Month: June 2023

What is it?

Constructing an inclusive design for a classroom is essential to facilitate effective learning for a wide range of students. Inclusive design is “a practice that supports optimizing unique human differences and creating the conditions for a diverse (yet cohesive) global learning community of lifelong learners” (Watkins et al., 2020, para 2). Inclusive design, when implemented in the classroom, not only recognizes the diversity and uniqueness of each individual but also cultivates participation which “benefits not just struggling students but all students” (Watkins et al., 2020, para 2).

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Art Therapy: Overview of Resource

For my group’s interactive learning design, we are creating a resource for elementary school teachers – specifically grade 3 – to inform them about the diverse ways art therapy can be employed to promote emotional regulation. The objective of this is to convey to students how the arts can communicate and connect our experiences to the experiences of others. Art therapy is comprised of many modalities; the modes of painting, music, drama, drawing, sculpting, and painting will be utilized in my group’s learning resource.

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Drama: Barriers to Student Success

For the drama subtopic, students will be engaging in tableau to develop self-awareness and express emotions. Tableau can be differentiated into an individual, pair, or group activity. How it works is “one by one [learners] step into the space and establish a freeze frames in relation to one another until the tableau is complete” (Farmer, n.d., para 2). By the end of the lesson, students will be able to create and present a series of tableaux and spoken words to showcase a problem, emotion, and resolution.

Potential Barriers are:

• difficulty speaking (for example mutism or dysarthria)
• lack of confidence pertaining to public speaking/presentations
• being unable to move into a pose due to injury or disability

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How can we Adjust?

Difficulty Speaking

If a student has difficulty speaking due to an exceptionality, several adaptations could be implemented so they could still create and share their spoken words to showcase their selected problem, emotion, and resolution. Firstly, while the individual presented their tableau, they could have a friend, a peer they feel comfortable with, or a teacher read the words aloud. Alternatively, they could use a technology tool like text-to-speech to read what they wrote aloud while they performed their tableaux series.

Lack of Confidence

If a student appears apprehensive or extremely anxious regarding the presentation, rather than having them present in front of the entire class, the teacher could have the individual present to them alone. Alternatively, the teacher could provide the individual with a secondary option of filming the tableaux series ahead of time, so it could still be presented to the class but it would not have to be performed “live”.

Unable to Easily Move into Poses

If a student has difficulty or is unable to move into a pose due to an injury or disability, certain adaptations can be implemented to ensure participation. Depending on the inquiry – for example, a broken leg – the individual could perform their tableaux series from a seated position. If a learner was in a wheelchair due to limited use of their extremities, the individual could verbally express what they wanted the tableau to look like so other students could create it. Additionally, if at all possible, the student will be encouraged to see where they could fit themselves into the freeze frame. If a learner has limited use of their extremities and also has difficulty communicating, the aforementioned adaptation could still occur by the individual expressing the poses via text-to-speech.

Successfully identifying and navigating barriers can be an immense task at times, especially if the instructional delivery is not in person. Nikhill, Google Classroom is a great platform to enhance and enrich student learning, however as you mentioned, it can create barriers that may not occur in the traditional classroom. An additional mitigation technique I thought of while reading your post would be to take the time to visually and verbally explain the features of Google Classroom to the class prior to learners using it independently. By doing so, students are getting that formal instruction piece to start them off which I think is really important because so often we ask students to use technology without properly explaining it first.

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References

EDCHAT. (2014). Teachers TV: Teaching Drama: Focus, Freeze & Think [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP6QD0RxNP4&t=2s&ab_channel=EDCHAT%C2%AE

Farmer, D. (n.d.). Tableaux. Drama Resource. https://dramaresource.com/tableaux/#:~:text=How%20do%20you%20use%20tableaux,about%20each%20of%20the%20characters.

Fleck, R. (2021). How to practice inclusive design in your daily workflow (6 tips for designers) [Image]. https://dribbble.com/stories/2021/06/01/inclusive-design-tips

Wai, D. (2021). Why art therapy could help you with your mental health. https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/lifestyle/article/3137677/why-art-therapy-could-help-your-mental-health

Watkins, C., Treviranus, J., & Roberts, V. (2020). Inclusive design for learning creating flexible and adaptable content with learners. Inclusive Design Research Centre. https://snow.idrc.ocadu.ca/articles/inclusive-design-for-learning-creating-flexible-and-adaptable-content-with-learners/#:~:text=Inclusive%20Design%20for%20Learning%20is,struggling%20students%20but%20all%20students.

