DIMENSIONS OF LEARNING

OVERVIEW 1: INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS DIMENSIONS OF LEARNING?

Framework of 5 types of thinking (dimensions of learning) that are essential to successful learning

Gathers and organises range of educational research that’s known to work

Designed to reduce reliance on chalk and talk

Puts student at centre of learning process

THREE MINUTE PAUSE (DIM 1)

Take 3 minutes to stop and think about how you feel about this prospect (learning about Dimensions of Learning)

(3min pause a strategy from Dim 1, all about developing positive Attitudes and Perceptions a learner brings to the classroom environment and the task)

I’m not sure I . . . One thing I hope is . . . As long as we . . . I’m expecting . . . I wonder if . . .

EXPLICIT TEACHING

DoL gives teachers bank of strategies that help teachers teach and students learn

Emphasises explicitly teaching these strategies

Students able to select and apply strategies

Students become independent learners

WHAT ARE THE 5 DIMENSIONS?

Dictionary Meanings (Dim2)(this is useful to encourage learners to be active participants in the getting of knowledge)

Look up the words in assigned phrase In pairs discuss what the phrase means at its most

complex definition Peer Teach: work out a way to help the group to

learn what it means at the highest level possible (nature of the teaching in your hands)

Dimension 1: Attitudes and PerceptionsDimension 2: Acquire and Integrate KnowledgeDimension 3: Extend and Refine KnowledgeDimension4: Use Knowledge MeaningfullyDimension 5: Habits of Mind

WHY IS THE FRAMEWORK USEFUL?

Helps us maintain the focus on teaching

Allows us to plan curriculum, instruction and assessment tasks that take the 5 critical aspects of learning into account

Develops a common language that lets us communicate with each other/students across subject divides (helps us talk explicitly about learning)

Helps us study the learning process systematically . . .

HOW DO THE DIMENSIONS FIT TOGETHER?

HOW DOES DOL DEFINE KNOWLEDGE?

Two Types1. Declarative KnowledgeContent or Information, facts and

concepts: things students know or understand, facts and concepts

2. Procedural Knowledge Processes or skills: things students can do

NEXT 2 SECTIONS OF PPTSection 2 Dimensions 1 and 5 (the background

dimensions) Unit Planning Grid

Section 3 Dimensions 2,3 and 4 (the ‘learning

journey’ dimensions) Planning Grids for Each Dimension Dimension 3 and an action learning

project

DIMENSIONS OF LEARNING

OVERVIEW 2: DIMENSIONS 1 AND

5

WHY START WITH DIMENSIONS 1 AND 5?

DIMENSION 1: ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS

Marzano (1997) (pp 13-42)

Two Areas1. Helping Students Develop Positive Attitudes and Perceptions about Classroom Climate• Feel accepted by Teachers and Peers• Experience a Sense of Comfort and Order

2. Helping Students Develop Positive Attitudes and Perceptions about Classroom Tasks• Perceive Tasks as Valuable and Interesting• Believe they have the Ability and Resources to Complete

Tasks• Understand and be Clear about Tasks

DIMENSION 1: ROTATING PAPERSWork in 4 groups on one sheet at a time

1. Feel accepted by teachers and peers2. Experience a sense of comfort and order3. Develop positive attitudes about classroom tasks4. Believe they have the ability and resources to complete

tasks

Brainstorm activities that would work towards achieving the aim: use info from the text and your own experience (5 min)

Each new sheet: read responses and add your thoughts (2 min)

DIMENSION 5: HABITS OF MIND

Critical Thinking

Accuracy Clarity Open

mindedness Restraining

impulsivity Taking a

position when warranted

Responding appropriately to others

Self-Regulated Thinking

Monitoring own thinking

Plan appropriately

Identify and use necessary resources

Respond appropriately to feedback

Evaluate effectiveness of your actions

Creative Thinking

Perseverance Pushing the

limits of knowledge and abilities

Developing own standards of evaluation

Developing unconventional ways of viewing a situation

Three AreasMarzano (1997) pp 261-297

DIMENSION 5: PAIR WORK Identify a behaviour in class that stops

some/all students learning effectively. Discuss the behaviour with partner. Listen carefully to each other.

