One of the great things about maintaining the scholarly learning community as part of the Undergrads Engaging in Inquiry program this past year has been the opportunity to discuss ideas and thoughts with others. On a campus like Illinois, we typically have limited opportunities to discuss teaching and learning with our colleagues. The UEI discussions this past year provided a regular venue for those interactions. We hope to continue providing those opportunities for discussions this coming year, primarily through the program that Ann Abbott is developing.
Sometimes someone will say something or use a phrase that resonates with me and helps solidify or provide structure to my often poorly structured thoughts and ideas. In some of the discussions about inquiry and how we use it regularly in learning, Cheelan Bo-Linn used a phrase that caught my attention. She referred to inquiry as a “habit of mind.” I have come to view the inquiry process as the mechanism by which we gain new knowledge. As such, the inquiry process is a mental habit. It is a normal, natural approach that our brain uses to acquire new knowledge or understanding. We are always reaching for new knowledge based on our existing knowledge, linking the new with what is already known. We ask our most productive questions based on existing knowledge. We intuitively seek out information resources as part of our investigation. We create conclusions, or new ways of thinking about something, or reinforce our existing views. We discuss our new creation of ideas or understanding, at least with ourselves, and often with others, whether through dialogue (with friends and colleagues) or examinations (in a class), always seeking feedback on how our created understanding fits with how others perceive things. And of course, we reflect, consider, cogitate, and let it roll around among the grey cells. For better or worse, that inquiry cycle results in something new built on the foundation of our pre-existing knowledge. These are nature, intuitive habits of mind.
If these habits of mind are natural, then do we need to teach them to our students? Another phrase that Cheelan has used suggests that the components of the inquiry cycle reflect a “repertoire of cognitive skills.” In undergraduate education, we tend to emphasize the skills of investigation and perhaps some minimal level of creativity. The other components of the inquiry process are underrepresented in our typical teaching efforts. We rarely challenge students to ask questions based on their lived experiences. We don’t ask them to be creative too often, either. Usually we ask them to reiterate the creations of someone else, whether it be the expert in the content, the author of the text book, or ourselves as transmitters of that content. Getting students to have productive discussions, informed but independent thoughts, and meaningful reflections takes time, as well as well constructed and thoroughly planned activities, requiring a very different approach to teaching than that in which many are experienced. Furthermore, if we were to let our students reflect upon their knowledge and learning – well goodness, they might actually start thinking outside the narrowly defined box that we call course content.
What if we were able to more fully represent the inquiry process throughout a student’s undergraduate program? Any given class or instructor would not necessarily have to integrate all components of the inquiry process in every course. Giving focus to different steps in the inquiry process, or different cognitive skills, in various courses cumulatively gives the student experience with each of the skills. Then exposing students to organized activities that embrace the complete inquiry process through one or more cycles may be achieved through what are referred to as capstone experiences or courses, internships, international learning experiences, and other experiences that promote learning outside of the traditional classroom. Students currently take advantage of those types of experiences, but do they gain full learning value from their efforts when they enter the experiences with an under-developed repertoire of cognitive skills? Do they know how to take full advantage of those habits of mind that they use so often in their everyday lives?
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Integrated Learning and Peru
Judy Sunderman recently has been talking to me about what she is calling “integrated learning.” A couple of her thoughts on this subject include: “Robert Kegan (1994) noted that most of us are in “over our heads” when it comes to modern problems. The way we have been taught to analyze and understand issues doesn’t prepare us for the disarray of complexities that characterize contemporary life. Our understanding is based on linear patterns within discipline-defined subjects which often elude innovative, nontraditional, and multilayered thinking.” And, “There are spotty and often isolated attempts by institutions to experiment with vehicles for learning that better support integrative thinkers and doers. These academic programs and experiences are aimed at providing students with sustained opportunities to explore a wide range of knowledge and make connections among seemingly disparate topics.”
I recently returned from a trip to Peru. We visited Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu, Puno and Lake Titikaka. Of course, Machu Picchu was the ultimate experience (I had to include a least one picture below). All-in-all the trip was very challenging in a number of ways, but in the end it was a trip of a lifetime.
