November 2006
This month’s edition of the Alite newsletter reveals how one school have made the human brain an enthralling walk through experience for its pupils; we follow on from last issue’s input about e-learning; we provide some comfort for parents and teachers of teenagers and we conclude by having a laugh!
Step into the Mind
A four-foot wall of neo-cortex greets you as you take your first steps into the brain; its undulating surface of grey sulci and gyri invites you to feel the texture. As you venture further in, there’s a screen on your right flashing up photos from Spain and examples of the country’s vocabulary with colour and graphics to reinforce understanding. Turn the corner and you are standing on the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of a room that curves and bends, mixes hard and soft, dim and bright. All around you are the young minds of a Year 5 class engaged in a range of tasks within designated areas of this scaled up version of their thinking apparatus. Welcome to St Kentigern’s Brain Zone.
Paul Jackson is Head of St Kentigern’s RC Primary School and it’s his imagination that’s behind their innovative new classroom. Modestly, he’ll tell you that it all started with the children themselves less than five years ago. “I should have been teaching a literacy lesson, but we got onto something much more interesting – the kind of environment that would really make them want to learn.” The school had recently opened a computer suite and the children were enthused by the new ways in which they could learn. The ideas raised in that lesson’s discussion were later incorporated into the Brain Zone. Reflecting on his attention to pupil voice that day reinforced some of Paul’s own thoughts and beliefs about learning. As a school they had never subscribed to what he calls the 8 x 4 x 2 model. “That’s the eight corners of the room, its four walls and the two pages of a book with the children sitting passively waiting to be filled with knowledge. This can stifle their love of learning.” Brain-based learning was already underpinning what was happening in the school. Now he wanted to reflect it in the physical structure of the classroom. “As one boy pointed out after being inspired by Gaudi’s architecture in Barcelona, ‘Why are classrooms square?’”
Seeking funding to make the vision a reality was a challenge. Perched on the edge of Manchester’s Moss Side, St Kentigern’s serves a ward that is in the 2% most deprived nationally; approximately 50% of its children are entitled to free school meals. But through school fundraising activities and approaches to charities and educational trusts money slowly began to build. “For about every 100 letters I sent, if I had one positive reply that was about the norm,” confides Paul. The diocese was enthusiastic and continued to lobby the DfES on the school’s behalf, but when the school enlisted the help of the MP Sir Gerald Kaufman things really began to move. On a visit to the school he had been impressed with the children’s work, particularly their philosophical thinking. Paul took the opportunity to share his own thoughts on the next step for the school and the MP agreed to patronise the project. On 23rd June this year he officially opened the Brain Zone.
Back in the Brain Zone itself, you are aware that there is nothing random about the layout. Many of the separate activity areas, or ‘pods’, are positioned in the hemisphere where their centres normally lay in the human brain. For example, in many people Broca and Wernicke’s areas (for speech production and language comprehension respectively) are in the left hemisphere. Look to your left in the Brain Zone and you will see a pod specifically designed for speaking (or singing) and listening, which includes headphones and recording equipment. Lea Kane, the Brain Zone's co-ordinator (or ‘Pod Meister’, as the Head calls her), enjoys sharing some of the pupils’ learning experiences with visitors. She recounts a recent example of an activity in this area during a lesson on the Tudors, which included learners listening to Henry VIII’s Greensleeves whilst comparing Tudor dress worn by the rich to that of the poor and contrasting both to the clothes worn in modern Britain. The Head values the work done by his co-ordinator in maintaining the momentum of his dream. According to him, it is Lea’s enthusiasm and intuitive understanding of the Brain Zone's learning potential that ensures its success on a daily basis. Visitors would witness for themselves her passion and belief of what can be achieved in these surroundings.
At a given signal, this lesson’s Year 5 Spanish learners complete their tasks and move across the central connecting pathway – the corpus callosum where you are now standing – to begin a new activity in a different pod.
As with the left hemisphere, the right also has three pods, each designed to seat about half a dozen children on cushions or moveable seating and equipped with state of the art technology, like wireless laptops, simulation software, conferencing facilities and video editing. In the Spanish lesson, the first pod on the right contains a group learning independently using computers; the second pod emits a soothing lilac glow from a doorway surrounded by more of the enlarged brain tissue. A peep inside reveals the teacher using colourful images to introduce her learners to some new Spanish vocabulary. This pod has cushions on the floor and contains an interactive whiteboard and lighting that can be set to create a mood. The pastel colours can be fixed, set to change colour slowly, or even switched to react to sound. The teacher finishes her input and now the children take turns at the whiteboard, dragging and dropping images.
