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Problem-Based-Learning Human science and cognitive competencies in an engineering diploma Action-research in science of education Case study on the development of transferable cognitive competencies from humanities to engineering
Catherine Guignard [Abstract What do engineers need to be fully operational today? This question covers how engineers are taught and what. A shift of emphasis from knowledge-based to a competencies-based curriculum has led to the development of ProblemBased Learning as a methodology of teaching future engineers. This research underlines the strong assets of such methodology in terms of autonomy, responsibility-taking skills and a scientific approach to solving problem in real situations. In addition, it reveals the need to build strong links between human and engineering sciences to achieve common cognitive goals on a curricular level. June 2010.]
I. Introduction
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II. Problem- Based Learning as a model of education
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1. PBL in relation to society
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2. What is needed to put PBL in place?
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III. Problem-Based Learning as a model of research
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1. What methodologies of research can help reveal the potentials of human sciences?
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2. PBL and action research
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3. Methodological tools IV. Defining problems and process competencies in PBL
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1. What is a problem?
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2. How to define cognitive competencies?
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3. What can influence cognitive competencies?
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V. Analysis and synthesis of cognitive competencies
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1. Space and organisation
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2. Learning objectives
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VI. Results of the case study
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1. Gathering background knowledge
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2 .Identifying and formulating a question
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3 .Analysing the question
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4. Moving from analysis to synthesis showing some awareness
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VI. Conclusion
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VII. Annexes
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Annexe 1
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Annexe 2
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VIII. References
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I. Introduction This document includes both the results presented to the PBL Unesco Chair of Aalborg University before the end of the research and the final results presented during the PBL symposium in Coventry University. The practitioner‟s objective to improve practice and to solve a problem linked to real life of teaching humanities to engineers is the starting point. Jerome Bruner (1996)1 reckons that the way „the mind‟ is perceived by society will shape the way institutions will educate it. Today, engineers‟ minds are of interest to society, as students in engineering or scientific subjects are perceived as the solutions to today‟s problems and to the ones still unknown in the future. The unpredictability of problems in society means that the mind must be educated to acquire a reflexive and dynamic scientific approach to real-life situations. Therefore, process competencies have become of vital importance to industry, society at large and politicians. As a result, the science of education is in a way put under pressure to work out a method that can be spread across disciplines and which will allow students at university level and before to become scientifically minded. Transferable cognitive processes are hence forth revealed to be an asset and having the same status as knowledge of a given corpus, especially since the latter is likely to change in the future contrary to competencies which will be anchored and further developed through experience. The science of education‟s shift from thinking that everybody‟s mind is alike and learns and processes a body of knowledge in the same way, such as in computational science, to a more culturalist approach, as defined by Bruner (1996): an approach which takes into account interactions between intrinsic abilities to process knowledge and personal cultural tendnacies, is relevant to the fast spreading of a model of education called problem-based (PBL) or project-based learning. Furthermore, the impacts of the constructivist theory of education on the way we are now conceptualising the layering of skills intertwined with knowledge and perceiving the interaction between learners‟ own responsibility and an active role in their learning, have also fed this kind of methodology. These tendencies mean that learners‟ contributions are vital to the long lasting effect of knowledge retention as a metaanalysis conducted in Maastricht claims „The positive effect of PBL on the skills of students seems immediate and lasting’ (Dochy F. 2003) 2 Hence the development of sustainable, adaptable and transferable competencies is also crucial to the designing of models of education based on problem solving and within them task-based activities, interdisciplinary scenarios, tutorials, the use of ICT, team work and project-based curriculum. In the Aalborg‟s model, as Pall Qvist underlines, the formulation of problems must put an emphasis on the dynamic between competencies to find practical solutions to problems in society and the new knowledge acquired through theoretical investigations. The cognitive learning approach means that the