Word Count: 2069
Holly O’Connor – CoP 3
To what extent can graphic design
have on the effective delivery of teaching in Primary Schools?
Introduction
This essay will
explore a number of teaching theories, from the likes of Montessori, Piaget and
Vygotsky, with a particular focus on Constructivism. The aim of this essay is
to explore the role that graphic design can have on creating constructivist
materials and resources for the classroom. Looking and analysing visual
examples as an important part of this. There are many opinions and theories
about the way children should be taught and how they learn, as Pritchard writes
in Ways of Learning ‘There is not a one-size-fits-all
answer to the questions ‘How do children learn?’ and ‘How should teachers
teach?’ (Pritchard, 2005). Therefore, the question is not how to, but why and which is the
most effective, which will then in turn help to answer the essay title after
exploring further into learning and teaching approaches, will make it easier to
create and design effective resources. Looking at existing resources helps to
understand what is already out there, what works well and how theories are
applied to this.
Introduction to Teaching Theories
Wray and Lewis
(1997) specify four key aspects of constructivist theory which was pioneered by
both Piaget and Vygotsky, those aspects being ‘Learning is a process of interaction
between what is known and what is to be learnt. Learning is a social process.
Learning is a situated process. Learning is a metacognitive process.’ However
there are a number of different thoughts, people and theories on what makes the
most effective learning, how children learn best and the different roles and
responsibilities of the teacher and child. Leaving constructivism for now and
looking at some contrasting theorists leads us to behaviourist theories,
including Pavlov, Skinner and Watson. Ideas such as ‘classical conditioning’
and ‘operant conditioning which on a whole, suggests that learning is a passive
activity from responding to environmental stimuli. Meaning it is essentially a
cognivist view, (David L, 2014). On one hand the behaviourist view of Skinner
and Watson believes that learning happens through changes in the environment, whereas
Piaget and Vygotsky have a constructivist view that knowledge is constructed by
the learner and then develop their own understanding through experience. (A Comparison of Two Theories of Learning - Behaviourism and
Constructivism Dr. Mary Anne Weegar, Dr.
Dina Pacis).
Moving onto another take on learning, is the Montessori approach which
Lillard discusses in ‘Montessori: The Science behind the genius that
‘Underlying Montessori education is the child as a motivated doer’ and the role
of the teacher is stated in ‘The Montessori Method’ that their role is limited
to that of observer-helper of the children. Montessori’s theories have some
similar aspects to Piaget, one main theme being the idea of children as active
learners. (Lillard, A). on the other hand a big difference is the emphasis on
the role of the teacher, as stated before Montessori believes the teacher is
there to observe whereas Piaget believes in teacher-based learning and
instruction. One other area they agree on is the importance of the environment,
and how it should look and be set up.
Another, possibly more contemporary theory to look at is that of Reggio
Emilia which mirrors views of constructivism and those of Piaget and Vygotsky
by suggesting that ‘Children are capable of constructing their own learning’
Gribble, K, 2017). Although differences are implied through the social aspect
of Reggio Emilia’s approach, that children form an understanding of the world
through their interactions with others, whereas Piaget suggest it’s much more
individual.
Seeing the differing approaches to teaching and how children learn,
constructivism is probably the most interesting in terms of graphic design, as
it focuses on the environment, context and problem based learning.
Focus on Constructivism
Exploring constructivism in further detail, allows us to look deeper into
the ideas of the likes of Piaget, Dewey, Vygotsky and a number of others. ‘Constructivism
as a paradigm posits that learning is an active, constructive process’ (David,
L 2015).
Taking a look at Piaget’s learning theory and the four main stages which
include; ‘sensorimotor,
preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational’. (Piaget, J 1972)
The underlying idea is that teacher’s role ‘is to facilitate learning by
providing a variety of experiences’, which ‘discovery learning’ also comes
into, which helps to encourage new understandings. Vygotsky’s work explores
social interaction, knowledgeable others and looking at the zone of proximal
development. Where Vygotsky and Piaget’s views contrast is the order of
development and learning. Piaget believes that development precedes learning,
whereas Vygotsky felt that social learning precedes development (David L,
2014). Both have an overarching idea that learning should come from
‘Constructing new representations and models of reality as a human
meaning-making venture, with culturally developed tools and symbols.’ (Fosno C,
2005).
In Constructivism:
Theory, Perspectives, and Practice Fosno writes about Piaget’s view of
adaptation instead of representation (Fosno C, 2005) and how this stems from
Biology and the adaptation of animals and their characteristics and ways of
behaving to their environments around them, mirroring this to how children can
learn and adapt in the classroom and then apply what they have learnt to the
real world. In Grennon’s book, ‘In Search of Understanding: The Case for a
Constructivist Classroom’, she discusses the underlying aim and role of the
teacher within the constructivist theory, ‘the teacher searches for student’s
understanding’, and then as a result of this teachers then ‘create
opportunities for students to refine and revise those understandings’ through a
range of actions (Grennon, J 1994).
Hato – Case Study – Visual Analysis
A
visual example of graphic design in relation to Constructivism in the
educational environment is shown above in Figure 1 (https://www.hato.co/casestudy/6).
