History SymposiumCanberra

2011

“Pedagogical inertia happens”: Designing a new education box

or rearranging the toys in the toy box?

Eva Dobozy 

The notion that students must first be given facts and then at some distant time in the future will ‘think’ about them is both a cover-up and a perversion of pedagogy. … One does not collect facts he (sic) does not need, hang on to them, and then stumble across the propitious moment to use them. One is first perplexed by a problem and then he makes use of the facts to achieve a solution. (Charles Sellers in Williams, 2010)

Pedagogical

inertia

happens

Traditional toy box

• Teacher-centric• Content-focused• Teaching ‘facts’ for ‘just-in-case’ ...

Tension between rhetoric and reality

Lendol Calder noted:

“When I claim that the typical, coverage-oriented [technique] is a wrongheaded way to introduce students to the goodness and power of history, I am not saying anything outrageous or new. But pedagogical inertia happens.”

(Calder, 2006, p. 1359)

• Similarly, Tony Townsend observed seven years earlier:

“As far back as 1981, Menzies argued that previous educational reform had been similar to rearranging the toys in the toy box, when what we really needed was a whole new box”. (Townsend, 1999, p. 26)

Introducing a ‘new history toy box’

• A ‘new toy box’ for history learning and teaching for trainee teachers

• Following historical literacy descriptors adapted from Taylor and Young (2003)

• Consisting of 7 Dimensions

21st century history assignment for learning task design

Structured controversy approach

Specific history learning curriculum – excursion to Museum

Incidental history learning through dialogue

Teacher is on the lookout for ‘teachable moments’

• Organic curriculum development

Teacher collaboration

• Getting a ‘flavour’ of the social studies network and its relationship to future-oriented learning

Learning through assignment work

• A key message for teacher education students in this unit is the story itself.

• It is the starting point of their assignment:

History is all around us, embedded in the

most unlikely situations and daily products

a running shoe’s name and

its historical roots, ready to be

(re)discovered.

Inquiry-based history assignment for learning task design

• The ‘Nike Quest’ scenario example– Illustrating the difference in student/teacher

roles, motivation and skill requirements• All student groups design different products• All student groups use different processes• No ‘one right way’ of approaching complex

problem tasks• No guarantee to getting it ‘right’ the first time• Requiring much effort, resilience and self efficacy

How did teacher education students react?

I enjoy stimulating debate and ... I have enjoyed putting the webquest together. I think many people in the course are questioning the approach you take, and wonder how much they are learning, but I think they won’t see the value until much later in their lives, when they find themselves in classrooms with kids who need to discuss stuff and they refer back to the [history class] in their minds and ‘facilitate!’ … I have valued your lectures and your tutorials and most especially this assignment. Thank you. (Student teacher, 2010)

I have attended all but one of the lectures and tutorials and I still don’t know what you have been trying to teach us. I know as much about teaching [history] now as I did before the start of the semester. … The assignment guidelines are so vague and disjointed; it is nearly impossible for someone like myself, who requires explicit instruction, to get the point. Considering the first four weeks of the semester was spent with students asking [the lecturer and tutor] what the assignment was about, goes to show there was a fundamental flaw in the design of the assignment. …. I am still extremely frustrated by this subject and understandably terrified about failing it. (Student teacher, 2010)

What have I learnt?

• Students’ ability and willingness to engage with a new toy box varies

• Student and staff buy-in is crucial

• A systems-approach is the only feasible way forward

What have I learnt ? (con’t)

• A prevalent culture of learnt behaviour• Dependency on extrinsic motivation and

traditional ‘teaching’• The monitoring of teacher education

students’ learning behaviour and self-management skills (or the lack thereof), is warranted

• Teacher education students may need special training to help them understand the value of complex assessment for learning tasks

Conclusion

• Inquiry-based history assessment for learning tasks may form one of a number of tools to change the current toy box of history learning and teaching as we undergo a curriculum renewal process and look forward to the Australian History Curriculum implementation.

Any questions or comments?

Please keep in contact

e.dobozy@ecu.edu.au