problem is the starting point around which learning is organised.3 But the definition of a problem must remain the students‟ responsibility within a domain‟s framework. In this model, students are responsible for their own learning and the scientific methods of researching, and the processes used in finding solutions are the targets. Raising self-awareness of patterns of learning in students is therefore an aspect that PBL puts forward as fundamental (Qvist Palle)4 UNESCO also recognises the need for an education to change society. They state that „People learn by doing, learning through experience. […] experience is not just the involvement of learners in learning activities. Learners learn about learning and learn to have control over their learning when they are actively engaged in the planning, delivery and evaluation of their learning’.5 Besides being a model of education, PBL is also a model of research and as such it is interested in how to conduct research to bring forth new theories of education which in turn bring light onto the dynamic teaching/learning. Applied to research, PBL works on the same principle as in the model of education, researchers are learning didactics and integrating theories in their practice to generate knowledge which leads to new theories. They identify a 3
problem and through applying the principles of PBL in their practice they are able to undercover areas. As they progress, they generate new ideas and innovative ways of applying the given principles to their disciplines. Taking all of the elements above into consideration, what is presented here is linked to a problem that both teachers of human and social sciences and engineering sciences have observed at the university where this research is conducted, i.e. although students are able to analyse data using some tools, they often lack the ability to identify a problem, to synthesize their experimentations and research, to bring new ideas and suggest solutions. Students‟ frequent lack of writing and literacy skills mean that they are unable to use linguistic tools to develop arguments. Often their reports are narrative rather than argumentative and scientific. The dichotomy between so-called pure science and human and social sciences where critical thinking through languages or literacy skills are developed, means that our future engineers do not seem to see the relation between cognitive processes developed in other sciences besides engineering sciences. This does not come as a surprise, since a lot of teachers do not either, as it is often reported in internal and national meetings in which members of departments of Humanities in engineering schools participate in France. As Bruner (1996) mentions, these types of sciences, also called „soft sciences‟ are often perceived as good to „enrich the mind‟ but „hard sciences‟ are still recognised as „pure sciences‟.6 The question of using problem-solving methodology to develop cognitive competencies in human sciences will be the basis of the case study in this research. What competencies do engineering students need to be fully operational when they graduate? How do they move from analysing data to synthesising data to put forward new proposals? Hence, how can human and social sciences teachers in universities adapt a methodology of teaching which leads to innovative and creative minds and complement engineering sciences? And how can these be assessed within a discipline? Not of all PBL‟s parameters will be acknowledged as this research will concentrate on cognitive competencies in one module in Humanities, more specifically in the study of Heritage as a discipline. As it has been conducted only over one year, it is too short a time to conduct full research and to put PBL in place at curricular level. The year has been divided in two parts. First, after much research on PBL, a model was put on an ICT platform to help in the enhancement of targeted cognitive competencies. The second part started in the following spring, as the course which has been used as a background only runs in spring semesters. The Troyes University of Technology (referred to as UTT in this document) where this research was conducted in the North-East of France is set in the countryside and has a population of around 2500 students. The studies in Human and Social Sciences at the UTT in the engineering overall curriculum add up to 17 %. Although in the Humanities Department 90% of the courses are taught in small groups and some are task-based, especially in languages, project-based in others, the width of interpretations of the word „task‟ and „project‟ makes it difficult to know how the students are being taught. It is therefore not possible to measure or even have an idea of the students‟ experience of project-based pedagogy, since there is at present no real and clear data about it within the university, and discussions about using PBL on a curricular scale have just begun. The goal of this research as action research is therefore to understand what cognitive competencies can be hoped for in a discipline in human sciences, how the use of a ICT platform can help in their development, how they can be assessed in a given setting as much as what changes it implies for the students and the teacher. First, PBL will be examined as a model of education in relation to the society from which it stems. Then, PBL will be explored in terms of a model of research in human and social sciences and it will be explored within the world of research, and a methodology of research will be chosen in relation to PBL criteria. A third part will try to decipher the complex networks of cognitive processes. Definitions will be given and a personal interpretation will be used as the basis of assessment strategies and criteria in relation to the discipline‟s parameters and corpus. A fourth part will present the case study, the course in which it was set up, its background and it will analyse and synthesise the results in relation to 4
concepts of PBL implementations as developed and acknowledged by tutors and professors at Aalborg University in the „aligned pedagogy‟ framework.
