The Duckworth Chronicles

     This week I attended a conference at which the main presenter was Eleanor Duckworth, Harvard presenter, Piaget expert, and leader in examining how people learn. So, you can see why I had to use her name in my blog title this week. I mean, how does one become so fortunate to not only have worked closely with Jean Piaget himself, but to also have the surname Duckworth? Some folks have all the luck.

     The focus of the conference was on creative and critical thinking, and Ms. Duckworth (man, that name just keeps getting better and better!) encouraged we conference attendees to build in time on learning that promoted such thinking. 

     Her ideas are based on Piaget's insistence on self-regulation. There needs to be time and encouragement to allow our minds to think, "Why do I believe this?" The key to effective learning and to fostering critical thinking is that the individual must do this for him or herself -- not accepting information just because someone told them this is what they should believe. Duckworth asserts that not being told anything (i.e., the "answer") is what gets people interested. 

     The lesson for we teachers is to police ourselves to "get out of the way" of our students' learning. We must, as Professor Duckworth (oh, she's just been elevated to Harry Potter character status!) claims, put our learners in the position of researcher, in any content area and at any age, so that they are engaged with the materials of the topic itself, not just with the teacher. 

     I'll share some examples of all of this in action. Duckworth showed us an intriguing video from her days as an educational researcher in the classroom. The video featured two upper-elementary boys working with manipulatives on a math problem. They were given a rectangular block and were told it represented a candy bar, but that the candy bar company wanted to change the shape of the product without taking away the amount of chocolate. The boys were each given 4 small block squares they could use to determine the size of this rectangular block in order to deduce how to reshape it. Well, the boys went back and forth and back and forth, and finally came up with two different solutions to determining the size (volume, surface area, etc.) of the rectangular block. They also came up with two different answers regarding the block's size. They were then asked to explain their processes to one another, which they did, prompting another opportunity to grapple with which had been the correct method, leading to the correct answer. At no point did a teacher step in to announce who was right and who was wrong. 

     Now, you may be shuddering at the thought of this, as were many of the teachers present at the conference. We teachers often want to "jump in" to ensure that the correct answer is reached. Duckworth remained pretty insistent that it's okay to leave students with some healthy confusion, stating that once we tell them the answer is when the thinking stops. While this is a valid and, in my opinion, pretty fascinating concept, many of us are looking for more of a balancing act in our classrooms, at least as a starting point. 

     For example, although the boys were not using the terms "volume" and "surface area," it was clear this is what they were discussing. Many of us would have begun this lesson by supplying the students with these terms. But, in thinking about critical thinking and exploration, letting the students play around with the terms they are using first in the interest of building their organic experience with the concepts may be a better decision. Later, when this experience is solidified for them, the teacher can point out that there are terms for what they were discussing, and then teach them the vocabulary. Duckworth asserts, and I find myself agreeing, that only then will those terms have some true meaning for these students because they can attach the terms to an experience they have had. 

     A second video shown to us involved a class of first grade students reading a poem together. Once they had read it, the teacher simply asked them, "What do you notice?" Answers abounded, as, one by one, the first graders pointed out lines that rhymed, the rhythm and sound of certain lines, the use of colons by the poet, and repetition of certain lines and phrases. They even got into poetic structure, noticing that the beginning of each line of the poem started with a capital letter, even though there may not have been a period prior to this. Not once did the teacher jump in to clarify their "noticings:" she did not teach the term "colon," allowing the students to refer to it as "those two dots;" she did not introduce the term "rhythm" or discuss the "rules" of poetry regarding punctuation and capital letters. 

     Again, I watched as many teachers squirmed in their seats, asking, "When is she going to give them the answer?" And I guess what it comes down to is this: How do we work towards more of a balance in our classrooms so that there are times when "the answer" is less important than the opportunity to engage in some critical thinking and exploration? And, as a sub-question, how do we build up the resiliency in our students to be able to struggle through a problem without giving up?

     I think some of the answers lie in being sure that we take into consideration our students' zones of proximal development, challenging them "just enough" with a problem to explore without making it so challenging that they give up. Also, we need to build in more and more opportunities like those above for our students to critically explore a topic on their own. Imagine the critical thinking our students could experience once we build this habit with the proper scaffolding!

     

     Still intrigued?? 

     Check out this video of Eleanor Duckworth's speech -- Confusion, Play, & Postponing

     Certainty:

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6YE02B_IiU

     Or the website she founded: 

     criticalexplorers.org

     Also, you MUST check out the following two videos featuring Sir Ken Robinson if you've
     never seen his work --
     Changing Paradigms:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

     And . . . On Creativity:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSIkQwS-kcs