1. Learning how to learn for the journey of life
TISSL Conference Sri Lanka
Spotlight on powerful practices in schools
November 2016
Dr Tristian Stobie

2. Overview of Presentation
“ “Too often, we teach students what to think but not how to think.” - OECD Insights (2014)
Overview of Presentation
What is learning how to learn?
Why does it matter?
What are the implications?
What are the myths?
Want to know more? Resources that are available

3. Independent Learners?
tdpp09e8.wordpress.com
alexstjohn.com

4. Learning? The Times 25th June 2014

5. What is learning. Learning happens when people have to think hard [C
What is learning? Learning happens when people have to think hard [C. Husbands]
Learning involves a process of making meaning which is:
incorporated into prior knowledge
“… a significant change in capability or understanding”
Deeper forms of learning modify previous understanding
transfer to new situations
Adapted from the introduction to Testing Times: the uses and abuses of assessment. Gordon Stobart. Abingdon. Routledge. 2008

6. What is learning to Learn?
Learning to learn means reflecting on one’s learning and intentionally applying the results of one’s reflection to further learning [Professor David Hargreaves / Chris Watkins]
Metacognition is a term used to describe the processes involved when learners plan, monitor, evaluate, and make changes to their own learning behaviours.
One Approach: [Chris Watkins]
Making learning an object of attention
Making learning an object of conversation
Making learning an object of reflection
Making learning an object of learning
working smarter not harder
Learning to learn happens with students have to think hard about learning and understand themselves as learners

7. What is Learning to Learn? Metacognitive regulation
Metacognitive regulation describes how learners monitor and control their cognitive processes.
Eg, a child realising the strategy they were using to solve a maths problem was not working and trying another approach.
Eg, re-reading a poem several times, concentrating on ‘difficult’ words where necessary, for understanding.
CONTROL
e.g., re-reading a paragraph; looking for hints or clues in the language
MONITORING
e.g., checking that you understand what you are reading

8. plan and manage their work and performance and evaluate their progress
What is learning how to learn? Reflective learning: Learning how to learn Source: Implementing the curriculum with Cambridge guide
Cambridge learners:
constantly monitor what they are doing and produce appropriate responses
plan and manage their work and performance and evaluate their progress
understand themselves as learners and the nature of their knowledge
apply their understanding to performance
think critically and creatively to overcome barriers and engage with the subject
are emotionally resilient when confronted with setbacks
are confident, but not arrogant, in working with others and sharing ideas
realise that learning is social and collective
take calculated risks, understanding that we learn from mistakes.
See pages 15 to 17 of the guide.
The learner attributes are aspirational and represent attitudes, backed by skilled action, which become effective habits in learning.
They describe the competencies learners need to demonstrate to be effective in the modern world.
They are not intended to be exhaustive. Schools may want to supplement them with others derived from the school’s vision.
For the learner attributes to become meaningful, school leaders need to engage the community with them, helping people understand how they relate to the mission of the school and why they matter.
They apply across the curriculum and need to be supported both through the school’s curriculum and co-curricular programmes.

9. Responsible for themselves, responsive to and respectful of others.
What is learning how to learn? Cambridge learner and teacher attributes
Cambridge learners
Cambridge teachers
Confident in working with information and ideas – their own and those of others.
Confident in teaching their subject and engaging each student in learning.
Responsible for themselves, responsive to and respectful of others.
Reflective as learners, developing their ability to learn.
Reflective as learners themselves, developing their practice.
Innovative and equipped for new and future challenges.
Engaged intellectually and socially, ready to make a difference.
Engaged intellectually, professionally and socially, ready to make a difference.

10. reasoning and problem-solving mathematics
Why does it matter? Because it is powerful David Whitebread University of Cambridge
“Children’s developing self-regulatory abilities predict academic outcomes and emotional well-being more powerfully than any other aspect of children’s development, including, for example, traditionally measured intelligence (Veenman & Spaans, 2005) and early reading achievement (McClelland et al, 2013). The crucial role played by these abilities has been extensively researched in relation to the development of an increasingly wide range of domains. These include:
reasoning and problem-solving
mathematics
reading and text comprehension
Writing”
Veenman, M.V.J. & Spaans, M.A. (2005). Relation between intellectual and metacognitive skills: age and task differences. Learning and Individual Differences, 15,
McClelland, M.M., Acock, A.C., Piccinin, A., Rhea, S.A. & Stallings, M.C. (2013). Relations between Preschool Attention Span-Persistence and Age 25 Educational Outcomes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 28, 2, 314–24.

11. Why does it matter? Because it is powerful
On average, introducing meta-cognition and self-regulation into the classroom has a high impact, with pupils making an average of eight months' additional progress.