II. Problem- Based Learning as a model of education Today the word problem-based learning is more and more used around us, for instance on the market we can find the Buck Institute for Education7 founded in 1987, which is providing the world with a range of products whose aim is to disseminate not only products but also knowledge for „effective Project Based Learning.‟ A handbook and kits are ready to be dispatched and PBL might become a commercially viable enterprise, as there is a growing need for education around the world. First developed in the medical sphere to teach trainee medical students, PBL has evolved in the last 20 years and is now widely adapted to engineering subjects. A variety of PBL models are readily available such as Donald R. Woods‟(1996)8, Savin-Baden‟s (2007)9, or from Aalborg (Erick de Graaff et al, 2007)10, each giving steps to be followed to become successful practitioners in PBL. So is PBL taking over the world of education? In addition, what problems in society is PBL trying to answer? 1. PBL in relation to society Concepts such as „equal opportunities‟ in learning promoted by UNESCO11 reflected in projects such as „Project 2000‟12 denote a worldwide concern, not only for globalisation but also for the rapid advance of a technological era in which people need to be able to access knowledge and acquire competencies to survive. Built around cognitive learning the proposed model includes a problem-solving methodology in which learners are the centre and in which teachers are seen as facilitators ready to adapt the principles to their audience, subjects and cultures, which will hopefully lead students to find solutions to ever-growing industrial and human problems. It will also reduce the number of dropouts by giving a chance to youngsters and students to engage in their own learning processes and to become active learners and decision-makers. The democratisation of access to both knowledge and competencies in a competitive society is also helping set a philosophy of education which recognises not only the right to education but also the right to be different and to be taught in a such way that differences are acknowledged and fostered rather than ignored. Furthermore, a holistic approach advocated by Aalborg University means that students are perceived in relation to their cultural backgrounds and the society in which they live, have to work and are educated. (Anette Kolmos and Jette Egelund Holgaard, 2007).13 PBL seems also to be a response to the need of a European model of education, which according to the Bologna process means that European students should be able to move around Europe with ease as an attempt to develop a uniform framework is being undertaken (Carter et al, 2003)14 This mobility means that industries and society at large turn to the science of education to provide answers to develop innovative and creative minds as they need personnel to solve problems in real life situations. The need for a model of education is remote from a natural small-scale teaching pattern in a family or community setting. The number of people wanting and needing to be educated is growing very fast, and in the rush to access education, developing countries are sending more and more of their youngsters who are to become the executive force in their countries to be educated. For instance in France, as it was revealed in a recent article, the number of foreign students has tripled in the last ten years. 15 The constant effort of UNESCO may be paying off as a report in 2008 shows that forty million more children were going to primary schools today than ten years ago, but it means that more young adults and future engineers will come to us to be educated. 16 In countries where education is democratised, society is also pressing for a skilled and operational working force, and
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institutions and governments are asking researchers in the science of education to come up with some answers. In France the National Institute of Education (INRP) now provides wide access to knowledge in the field of education, and researchers are invited to communicate empirical studies and take parts in debates on forums. If the philosophical and theoretical debates taking place on the forum are intellectually challenging, as one person highlighted, practitioners also need practical advice to help them in their daily tasks.17 So it seems that teachers are becoming desperate to find a model that can be easily learned and applied, especially as students‟ environment change rapidly and technology is evolving at the speed of light. In fact, it is very difficult for teachers to reconcile class time and spare time in which youngsters engage in web-based games which feed from active participation and decisionmaking activities. These are based on highly graphic designed visual stimuli, virtual environments and collective quests and the rewards are virtual but real since the youngster can develop a proper social status in the virtual world which they may not achieve in the real world and especially in their studies. Competing with such forms of entertainment has become a problem for teachers in our university seeing that students‟ apathy and nonresponsiveness have increased in recent years. On this subject Jonas Linderoth and Ulrika Bennerstedt 18from Göteborg University make some interesting revelations in their report about the implications for some youngsters trapped in a vicious circle of peer