Did I experience integrated learning during that trip? Lets consider the topic of altitude. Our trip experiences ranged from near sea-level (Lima) to over 13,000 feet (Lake Titikaka). Living in the flat-lands of central Illinois, not being in the best of shape, having some limited experiences skiing at higher elevations, and yes, getting older, all combined to make the issue of potential altitude sickness something of concern prior to the trip. Based on prior experience, I had only felt minor effects of skiing at higher altitudes, such as slight headaches, etc., so I did not expect to react too strongly. All the supporting information that I came across indicated that staying hydrated and taking it very easy initially would help. So, we created an approach to deal with the altitude that was consistent with those suggestions. And then landed in the Andes mountains to test our theories. Of course the best plans don’t always work. Travel fatigue and uncertain or modified schedules, along with the driving desire to make the most out of the opportunities of visiting these remarkable places (headache or not), combined to challenge our plans for thinking about how the altitude might affect us.
Here’s where the integration comes in. We continued learning as we experienced the altitude. We changed our behavior, slowing the speed of walking around and taking extra efforts to stay hydrated. We did undergo some limited metabolic adaptation in the short time we were in Peru. Each experience was associated with a different and new place that we had not previously visited, each one offering its own challenges. And most importantly, we survived the challenges, further cementing the relationship between what we thought we understood about altitude and how to avoid altitude sickness, the experiences encountered at the various altitudes, and the association of those experiences with other insights gained about the specific places we visited, such as its quite hot up on Machu Picchu in July in spite of it being their winter. We came away with an integrated knowledge where the theoretical was tempered through overcoming of personal challenges and was linked to meaningful individual experiences associated with unique environments. Theory integrated with individual experiences gained in special environments.
The challenge we face in the classroom is how to bring in opportunities that promote those individual experiences and those special environments to be integrated with the content that we feel is critical for our students. Given enough $$, can we take them all to visit a place like this?
No, but we should be able to do more in class than just lecture and show pretty pictures. Again, one of the goals that Ann Abbott has for her program this fall is to think about ways that we can integrate community perspectives, needs and goals into the classroom without having to send students physically out into the community. These in-class approaches should then complement the array of experiential learning opportunities that students may have for learning in an out-of-classroom environment. We should be able to, as Judy says, provide "students with sustained opportunities to explore a wide range of knowledge and make connections among seemingly disparate topics."
I recently returned from a trip to Peru. We visited Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu, Puno and Lake Titikaka. Of course, Machu Picchu was the ultimate experience (I had to include a least one picture below). All-in-all the trip was very challenging in a number of ways, but in the end it was a trip of a lifetime.
Did I experience integrated learning during that trip? Lets consider the topic of altitude. Our trip experiences ranged from near sea-level (Lima) to over 13,000 feet (Lake Titikaka). Living in the flat-lands of central Illinois, not being in the best of shape, having some limited experiences skiing at higher elevations, and yes, getting older, all combined to make the issue of potential altitude sickness something of concern prior to the trip. Based on prior experience, I had only felt minor effects of skiing at higher altitudes, such as slight headaches, etc., so I did not expect to react too strongly. All the supporting information that I came across indicated that staying hydrated and taking it very easy initially would help. So, we created an approach to deal with the altitude that was consistent with those suggestions. And then landed in the Andes mountains to test our theories. Of course the best plans don’t always work. Travel fatigue and uncertain or modified schedules, along with the driving desire to make the most out of the opportunities of visiting these remarkable places (headache or not), combined to challenge our plans for thinking about how the altitude might affect us.
Here’s where the integration comes in. We continued learning as we experienced the altitude. We changed our behavior, slowing the speed of walking around and taking extra efforts to stay hydrated. We did undergo some limited metabolic adaptation in the short time we were in Peru. Each experience was associated with a different and new place that we had not previously visited, each one offering its own challenges. And most importantly, we survived the challenges, further cementing the relationship between what we thought we understood about altitude and how to avoid altitude sickness, the experiences encountered at the various altitudes, and the association of those experiences with other insights gained about the specific places we visited, such as its quite hot up on Machu Picchu in July in spite of it being their winter. We came away with an integrated knowledge where the theoretical was tempered through overcoming of personal challenges and was linked to meaningful individual experiences associated with unique environments. Theory integrated with individual experiences gained in special environments.
