How can students have the opportunity to drive their learning and be creators of knowledge?
Here's how to foster an environment where students are content creators, not simply content consumers.
By Kader Adjout, Director of Teaching, Learning, and Innovation at Beaver Country Day School
One of the essential questions guiding our work here at Beaver is: How can students have the opportunity to drive their learning and be creators of knowledge?
If anything, the last few years have helped us—fairly quickly in terms of the general pace of education evolving—change some of our deeply held assumptions about the role of students and teachers in the classroom.
One thing is for sure, students cannot, nor should they be, passive recipients of knowledge anymore. We need to rethink the role of students in the classroom—expanding our student-centered approach to a student-driven learning one.
We need to be creating a learning experience that is meaningful and relevant to students; one that allows them to feel connected to the curriculum and is designed with and for them, as opposed to something done to them.
This is how students can become creators of knowledge as they are problem solvers, critical thinkers, content experts, designers of their learning experience, and collaborators.
So, how do we foster that environment?
At Beaver, we strive to create a learning environment where students’ voices and choices are promoted through an inquiry-based model. This is an approach that encourages students to work on meaningful and relevant material, identify an essential question, research, analyze, and then transfer their knowledge. This empowers students to make sense of their knowledge and critically read the world around them.
What is happening in this inquiry-based approach?
Students are encouraged to lead the inquiry through an action-oriented, collaborative exploration of an authentic task (a real problem or challenge vs a simulated one) that fosters student agency, choice, and interest. In addition, adapting an educational model like this means a profound rethinking of the students’ and the teachers’ roles to allow for a shift in the teaching and learning equation. (We’ll talk more about inquiry-based learning and shifting roles below.)
It doesn’t mean students can learn whatever and however they want; it means we need to meet the students where they are and empower them to drive their learning, through a supportive, inspiring, and flexible framework.
What does it mean for students to drive their learning and to be creators of knowledge?
When it comes to being a “creator of knowledge”, it’s not only about gaining knowledge, it's knowing how to use that knowledge for understanding. We make sure our students go beyond simply absorbing content; they also create, design, and share content.
How do we do all this?
It’s all about mapping the environment in a way that fosters this culture of teaching and learning.
A choice-based approach that allows students to engage with material that is relevant to them and that fosters intrinsic motivation. An approach that encourages students to identify an essential question, research, analyze, make sense of their knowledge, and transfer their knowledge to novel situations. One that empowers students to critically read the world around them.
An inquiry-based learning model that encourages students to lead the inquiry. This inquiry model is an action-oriented, collaborative exploration of an authentic task that fosters student agency, choice, and interest. Students identify an essential question they want to explore. They then collaborate with each other and with their teacher/coach to map out their inquiry, research and analyze the material critically, make sense of their learning, and transfer their knowledge into a real-world application. Finally, they share their work with the community and reflect on their work to inform their next steps.
A rethinking of our roles to allow for a shift in the teaching and learning equation: Students become collaborators and leaders working alongside teachers who are meddlers in the middle coaching students.
A mindset that encourages taking risks and making excellent mistakes. This applies to both students and teachers. It’s an environment where we are encouraged and supported to launch an idea even if it’s not “final” and then test and refine it. In this type of environment, educators are constantly trying to improve and look for next practices—and pushing their students to do the same.
We want our students to leave Beaver with the ability to apply what they know, question conventional thinking, and be ready to make a difference in the world. By designing an educational experience where students feel confident in learning, we’re helping them develop lifelong skills as students and people.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT