspectives of others, so we can listen and hold space for new ways of knowing our world. “The mutual respect and understanding each of us has for every individual human experience is something very special” (Penny, Year 12 in 2018).
Young women digging deep: Voices, identity and neuro-diversity
So, what are young women talking about? In 2019, our rich conversations are engaging students with the idea of how young Australian women of all ethnicities can have a voice within their own contexts and contribute to the diverse fabric of the community. For example three of our students, Isabella, Aneeljot and Gurnoor, are sharing this through their lens of new arrival, immigrant and second generation Australian, and how their experiences sit alongside their peers, who are part of the dominant culture. Their conversation is about what they see and hear from young women around them, while they openly consider their own life paths and how they choose to use their voices. These different lenses are impactful when shared with the College community and provide a tangible means for real empathy and appreciation for privilege. Other opportunities for sharing stories and seeking to impact the community are currently coming from students with trans-national identities who are grappling with what it is to be “a young Australian woman” and how the treatment of Indigenous people, refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants throughout Australian history has not supported their sense of justice. They show great resilience and maturity in discussing and evaluating how much change in Australian society is possible. Finally, think about how great it would be to engage one of your neuro-diverse students in helping the neuro-typicals to understand a different way of seeing the world. Consider the impacts this could have on the immediate school community and future workplaces.
Through Brain Club, students find their sphere of influence expanding and they are exposed to more ways of thinking. Therefore, seeking ways of extending student engagement with complex, contemporary issues and ideas beyond the curriculum can add a rich layer to their high school experience.
Brain Club is a ‘beyond curriculum’ activity that runs fortnightly for two hours after school. This registered TedEd Club connects with other clubs globally, and shares impact projects locally within the College and at an annual showcase event. Impact projects have included assembly speeches, campaigns, open letters, videos, slam poetry, app pitches and infographics. The first rule of Brain Club is: there are no rules.
References
Jensen, E. (2016). Poor students, richer teaching: Mindsets that raise student achievement. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. pp.91-93.
King, A. (1995). Inquiring minds really do want to know: Using questioning to teach critical thinking. Teaching of Psychology, 22(1), p. 13.
Nottingham, J. (2017). The learning challenge: How to guide your students through the learning pit to achieve deeper understanding. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.
Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement, understanding, and independence for all learners . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Project Zero. (2016). Visible thinking. http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/VisibleThinking1.html
The University of Queensland. (2017). Deep Learning Through Transformative Pedagogy. https://www.edx.org/course/deep-learning-through-transformative-uqx-microsoft-education-learnx
Photo captions:
- Brain Club participant, Penny, challenging the community through sharing her thoughts on existentialism, faith and “nothing” at the MMC Visions Showcase in 2018.
- Modern History Teacher and Brain Club coach, Sally Carr “poking” Mia, a Year 7 student starting her Brain Club journey.