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7 Essential Principles of Innovative

LearningBy Katrina Schwartz February 1, 2013SHARE 

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Flirckoodle*onderworks,er* ed-cator wants to create an en,iron&ent that will 'oster st-dents. lo,eo' learnin%/ eca-se the criteria are intan%ible it.s dic-lt to dene orpinpoint e4actl* what the* are/ -t one %ro-p is %i,in% it a tr*/

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5esearchers at the Or%ani6ation 'or cono&ic Cooperation and 7e,elop&ent(OC7) la-nched the nno,ati,e Learnin% n,iron&ents pro8ect to t-rn anacade&ic lens on the pro8ect o' identi'*in% concrete traits that &arkinno,ati,e learnin% en,iron&ents/ The* si'ted thro-%h and cate%ori6ed theresearch on learnin% science doc-&ented case st-dies and co&piled polic*

reco&&endations the* hope will trans'or& the c-rrent s*ste&/

 Their book The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice andthe acco&pan*in% practitioner.s %-ide la* o-t the ke* principles 'ordesi%nin% learnin% en,iron&ents that will help st-dents b-ild skills -se'-l in aworld where 8obs are increasin%l* in'or&ation and knowled%e9based/ Theprinciples are not 8ob9specic : no one knows what the '-t-re econo&* willde&and/ nstead the &ain %oal is to de,elop sel'9directed learners st-dentswith ;adapti,e e4pertise/<

;=dapti,e e4pertise tries to p-sh be*ond the idea o' &aster*< said >enni'er$ro? an ed-cational en%ineer and co9'o-nder o' the Center 'or C-rric-l-&5edesi%n/ ;@o- &a* be procient b-t witho-t adapti,e e4pertise *o- can %etst-ck ,er* A-ickl* as the world shi'ts/<

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$ro? doesn.t disp-te that &aster* is i&portant and that st-dents need tolearn a%e9appropriate content b-t she also ar%-es it.s eA-all* i&portant tode,elop st-dents. abilit* to %o be*ond that to A-estion and appl* learnin% in

new sit-ations/

 To that end these are their identied principles 'or inno,ati,e learnin%/

1/ Learners have to be at the center of what happens in theclassroom with acti,ities 'oc-sed on their co%nition and %rowth/ The* ha,eto acti,el* en%a%e in learnin% in order to beco&e sel'9re%-lated learners whoare able to control their e&otions and &oti,ations d-rin% the st-d* processset %oals and &onitor their own learnin% process/

2/ Learning is a social practice and can’t happen alone/ ;* o-r

nat-re we are social bein%s and we learn b* interactin%< $ro? said/ ;elearn b* p-shin% and p-llin% on concepts with one another/< Str-ct-redcollaborati,e %ro-p work can be %ood 'or all learnersB it p-shes people indi?erent wa*s/

3/ Emotions are an integral part of learning/ St-dents -nderstandideas better when there.s interpla* between e&otions &oti,ation andco%nition so positi,e belie's abo-t onesel' are a core part o' reachin% a &orepro'o-nd -nderstandin%/ The power o' e&otions and &oti,ation in the

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classroo& are well doc-&ented b-t o'ten o,erlooked beca-se the* are;so't/< Still &ost teachers know that i' a st-dent is -pset abo-t so&ethin%that happened at ho&e or in school he won.t learn well/ Si&ilarl* keepin%st-dents &oti,ated sho-ld be the startin% point o' learnin%/ ' st-dents-nderstand wh* it &atters learnin% beco&es &ore i&portant to the&/

"/ Learners are dierent  and inno,ati,e learnin% en,iron&ents reectthe ,ario-s e4periences and prior knowled%e that each st-dent brin%s toclass/ ;@o- reall* want practices and processes that help teachers en%a%eeach st-dent where the* are< said $ro?/ This principle is -nderstood b*e,er* 'r-strated ed-cator teachin% to a ;&iddle< that doesn.t e4ist/

D/ Students need to be stretched, but not too much. ;t.s reall*critical to nd that st-dent.s sweet spot< $ro? Said/ d-cators sho-ld tr* topre,ent both coastin% and o,erloadin%/ St-dents need to e4perience bothacade&ic s-ccess and the challen%e o' disco,er*/ n a di,erse classroo&%ro-p work can help achie,e this as st-dents at di?erent le,els help oneanother/

