What can space really do for learning?
That is a great question and one that I have been struggling with this quarter.
One thing I keep coming back to is what is the role of the individual and what is the role of community. I think both are needed in order to learn and I think space can help transition between the two. Space can also allow for community by bringing people together. Space can encourage reflection (Something I feel is important for learning) but creating a serene place.
Fundamentally people need to be safe. Space can create a safe place for learning to occur. My observations this past weekend in my hometown and then today’s video at San Quentin highlighted the role of space in creating a place where it is okay to learn.
Space can also help to indicate what type of activity could occur there. Essentially grouping all the materials into one place so people can learn.
Space could be used as a stimulus…something to challenge the learner to view the world a different way. Space could be used as a catalyst—places like the zoo and the Exploratorium that encourage people to learn.
creating opportunities for learning: unit of analysis is always activity ~ reflection ~ dialogue ~ displays of understanding
Sorry this reflection is all over the place. So many thoughts, so little time.
Sun Sun: This is a great list of pertinent points about what spaces can do. I like the point about space helping the transition between individual and community learning. I would like to think of an equation that leads to desired learning. Within this equation, space is one consideration, culture is the other, expert facilitator and time are yet others. Creating a space that faciltates the transition of individual learning to community learning or collaborative learning is just one important consideration. The other to think about is how ready the group of people are for collaborative work. This is related to culture. Having an expert facilitator who will promote and champion the productive use of that created space is also important. Finally, having time for the thoughtful planning and executing of the collaborative activities is yet another provision we should not miss.
May 20: machine shops, rural America and learning constraints
I missed class last Thursday to head back home to rural Washington State. Since this was a continuation of our machine shop session, I decided to look at the constraints and opportunities for learning.
Much of the things we have discussed in class have been wonderful, but the love of learning and embracement of technology is quite different from where I grew up. Progress is something frightening and people often talk about the simpler life--back in the day-- before people had ambition. Women in particular are expected to stay at home. Less than 10% of my graduating class went on to college. Instead, most took jobs at the local refinery, on a farm or somewhere else working with their hands. Thus, last week's machine shop conversation was surprisingly familiar.
So, I decided to view my hometown through a different lens and searched for learning opportunities.
The most interesting was a project with the local Native American tribe. The reservation and my home town are intertwined economically, socially and educationally. There are resource constraints (the average household income is $10,000 / year. Yes, you did read that correctly...that is HOUSEHOLD income.) Technology is hard to come by and the high school graduation rate is extremely low. There are constant conversations about whether the tribal school should teach traditional subjects (such as storytelling, etc) or should prepare students for state tests. Plus, the politics are incredibly complicated as the reservation is a sovereign nation. All told, I found myself agreeing with last week's speaker that the bureaucracy is one of the main impediments to change.
Currently there is a new initiative to get young men to actively participate in productive world and this tied nicely with what we have been studying in class. "Expert" construction workers (i.e. those with 25+ years of industry experience) are working with "novices" to construct local homes. Given the tribe’s tie to the land and natural resources, the group is working together to design and build green homes.
This tied to the piece we read on apprenticeship and I kept wondering how the learning’s were transferred to other learning environments. When I spoke with the project manager, he indicated that he sees the apprenticeship as one step in a much larger change. His goal is to use the house building for personal development. I shared some of the concepts we have used in class such as fostering a sense of ownership and belonging and he nodded. One thing this group is really struggling with is authentic participation and modeling. They are really struggling to find and retain good mentors. There is still a lot here for me to process...I'm going to try to upload some pictures and then I'll write a bit more.
May 7: Hidden Libraries Wow, I must admit that I was shocked by the long list of libraries. I did not realize that Stanford had so many! In fact, this assignment made me a little sad. Stanford is such an amazing place for learning and there are so many opportunities. Often I get trapped by the GSB and forget to venture out into the rest of campus. It was nice to have an assignment which forced me to explore a different area.