12. Immediate gratification Multiple identities
Why does it matter?? Because the adolescent brain is changing and it is needed more than ever Source: adapted from David Marsh Ph.D.
Digital-age young people can be lonely and demonstrate poor social intelligence
Restless
Collaborative
Learning by doing
Immediate gratification
Multiple identities
Changes in mind, body & behaviour
Extensive Gaming: disrupts sleep, rest and memory, stimulates the brain’s reward system, influences the way we navigate our thinking and learn
High Horsepower, Poor steering

13. Why does it matter? Because the world is becoming more uncertain and complex
“I believe the prime function of education in an uncertain world should be to provide young people with the competence and self-confidence to cope with uncertainty well: in other words to be good learners….the main concern of teachers is to equip their pupils with the ability to be intelligent in the face of change.”
Guy Claxton [1990]

14. Activity: What are the implications for practice?
What do you do in your teaching practice that specifically is designed to help students learn how to learn?
What do you find are the most effective practices?
What do you do in your school as an institution to nurture good learning habits?

15. Performance orientation Learning Orientation ‘Looking good’
What are the implications? Focus on a learning rather than a performance orientation Source: Watkins, C. [2010] Learning Performance and Improvement. Research Matters. The London Centre for Leadership in Learning issue 34, summer
We need to challenge and change culture
“Students with more elaborated conceptions of learning perform better in public examinations.”
“The evidence leads to the conclusion that learning about learning is a practically viable and educationally important strategy which also has the effect of improving performance.”
From To
Proving Competence
Improving Competence
Performance orientation
Learning Orientation
‘Looking good’
‘Learning Well’
Making Learning an object of attention, conversation and reflection

16. What are the implications? A culture of learning
A learning rather than a performance orientation.
Effective habits of learning should be taught, nurtured and reinforced in all classes by all teachers, in the broader curriculum and at home.
Teachers model learning to learn. Language use focuses on learning.
Some study skills can and should be taught explicitly and supported across the curriculum.
Active participation of students – involvement in the design of teaching, learning, assessment, school life, self-evaluation.
Importance of resilience, mastery and practicing skills
Importance of reflection

17. The Efficient School The Expansive School
What are the implications? A culture of learning
Source: Guy Claxton, adapted from building learning power
The Efficient School The Expansive School
asking interesting questions;
checking what we are told;
thinking on our feet;
designing our own learning;
making good use of resources;
harnessing our imaginations;
unearthing problems;
being bold and trying new things;
helping ourselves when we are stuck;
checking and improving our own work;
seeking and valuing feedback;
working well in different groups;
listening carefully and respectfully;
concentrating despite distractions;
becoming our own teachers;
Retention
Discussion
Justification
Calculation
Tight manipulation
‘Knocking out small essays’
Accepting criticism
Achieving targets
……………….

18. What are the implications
What are the implications? Focus on active, visible Learning “The biggest effects on pupils’ achievement occur when teachers become learners about their own teaching, and when pupils become their own teachers.” John Hattie
Active and guided instruction is much more effective than unguided and facilitative instruction.
Teachers need to:
be directive, influential, caring and actively engaged in the passion of teaching and learning
to construct meaningful experiences in the light of what each student is thinking.
have proficient knowledge and understanding of their subject to provide meaningful and appropriate feedback
know the learning intention and success criteria of each lesson and how well they are attaining these and where to go next
teach for transfer…relating and extending ideas
create a learning environment where error is welcomed as a learning opportunity
Hattie. J [2009] Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement Routledge. Oxford UK.

19. what are the implications? Focus on active learning
Effect Sizes for teacher as activator and teacher as facilitator
Source: Hattie, J. [2009] Visible learning
Teacher as Activator d
Teacher as Facilitator
Reciprocal teaching
.74
Simulations and gaming
.32
Feedback
.72
Inquiry based teaching
.31
Teaching students self-verbalization
.67
Smaller class sizes
.21
Metacognition strategies
Individual instruction
.20
Direct instruction
.59
Problem based learning
.15
Mastery learning
.57
Different teaching for boys and girls
.12
Challenging goals
.56
Web based learning
.09
Frequent / effects of testing
.46
Whole language reading
.06
Behavioural organizers
.41
Inductive teaching
Average activator
.60
Average facilitator
0.17

20. What are the implications
What are the implications? Students need to Understand and apply assessment for different purposes
Too much emphasis on summative assessment
Most assessment should be about making learning and thinking visible to help guide future learning
Criteria help to identify what matters, to define what excellence looks like
When summative assessment is used we need to assess what we value.
The power of well constructed self-evaluation

21. Through assessment for learning, the learner:
What are the implications? Students need to understand the discipline as a whole Making learning and thinking visible
Through assessment for learning, the learner:
comes to hold a concept of performance similar to that held by the teacher
i.e. develops the notion of a standard
monitors the quality of his/her own performance
i.e. can compare own performance with the standard
sees how the quality of performance can be improved
i.e. engages in the action that closes the gap between own performance and the standard
[adapted from Professor David Hargreaves]

22. Metacognitive Talk - teachers
What are the implications? Teachers thinking aloud, exemplifying thinking
Metacognitive Talk - teachers
We are learning how to solve problems. We are learning to analyse a poem.
What could you do if you have problems?
How do you know that?
Will this way make it easier?
Was it difficult to do or was it easy?
Is there a better way?
Check what you are counting in or the unit of measure.
I don’t understand it either, so let’s have a look together.