What is Inquiry-Based Learning?

Unlike direct instruction whereby pedagogical practices are designed, scaffolded, and presented by educators, inquiry-based learning “places the responsibility for learning on the students and encourages them to arrive at an understanding of concepts by themselves” (Queens University, n.d., para 1). Essentially, inquiry-based learning is an “array of classroom practices that promote student learning through guided and, increasingly, independent investigation of complex questions and problems, often for which there is no single answer” (Lee at el., 2004, p.9, as cited in Queens University, n.d., para 1).

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Levels of Inquiry

An inquiry approach to learning includes four types of student inquiry, that being structured inquiry, controlled inquiry, guided inquiry, and free inquiry. This scaffolded methodology is “one that gradually increases student agency over learning while providing learners with the necessary skills, knowledge, and understanding to be successful in their inquiry” (MacKenzie, 2016, para 3). 

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Characteristics of Inquiry-Based Learning

Llego (2022) outlines the following key characteristics of an inquiry-based approach to learning (para 4-8):

• Inquiry-styled learning is active, not passive: Instead of “receiving information from a teacher or textbook”, “students are actively engaged in posing questions, finding information, and making sense of what they find” (Llego, 2022, para 4). 
• Inquiry-based learning starts with a question, problem, or scenario: Inquiry-styled learning starts with an open-ended question that “gives students a purpose for their learning and allows them to focus on finding a solution” (Llego, 2022, para 5). 
• A teacher or other adult facilitates it: The responsibility of the facilitator is to help students ask good questions, find relevant information, and make sense of what they find” (Llego, 2022, para 6). 
• Inquiry-based learning can be utilized in formal and informal educational settings: Inquiry-based learning can be applied in the classroom at any time, but it is “particularly well suited for” activities that incorporate “problem-solving, critical, and creative thinking” (Llego, 2022, para 8). 
• Finding an answer to your inquiry question may not happen: Because inquiry questions are supposed to be open-ended, students may not find an explicit answer to their question(s).

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Inquiry-Based Learning: Art Therapy

An Inquiry-based learning approach pertaining to art therapy would be immensely rewarding for learners. The objective of art therapy aligns with the benefits and key characteristics of inquiry-based learning by encouraging creativity, improving problem-solving skills, encouraging engaged, meaningful learning, connecting learning to real-world experiences, and helping students understand complex topics like the healthy expression and communication of emotions (Scholl, 2023, para 12-18). For instance, one of the many advantages of inquiry-based learning is its ability to improve communication skills. By using various artistic modalities such as painting, sculpting, drawing, photography, etc., learners can express, work through, and communicate emotions and/or how they are feeling. Possessing the ability to identify, communicate, and resolve a feeling is not always an easy task. The scaffolded nature of inquiry would allow students to progressively gain the tools needed to build emotional intelligence by initially following the lead of the teacher (structured inquiry), whilst working up to students autonomously deciding how to utilize artistic expression (free inquiry).

Subsequently, while I would place inquiry-based learning under the learning theory of constructivism as it “equates learning with creating meaning from experience” via the integration of real-world experiences, it is interesting to note that peers of mine believe inquiry-based learning needs to be combined with cognitivism. Rosina, after reading your blog post, I was inspired to research the features of both cognitivism and constructivism to see where inquiry-based learning resides. Whilst these learning theories overlap quite a bit, “the key difference between constructivism and cognitivism is that constructivism explains that learners use prior knowledge to understand new knowledge, while cognitivism explains that learning takes place through the internal processing of information” (Kumari, 2022, para 1). In my own experiences with inquiry, I have used prior knowledge to help formulate my inquiry question. For example, when completing my inquiry project on brain breaks in terms of sustaining engagement, I utilized my prior knowledge/experience with brain breaks to help drive my inquiry project and construct my questions. Conversely, successful inquiry projects incorporate a certain level of self-reflection; an individual must intrinsically process information in order to go forward in the inquiry process. Furthermore, whilst inquiry-based learning incorporates elements of both learning theories, I believe the root of inquiry-styled learning stems from constructivism.