I was surprised to see an East Asian library listed. Every since my 6th grade Country report, I have had a fascination with China. I pulled up the library’s website, which stated the following:
The East Asia Library, formerly housed in the Hoover Institution, made the transition to the fourth floor of Meyer Library in Fall 2002. Holding over 520,000 volumes in the social sciences and humanities for all historical periods, it is Stanford's primary Asian-language collection.
This seemed like an interesting place to observe, so I ventured over to the Meyer library (the East Asian library is on the 4th floor). When I entered, I remembered why I usually avoid Meyer- It is always noisy and crowded and this is not the best environment for me to study. It took a while to find the elevator to the 4th floor as there was a very small sign posted next to the elevator. When I entered the East Asian library, I noticed the huge Ming vases and Chinese characters and I was immediately intrigued. Are they antiques? I still don’t know as there were no signs. I gave up and moved over to a table. This would be my study space. As I set down my books, I knocked a sign to the ground. It read “no sticky notes…use bookmarks” . Hmmm…It seems like there are quite a few rules here. In fact, throughout the library were large signs saying no talking, no drinking, no eating, no cell phone use. None of the signage seemed positive. The objects seems out dated. There are old card catalogs like I remember from elementary school. I don’t remember how to use these. There were two other students in the library but they were occupied with a stack of books. No one was talking. I looked over at the librarian to see if she could help me. There was a sign by the counter stating that I could instant message with the librarian. Again, this seems to reinforce no talking. There are floor to ceiling windows, which is nice because it is a gorgeous day outside. However, the blinds are closed.
In terms of learning, I think this space is encouraging independent learning. In relation to the framework we discussed in class today, there is a great deal of information in this library. It would be nice if some visible scaffolding were in place so the user could have some assistance distilling and organizing the information. As I think about libraries in general, I think I have considered them as a knowledge bank; essentially a library collects, organizes, and preserves information in one central place. Librarians are a valuable resource and I consider them to be “experts” in research and in determining quality. The card catalog reminded me that the information revolution has had an impact on libraries as well. I think libraries should help the user shift through the vast amounts of information available and then digest that information.
In some ways I would like studying here because it is so quiet. I could be very focused and get lost in my work. However, it felt a little lonely and clinical as well. I like seeing sunlight and I felt boxed in with all of the blinds closed. Regardless, I intend to do some digging in order to discover where those artifacts came from.
Dan GilbertGreat reflection Christy, I enjoyed reading this. I especially like the details you noted about all of the 'no' signs you saw and the sign inviting you to text msg the librarian when he/she was sitting so close! I think it is also significant about how hard this place was to find. If you find this nook then you probably want to settle in for awhile so I can see this being a place where a PhD student brings a stack of books and just sits and works for hours straight. Your last paragraph is aligned with ideas from the reading about libraries needing to move to a user-centered approach instead of a publisher or artifact centered approach. Nice work.
April 10th: Best Museum Experience
I admit it. I’m a dork. I love learning and these past two years at Stanford where I have been surrounded by others who want to learn, discuss and debate have been phenomenal. Still, there is a part of me that is a bit intimidated by museums. I enter excited and determined to learn as much as I possibly can, but after 90 minutes or so, I find my brain on overload. Cognitive overload is something I have experienced (Allen, S20).
One of my most amazing museum experiences was at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. The history and culture was so different, so old and the artifacts were so elaborate in comparison to what I had seen in the United States. In addition, this was my first time out of the north America and the hermitage represented this whole new world to explore. My tour ended up being part guided and part self guided. I found that starting with a guided tour helped to reduce the cultural barriers.
The readings reminded me of another favorite museum experience (or better yet, experiences). It was interesting as I read the piece about the Exploratorium as it (and other hands on science museums such as the Pacific Science Center in Seattle) is also something I enjoy. Much of this has to do with how I experienced them. My parents would plan these fun outings and the science museums in either Vancouver or Seattle would be a part of the adventure. We would set aside an entire day to *explore*, as my father loved to call it. This involved driving a few hours to one of the cities and my sister and I would beg to attend one of the science museums. (I grew up in a small, rural town in Western Washington, almost exactly between the Vancouver and Seattle). While there, my parents would play with us and the day would culminate with a walk or bike ride through a great park and a dinner out and some new restaurant. In fact, this is one of my fondest childhood memories. There are tradeoffs to creating hands on museums. Allen’s four areas of focus: immediate apprehendability, physical interactivity, conceptual coherence and diversity of learners provided a nice frame. Constructivism was my bias but as I was teaching, I realized that not all students have the curiosity (or if they are with a group of their peers, they work that they do not seem “cool” enough.) I wonder what my parents would have done if my sister and I refused to attend the museum.