The challenge we face in the classroom is how to bring in opportunities that promote those individual experiences and those special environments to be integrated with the content that we feel is critical for our students. Given enough $$, can we take them all to visit a place like this?
No, but we should be able to do more in class than just lecture and show pretty pictures. Again, one of the goals that Ann Abbott has for her program this fall is to think about ways that we can integrate community perspectives, needs and goals into the classroom without having to send students physically out into the community. These in-class approaches should then complement the array of experiential learning opportunities that students may have for learning in an out-of-classroom environment. We should be able to, as Judy says, provide "students with sustained opportunities to explore a wide range of knowledge and make connections among seemingly disparate topics."
Still inquiring on inquiry
It has been awhile since myself or anyone else has contributed to this blog. The end-of-semester crunch is always followed by a period of tying up loose ends left over from the academic year, as well as traveling and catching up on domestic work at home (mowing the lawn, planning plants, etc). Now summer is more than half over and its time to start looking forward to the coming academic year. A number of activities are in the planning stages for the fall. A couple are described here.
Our core group from the Undergrads Engaging in Inquiry program last fall and spring is working closely with one of the new Distinguished Teacher Scholars for 2008-2009. Ann Abbott is an Assistant Professor in Spanish, Italian, & Portuguese. Ann is developing a series of summits and meetings that will offer unique opportunities for Illinois faculty and staff to meet with local community leaders. We look forward to getting a better understanding of how we might further prepare our students for their careers, as well as learning how we might strengthen interactions with the local community. Of course discussions of the inquiry process and how it may be integrated into student learning will be a consistent theme throughout that series of summits and meetings interactions, whether it be integrating inquiry into courses as a means of helping students learn about and understand community, or as the process by which we form collaborations with the community to achieve goals of mutual interest. More on Ann’s plans later.
Judy Sunderman, Andrea Bohn and I will be conducting the Animal Sciences Study Abroad Colloquium again this fall. This course is aimed at ACES students who have recently participated in some sort of international learning experience. The course is designed to encourage students to reflect on their international experiences, share their experiences with their classmates, and enhance their understanding of the full impact that their international experience has had on their personal and professional development. These students will then be provided several opportunities to use their special knowledge to influence how other students think about gaining international experiences, as well as how instructors think about integrating international perspectives into their courses. A tall order, indeed. Helping students understand how they have used the inquiry process to gain their experiences, and can use it to gain further value from their experiences, will be an ongoing theme during the semester. Although this course has mostly been animal science majors these past couple of years, we hope to make it a college-wide course in 2009.
Our core group from the Undergrads Engaging in Inquiry program last fall and spring is working closely with one of the new Distinguished Teacher Scholars for 2008-2009. Ann Abbott is an Assistant Professor in Spanish, Italian, & Portuguese. Ann is developing a series of summits and meetings that will offer unique opportunities for Illinois faculty and staff to meet with local community leaders. We look forward to getting a better understanding of how we might further prepare our students for their careers, as well as learning how we might strengthen interactions with the local community. Of course discussions of the inquiry process and how it may be integrated into student learning will be a consistent theme throughout that series of summits and meetings interactions, whether it be integrating inquiry into courses as a means of helping students learn about and understand community, or as the process by which we form collaborations with the community to achieve goals of mutual interest. More on Ann’s plans later.
Judy Sunderman, Andrea Bohn and I will be conducting the Animal Sciences Study Abroad Colloquium again this fall. This course is aimed at ACES students who have recently participated in some sort of international learning experience. The course is designed to encourage students to reflect on their international experiences, share their experiences with their classmates, and enhance their understanding of the full impact that their international experience has had on their personal and professional development. These students will then be provided several opportunities to use their special knowledge to influence how other students think about gaining international experiences, as well as how instructors think about integrating international perspectives into their courses. A tall order, indeed. Helping students understand how they have used the inquiry process to gain their experiences, and can use it to gain further value from their experiences, will be an ongoing theme during the semester. Although this course has mostly been animal science majors these past couple of years, we hope to make it a college-wide course in 2009.
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