23. Metacognitive Talk - students
What are the implications?
Metacognitive Talk - students
I know what to do.
Oh, I love hard work.
Hmm, I’m not sure that’s right.
Something is missing.
Did you mean…?
We need to know which way to go round the table.
We should talk about it together.
I think we’re nearly there.
I think this one is correct, but I’m not sure about this one.
We’ve got to solve a problem

24. What are the implications
What are the implications? Importance of emotional competence Antony Damasio – Feelings count: cognition is built on emotional platforms Mihaly Csikszentmihayli – Flow
Descartes' famous "cogito" - I think, therefore I am" - is profoundly mistaken, according to Damasio. Thinking is a late evolutionary development. Long before there was thought, there was feeling; and we are still primarily feeling organisms

25. What are the implications?
Emotional engagement
The importance of resilience: learning can be painful [slide taken from a presentation by David Mansfield]

26. What are the implications? Developing effective Study Habits
Learning happens when people have to think hard so:
Revision needs to be active [not passive] and soon after learning.
Teachers and students need to review and reflect on important work covered repeatedly and regularly.
Attention given to big ideas and powerful concepts.
Students need to challenge their thinking with questions [not copying notes].
Reciprocal teaching and revision [Hattie effect size very large].
Thinking routines can be useful methodologies for reflection and problem solving.
Mistakes seen as learning opportunities and encouraged.
Helping student organize and plan their work.
Helping students understand how to structure written responses and present a reasoned argument.
Correct referencing.

27. What are the implications
What are the implications? Nurture creativity, critical thinking and learning how to learn in all disciplines “Creativity is possible in every discipline and should be promoted throughout the whole of education” [Ken Robinson, 2011]
Three related ideas:
Imagination: process of bringing to mind things that are not present to our senses
Creativity: the process of developing original ideas that have value
Innovation: the process of putting new ideas into practice

28. What are the implications
What are the implications? Focus on understanding: The importance of selective depth and teaching for transfer
“Coverage is the enemy of understanding”
[Howard Gardner]
“The most important thing I found out from [my father] is that if you asked any question and pursued it deeply enough, then at the end there was a glorious discovery of a general and beautiful kind.” Source: Richard Feynman (1994) No Ordinary Genius

29. Example: production possibility frontier in Economics

30. Teaching for transfer. What is the relevance of concepts underlying the production possibility curve to improving learning efficiency?
What could be on axes x and y instead of goods and services?
What does being at C mean?
What would be required to be at B
What is the significance of the curve being concave to the origin?

31. Example: IGCSE Global Perspectives
What are the implications? Offer creative offerings in a broad and balanced curriculum
Broad and balanced. Students have to experience a variety of ways of thinking and doing.
Looks at the connections between topic areas [within disciplines] and inter-disciplinary understanding] between disciplines.
Concern with the informal and hidden curriculum.
Extra-Curricula activities and responsibilities.
Pastoral Care.
Reporting [self-evaluation].
Relationship with home and the broader community.
Possibilities for student leadership and responsibility.
The power of Bi-lingualism
Example: IGCSE Global Perspectives

32. Increased mental processing capacity
What are the implications? The importance of bilingualism What are the benefits of bilingualism?
Increased mental processing capacity
Greater control over mental processing
Improved memory
Greater meta-linguistic awareness
Increased mental flexibility
Improved health
Improved inter-cultural skills
Increased opportunities for trade
Increased income
Colin Baker:
Communication
Wider communication (extended family, community, international links, employment)
Literacy in two languages
Cultural
Broader enculturation, a deeper multiculturalism, & two ‘language worlds’ of experience
Greater tolerance & appreciation of diversity
Cognitive
Thinking benefits (e.g. creativity, sensitivity to communication)
Health benefits (wards off senility)
Character
Raised self-esteem
Security in identity
Curriculum
Increased curriculum achievement
Easier to learn a third language
Cash
Economic & employment benefits
Mehisto, P. Excellence in Bilingual Education: A Guide for School Principals, CIE/CUP, 2012