pressure and hours of playing are increasingly having an impact on their studies. Although gaming is now recognised as a methodology of teaching and is promoted by the European star project which is conducting successful research on using gaming to develop process competencies. This project called Elektra has won an IST Website Award 2006 and has been awarded 2.4 million euros as a specific targeted research or innovation project (STREP) by the European Commission under the sixth framework programme in the IST research priority. Elektra has also been interested in problem-solving and researchers mention that „…the mystery of these games is closely related to learning: it is essential to meet a challenge and a task, to solve problems, to improve and of course to be rewarded. One plays a game in order to win. This is precisely how the human brain can be motivated to learn.‟19 Using the taxonomy of Bloom, the researchers are underlining the relation between skills, experience, the joy of learning on a voluntary basis and the use principles of problem-based learning and constructivist methodology. So the science of education seems to have the responsibility of guiding the research and practitioners to a well of practical solutions uncovered through a reflective type of research or action-research. These practical solutions should be easily understood and put in place by teachers/tutors/facilitators interested in investigating it. Because PBL is making its way to become institutionalized in many forms, it is being interpreted and adapted across a range of disciplines, or curricula as well as possible, but training in this domain is still scarce, since the investments needed is considerable. 2. What is needed to put PBL in place? So, if the world is calling for a model of education and an active pedagogy to satisfy industries and to make new post-graduates more operational, a better understanding of concepts and ways of implementing them by institutions are called for, since without financial investment in staff, teacher trainings and ICT equipment, very little will actually happen, and what happens will depend on countries/regions‟ good-will. Furthermore, the impact of PBL on long-lasting skills, competencies and knowledge and its impact on teacher-training methodology have been positive, but there is a need for inter-disciplinary research to come up with a model that can easily be applied to teacher-training programmes. On the subject of interdisciplinary research Kurt W. Fischer and Samuel P. Rose (1998) 20note that there is a need for such research to clarify misunderstandings about the brain and to build a network of scientists who, through an exchange programme, could give practitioners better answers to their daily questions and problems. What‟s more, a model of education to be acknowledged as scientific in the computational sense, it must be easily replicable and verifiable, as Bruner (1996)21 puts it 6
‟disambiguated, decontextualised and lookuppable‟, which is difficult for any education models since the implementation of any systems does not depend on a mechanical apparatus but on human behaviour, which is at best unpredictable and hard to quantify even if some methodological tools have been devised to do so. Until the world of sciences reaches „consilience‟, as Wilson (1998)22 calls it, and sees the need to reconcile disciplines, human and social sciences will still be considered inferior and consequently will do anything to be as quantifiable as possible. This constant search for quantifiable data in education leads to models of education often on the move and hard to follow by practitioners wrapped up in their everyday survival battle in their classes, especially at secondary level in communities where there might be many „special needs‟ children or youngsters. . In the case of PBL, the variety of definitions attached to it and the variety of practices make it difficult to underpin, implement, observe and transmit to teacher trainees as John W. Thomas (2000) mentions it in his article „A review of research on project-based learning’.23 Palle Qvist referring to Schon‟s and Dewey‟s work in his article, „Defining the problem in problem-based learning‟,24 underlines some of the key words such as: real-life problems as a starting point, project-based instruction, developing competencies through team projects, the need to be self-reflective which are commonly used since Schon and others have put forward the need for a dynamic and interactive way of training professionals to equip them for real-life situations. Schon‟s reflective approach (some call it reflexive approach) derives from John Dewey who spread the then experimental „learning through action‟ philosophy of education. But the word „problem‟ can also be a problem as Tara. J. Fenwick and Jim Parsons‟ article in 199425 underlines, because it suggests that life is nothing but a problem and the job of professionals is nothing but solve them to save humanity. Therefore a clear definition of what a problem is may vary from one discipline to the another. If there is a need for a simpler model, PBL might be difficult to apply because of the disciplines‟ fundamental differences in terms of knowledge and competencies, even if some are transversal and transferable. In this sense the idea of a model of education can be of scientific value, but modelling education can also prove to be counter-productive if the model itself is complex and the corpus attached to it unavailable to the majority of people who cannot access it, especially in the case of PBL where the use of ICT has a privileged place. In a report in 2009 from Aalborg University where PBL is mostly used as a model, Anette Kolmos, Xianyun Du and Erik de Graff say that the available data on PBL at the moment present too much randomness. 