This piece was curated by HATO, who are a design studio that focus on using
design to engage with and inspire communities around them. It was produced as
part of the Liverpool Bilennial Programme, which is ‘the largest festival of
contemporary visual art in the UK, (https://www.biennial.com/). The project was
carried out as a collaboration with over 100 pupils from a local school, to
teach them about Dazzle Camouflage. Which suggests that they were using local
knowledge alongside and engaging activity from which the children were to learn
from, which has elements of constructivist theory within it. When speaking about this specific project on
an article on It’s Nice That, co-creator and co-founder of HATO discusses the
approach to this project as ‘creating a toolkit…so people can have a sense of
ownership and autonomy over the final thing’, which correlates with the student
led ideas of constructivism discussed in Catherine Fosno’s book ‘Constructivism:
Theory, Perspectives, and Practice’ that new ideas and representations of
reality are constructed with ‘culturally
developed tools and symbols’. Giving children the tools they need to figure out
reality and the knowledge themselves. Furthermore, looking at the importance of
relevance within the concept of constructivism from Piaget that ‘Knowledge is constructed based on personal experiences and
hypotheses of the environment.’ (https://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html). Which mirrors Grennon’s thoughts that constructivism is
about ‘helping students connect their current ideas with new ones.’
These ideas can be seen within the development of the playground artwork on the
basis that the children’s initial designs and collages were ‘Related to
the different rules and activities associated with their school playground’
(HATO), which is an explicit example of children creating new work and new
knowledge based upon what they already have an understanding of. Looking at the
BBC news report, children state that they can play classic playground games
such as ‘hopscotch’ and ‘tig’ but as well as this the design meant children
were open to ‘make any game up they want’. As well in the report Polly Brannan
a representative of the Liverpool Biennial festival suggests that the children
have ‘learnt about maths, science, local history and all about Liverpool’. This
way of learning many different things at the same time and bringing subjects
together as a whole, fits alongside Grennon’s words that ‘constructivism is a
nonlinear learning process’ and that children can ‘make connections’, between
the different parts of theory and knowledge that they have learnt, which is a
much more realistic picture of how the world works, and how they can take their
learning outside of the classroom as discussed in ‘Building Skills for
Effective Primary Teaching, that ‘Context can
impact on learning too, a child might be able to do something within the
classroom but may not see how to use this learning in a different context or
environment.’ Which also coincides
with Piaget’s theory of ‘discovery learning’ and how ‘knowledge is constructed
when children create products or artefacts’ (Piaget 1972) which is exactly what
HATO have pushed the children to do.
Twinkl – Case Study – Visual Analysis
Beginning to look at constructivism and design within a specific subject
this visual example looks at KS1 Maths Resources from Twinkl, which is an online educational publishing
house, producing teaching and
educational materials. Founder of Twinkl Jonathan Seaton discusses in a recent
article that Twinkl is ‘empowering a new way of teaching’. The resources
recognise that children of the future need to have the ability to problem solve,
think creatively and pattern spot (https://www.insidermedia.com/yorkshire/entrepreneur/jonathan-seaton-teaching-the-world).
Similarly, to HATO’s mural,
and mirroring the ideas of constructivism this resources has a main focus on
jobs and careers that children will be able to identify with and recognise. Which
is an aspect that Grennon discusses in her book that children don’t usually connect
the information they receive in school to interpretations of the world around
them’, (Grennon, J 1994), however this piece shows how children’s current
knowledge can be used to make sense of new knowledge, which is essentially the
underlying idea of constructivism that ‘Knowledge is constructed based on
personal experiences and hypotheses of the environment (David, L, 2014).
A criticism of the piece is
that it doesn’t encourage social interaction and learning, it is designed more
for individual learning, which contradicts Vygotsky’s social learning theory
and the idea of the ‘classroom as a mini society and a community of learners
engaged with activity’ (Fosno C, 2005). This style of independent learning fits
more into the Montessori teaching method that caters for children by ‘adapting
the curriculum to the taste of individual children’ (Hunt J, 1964). The sharing
of and cooperation which is important to learning comes from Paul Cobb’s idea
of ‘taken as shared’ and the fact that ‘the mutual compatibility in our use of
words and language is the result of social interaction’ (Fosno C, 2005),
therefore implying that children help each other learn through sharing their
different experiences.
Figure 2 also is an example
of the teacher trying to grasp how and what the children in the class already
understand, and how ‘learners need enough previous knowledge and understanding
to enable them to learn new things’ it’s an example of the teacher using
resources as a tool to ‘help make links with new and previous knowledge
explicitly’ (Prichard A, 2005).
Design of a Board/Card Game – Visual
Analysis
Figure 3 shows a
card game which helps children to learn different Maths concepts. Designed by
the Green Board Games. The game is said to be ‘innovative and imaginative, and
designed to bring people together, increase knowledge, aid learning and also be
great fun.’ All of those ideas are all important aspects of constructivism,
firstly looking at the idea of how games can help children to learn
Looking at
Prichard’s discussion that ‘when learning is made up of authentic tasks, there
is a greater possibility of engagement’.
Breaking down
Ideas discussed in Constructivist Learning and Teaching, firstly Clements H
suggests that ‘Paper and pencil exercises cause social isolation, mechanical
repetition and dependence on the teacher’ and therefore ideas and tasks need to
be put in place to stop this from happening, therefore one idea is to ‘replace
these tasks with games and situations in daily living’. Which is also suggested
in Grennon’s book, where she writes that ‘Constructivist teachers use raw data
and primary sources, along with manipulative, interactive and physical
materials’ (Grennon, J 1994). The use of engaging and real materials, gives way
to children understanding and putting what they are learning into context, so
that they’re knowledge doesn’t just stop when they leave the classroom.
Case Studies of Teaching Lessons/
Resources used
Conclusion
‘Effective learning is learning which is
lasting and capable of being put to use in new and differing situations.’
(Pritchard, 2005)
No comments:
Post a Comment