Match blocking behaviours to the corresponding habit(s)s of mind in the text

Think of a story/film character who displays one of the habits you want to see developed by the class

Build bones of a unit of work based on that character and their demonstration of the habit of mind you want to develop

THREE MINUTE PAUSE (DIM 1)Take 3 minutes to stop and think about

what you’ve learnt about Dimensions 1 and 5

I enjoyed . . . I was surprised by . . . I was challenged . . . I’m not sure I . . . One thing I learnt . . .

DIMENSIONS OF LEARNING

OVERVIEW 3: DIMENSIONS 2, 3,

4

1AND 5: BACKGROUND BEHAVIOURS2,3,5: LEARNING JOURNEY

DIMENSION 2: ACQUIRE AND INTEGRATE KNOWLEDGE

Examples Add and subtract

Write a paragraph

An amoeba

The conventions of punctuation

When oppression meets resistance, conflict results

Set up an experiment

Read music

The rules of basketball

Shoot free throws

A numerator

Democracy

Declarative Knowledge

Content or information, facts and concepts: things students know or understand

Procedural Knowledge

Processes or skills: things students can do

What is the major difference in how we learn a concept and a

skill?

TASKS:Understanding the different knowledge types influences how

teachers identify knowledge when planning for lessons and units (what do students already know, what do they need to know, what will they know by the end of the lesson/unit)

Task1: Which of the examples are declarative, which are procedural knowledge? (classifying task, Dim 3)

Task2: Using one example of each or of your own, in a pair, think about how we teach declarative and procedural knowledge differently . . . (comparing task, Dim 3) (circles rather than steps)

Task 3: Think of an average lesson/unit of work and work out which parts of it involve the learning of procedural knowledge and which the learning of declarative knowledge . . . What different types of learning tasks do you use for each (Deductive reasoning, Dim 3)

STUDENTS LEARN DIFFERENT KNOWLEDGE DIFFERENTLY

Declarative Knowledge: content and information

Procedural Knowledge: skills and processes

Construct Model

Shape

Internalize

Construct

Meaning

StoreOrganise

Each method has three stages, which are roughly parallel to each other, but the relationships between the phases is different (CIRCLES RATHER THAN STEPS)

So teachers need to select different types of instructional strategies for the different knowledge types too.Declarative Knowledge: 1: Construct Meaning: by linking it to prior knowledge (e.g. 3

min pause, KWL (know, want, learned), BDA strategy, inquiry strategies etc)

2: Organise Knowledge: graphic organisers (cause/effect, principle/example, concept patterns etc), advance organiser questions etc, note-taking frameworks

3: Store: symbols and substitutes, link strategies etc

Procedural:1. Construct Model: think-aloud, written/graphic representation of

skill/process, link to other skills2. Shape Knowledge: practising/modifying model, avoiding

common errors3. Internalise: as a result of practice: set up practice schedule,

chart progress

HOW DOES DOL HELP HERE?

articulates the difference between the types of knowledge, how they relate to each other

defines different types of declarative knowledge (descriptions, sequences, processes, episodes, principles, concepts) and distinguishes between macro and microprocesses (skills)

For each of the three processes involved in acquiring and integrating knowledge (declarative and procedural), DoL offers a collection of strategies teachers can select from and a suggested series of steps

DIMENSION 3: EXTEND AND REFINE KNOWLEDGE

Marzano (1997) p 113-184

This occurs as learners examine and analyse knowledge and information in a way that:

helps them make new connections discover or rediscover meanings gain new insights clarify misconceptions

Results in learners being able to do more than recite definitions and give other examples.

Involves them thinking about the information by using reasoning process that are more complex than those used to recognise or reproduce knowledge.