26 Randomness cannot be associated with a scientific approach as to be scientific a model needs to fulfil the criteria of the Anglo-Saxon concept of ‘evidence-based-education‟27 which is leading the way research is rendered. Evidence usable and reusable is also called for in France, for instance Olivier Rey (2006)28 is asking research in education to be more scientific and more useful to society. Yet, some evidence has been given that PBL as student-centred education is doing better than teacher-centred, for instance the results of Mariane Freney (2009) 29, after four years of research, reveal that, in terms of academic and normative assessments, PBL students did as well as the students who were not taught using PBL. What her research also shows is that on the acquisition of knowledge, normative and academic assessments show no difference, but no lower results either. But as far as skills are concerned, the students who were taught using PBL did better. Furthermore, the big difference perhaps was highlighted by teachers and students who took more pleasure, and showed motivation towards the learning experience as a team. When it comes to assessing problem process competencies, which is also of critical importance for any model of education, a report from Aalborg mentions that „New criteria are needed in order to test students’ abilities to analyse and solve complex problems, e.g. criteria for applying theoretical knowledge, analysing problems and pointing out problem solving methods.‟ (Anette Kolmos and Jette Egelund Holgaard (2007)30 According to these two authors aligning our methodology of teaching means that some fundamental principles need to be harmonised. There ought to be a balance between the curriculum and the methods we use in the assessment procedures as much as in the methods of reporting the results. The climate we create to achieve our objectives and the learning outcomes, which in turn are often 7
related to the climate of the institutions, are also to be put into the equation. They also point out the fact that teachers have to recognise the differences between academic evaluation, and PBL evaluations, in both individual and group assessments, all of which can be used in PBL. However, according to their survey, teachers and students prefer group assessments to individual assessments and they even feel that process competencies and more specifically analytical skills, which involve cognitive competencies, are best evaluated in group assessments. If the purpose of the model of education on a global scale is meant to be recommended in the future, today PBL is still a complex system which needs great team-reflective activities to be fully operational and fully gratifying for all parties concerned. As a paper from Anette Kolmos (2002) 31 on how to facilitate changes to PBL underlines, changes can only happen from an institutional level first as great shifts in terms of concepts are needed. So to put in place PBL as a model of education requires the need for training as much as clear data on promoting, assessing and quantifying process competencies in group settings, which in turn requires a model of research in education to run alongside the implementation of PBL as a model of education.
III. Problem-Based Learning as a model of research As previously mentioned, if the contemporary classification of sciences is evolving, human and social sciences are often still underrated in engineering settings and not yet perceived as reliable as computational science or applied science, for these kind of sciences do not rely on emotions, feelings and unforeseeable data such as hermeneutical data, whose interpretations include uncoded data and the unknown, as in the case of the science of education. Although a debate is actually taking place in France as to the role of human and social sciences in the engineering training, many still consider that, outside pure engineering sciences, very little can be achieved through Human and Social Sciences, and so intellectual objectives are often not even perceived or talked about. It sometimes comes as a surprise to many that intellectual and process competencies, alongside personal and interpersonal qualities, managerial and linguistic skills, among others, have to be included on the list of core competencies to be encouraged in human and social sciences. Human and social sciences teachers themselves might not be fully aware of the intellectual potential of their disciplines in our engineering diploma even if they naturally use writing reports, study-cases and projects as means of assessing students. At Troyes University of Technology (UTT) where this research is taking place the number of engineers engaging in research as a whole is very low. A scientific approach to research and the place of problemsolving in human and social sciences within the engineering diploma still needs to be clarified. It is therefore also the goal of this research to highlight the cognitive potentials of human science, hence the competencies that need to be nurtured throughout the five-year engineering diploma that the university delivers. 