33. What are the myths? 1. Skills are more important than content knowledge
Both are critical and interdependent.
You cannot think deeply about something that you do not have factual knowledge
Deeper levels of thinking require practice with more superficial content first
The practice of learning and memorization is important

34. What are the myths? 2. All learning should be enjoyable
The importance of deliberative practice: Developing working memory
Deliberate practice is instrumental in achieving improvements in performance.
It is an effortful activity that can be sustained only for a limited time each day.
It is not inherently enjoyable, involving persistence and repetition, but it is instrumental in achieving improvement in performance and is a key distinguisher between experts and non-experts.
Rote learning, homework, textbooks, times tables and phonics all ensure children acquire fluency and ‘automaticity’ in basic skills. These are the prerequisites for higher order, ‘analytic’ thinking,
“Those who practise the most forget the least over time….So-called ‘overlearning’ protects from forgetting, because consolidation requires repetition – small bits learned at a time”. 
Dr Helen Abadzi,

35. What are the myths?
3. The Curriculum should be based on students inquiring into what they are interested in.
Too much concern with “Is this curriculum meaningful to my students” rather than “what are the meanings this curriculum gives my students access to?” The importance of powerful knowledge
Young, M. [2013] Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge – based approach. Journal of Curriculum Studies [Vol 45, No. 2 5thApril pp ]. Routledge.

36. 3. Active and guided instruction is much more effective than unguided and facilitative instruction.
“ This ‘Knowledge Age’ or ‘21st Future Learning’ approach is gaining ground because it offers what some call an exciting digital utopianism. Dispense with the teacher, bring out the iPad, let's co-inquire together. But pupils don't know what they don't know. You can't look it up on Google when you don't know what you are looking for. You can't recognise it when you see it, and you can't judge it if you do find it……. A teacher who says "I co-inquire with my students", "I learn from them", "we construct knowledge together" does not deserve that status.”
Rata, E. [2013] The New Zealand Herald. Accessed 7th September

37. What are the myths? 4. Interdisciplinary study is better than disciplinary study
“Interdisciplinarity is excellent if it is firmly rooted in disciplinarity. Each subject is not an end in itself but it must be an efficient tool. We must keep its identity and especially its own methodology. Only on that basis will we be able to construct progressively a serious interdisciplinarity otherwise we will lead or student’s to mental confusion and superficial surveys.”
Gerard Renaud [1989]

38. What are the myths? 5. Beware of neuro-myths
Leaning styles (VAK) Visual, auditory, kinaesthetic
(Kratzig and Arbuthnott, 2006):
no benefit of having material presented in one’s preferred learning style, concluding that attempts to focus on learning styles were “wasted effort”
does not detract from the general value for all learners when teachers present learning materials using a full range of forms and different media

39. Want to know more? Benefits of Building Learning Power Guy Claxton
Raised results
better preparation for university / life
More satisfying teaching
See also Chris Watkins who has placed a large volume of valuable material for free on the web: chriswatkins.net

40. Want to know more?
Here’s Professor Steve Higgins from Durham University talking about what metacognition is and how it can be used in the classroom.
For a more in-depth look at metacognition, this podcast discusses the neural basis of metacognition, and how we measure and quantify it.

41. Want to know more?
Listen to Dylan Wiliam talk about the importance of young people being able to reflect on their learning and how teachers can utilise these insights For more on the benefits of metacognition, visit the Education Endowment Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit website which describes metacognition as having “high impact for very low cost, based on extensive evidence.” Explanation of effect sizes:

42. Want to know more?
Think Aloud:
SOLO and self-evaluation:

43. Want to know more?
Websites
OECD Insights: Debate the issues. Focus on metacognition
Examples of both cognitive and metacognitive questions that can be used in the classroom
Education Endowment Foundation: Teaching and Learning Toolkit on metacognition
Thinking Together Project. A dialogue-based approach to the development of children's thinking and learning.
Chris Watkins, UCL Institute of Education. Numerous papers on learning to learn:

44. Want to know more?
Books
Hattie, J. (2009) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Abingdon, UK: Routledge
Larkin, S. (2009). Metacognition in young children. London, UK: Routledge.
Whitebread, D. & Pino Pasternak, D. (2010) Metacognition, self-regulation & meta-knowing. In Littleton, K., Wood, C. & Kleine Staarman, J. (eds) International Handbook of Psychology in Education. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
Brown, A. L. (1987). Metacognition, executive control, self-regulation and other more mysterious mechanisms. In F. E. Weinert, & R. H. Kluwe (Eds.), Metacognition, motivation and understanding (pp. 65–116). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kolencik P L and Hillwig S A (2011) Encouraging Metacognition – Supporting Learners Through Metacognitive Teaching Strategies. Peter Lang, New York.