Further along the right hemisphere, in the third pod, a group is playing bingo using the target language, whilst at the far end of the room, spanning its entire width, is a bank of retractable stepped seating with a mobile interactive whiteboard. This class-sized ampitheatre had been used earlier during the connection phase of the lesson and, with the help of a few willing assistants, could soon be transformed into an open space for dance or drama. And the Brain Zone’s flexibility doesn’t just extend to the various uses of its ampitheatre either. The content of what is learned there is sometimes led by the children’s own interests, both within and without the national curriculum. Some recent example topics include issues concerning the environment and space.
Another signal a few minutes later sees the pupils once again moving to their next activity to demonstrate their learning. “It’s fun because we’re learning in lots of ways,” says one girl shyly when asked about the Brain Zone.
St Kentigern’s RC Primary School had already adopted brain-based learning as its way of helping learning fit the individual, rather than the other way around. In its search to find the best learning experience for its pupils it followed that by constructing its own brain base for learning. In an area where the bus shelters have sheet metal instead of glass and windows have bars, Paul Jackson and his staff have envisaged much more than a safe haven for their pupils; they have listened to the children’s thoughts and persevered in providing them with a unique classroom experience. Never has creating the right environment for learning been so innovative.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About E-Learning But Were Afraid to Ask
Renaldo Lawrence of St John the Baptist School, Woking
From entertaining them on the court to inspiring them in the classroom, Renaldo Lawrence has swapped the basketball net for networks and the internet in a personal mission to enhance the lives of students through ICT. Born in South Carolina in the USA, Renaldo was drafted into the Los Angeles Clippers professional basketball team from university and stayed with the sport for several years before eventually embarking on a full time career in education. As a player, his work took him to parts of the world as diverse as South America, Russia, Finland, Sweden and the UK, where he was never far away from education – visiting schools, teaching English and working with students to help improve their educational experience. Now settled in England, Renaldo is enriching the lives of students at St. John the Baptist School, Woking, where he is Head of ICT and an Advanced Skills Teacher. He shares his knowledge and experience with other teachers in his role as a Surrey Leading Practitioner, as a consultant with the Feltham Community Learning Centre and, as a Macromedia (now Adobe) US and UK educational leader, develops multimedia e-learning applications with others from around the world to support both student and teacher learning.
The first question to ask might be, “Is the idea of an ‘ICT classroom practitioner’ a misnomer?” The pace of progress in this area allows students to learn almost anywhere – at home on a PC, on public transport with their laptops, walking down the street listening to the latest podcast, or online to the internet via one of the increasing number of places to connect. Renaldo Lawrence would support all of these and more, but he is also a vociferous defender of the human side in developing ICT students. A classroom practitioner provides the environment in which instant feedback, personalized advice and spontaneous collaboration can occur. He or she is also the main cheerleader for the students’ hard work. And Renaldo should know: 96% of his students achieved A*-C grades in 2005 (half of them at A or A*) – an increase of 68% compared to the grades when he joined the school in 2000. Similarly at A level, 97% left his course with an A, B or C last year. The human side of his teaching, together with his insight into student needs and his determination to create materials that fulfill them, makes him an excellent example of the modern ICT classroom practitioner.
Reprogramming the ICT Lesson
When Renaldo joined St John the Baptist in 2000 he had a vision of the kind of ICT department he wanted to create: vibrant, relevant and human. He didn’t want his lessons to be considered as timetabled opportunities for surfing the net, with a little Microsoft Word and Excel tuition thrown in; he wanted to inspire the learners to be become proficient users of e-technology, preparing them for a world that increasingly demanded competence in a range of applications.
He began by spending money revamping the environment. New desks, new computers, and new displays told the students that this was a place that was serious about its commitment to their ICT learning. Interactive whiteboards were added, communicating that ICT wasn’t just the subject, but it was also a part of teaching the subject. The school’s network also needed to be overhauled if it was to support the learning, so out went the patched network and in came a real and modern network with a Network Manager, supported by Renaldo, who was fully informed of the vision and how Renaldo intended achieving it. The scene was set.
The curriculum also needed a fresh look; it seemed dry and distant. Some interesting tools were added to the ICT rooms, Adobe (Macromedia) Dreamweaver for building websites and Fireworks for creating web images amongst them. The idea was to allow the learners to create websites that would interest them, that catered towards real needs and things they liked to do. This approach – learners first – was then matched to the curriculum criteria. From these straightforward improvements in the first year, a dramatic effect in attitudes and learning was immediately noticed.