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References

Edutopia. (2016). Inquiry-based learning: developing student-driven questions [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdYev6MXTOA&ab_channel=Edutopia

Edutopia. (2016). Inquiry-based learning: from teacher-guided to student-driven [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAYh4nWUkU0&ab_channel=Edutopia  

Ertmer, P. A. & Newby, T. (2018). Behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism: comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. In R.E. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivism

Kumari, G. (2022). What is the difference between constructivism and cognitivism. Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms. https://www.differencebetween.com/what-is-the-difference-between-constructivism-and-cognitivism/#:~:text=The%20key%20difference%20between%20constructivism,the%20internal%20processing%20of%20information.

Llego, M.A. (2022). Inquiry-based learning: what is it and why you should use it. TeacherPH. https://www.teacherph.com/inquiry-based-learning/

MacKenzie, T. (2016). Bringing inquiry-based learning into your class. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/bringing-inquiry-based-learning-into-your-class-trevor-mackenzie/

Queens University. (n.d.). Inquiry-based learning. https://www.queensu.ca/ctl/resources/instructional-strategies/inquiry-based-learning

Scholl, A. (2023). What Is Inquiry-Based Learning? Types, Benefits, Examples. SplashLearn Blog – Educational Resources for Parents, Teachers & Kids. https://www.splashlearn.com/blog/what-is-inquiry-based-learning-a-complete-overview/

Spencer, J. (2018). What is inquiry-based learning? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlwkerwaV2E&ab_channel=JohnSpencer

Whilst learning is an ever-evolving, diverse practice, within the field of education, there are three perspectives – behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism – that instructional design gets categorized into. Ertmer and Newby (2018) state that while “these viewpoints overlap, “they are distinctive enough to be treated as separate approaches to understanding and describing learning” (pg. 5).

Behaviourism

The learning theory of behaviourism places “emphasis on rewards and punishments as drivers of learning” (Bates, 2014). A behaviourist approach was often used by my parents to enforce desired behaviours, as well as teach me certain skills such as swimming. Growing up, I despised swimming and going into the water, but my parents viewed it as an essential life skill. Upon successful completion of a swimming level, I was rewarded with verbal praise as well as an incentive of going to the store and picking a treat. Over time, I began to look forward to swimming lessons as I was eager to gain the reward, thus, behaviourism is “essentially the concept of operant condition, a principle most clearly developed by B.F. Skinner” to elicit desired responses (Bates, 2014).

Cognitivism

Cognitive learning is a foundational element within educational settings as it requires the learner to reflect back on what was taught regarding “what they know [and] how they came to acquire it” (Ertmer & Newby, 2018, pg. 7). When I was in high school, my chemistry teacher would frequently give us exit tickets. The exit ticket was comprised of three questions, each with the objective of prompting reflection pertaining to ourselves as learners and toward the lesson’s content. The three questions would be what we learned, what we wished to learn more about, and what material we would like to spend more time on. I began to progressively apply and utilize the three aforementioned questions when studying for tests to see where gaps in my knowledge were.

Constructivism

Constructivism “equates learning with creating meaning from experience” (Bednar et al., 1991 as cited in Ertmer & Newby, 2018, pg. 7). This is achieved by “engaging the learner in the actual use of the tools in real-world situations” (Ertmer & Newby, 2018, pg. 8).  During my first year of the Bed program at UVIC, I engaged in inquiry-based learning. My project centred around brain breaks pertaining to the sustainment of engagement. To procure concrete data, I taught lessons with and without brain breaks to compare and contrast the level of conveyed engagement of the learners. It was a rewarding experience to not only have autonomy over my learning but to witness the power of brain breaks in the real world rather than reading about it from a textbook.

References

Bates, A. (2019). 2.4 Cognitivism. Pressbooks. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/3-3-cognitivism/

Bates, T. (2014). Learning Theories and Online Learning. [Blog post].  https://www.tonybates.ca/2014/07/29/learning-theories-and-online-learning/

Ertmer, P. A. & Newby, T. (2018). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective. In R. E. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivism

LibGuides.(n.d.). Learning theories [Photo].https://www.francofunclass.com/learning-theories

Sprouts. (2021). Skinner’s Operant conditioning: rewards & punishments [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6o-uPJarA&ab_channel=Sprouts