Would Plato Lego?

Chrissi Nerantzi

Chrissi Nerantzi Academic Developer, University of Salford

@chrissinerantzi

c.nerantzi@salford.ac.uk

Using metaphors through model making to aid reflection

inspirED Seminar, University of Dundee, 17 April 2013

first things first! If you have a smart phone or tablet with you, please download the free Socrative app now!

Available for Apple and Android devices ;)

Student version!!!

you the teacher

Q: Who are you as a teacher? Task 1 (5 mins):Create a model using Lego and add a caption on the post-it note Task2 (5 mins): Share with others and discuss

“My Lego Learner “Probably due to my position as a student rather than teacher I must admit I was a little late to the session this week and missed out on making my Lego learner. So I have made my own Moshi Lego learner. My learner likes a little shelter, something to stand on (prior knowledge or achievement), to be prepared (the stack of books) and a prize (I like a qualification or certificate).” Juliette Wilson, PGCAP student http://cpdjuliettewilson.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/39/ photo by Juliette Wilson

• Socrates : switching on minds through questions! Socratic questioning: deep questions to trigger critical thinking

• Socrates: “I don’t see the point in the technology of writing! It makes people lazy and weakens their memory as they rely on the written word!”

Thinking

http://www.flickr.com/photos/almarams/3902611177/

You can discover more about a person

in an hour of play than in a

year of conversation..

“Play isn’t the enemy of learning, it’s learning’s partner. Play is like fertilizer for brain growth. It’s crazy not to use it.” (Brown, 2010, 101)

“As we grow older, we are taught that learning should be serious, that subjects are complicated. These serious subjects take serious study, we are told, and play only trivializes them.” (Brown, 2010, 101)

“Stepping out of a normal routine, finding novelty, being open to serendipity, enjoying the unexpected, embracing a little risk, and finding pleasure in the heightened vividness of life. These are all qualities of a state of play.” (Brown, 2010, 173)

“Play is nature’s greatest tool for creating new neural networks and for reconciling cognitive difficulties. The abilities to make new patterns, find the unusual among the common, and spark curiosity and alert observation are all fostered by being in a state of play. When we play, dilemmas and challenges will naturally filter through the unconscious mind and work themselves out. It is not at all uncommon for people to come back not only reenergized, but also with fresh ideas for work” (Brown, 2010, 128)

Thinking with our hands • Making

• Playing/Reflecting/Learning with Lego – from replication to

uniqueness

– from literal models to metaphorical models

• Connectionism (Papert) > learning through making mental/real models

image created using http://www.tagxedo.com/

“giving the thing a name that belongs to something else”

metaphor according to Aristotle

metaphors

“Metaphor systematically disorganizes the common sense of things – jumbling together the abstract with the concrete, the physical with the psychological, the like with the unlike – and reorganizes it into uncommon combinations.” (Geary, 2012, 2)

“It is easy enough to label a specific emotion, such as grief, fear, pride or happiness. It is much harder to convey the actual qualitative experience of that emotion. But metaphorical language can describe the indescribable.” (Geary, 2012, 211)

Postgraduate Certificate in Academic

Practice (@PGCAP)

• active experimentation • Lego in the context of the Learning and

Teaching in Higher Education module • Assessment as learning > social media

portfolios • Professional discussion > Lego model

making activity

Why a Professional Discussion?

the answer is in here...

“When we walk into our workplace, the classroom, we close the door on our colleagues. When we emerge, we rarely talk about what happened or what needs to happen next, for we have no shared experience to talk about. Then, instead of calling this the isolationism it is and trying to overcome it, we claim it as a virtue called ‘academic freedom’: my classroom is my castle, and the sovereigns of other fiefdoms are not welcome here.” Palmer (2007, 147)

... combined with...

Hallgrimsson (2012) notes that exploratory 3D modeling enables the designer to inform their mental journey which often leads to unexpected insights which can create innovative responses.

... and...

“Taking time to make something, using the hands, gave people the opportunity to clarify thoughts or feelings, and to see the subject-matter in a new light. And having an image or physical object to present and discuss enabled them to communicate and connect with other people more directly.”

Gauntlett (2011, 4)

So what happens?

before (30 minutes)

• guidelines shared

• making a Lego model that captures the learning journey

during (30 minutes)

• share learning journey using the Lego model

• engage in a conversation

• reflection

• assessment

after (asynchronously)

• assessment feedback provided in minutes in portfolio

• further reflection through social media

• further sharing and conversation online

Lego learning method 4 C

Connect: reflecting on experiences and learning

Construct: constructing of a model linked to this

Contemplate: verbalising and analysing the model

Continue: extending engagement through sharing and commenting on models made by others through social media.

formulated by Robert Rasmussen

“This model shows my movement from black and white, linear teaching towards a broader understanding of good teaching and a greater sense of adventure and experimentation in my own practice- moving into colour !!” Dr Sian Etherington http://pgcapsianetherington.wordpress.com/professional-discussion/

“[There is] a gap between lecturers’ stated beliefs and actual teaching practices: lecturers may, for example, claim to hold constructivist notions of learning, but adopt more traditional ‘transmission’ modes of teaching in their actual practice.”