My best museum experience was also my most nerve-racking. In 2004, I took a group of high school students from Bellingham, Washington to New York City. For the majority of these students, it was the first time to the east coast and to NYC. Needless to say, I wanted my students to have a good trip so they would be open to traveling, experiencing new culture and facing diversity.
As part of the trip, we made a stop at the met. This was agonizing for me as a teacher as I considered questions such as how much structure needed to be in place to make sure it was a good experience? Plus, I tend to be a bit intimidated by museums. I wanted students to have choice yet I also wanted to ensure they maximized the opportunity, whatever that meant for them. I considered creating some sort of guide (or co-creating with my student). Instead, I tasked them with exploring an area and coming up with 3-5 questions / puzzles which they would share with the other students on the bus. I would have a prize for the information the students found the most interesting. This way students would have choice as to which areas to explore and there would be some accountability for them to do something, not just hang out in the museum gift shop.
I was pleasantly surprised with my experiment. The met is huge. The benefit is that there is an enormous amount of sites to see and thus a diverse group of knowledge to pique people’s interests. I ended up joining a group of students that wanted to see the Egyptian artifacts. For me as a learner, I enjoy visiting museums with other people. While I had visited the Met several times, this was the first time I had been with a large group of teenagers. Granted, it was a great group of students, but their fresh perspective and willingness to ask all kinds of questions deepened my learning. It was Interesting to view the exhibits from a different perspective. Having visited the cantor art museum alone, I realize that for me, I tend to prefer activities in groups because being able to share the experience and discuss the ideas with others helps me construct meaning. (Packer and Ballantyne, 190).
As we went through, I did notice how much reading was involved. Some of my students are not readers. They were also on a budget so they would not purchase the headsets. On a side note: I have used headsets on several tours, such as Alcatraz island. I must say, this is a great way to visit a museum and I found my attention span to be lengthened due to the stories that were used to share information.
I was not sure how much they gained from the experience and I tried to gather information during informal conversations. It became apparent that a few had become lost. As I reflect upon this now, I realize how important the design of the museum is and was to overall learning. Something I am still struggling with is how can a learning space help a visitor optimize their own learning, especially given the diversity of learning styles. Over the course of this quarter I want to examine some best practices for meeting learners in today’s world.
Alex's thoughts: Christy, your piece was so much fun to read. It's funny but I am also intimidated by museums and I am a self admitted dork who has enjoyed my Stanford experience tremendously. The one point that your piece brought up for me is the fact that people experience museums and therefore "learn" in very different ways. While this is an obvious point, it underscores the importance and difficulty of taking those differences into consideration when designing a learning environment or space. From your museum experiences, you concluded that you, "tend to prefer activities in groups because being able to share the experience and discuss the ideas with others helps me construct meaning". While I tend to feel the same way about classroom learning experiences, I find that I would rather experience a museum as an individual. It is more helpful for me to construct my own meaning before sharing or receiving input from others. Given how different you and I are as museum patrons, how does someone design a museum space that accommodates both of our learning styles? Very difficult task indeed.
Rolf - I've had similar questions. Not only does diversity of learning styles include an individual vs a group preference, but how does a museum stay engaging for a 6 year old, a parent, a group of teenagers, tourists from another country etc? I recently spoke with a museum employee where I'm from, in Florida, and he told me that a goal of his museum is 80%. If they can have a diversity of exhibit content and presentation styles, and make sure that each exhibit is relevant to 80% of the visitors, then they are doing really well. I'm also intrigued by your new experience of visiting the museum with teenagers. What would it be like if someone had the opportunity to visit a single museum with a variety of group contexts... a teenager tour, a grandparent tour, an artist or scientist tour...? could be interesting.
