Situating Learning: supporting the emergence of high complexity teachers Brent Davis & Dennis Sumara University of British Columbia.

Situating Learning:supporting the emergence of “high complexity teachers”

Brent Davis & Dennis SumaraUniversity of British Columbia

foci of manyteacher education programs

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learner diversity

social justice

ecological sustainability

global citizenship

… but what does the research into effective

teaching tell us?

Research into Top Alberta Mathematics Teachers

• 12 teachers, with long & strong records• “all over the map”, in terms of practices• not locked into any particular method• complex attitude toward subject matter

– multiple interpretations of particular concepts– intricate interconnections among ideas

• complex attitude toward learners– able to “get into students’ heads”– able to instill “a sense of shared project” in math class

• able juggle many activities (“plate-spin”)

Other popular descriptors …

• “eyes in the back of her head”• “withitness” (Jacob Kounin)• “tact” & “pedagogical

thoughtfulness” (Max van Manen)• “ethics of caring” (Nel Noddings)

The point?

most initial teacher education programs are aimed at

competence, not complexity

(and, in fact, might be projecting a ‘model’ of teaching thatinappropriately dismisses highly effective pedagogies)

The burning question –

How do we prompt teachers toward complex and flexible ways of being in classrooms?

“Low Complexity People”

• tend to see the world in absolute, black-&-white terms.

• lack (and perhaps avoid) diversity among their peers and advisers

• tend to be very rigid, ideologically• tend to focus on what they think is the reality

“High Complexity People”

• seek out novel information across diverse categories

• change attitude more easily when presented with compelling evidence

• generate unusual (& often remote) views and actions

• integrate & relate complex patterns of many elements

What we know about becoming ‘high

complexity’• Certain activities help –

• parenting,• teamsports (participating; coaching),• community organization/participation –… briefly, social engagements that require ongoing

interpretation, negotiation, and adaptation.

• Certain positionings help –– racial, gender, sexual minorities and/or oppressed groups –… briefly, positionings that prompt awarenesses of Discourses.

• It takes a long time –• 10,000 hours of supported effort.

• It depends on events that get people ‘out of themselves.’

• Huge new topic in educational research.

• We never stop learning/changing/developing.

• BIG changes – shifts in one’s way of being-in-the-world – continue to occur as you age.

• Types of changes vary by culture, era, location, etc.

• Shifts tend to be prompted by a “threshold effect”.

• One research-based model …

Life-long learning …

Robert Kegan’s Life-Stages: Immediate Consciousness

• mostly young children• idea of “durable objects” un(der)developed• mystified when others have different opinions• need to be reminded of rules over and over

Robert Kegan’s Life-Stages: Instrumental Consciousness

• typically 7- to 10-year-olds, but some adults• world is less magical … • and more mechanical: desires for

fixed laws, uniformly applied• tendency to focus on implications

for “me”• beliefs, feelings, interpretations, and

self-perceptions stabilize

Robert Kegan’s Life-Stages: Socialized Consciousness

• older adolescents and most adults• considerate – able to subordinate

personal desires those of others• modulates between thinking about

“me” and “us”• capable of abstract planning,

self-reflection• devoted to ‘something’

that’s greater than their own needs

Robert Kegan’s Life-Stages: Self-Authoring Consciousness

• some, but not many• able to examine various rule systems

and to mediate among them• more expansive awareness of

what’s going on in the world• tendency to focus on the

implications for “us”• self-guided, self-motivated,

self-evaluative – takes personal responsibility (e.g., doesn’t blame disappointing experiences on others)

Robert Kegan’s Life-Stages: Self-Transforming Consciousness

• hardly anyone• the ‘wise’ in western culture• others and objects aren’t seen as

separate; world is not seen in terms of polarities or clear-cut categories

• mindful participation in ongoing transformations replaces desire to cause specific changes

Provisos …

ImmediateConsciousness

Instrumental Consciousness

SocializedConsciousness

Self-AuthoringConsciousness

Self-Transforming Consciousness

• not a line, ladder, or sequence

• shifts prompted by confronting complexity; they don’t happen until they have to

• expanding repertoires, not levels replacing each another

• shifts can’t be

caused; they depend on the experiencer, not the experience.

