SESSION 2 : MY REFLECTIONS ON 2 ARTICLES

Article 1 : Aspects of Effective Learning Environments - Roger Hiemstra
Article 2 : The Design Of Learning Environments - From the Book, 'How People Learn".


When reading these two articles, I realized that the learning environment is very complex. There are so many aspects to it. The two articles had slightly different takes on what makes up an effective learning environment.

Hiemstra looked at the physical surroundings, psychological or emotional conditions and social or cultural influences. MOE considers physical surroundings as very important. Many of the schools have undergone PRIME and if they have not, they have been given money to upgrade the school facilities. In the 10 years that I have been in my 2o year old school, we have had 2 new blocks added, the field re-done for PE and sports, the canteen remodelled twice, the furniture changed twice and the buildings painted three times. In two years time, we will be undergoing PRIME as our school is considered "old with poor facilities". My aunts, who are university professors in India, came to Singapore for a visit two years ago. They were keen to see my school and so I took them on a tour. When I told them that we would be rebuilding in four years time because our building was considered old, they were shocked. They thought my school looked wonderful and had great facilities. They wondered why we were wasting money. They said that the students in India would be grateful for a fraction of what we had (and my aunts live in a state where literacy is 100% and the schools they come in contact with are quite good, educational-wise). It made me realise that though we may not have all the new facilities that the other schools in my neighbourhood has, MOE has given us a sufficient infrastructure so that physical surroundings is not an important issue in creating a wonderful learning environment. What is important is building a school identity that pupils are proud of, having a culture of discipline, learning and innovation and an environment where students feel safe, loved, understood and empowered. This must be created at the school level as well as the classroom level.

Feeling safe, loved, understood and empowered means looking at the emotional needs of the students as mentioned by Hiemstra. Social and cultural influences are also important . We tend to forget that we have students from different races, religions and socio-economic backgrounds. Students whose values, beliefs and expectations are different from the teacher's own. In many neighbourhood schools, such differences do have a significant impact. NIE trainees and new teachers who studied in "good" schools get a culture shock when they come to my school to teach. It is a challenge to understand the students, be able to "speak their language" and bond with them so as to "tailor-make" an environment where learning can occur. Many experienced teachers still are struggling to do so. Even though they may theorectically know what makes up an effective learning environment, they have difficulties realizing it. However, what is wonderful is that they do not give up and they keep trying - they have the passion to teach.

The "design of learning environments" looked at 4 types of environments. The learner-centred environment looks at knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs that the learners brings into the classroom and how the teachers should leverage on them to build new knowledge. However, many secondary school teachers have no idea what is taught in primary schools and do not make use of the knowledge and skills they bring into the classroom. Beliefs can also include misconceptions and it is through years of experience that we learn what are the common misconceptions that students have. That is one of the reasons why new teachers should be mentored by experienced teachers of the same IP.

The knowledge-centred environment looks into helping students become knowledgeable by teaching in ways that enable students to learn with understanding and sense and by helping them integrating what they have learnt into a coherent whole. These require the teacher to have a thorough understanding of the subject, which all teachers would have being graduates. However, not all teachers have mastered the ability to breakdown the subject matter and present it to the pupils in ways that students can understand. When we assess pupils, we are shocked at the basic mistakes they make and then we say that it is because the students did not study - however, it could be that the pupils simpy did not understand the method we used for explaining. Two months ago, a collegue of mine shared how he taught a mathematical principle using a unique method that he had created. This was a mathematical principle that even express students had problems in. He showed us a video where NT pupils were randomly called up to the board to solve problems using this new method. With no prompting from the teacher, the NT pupils correctly solved the problems. The other maths teachers were so impressed. A knowledge-centred learning environment reminds me to some extent of Prof. Alice Seng's class on Dynamic Learning and Assessment.

Assessment-centred environment means creating a learning environment where there is frequent and constructive feedback, students are taught skills of self-assessment, the teacher focusses on understanding of information rather than memory work and the teacher ensures that there are formative assessments to increase student learning and transfer. Primary schools have looked into these areas of feedback and self assessment with the introduction of SAIL. SAIL is now spreading into the secondary schools, though not all at the same pace. Though my school has not officially been taught about SAIL (most teachers I ask do not know what it is), some aspects can be seen in the school-based science practical assessment (SPA) and inquiry-based lessons (IBL) that all science teachers need to carry out. Formative assessment has also been introduced to school though the use of journals and portolios in project work. However, for formative assessment to be effective, teachers need to look through the materials and give feedback during the length of the project and not after the project. I know many teachers who only look at the project after it is finished and never return them to the pupils and so though the pupils kept a porfolio, they did not really learn anything through the use of the portfolio. Formative assessment is very effective in allowing deeper and greater learing but it is very time consuming and constant checking on work and feedback is required for each assignment.

The last learning environment is community-centred environment. At the classroom level, it means creating an environment where norms set encourage learning - norms such as how a subject is taught, how assessments are conducted, how pupils are encouraged to participate in class discussions and so on. The teaching of science was always meant to be inquiry-based. However, the spirit of teaching science was lost when the norm in classrooms became using practical sessions to confirm principles taught in class rather than pupils discovering the principles for themselves during laboratory sessions. MOE realized this and has made a concerted effort in the last few years to get science teachers to teach science through the inquiry method. The school culture also affects the learning environment. A positive culture of learning and sharing among teachers and students at the school level makes creating the same environment at the classroom easier. The student must be able to see the relevance of what he is learning in the context of the world outside the school. Learning must be applicable to the real world. Schools must also ensure that they are a close working relationship with the student's families as they are influential in student learning. Schools must also get students to participate in competitions and exhbitions, to organize events and to participate in other instituitions to broaden their scope of learning and develop a more holistic person.

Creating an effective learning environment is difficult. It involves so many areas and the teachers requires a lot of skills in order to be able to set this up. Another challenge is to ensure that the four learning environments are aligned within the classoom as well as within the school. It is not enough for a few teachers to create an effective learning environment. It must be school-wide. For this to happen, the school leaders must ensure that all teachers and students buy into the vision, draw up a systematic plan for implementation with short term and long term goals for achieving this vision, ensure sufficient resources are allocated, ensure appropriate training is given to teachers, provide a lot of support and encouragement to both teachers and students and put into place monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure sustainability. Creating an effective learning environment should be a vision that all school aspire to.