1. What methodologies of research can help reveal the potentials of human sciences? What Laurence P. Karper (2008)32mentions in the letter to the editor about psychiatric studies may also be true in the science of education. He says that quantitative and qualitative methods are not very well known in social sciences because students are often unaware of the differences and qualitative methods are not recognised so therefore a tension is created by this lack of understanding about qualitative evaluations. This on-going debate about how to conduct research in science of education leads to the question: what methodology to choose? Debates in France in the beginning of the 21st century led the Council of Higher Education and Teacher Training (HCée) and the National Institute of Education (INRP) to underline the fact that research in science of education is not scientific enough and do not give reliable and quantified data on what works or not in class. Therefore, according to the debate, the data provided are not efficient and the results are 8
written in a narrative style and are often not known by other researchers and even less adapted to the practitioners‟ real needs. Furthermore, the available data are often based on comparative studies and difficult to access.33 Can the model given by Aalborg University described as „aligned model‟, as previously mentioned, which emphasises three levels of cognitive interactivity and which targets the development of process competencies, be applied to research in education ? If a practitioner has to be aware of these interactions when teaching, must they also apply them to themselves when researching and in doing so promote the „reflective teacher theory‟ which underlines the relationship of in-action and on-action reflections as the research is unfolding? Being a reflective practitioner promoting within action-research is well documented, for instance a website dedicated to this subject developed by Judith M. Newman34, but also by Aalborg‟s university in the material provided, for instance in a paper written by Zhiping Chen (2002). 35 What does putting it in place entail? If for instance PBL‟s pedagogy is applied to this research process on the development of cognitive processes through human science in an engineering university, then the very act of researching can be perceived as the project itself. Based on Woods (1996),36 the project is described as the backbone on which the flesh, i.e. the cognitive competencies will be developed in a thought-out environment using a variety of resources and evaluations to manifest what has been learned. In his sense it would fit in the definition of the problem given by John W. Thomas (2000)37 who says that the question is the central driving force leading to constructive investigation set in realism. In this context, how can PBL then provide some practical answers to practitioners? And in promoting action-research as a methodology of research in education, how can researchers be encouraged to lead their own research? Whether they publish their results or not, since the very act of writing is a time-consuming activity which many practitioners cannot indulge in. Furthermore, is the act of appropriation of theories, even when anchored in empiricism, as simple as replicating a given model or even just its principles? 2. PBL and action research Action-research means that practitioners have to be actively engaged in the analysis and the synthesis of not only the students response to the interaction between targeted core knowledge and the development of process competencies, but also of his or her own competencies and strategies to plan appropriate activities. Refining strategies to develop the targeted competencies and adjusting to the level of the class or individuals is needed and it means that the teacher/researcher has to constantly be aware of the relationships between the parts and the whole. In his article „Assumer une identité reflexive’ Philippe Perrenoud (2005)38 a leading figure in the theory of reflective teaching adds that not only teachers have to be able to reflect on their practice but that they need others practitioners to confront their analysis and to trigger collective actions when dealing with real problems. Quoting Schon in the same article, he says that the teacher also needs to move from the in-action reflection which targets the success of an activity, to on-action reflection after the activity which targets the transformation of the experience into knowledge. This ongoing process of in-action and on-action reflection underlines the relationship and the interaction between experience and knowledge. In real terms, it means that teachers engaged in research have to work on many levels to make the theory they are putting in place a reflex, to record their observations and assess the results of evaluations, to keep an eye on students‟ progress, to plan activities according to response and keep the resources online fresh and up-dated. To help teachers with the planning and the aims of the activities, Savin-Baden (2007), a reference in Aalborg‟s pedagogy reckons that „there should be a real clarity about how the course and the scenarios are created‟ to engender „robust educational discussions’.39 She devised a table of points to be established by teachers which allows them to have an overview of their goals and teaching outcomes. Her advice on this subject has been used to clarify the purpose and content of the present research and will be presented in part four. 9