These processes CHANGE the knowledge they have.

DIMENSION 3:EXTEND AND REFINE KNOWLEDGE.

Eight Complex

Reasoning Processes

Classifying

Comparing

Inductive Reasonin

g

Deductive Reasoning

Abstracting

Analysing Errors

Analysing Perspective

s

Constructing support

THINK PAIR SHAREMany of these processes we scaffold for

the students as part of our normal lessons . . .

TASK: think pair share two examples of when we have used one or more of these processes in scaffolding our lessons.

(have a look at the next slide if you need a brief summary of what each process involves)

THE 8 COMPLEX REASONING PROCESSES DESCRIBED

Comparing: Indentifying and articulating similarities and differences among items

Classifying: grouping things into definable categories on the basis of their attributes

Abstracting: Identifying and articulating the underlying theme or general pattern of information

Inductive Reasoning: inferring unknown generalisations or principles from information or observations

Deductive Reasoning: Using generalistions and principles to infer unstated conclusions about specific information or situations

Constructing Support: building systems of support for assertions

Analysing Errors: identifying and articulating errors in thinking

Analysing Perspectives: identifying multiple perspectives on an issues and examining the reasons or logic behind each.

EXPLICITLY TEACH THE PROCESSESAs well as getting students to use these

processes through the scaffolding of assessment tasks and learning activities, we also need to directly teach these processes to the students, so they can select and use them independently.

Each of the processes is used unconsciously every day, but to use this as a way of refining and extending knowledge, we need to teach the STEPS involved, so students use them DELIBERATELY and RIGOROUSLY.

EACH OF THE EIGHT PROCESSES IS TAUGHT IN THE SAME WAY: 1. Help students understand the process: (the function/goal

of it)

2. Give students a model for the process, and create opportunities for them to practice using the process. (the steps involved and examples)

3. As students study and use the process, help them focus on critical steps and difficult aspects of the process (examples and suggestions of how to deal with elements)

4. Provide students with graphic organisers or representations of the model to help them understand and use the process

5. Use teacher-structured and student-structured tasks (modeling to independent work)

CAN USE DIM 3 TO ADDRESS A PARTICULAR ISSUE

1. Identify the Issue: e.g. How can we improve students’ critical literacy skills in English, specifically their ability to analyse a writer’s use of linguistic and visual techniques to achieve their purpose and appeal to their audience.

2. Plan the DoL Project: major issue for students as being the gap between their

declarative knowledge of the techniques writers use and their procedural ability to analyse how a particular writer uses these techniques for specific effects.

In DoL terms: Able to gain and integrate the knowledge of techniques (they can

explain their purposes and give examples) – Dimension 2Cannot use this knowledge meaningfully in new situations –

Dimension 4. In order to do this, we need to focus on Dimension 3, helping them

to extend and refine their knowledge.

DIMENSION 4: USE KNOWLEDGE MEANINGFULLYMarzano (1997) p 189-254

Using knowledge requires more complex reasoning processes than required by Dimension 2 of learning (recall, reproduce knowledge)

DoL’s identified 6 complex reasoning processes that can be applied to help them use knowledge meaningfully . . .

D4: 6 REASONING PROCESSES

Decision Making: generating and applying criteria to select from among seemingly equal alternative

Problem Solving: overcoming constraints or limiting conditions that are in the way of pursuing goals

Invention: developing unique products or processes that fulfil perceived needs

Experimental Inquiry: generating and testing explanations of observed phenomena

Investigation: identifying and resolving issues about which there are confusions or contradictions

Systems Analysis: analysing the parts of a system and the manner in which they interact

FIVE STEPS TO TEACH THEM . . . . . . so that students can learn how to do

it themselves . . . (same steps as for Dim 3)

1. Help them understand process2. Give them a model for it3. As they practice, help them focus on

critical steps4. Provide them with graphic organisers to

help them use the process5.Use teacher-structured tasks leading to

student-structured tasks.