Sonia Geerdes Hey Christy. I like your thought about best practices for learning experiences in the real world. Do they exist already? Is there a little handbook that museum curators/designers get that shows them how to get 80% of the people actively engaged?? This idea of 80% is also interesting (see Rolf's comments) How is that measured? How is it developed and designed for? I think the idea of having best practices is really important, and I sort of have this sneaky feeling that they really do exist, and we're going to learn about them later, but they (Deb and Dan) just want us to wrestle with these questions a bit. :)
Christy Thanks everyone for the comments. This 80% rule is interesting because at the business school it is something that is constantly emphasized. I didn't think to transfer it to learning spaces until I read Rolf's comment.
April 5th: free write Learning...It is a topic that has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. In particular, I am curious as to why certain things are easier to learn than others, how people can maximize their ability to learn and how to motivate people to want to learn. The second chapter of How People Learn flushed out the idea of "experts" and I agree that once you have experience and knowledge in a field it is much easier to retain additional information. The importance of pattern recognition was again mentioned and this is something I want to explore further.
Dan Gilbert Thanks for sharing. I wonder how space could make the thinking patterns of experts and their ability to recognize patterns more accessible to novices and to the lay public. Art museums can sometimes be good at this - sometimes not.
April 5th: Reflection First, I am even more intrigued by this class after the first session and today’s readings. Intuitively I have always felt that learning spaces were / are important but I did not realize that there was very little research into how learning spaces impact learning. In particular, I liked how the class mentioned, verbs, not nouns and the explicit distinction that was made between information and learning. My personal bias is towards learning environments which are student centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, and community centered. Having worked in public education and the nonprofit world, I have witnessed the challenges in gaining support and coherence.
Second, Gilbert’s use of the term “net generation” (which was mentioned again by Brown in the reading) surprised me. I hadn’t really thought about what today’s youth would be called. They are clearly different—my friend’s three year old sends me e-cards. Brown’s table of the traits highlighted some of the differences. Characteristics that stuck with me are this groups ability to multi-task, be active, to use technology, and the desire to create. New tools like myspace and youtube are enthusiastically embraced. Of course this begs the question of what does this new student mean for systems and institutions, particularly those that are slow to change? Over my two years at Stanford, I have gained a sense of the transition from a traditional transmission method to a more constructivist method of learning. Having been a high school teacher who underwent the challenge of changing math curriculums, I wonder how this change can / will occur within the larger system. Personally, I think it is more likely that informal learning spaces will adapt more readily, but this is a hypothesis I want to test over the duration of this course.
Third, Brown’s list resonated even more when he mentioned diversity. The main challenge I see for the public school system particularly within the United States is the ethnic diversity. Schools and institutions need to develop ways to manage and interact with the different racial and cultural groups within the country. Finally, I enjoyed the how we learn chapter. I have read it before but this time I focused on the discussion of learning spaces. Within the emerging themes, four and five were areas of current interest. Metacognitive processes and self-regulatory capabilities. While I firmly believe that individuals can be taught self control, I do not feel it is something that has been embraced or encouraged. I would like to explore how to teach metacognition and self-regulation, particularly in the 0-5 age group. The five themes related to Brown’s diversity trait. I think Cultural experience and community participation is an important form of learning. However, it is challenging and ambiguous, especially given the large number of stakeholders involved. I wonder if there is any current research on how to connect the family, social environment and learning spaces. Doing so would foster learning as the various groups could help make connections for the students. Whenever there is a major change in goals or theory, then there are new opportunities to learn. I am excited to see what happens during the next ten weeks.
Dan Gilbert Nice thoughts here, I especially like conencting the ideas of metacognition and encouraging metacognition to community participation. Are there spaces that support community reflection and learning? I think a religious institution might be an example of that. As far as informal spaces being adaptable to changes in learning research, I think you have highlighted a point that we will bring out later about the importance of flexibility in designing a space. So that as our understanding of learning and learners changes a space can rapidly change to support those emerging models. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.