3. Methodological tools The content-dependent nature of case studies mentioned by Bent Flyvbjerg (Bent Flyvbjerg 2006)40 also means that the starting point has to be a real problem encountered in a concrete teaching environment and although it might not lead to theoretical discoveries, it nonetheless relates to a wider context. Josephine Muir (Josephine Muir 2010), 41mentioning Yin Rober, sees study cases as a methodological technique using a protocol in which qualitative observations are backed up by individual coded tools to record quantitative data in the observation of phenomena within a larger phenomenon. This present case study added to two others has led to changes at institutional level in terms of delivering new programmes of study. The starting point for this particular case study is that although students are able to analyse data using some analytical tools, they often lack the ability to identify a problem, to synthesize their experiments and research and therefore to bring new ideas and suggest solutions. In scientific subjects, teachers also note that students‟ lack of writing and literacy skills means that they are often unable to use linguistic tools to develop logical arguments. Consequently, their reports are narrative rather than discursive and scientific, which can become a problem when training in companies or industries. So, the first hypothesis for this case study arose quite simply by wondering if the awaited cognitive competencies in engineering subjects could be fully developed through research projects in social and human sciences, and if so what form the training could take using an ICT platform to support the protocol. In terms of recording the research, as cognitive processes and process competencies as a whole are somewhat intangible and not always easily visible and even less measurable, the previously mentioned risk of being unable to come to a conclusive synthesis has been accounted for and integrated as a variable, although a variety of tools has been used. Philippe Perrenoud‟s view (1989)42 which says that we must refrain from judging the quality of an observation against the standard methods used in measurable domains will also be taken into account. Therefore, the tools and the evaluations have been chosen to respond to the critic of science of education and human and social sciences on the whole. They include: quantitative and qualitative data which were collected through the use of formative and normative evaluations, surveys, videoing of oral presentations, questionnaires, and note-taking as well as observations in tutorials or class time. Some individual coded tools have also been used, first to establish the different parts of the cognitive process involved in the research project in heritage, and second to record some of the meta-competencies. Special attention will be given to formative evaluation of the development of the targeted cognitive competencies as defined by Philippe Perrenoud (1989), in which the process is more important than the end-result. This type of evaluation allows teachers to evaluate punctually, to evaluate in-action, and on-action, as previously mentioned, which is also advocated by Aalborg University43. Moreover, it is then possible to take into account variables such as: what has been learned straight after an activity, what is being learned while doing the activity and what happens when a new situation is encountered. Besides, students‟ self-evaluation is used to encourage autonomous learning and trigger a reflective attitude towards personal learning progress, giving students some responsibility for their own learning and raising their awareness of it. An intercultural European project for instance „ La ville regards croisés d‟européens „ offered the possibility to teachers and participants to fill in questionnaires on line It proved that on-action reflection is a very useful and fruitful tool for teachers and students to engage in a pedagogical analysis for later projects. 44 Jean-René Ladmiral talking about linguistic group dynamics also mentions that a teacher is not only an observer. According to him the results of an empirical study ought to be used to improve teachers‟ understanding of their own practice and shape future actions.45 In this sense the present research will be used to plan further actions to be taken by the researcher at a later stage in her own practice. The last point about research, whether it be action-research or not, is the problem of ethics. Like any other field, the science of education has the duty to preserve the integrity of 10
the observed audience and, therefore, even if this research is a micro-research, recommendations of using a subject-centred philosophy have therefore been applied. These recommendations made by Canadian Institutes of Health research, the Natural Sciences and the Engineering Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada will be followed. Working together on an appropriate code of conduct, they created the Research Ethics Boards which includes the respect of confidentiality and of cultural differences. (2005)46 In real terms it means that none of the evaluations will be used to discriminate against one particular group or individuals or to highlight supremacy of one gender or race over another. It also means that in practical terms students will not be left failing for the sake of recording data. Action research also means intervening and making the success of the students possible and the research which does not harm their self-esteem.