(Samuelowicz & Bain, 1992, in Owens, 2012, 389)

some evidence

Methodology, method and findings Phenomenography (Marton, 1994) Individual video interviews Categories of description

•method •feelings •communication •impact

method “[The Lego model] allowed me to focus on the journey as a whole going through the PGCAP rather than going through how I might go through the questions in the Professional Discussion and panicking about what I was going to say.”

“It was a really nice ice-breaker which took the edge off the professional discussion.”

“The Lego models were important to kickstart their discussion and reflection and how they introduced their learning path and journey.”

“At first I was a bit sceptic about the whole Lego play thing as often before I like to plan and I thought it would get in the way of my head space before the discussion.” “After the professional

discussion we took photos and put them on Flickr which gave us chance to compare and discuss.”

student panel member external examiner

communication “As a talking point, excellent and as a creative means of thinking about their reflection, excellent.”

“It is evident that Lego acts as powerful metaphors for them (the students) to examine their practice, to find ways of looking at things they do and to justify why they do them and how they articulate them.”

“Some of the representations within the Lego models were unknown to themselves (students) until we started the discussions and these emerging properties and symbols they weren't aware of were dissected and brought to the fore.”

“Lego modelling gives them a medium they can talk and show in different ways in a pictorial or 3D way and actually see that they can conceive of and use their imagination to tell a story that needs to be told to be understood by others allows them a space they would not get to otherwise.”

student panel member external examiner

feelings “Initially it was a bit overwhelming because I am not very good at building things”

“Modelling in Lego was useful as I was nervous about going into the professional discussion and it relaxed the atmosphere.”

“I always panic at these things as its forced creativity but once you start doing it its absolutely fine.”

student panel member external examiner

impact “I am a big fan of play and I will be looking for ways to use with my students”

“I will be stealing this idea for myself”

student panel member external examiner

method •natural conversation •focus and be reflective •sceptic because of

novelty •share experiences •better prepared for

assessment

feelings •initially overwhelmed

•more relaxed

impact •considering using

similar approaches in own practice

•recognised importance of openness and experimentation

communication •visualising stories •creative expression •metaphors used to

reflect •unconscious learning

surfaced

Results

relaxed more reflective

articulate with more ease metaphors richness of learning and

impact of module on practice deeper conversations unconscious learning

assessment: “informal” discussion with peers

you the designer(s)

Ideal learning spaces for... (define context first) Task 1 (5 minutes): create an area of this space (individual) Task2 (5 minutes): Bring your areas together to create the learning space (groups of 4-6) Group Task 3 (10 minutes): Share your ideas with another group, come to a collective conclusion (groups of 10-15)

How could I use Lego in my practice?

Would

Plato & Aristotle

Lego?

Let’s try this together!

Access your (brand new) socrative app and type in room: chrissi

Now reply to a few questions about this workshop! ;)

useful links

• Lego in education scoop it http://www.scoop.it/t/lego-in-education

• Lego links on diigo http://www.diigo.com/user/chrissinerantzi/lego

• PGCAP YouTube Channel: Professional Discussion videos http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9AA3BD8E7263D435

• Lego in Education http://education.lego.com • Lego ® Serious Play ® http://www.seriousplay.com/ • PGCAP Flickr collection: Lego models

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pgcap/sets/72157632104255891/

References Brown, S. (2010) Play. How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul, London: Avery, Penguin.

Gauntlett, D. (2011) Making is connecting. The social meaning of creativity, from DIY and knitting to YouTube and Web2.0, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Geary, J. (2012) I is an other, The secret life of metaphor and how it shapes the way we see the world, New York: Harper Perennial.

Hallgrimsson, B. (2012) Prototyping and Modelmaking for Product Design, London: Laurence King Publishing.

Marton, F. (1994) Phenomenography as a Research Approach, in: Husen, T. And Postlethwaite, N, (2nd ed) The International Encyclopedia of Education, Vol. 8, Pergamon, pp. 4424-4429, available athttp://www.ped.gu.se/biorn/phgraph/civil/main/1res.appr.html [accessed 72 December 2012].

Moon, J. (2010) Using Story In Higher Education and Professional Development, Oxon: Routledge.

Nerantzi, C. and Despard, C. (submitted) Lego models to aid reflection. Enhancing the summative assessment experience in the context of Professional Discussions within accredited Academic Development provision, Innovations in Education and Teaching International.

Owens, T. (2012) Hitting the nail on the head: the importance of specific staff development for effective blended learning, in: Innovations in Education and Teaching International, Vol. 49, No. 4, November 2012, 389-400.

Palmer, P. J. (2007) The Courage to teach. Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Papert, S. and Harel, I. (1991) Situating Constructionism, in: Constructionism, Norwood: Ablex Publishing, Available from: http://www.papert.org/articles/SituatingConstructionism.html [accessed 1 January 2013]

Schön, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

source: www.slideshare.net

Would Plato Lego?

Chrissi Nerantzi Academic Developer, University of Salford

@chrissinerantzi

c.nerantzi@salford.ac.uk photos without source are by Chrissi Nerantzi

Using metaphors through model making to aid reflection inspirED Seminar, University of Dundee, 17 April 2013