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Focusing on Affective Dimensions to Enhance Learning
Marcia Gentry, Ph.D. Professor of Education
Purdue University mgentry@purdue.edu
Promoting Real Student Performance
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Why Educate Children?
What is the mission? Life long learners Maximized potential Decision-Makers Students who can think and act Motivated, productive individuals
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What is Achievement?
How can Achievement be Measured How can Achievement be Enhanced How can Achievement be
Communicated
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On Measuring Achievement
“Not everything that counts can
be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.”
(Albert Einstein)
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On Measuring Achievement
“It is what students do with what they
learn when they can do what they want to do that is the real measure of educational achievement.” (Eisner, 2001)
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What do Tests Tell Us
How has testing affected Teaching Learning Environment Curriculum Affect
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What do Tests Tell Us
If you had to choose between students’ love of learning and the mastery of any collection of cognitive standards, which would you choose?
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On Measuring Affect
Regularly assess educationally significant student affect (Popham, 2001)
Students’ attitudes toward learning Their interest in a subject Their confidence in being able to use
school taught skills
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On Measuring Affect
“Educationally significant student affect evidence can illuminate teachers’ instructional decisions and can even cast light on the effectiveness of teachers’ instructional activities.” (Popham, 2001)
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On Measuring Affect
“If teachers teach children to master a certain subject matter in a manner that leads those youngsters to hate the material they’ve mastered, it might have been better to have never tackled the subject in the first place.” (Popham, 2001)
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Our Work
My Class Activities (2001). [MCA] Gentry & Gable Creative Learning Press Grades 3-8 Challenge, Choice, Interest, Enjoyment Research, Reflection, Refinement, School
Improvement
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Our Work
Student Perceptions of Classroom Quality (in process). [SPOCQ] Gentry & Owen Grades 7-12 Appeal, Challenge, Choice, Meaningfulness,
Self Efficacy Research, Reflection, Refinement, School
Improvement
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What We’ve Learned
Can Measure Student Attitudes Students’ Perceptions are Different than
their Teachers’ Perceptions The older students perceive less of the
constructs than the younger students Often, little is different for g/t kids Student perceptions can provide valuable
insights into classrooms thereby …
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How important are …
Appeal (interest + enjoyment) Challenge Choice Meaningfulness Self Efficacy Are they related to Motivation?
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Motivation
People will be most creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, enjoyment, satisfaction and challenge of the work itself--not by external pressures (Amabile & Hennessey 1992, p.55).
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What Follows: Teacher Friendly, Student Based
Turning the learning and responsibility to the students can be an effective means of differentiation requiring less work than teacher directed differentiation strategies
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What Follows: Teacher Friendly, Student Based
Open-ended, less work Enjoyable, unpredictable Ambiguous Encourages work ethic and genuine
interest, commitment, and creativity Provides individualized rigor, depth and
complexity
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What Follows: Teacher Friendly, Student Based
Menu of strategies Not a mandate Teachers need same consideration as do
students when it comes to differentiation: consideration of individual differences & opportunity to refine & develop strengths
ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL! Take away some ideas and see ...
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Appeal (interest + enjoyment)
Enjoyment: Creating a learning environment that is pleasant, safe, encouraging of smiles, & satisfying
Interest: Reflecting preferences for topics & activities, positively engaging
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Appeal (interest + enjoyment)
“Learning is more effective when students enjoy what they are doing, and, therefore, learning experiences should be constructed and assessed with as much concern for enjoyment as for other goals” (Renzulli, 1994, p. 204)
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Appeal (interest + enjoyment)
“There can be no mental development without interest.” (Whitehead, 1929).