Though the students were unfazed, but excited, by the new software, the opposite could have been said about many members of staff. However, as new staff arrived, training provided and familiarity encouraged, the barriers began to come down. The department did, and still does, a lot to promote ICT and independent learning around school and this helped speed the process of diminishing perceived obstacles. Confidence, as ever, was a key player.
Renaldo believes that there were five main ingredients in turning the department around:
1. Have goals and the belief that you can succeed
2. Supportive leadership
3. Getting good people – and making sure they know they are appreciated.
4. Having a passion for the subject
5. Encouraging failure (this is the only way you will grow)
The leadership left him to shape his department. There was no interference, as he was recognized as the expert in that field who had been brought in to do a job. Renaldo allows that it helped that his students achieved fantastic grades straight away, but lasting change takes a long time to embed and, for that, he needed and received the leadership’s support. In addition, Renaldo ensured that he hired good people – and provided supportive and appreciative leadership himself. And anyone who meets him wouldn’t even need to ask about the passion he believes is necessary in turning around a department…
Connecting the Children
The students saw the point. It wasn’t like working their way through a text book; it was preparing them for the world of work. Despite many of the connections already being obvious it was important, as each new piece of learning was introduced, to make the links explicit and for the students to understand how this would be of benefit to them as individuals and fitted in to their whole learning experience. The motivation was tangible and commitment absolute. For example, in his first year at SJB, Renaldo had 33 Year 11 students who needed to complete two assignments in one year, something that’s normally done in two years. One assignment required students to develop a database for a fictitious client, whilst the other entailed building a website for them. Client needs had to be determined, specifications created, feedback gathered and incorporated, and then the whole process needed to be evaluated for improvements. All this was demanding and time-consuming work. To increase the challenge, the content had to be delivered, with the materials in context to aid understanding, without Renaldo’s physical presence, as one of the assignments needed to be completed over the Christmas holidays.
How did he achieve this?
1. He created the content in Macromedia’s Dreamweaver and Fireworks Studio 8
2. Uploaded the content to the Breeze server
3. Emailed the students with a link to the presentation so that they could access the content
4. Invited them to a Breeze Live meeting, conferencing via the internet using both audio and video facilities. This took place after the students had viewed the content and completed quizzing features, which Renaldo was able to monitor using the Breeze Management System. This feature enabled him to structure the later session and direct help where it was needed, correcting any misunderstandings and praising successes.
The whole experience proved a positive one for the students; one claimed it to be “mind-blowing.” Impressively, of the 20 who had opted to take part in the live meeting, 17 returned to school with their assignment complete, with the rest of the class completing it within the week. Many students actually achieved better grades in this coursework, with them as independent learners, than they did in coursework that was taught solely in the classroom. Already motivated with what they had been doing in the subject, the students were motivated further by this unique experience that no friends from other schools had been doing. Again, they saw the point of it as something relevant, helpful and constructive. Importantly, they were able to access the tutorials when they wanted and, time and again, check or consolidate their learning. This leap towards independent learning – at their own pace, in their own time, and at a place they chose – was breaking the mould of what they had previously experienced from education. Besides encouraging independence in learners, who often appreciate autonomy, such experiences can motivate through:
- Personalizing – the management system allows for monitoring of progress and enables the teacher to direct help where needed
- Developing confidence – the teacher shows confidence in them to complete the tasks and they start to believe in themselves. This system also tells them how great they are as they succeed
- Interaction – the tutorials are more than just watching and listening; working through examples and completing quizzes involves the learners more
- Collaboration – in a live meeting the students can help each other and reach understanding together.
The interactive tutorials in the package above were put together using Adobe Captivate software. It allowed Renaldo to easily create complex step-by-step tutorials, showing pupils exactly how to carry out procedures they needed to know within other software programs included in their ICT studies. Currently, he is experimenting with After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro2, both from the Adobe Production Suite, and are post-production tools that allow animation and video to be added to websites. The students are keen, as it’s not the everyday type of information they would learn about in school, but it will also add interest and assist learning. Renaldo is insistent that it’s important to keep up with the technology and not to be too proud to learn from the students as well. If connecting to their needs is also a consideration, then ask them what would help. Such enquiries have added new aspects to Renaldo’s already successful website. In the exam revision section, for example, he now makes use of podcasting, audio files and links to exam materials all based around the case study they are using this year. For live examples of this work, visit www.rllearning.com/gcse_exam/index.html
Also on the site are other materials created by Renaldo using a variety of technology to inform and inspire the learners, such as Flash Player 8, which has been used to video lectures and provide online lessons that can be played back by students at home. Again, this provides the facilities for them to check and consolidate their understanding of a topic, as well as allowing them to easily catch up on lessons they may have missed through absence.