• not age-indexed

And so …?

• Almost everyone reverts to instrumental mode when in

a new situation.

• Teaching is no exception (see, e.g., J.G. Berger).

• Experienced teachers are more likely than the general

population to manifest expansive levels of

consciousness.

• Why?

What we know about becoming ‘high

complexity’• Certain activities help –

• parenting,• teamsports (participating; coaching),• community organization/participation –… briefly, social engagements that require ongoing

interpretation, negotiation, and adaptation.• Certain positionings help –

– racial, gender, sexual minorities and/or oppressed groups –… briefly, positionings that prompt awarenesses of Discourses.

• It takes a long time –• 10,000 hours of supported effort.

• It depends on events that get people ‘out of themselves.’

And so …

… drawing on complexity thinking to frame initial teacher

education …

Complexity thinkers distinguish between

complicated and complex phenomena.

Complicated vs Complex

Mechanical (Newton) Adaptive (Darwin)

Machine metaphors Ecosystem metaphors

Linear Exponential

Input/output flowcharts Cyclical feedback loops

Efficiency-seeking Sufficiency-oriented

Progress-minded Development-minded

Reducible Non-compressible

Yes, but …what is “complexity”?

There is no unified definition.

Since complexity research is defined in terms of what one studies

rather than how one studies …

… and so definitions tend to be framed in terms of researchers’ interests.

A working definition of complexity thinking:

the study of learning systems

ENDOWEB

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Paces

of

Learn

ing

seconds

eons

transphenomenal transdisciplinary interdiscursive

constructivism, phenomenology

neurophenomenology

constructionism, social constructivism, actor-network theory,

situated learning, activity theory

cultural studies, genealogy, hermeneutics, semiotics,

ethnomethodology, (post)structuralism

evolutionary theory, sustainability

Discourses on Learning

neurology

psychology

sociology

anthropology

ecology

Ways to Study

Learning

some learners

Imagining an initial teacher education

program

Years 1–4

1 • Discourse

attunement

2 • Individual learning

3 • Collective learning

4 • Disciplinary learning

Years 5–9

• one year of supported academic study over a 5-year induction period

• ongoing interpretive assistance leading toward graduate work

(shifting the focus from techniques of teaching to dynamics of learning)

Year 1 • Discourse Attunement

Coursework:

•complexity thinking•deconstructions of

‘normal’

Field Experience:

• examining ‘learning’ in non-institutional settings

- shopping malls- any workplace- playgrounds

Year 2 • Individual Learning

Coursework:

•constructivist theories (à la Piaget)

•human development•consciousness and

perception•(dis)ability research•emergence and

evolution of identity

Field Experience:

•1 month•mornings: 2 student-

teachers placed with 2–3 students

•afternoons: reporting, interpretive assistance, preparation

Year 3 • Collective Learning

Coursework:

•situated, activity, and other socio-cultural theories (à la Vygotsky)

•“groupthink,” collective process

•critical pedagogies•network theory

Field Experience:

•1 month•mornings: 3 student-

teachers with 1 mentor teacher

•afternoons: reporting, interpretive assistance, preparation

Year 4 • Disciplinary Learning

Coursework:

•disciplinary knowledge as decentralized networks

•dynamics of knowledge production

•strategies for disciplinary engagement

Field Experience:

•3 months•mornings: 1 student-

teacher with 1 mentor teacher

•afternoons: reporting, interpretive assistance, preparation

Years 5–9 • Supported Induction

Coursework:

•2 courses/year for 5 years

•smorgasbord of topics, anchored around teachers’ disciplinary knowledge and collective process

Field Experience:

•5 years of classroom teaching

•regular (monthly?) sessions of reporting, interpretive assistance, collective preparation