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Appeal (interest + enjoyment)
As you attempt to differentiate … think in terms of students and learning (instead of curriculum) Ask “so what” and “who cares”
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Appeal (interest + enjoyment)
Offer the opportunity to do fewer but more difficult problems
Share yourself Encourage the same from your students Ask the students what will work Laugh Care Appreciate creativity and humor
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Appeal (interest + enjoyment)
Assess student interests Incorporate student interests Develop new interests Be interesting in your teaching Share your interests Choose controversy
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Challenge
Challenge: varies based on individual, rigor, depth, complexity, engages the student for optimal learning Content Process Product Audience
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Challenge
“Only when challenges and skills were felt to be high and working in tandem did all the varied components of well-being - cognitive, emotional, and motivational - come together for the students. Concentration was far above its normal classroom level, and self-esteem, potency, and involvement also reached their highest levels.” (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen,1993, p. 186).
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Challenge
Remember that students can produce knowledge
Provide depth and complexity based on student questions and interests Take the time Jump in over your head
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Challenge
Whenever possible provide open-ended assignments
Be ambiguous Use challenge problems
Daily, weekly, monthly on tests and assignments
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Challenge
Begin at the back of the book Start with a big problem that they
don’t have all the skills to solve Ensure access to advanced content
for all students
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Choice
Choice: Empowering students to direct and make important decisions about their learning
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Choice
“A measure of choice is arguably the ingredient most crucial to the realization of intrinsic rewards in the classroom.” (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen,1993, p. 186).
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Choice
Offer choice concerning products and/or presentation style
Provide choices Who (alone, together, audience) What (content, outcome, expression) How (methods, materials) When (due dates, order)
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Choice
“Choice should be taken seriously. The more latitude you give students, the more they will learn how to choose wisely the problems and projects they want to pursue, an essential element of creativity.” (Sternberg, 1996)
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Meaningfulness
Meaningfulness: Having relevance to students’ lives, connected, worth caring about
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Meaningfulness
Consider and have students consider a sense of audience Who cares Who might care How might we have a greater impact
Connect to the real world, deliberately and often
Develop a climate that celebrates and uses individual strengths and differences
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Meaningfulness
Provide opportunities for deep involvement
Model caring Make connections, consider community
involvement, service learning, mentorships, apprenticeships
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Meaningfulness
“The whole process of education should thus be conceived as the process of learning to think through the solutions of real problems.” (Dewey, 1916)
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Self Efficacy
“If you have a better idea see me…” Explicitly discuss process to encourage
metacognition Model, provide models Offer appropriate differentiated
challenges based on individual needs Throw away the rubric and provide
minimum requirements instead
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Eisner, 2001 on rubrics
“…students want to know just what they have to do to earn a particular grade…but such planning has very little to do with intellectual life, where risk-taking, exploration, uncertainty and speculation are what it’s about. A narrow means/end orientation … can undermine the development of intellectual dispositions.”
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Eisner, 2001 on rubrics
“As we focus on standards, rubrics and measurement, the deeper problems of schooling go unattended” conversation teacher isolation message concerning what is important to students
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Is it working?
By putting the students in charge of their learning you encourage creativity, autonomy, buy-in,
interest, quality, strengths, development of talent …
Mission approached
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When, if not now?
“What we need in America is for students to get more deeply interested in things, more involved in them, more engaged in wanting to know; to have projects that they can get excited about and work on for long periods of time, to be stimulated to find things out on their own.” (Gardner, as quoted by Brandt, 1993).
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Research Based Check-List for Ensuring Challenge
New concepts Advanced content Product/service Authentic methods Advanced vocabulary Authentic tools Advanced resources
Creative thinking Historical perspective Presentations Performances Respond to interests Student directed
learning and choice
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Research Based Strategies: GTC in the Regular Classroom
Advanced thinking Curricular extensions Open-ended ?’s Enrichment Curriculum compacting Assignment adjustment
Emphasis on problem solving
Choices, choices Critical thinking Creative thinking Acceleration Independent study
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Research Based Strategies: GTC in the regular classroom
Spending time with GTC students
Mentorships Apprenticeships Credit for meeting
standards Encouraging high
level outcomes
Affective development
Self-evaluation Providing time to
become involved in long-term study in an area of passion
Community service
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Final Considerations
Your own strengths + those of your students = optimal and meaningful learning possibilities
To grow, try new things, model risk taking … see what works
Push to make a difference for individual students
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