!/  Assessment should be for learning, not of learning/ =ssess&entsare i&portant b-t onl* to %a-%e how to str-ct-re the ne4t lesson 'or&a4i&-& e?ecti,eness/ t sho-ld be &eanin%'-l s-bstantial and shape thelearnin% en,iron&ent itsel'/ ;$ood teachers do this in'or&all* &ost o' theti&e< $ro? said/ ;-t when it.s done well and &ore 'or&all* it.s a wholestr-ct-re and &ethodolo%* where *o- collect 'eedback on the learnin%pathwa* and it dri,es the ne4t step that *o- take/<

E/ Learning needs to be connected across disciplines and reach o-tinto the real world/ Learnin% can.t be &eanin%'-l i' st-dents don.t-nderstand wh* the knowled%e will be -se'-l to the& how it can be appliedin li'e/ nderstandin% the connections between s-b8ects and ideas is

essential 'or the abilit* to trans'er skills and adapt/ ;e can.t 8-st ha,ethin%s re&ain in silos that ne,er interact< $ro? said/I"PLE"ENTING THE PRINCIPLE#

Gan* o' the se,en principles $ro? o-tlines are second nat-re to %oodteachers b-t the* can 'eel hard to achie,e within ed-cation s*ste&s that areslow9&o,in% b-rea-cratic and resistant to chan%e/ Still $ro? sa*s there arewa*s 'or teachers who want to create an inno,ati,e learnin% en,iron&ent tobe%in down the path e,en witho-t the '-ll s-pport o' their collea%-es andad&inistration/ $ro? also hopes shi'tin% to the Co&&on Core co-ld o?eropenin%s 'or b-ildin% in these practices/ ;t.s desi%ned in a wa* that

condones a lot o' the principles that we.,e been talkin% abo-t< she said/

,er*one knows the co&&on barriers ed-cators 'ace the school c-lt-re thest-dents and the&sel,es/ $ro? sa*s with so&e reection and proble&sol,in% teachers can o'ten be%in to work aro-nd these barriers/ =n ed-cator&i%ht think she.s open to inno,ation witho-t reali6in% that there arepreconcei,ed notions abo-t how one sho-ld teach that are deepl* in%rained/

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“You may be proficient, but without adaptive expertise you can get stuck very quickly as the world shifts.”hat.s &ore i' the school c-lt-re does not enco-ra%e e4peri&entationed-cators can &iti%ate ne%ati,e reaction b* 'ra&in% the ideas in a wa* thatwill be accepted or b* brin%in% in o-tside reso-rces to tr* and con,ince

na*sa*ers/ ,en ndin% one collea%-e in or o-tside o' the school to bo-nceideas with can &ake the process &-ch s&oother/

d-cators can also test ideas with st-dents be'ore i&ple&entin% the&/St-dents ha,e been indoctrinated into the sa&e ed-cational &indset abo-twhat &akes a ;-se'-l< ed-cation as e,er*one else and so&e &i%ht beresistant to new teachin% &ethodolo%ies/ itho-t their enth-sias& it can behard to perse,ere thro-%h other obstacles/

CA#E #T$D% 

 The darlin% o' the nno,ati,e Learnin% n,iron&ent case st-dies is the >enaplan School in $er&an*/ t.s one o' the 'ew schools e&bod*in% all theprinciples -idl*/ The school has abo-t "D0 st-dents that ran%e three to 20*ears old/ St-dents aren.t broken -p into %rade le,els instead the* learn in&i4ed9a%e %ro-ps as well as in %ro-ps o' ro-%hl* the sa&e a%e/ Learnin% isdirected b* st-dents o'ten pro8ect9based e,al-ated pri&aril* thro-%hwritin% and pro8ects sel'9assess&ents and peer9assess&ent/ The sched-le isperiodic 'oc-sin% on a topic like %eo%raph* or histor* 'or three to 'o-r weeksand crossin% into &-ltiple disciplines/ The teacher is seen as an acti,e&entor and coordinator and the school has acti,e parental in,ol,e&ent/

 The >enaplan School has won awards 'or its &odel and in the e*es o' thenno,ati,e Learnin% n,iron&ent researchers is doin% an e4cellent 8ob atpreparin% st-dents to be adapti,e and ni&ble thinkers in a knowled%e9basedworld/

Explore Bi! "#ea$, %eachin! Strate!ie$, &ulture, a$$e$$'ent, collaborati(e learnin!,per$onalize# learnin!, $ocial e'otional learnin!, a#apti(e experti$e