There is no doubt that the materials created by Renaldo, using a range of software for both home and school learning, have had a direct impact on the positive attitudes and outcomes of his students in his subject. And he is quite clear about the benefits of learning using interactive online tutorials. “It empowers students to learn at their own pace, in their own time in the way that best suits them. The vast majority of our students have computers at home and so find the online course material very effective. If our students can learn to think independently, they become more mature and are equipped to fend for themselves in the real world, preparing them for their eventual employment.”
The Human Face of ICT
Reaching this point, it is easy to see how ICT lessons have motivated and inspired the students to do well. It’s not just been about the relevance of the work, nor the excitement created by the software used and the materials created; it’s been about the human element too. There has been mention of students collaborating and helping each other, the importance of confidence in the process and of personalizing the learning experience. Renaldo sits down with every student he teaches and goes through what they need to accomplish to get an A. He tells all his classes that they are “not about Bs or Cs or Ds or Es.” He wants them to aim for As every time. To do that, he breaks down all the learning into small chunks to avoid any of them feeling overwhelmed and to show them that it is all achievable. He then reviews these chunks every five or six weeks to ensure that the students are doing everything that they need to be doing. To reinforce this, the learning is linked to the marking criteria so that they all know what is expected of them to get that A.
He is rightly proud of the grades for which his department has become known, yet he seems just as proud of what the students in his class achieve as individuals and the growth they make as prepared, happy and independent people. He tells the story of one girl who finished all her coursework (predicted a grade D, but achieved an A*) and then, on her own initiative, began tutoring another in the group – a boy who struggles in just about all subjects, yet is well on his way to getting an A grade in ICT. This amazingly collaborative classroom has developed the citizens in all of them and made teachers of many – a far cry from the picture some might have of ICT lessons: rows of faces staring at screens.
“Regardless of what system you have, you need the human side of it. Students need to feel that you genuinely care and have their best interest at heart. And most of all the lessons need to be fun. ”
Conclusion
Creating successful ICT lessons involves many factors, not least making the learning relevant, providing interesting software and tools, developing useful materials for flexibility of access and nurturing a human classroom environment. Renaldo has done all of these, but isn’t resting on his laurels; he still strives to keep his lessons current and shows other departments what they need to emulate. This year all of his GCSE students are on target to get A or A* for their coursework, a fact of which he is very proud. And who wouldn’t be? It’s no less than the task he set for them and what he expected them to achieve.
Teenagers: Why it really is NOT THEIR FAULT!
It appears that we can no longer blame teenagers for their selfishness. Furthermore, it really is not their fault that they do not understand the consequences of their actions!
In the New Scientist last month, Helen Thomson reported that adolescents and adults use different parts of the brain when making decisions and this is what makes adolescents naturally unable to empathise.
FMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans have been used to study the brains of both adults and adolescents when asked to make decisions.
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a neuroscientist at University College London, asked a group of adults and a group of adolescents (aged between 11 and 17) a series of questions such as, "You are going to the cinema, where do you look for film times?"
As expected, the scans showed that both groups used the area of the brain known as the 'mentalising network' - this is the part of the brain involved in decision-making and in understanding other people's feelings. However, the adolescents used the back area of the mentalising network (the superior temporal sulcus), whilst the adults used the front area (the prefrontal cortex).
And it would seem that the superior temporal sulcus is not actually so superior! It is used to process simple, basic decision-making. The prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, is used in more complex tasks such as understanding the effect your actions may have on other people.
Blakemore says; (this research would indicate that) "teenagers are less able to understand the consequences of their actions."
In further tests Blakemore asked more than 100 people (aged between 8 and 37) questions that involved considering other people's feelings. One such question was: "How do you think your friend would feel if you didn't invite him/her to your party?" Perhaps unsurprisingly, the older the participant, the shorter the response time, indicating that we gain empathy with age.
Work, funny? You're having a laugh!
Psychotherapist and stand-up comedian, David Granirer, suggests that being able to laugh at difficult situations in which we find ourselves helps us reduce tension and regain our perspective. It also gives us a boost in physical energy and resilience. Laughing can lower our blood pressure to a more healthy level. Laughter has also been proven to increase energy levels and relax muscles and can improve the effectiveness of our immune system.
What's even more exciting is that, according to Dr William Fry of Stanford University, laughing 200 times burns off the same number of calories as exercising for ten minutes on a rowing machine.