SUPERFICIAL AND DEEP LEARNING HIGHER ORDER THINKING Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

DEEP AND SUPERFICIAL LEARNING Students drop deep learning (understanding, meaning-making) as they progress through school, teaching pushes them to superficial learning (facts, typically for a test). Metacognition is at the heart of learning Metacognition is learned in groups. Students’ perceptions of tasks and contexts, their own intentions in learning, and their own views of the teachers’ requirements affect their learning significantly. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

DETERMINANTS OF SUPERFICIAL LEARNING Excessive amount of course material and inert, discrete knowledge as facts. Relatively high class-contact hours. Lack of opportunity to pursue subjects in depth. Lack of choice over subjects and methods of study. Passive learning. Threatening and anxiety-provoking assessment system. Memorisation as an end in itself. Assessment which asks students to reproduce information rather than make sense of it. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

IMPROVING DEEP LEARNING Motivation: we learn best what we feel we need to know. Intrinsic motivation: greater student choice, control and ownership. Learning by doing, applying, active learning and making sense of the activity. Interaction with others (including peers). Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

IMPROVING DEEP LEARNING Well-structured knowledge base: engaging and integrating knowledge, connecting it to prior experiences and knowledge. Promoting understanding and meaning-making. Memorisation for understanding,seeing relationships, application and meaning-making. Learning for ‘knowledge-making’ rather than for ‘data-reproducing’. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

IMPROVING DEEP LEARNING Uniform approaches to all are intellectual death to some. We should see the learner in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the learner. Rigid systems produce rigid people; flexible systems produce flexible people. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGHER ORDER THINKING Synthesis Evaluation Interpretation Hypothesising Predictions Conjecture Critical thinking Judgement Reflection Self-regulation Testing ideas Problem-solving. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 HIGHER ORDER THINKING Higher order thinking is concomitant with most forms of learning, i.e.: It is not only for able students. It does not follow after lower order thinking, but is simultaneous. It starts with the youngest children – it is not reserved for mature learners. Embed basic skills within more complex tasks, and plan to teach higher order and lower order thinking simultaneously. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 CRITICAL THINKING Selecting and evaluating suitable information. Separating fact from opinion. Analysing and evaluating arguments. Exposing unstated assumptions. Weighing evidence. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004 PROBLEM SOLVING Identifying, understanding, clarifying and articulating a problem. Evaluating strategies to solve the problem. Selecting a solution. Implementing the strategy. Evaluating the intervention/implementation of the strategy. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

KEY PEDAGOGICAL FACTORS IN HIGHER ORDER THINKING Higher order thinking is learned socially. Learning takes place through talking, language and interaction. Higher order thinking is developed through student autonomy, choice and responsibility. Learning improves through active exchange. Learners plan and manage their own learning. The teacher must ‘scaffold’ learning. Scaffolding must take place within the ‘zone of proximal development’ (the gap between what a person is able to do alone and what he/she can do with the help of someone else.. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004

DEVELOPING METACOGNITION Require students to reflect on their own learning. Work through problems visually/graphically. Conduct debriefings. Use cooperative learning and feedback from, and to, students. Introduce, and build on, cognitive conflict (a puzzling experience which contradicts others) and constructive disagreement. Have students consider: examining aims, goals and objectives; examining all sides of an issue/argument; the plus, minus and interesting points in a situation; the consequences of, and sequels to, a situation. Copyright Keith Morrison, 2004