Now showing 1 - 10 of 18
  • Publication
    Designing Exploratory Learning Environments
    (AERA American Educational Research Association, 2011-04-09)
    To enhance the scientific knowledge on innovative pedagogies and accelerate new forms of learning and teaching this paper tackles the following research problems: (1) In order to refine the scientific knowledge on how students come to understand, cognition is studied in its physical, social and cultural context, conducting a literature review. (2) Explorative case study research on how expert instructors in the field of education design exploratory learning environments that engage students in deep learning have been conducted. Three selected courses at Harvard Graduate School of Education were investigated to inform the theory-building process of the study. Finally, characteristics of exploratory learning environments will be derived from learning sciences research
  • Publication
    Critical Exploration: The Creation of an Exploratory Learning Environment in Teacher Education
    ( 2010-06-29)
    The empirical study presented investigates learning and teaching as they happen in a higher education classroom (video-analysis) and outlines how an exploratory learning environment can look like based on a teaching/research approach called "critical exploration" which is applied in the university classroom to educate prospective teachers. The study briefly introduces the course schedule (organization, technology, goals, activities, time frame, feedback loops, assessment), points out types of assignments going on within and outside of the classroom and shows how learning takes place individually and in groups (activities and interaction). The study focuses on the role of the instructor and draws implications for the creation of an exploratory learning environment as well as for teacher education/support
  • Publication
    Group Learning
    (Harvard University, 2011)
  • Publication
    Student-centred learning environments in higher education classrooms
    ( 2016-02-18)
    Higher education institutions have to engage in curricular and pedagogical renewal to increase not only the quantity but also the quality of higher education graduates. A paradigm and culture shift from teacher-centered to student-centered learning and instruction is crucial in order for higher education institutions to prepare their students for life and work in the knowledge society and economy of the 21st century. Based on an expansive literature review and multiple ethnographic case study research conducted at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (United States), the following research question will be explored: How can instructors design and bring to life powerful student-centered learning environments that provide students with opportunities for deep learning? A situative educational model will be presented to guide the design and implementation of powerful student-centered learning environments in higher education classrooms. The model aims to support instructors, curriculum developers, faculty developers, administrators and educational managers from all disciplines and across different educational settings in making informed instructional decisions regarding course design, classroom interaction and community building.
  • Publication
    Always Wondering ... a Mélange of Eleanor Duckworth and Critical Exploration
    (Critical Exploration Press, 2013)
    Shorr, William
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    Lowry, Chris
    ;
    Cavicchi, Elizabeth
    This volume provides an artful introduction to the life and work of Harvard Professor, Eleanor Ruth Duckworth. Teacher, learner, researcher, dancer, and social activist, Duckworth has influenced generations of teachers through her surprisingly radical pedagogical stance, Critical Exploration in the Classroom. Teachers, students, and colleagues provide sumptuous narratives of personal and social transformations through stories, poems, letters, and essays that invariably return to Duckworth, the courses she taught, and her insatiable appetite for wonder and reflection. Anyone who wishes to rethink educational practice and policy will find themselves intrigued by the work described here. Critical Exploration in the Classroom recasts the core issues of education through its unwavering focus on profound learning without sacrificing equity. Carrying readers into the heart of learning, we recommend Always Wondering… to deep-thinking teacher educators, students, policy makers, administrators, teachers of all subject matters and passionate learners of all stripes. Contributors include: Armstrong, Ball, Bamberger, Boothroyd, Cavicchi, Chiu, Cifone, Cirino, Collins, Croft, DelPrete, Eng, Engel, Featherstone, Fishback, Gelenian, Gillis, Goldberg, Goldberg, Graham, Grobman, Harouni, Hoidn, Kamii, Keller, Klein, Klingaman, Lowry, Luttrell, Magau, Mayer, McCusker, McKinney, Meier, Naso, Nichols, Sanchez, Savage, Shorr, Smith, Steinitz, Stoleroff, Strieb, Sturiale, Szokolyai, Tai, Thomas-Clark, Vaisenstein, Walizer, Wooley, Yow, Zinn. Order online at the Harvard bookstore: http://www.harvard.com/book/always_wondering/
  • Publication
    Designing Student-Centered Learning Environments for Higher Education Classrooms
    (American Educational Research Association, 2013-05-01)
    In a constantly changing and increasingly globalized and competitive world higher education institutions as creators of knowledge and producers of human capital need to continue to modernize to face today’s global, economic, demographic, technological and social realities. This multiple case study research investigates how expert instructors in the field of higher education design student-centered learning environments that engage students in deep learning. Multiple qualitative data collection methods were used in each of the three cases over the course of one academic term, respectively. The study has discovered the following crucial concepts and provides concrete examples of progressive higher education learning and teaching: course organization, class culture, class community, and roles of the instructor (e.g. model, facilitator of activities, feedback giver).
  • Publication
    The Design of Exploratory Learning Environments
    ( 2010-06-22)
    Recent findings from the learning sciences suggest that learners themselves need to actively construct knowledge in ways that make sense to them connecting new information to prior knowledge while being engaged in authentic practices. However, many teacher and curriculum programs in formal higher education are designed to put the instructor in the forefront. While the instructor does the explaining and questioning, the students do the listening (traditional models of learning). Consequently, thinking of teaching as helping students to learn, i.e. to understand, this study tries to elaborate on cognition in its physical, social and cultural context investigating learning and teaching as they happen in higher education classrooms. The case study research is guided by the following question: How do expert instructors design exploratory learning environments that engage students in deep learning? Preliminary case study results and implications are presented