IV. Defining problems and process competencies in PBL Most of the definitions of knowledge acquisition and process competencies in PBL stem from the constructivist theory of how the mind works and learns. But what is the constructivist theory and how does it intervene in the definition of problems and cognitive competencies and therefore in their manifestation and gestation? 1. What is a problem? In his article, „defining the problem in problem-based learning‟, Palle Qvist 47 (2004) insists on the fact that PBL develops a scientific behaviour and that what is primarily sought out is an interplay of scientific approaches between pure science, in which the investigations are restrained by academia, and applied science which allows a systematic approach favouring the use of a variety of tools and theories to be tested within or without society. Underlining the constructivist theory, he also says that the students themselves ought to choose the problems to be explored and that they should be creative and responsible for the development of their research. He goes on, giving a wide variety of definitions, but there doesn‟t seem to be any set definition that could suit all disciplines. If a problem would start with „what, why, how‟ as to enhance reflection, then „what if?‟ questions lead to some actions on the students‟ part as Kolmos Anette and Kofoed Lise, (2003) have also highlighted.48 In the same article Palle Qvist defines problems in human sciences ‘as a phenomenon which creates a curiosity or a qualified curiosity (wonder). The phenomenon can be an anomaly, which means that it differs from the expected.’ On the question of the correct question John W. Thomas49, quoting Blumenfeld, says that ‘the questions that students pursue, as well as the activities, products, and performances that occupy their time, must be ‘orchestrated in the service of an important intellectual purpose’’(Blumenfeld et al., 1991)’. What might also be of help when understanding what could be or not a reasonable question in PBL, is to look at the answers to which the question will lead students. For instance, in her description of five scenarios, Savin-Baden, quoted by Erick de Graaff and Anette Kolmos (2007), gives an insight into what responses are sought out according to the type of scenario and the type of knowledge.50 Although, as Savin-Baden (2007)51 mentions, learning is more than just finding a solution to a problem, since the learning outcomes are the real targets and they depend on the problems that will be created. The question of ill.-formed problems is interesting because they allow a multiplicity of answers. In fact, giving the opportunity to explore questions or problems with alternatives is also underlined by Bruner (1966)52, who says that the exploration of alternatives is the most important element in developing cognitive competencies. He sees three aspects in exploring alternatives: first an activation, to get it started, second maintenance, to keep it going, and third to keep it from being random. In his opinion creativity is a response to ambiguity and uncertainty which will lead to an increase in exploration, contrary to boredom which is a response to confusion and anxiety, which in turn leads to a decrease in exploration.
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2. How to define cognitive competencies? The question of conceptualising a model, in which process competencies can be facilitated and reflected upon has also been outlined by Anette Kolmos and Lise Kofoed (2003). Their concept of process competencies is a dynamic and interactive activity happening on three levels. Active experimentation, of the kind found in projects or problembased learning, facilitates this interaction as students move from the first level „common sense or explorative experiment‟, to the second, where they combine „horizontal comparative reflection‟, a „move-testing’, where analysis, comparison of experiences and peer interactions lead to innovative processes. Then the third level, „hypothesis testing’, including reflection, conceptualisation and abstract conceptualization, is built on concrete events and experiences.53 All this is happening over several semesters since the 2-year foundation part of the engineering diploma is used to put PBL at modular level first in order to put in place the targeted competencies and expertise. Once the students in Aalborg are used to working as teams and solving problems in some modules, a curricular approach is then possible in their specialised field. The difference between modular and curricular approach is of vital importance, since a curricular approach means in short that several modules converge around finding solutions or proposing solutions to real companies or industries. In this case the link between the students and the companies is reinforced, and the students have a real opportunity to work in the real world. This interactive approach to process competencies occurs in another system called „aligned pedagogy’ which will be used as a model for this research. Feeding from SavinBaden‟s model, the „aligned pedagogy’ means that the core principles of PBL, i.e. „objectives and knowledge, types of problems and projects, progression and size, students’ learning, academic staff and facilitation, space and organisation, and finally, assessment and evaluation‟, when kept aligned, they allow competencies to emerge in a facilitating environment and are assessed both from the point of view of the teacher and of the student. It means that the planning of projects and activities encourages knowledge acquisition, be it injected core knowledge proper to a discipline, interdisciplinary based or knowledge built through progressive individual or collective investigations. Further, influenced by Biggs, the idea of alignment means that the constructive processes cannot be detached from the relevance of the activities created by teachers. But it is learners themselves, according to him, who have to see the meaning of their learning, teachers being only a catalyst. (Biggs, 2003) The goal here, as Biggs puts it, is for teachers to be clear about the intended learning outcomes, the activities which lead to their development, the assessments that reflect the targeted outcomes and finally the grade.54 Learning is not a linear activity, and as this research is focusing on cognitive competencies, it seems important to spend some time understanding the intricate patterns and the interactions between analysis and synthesis as Riemann, studied by Richter tended to demonstrate. In his article: Analysis and Synthesis on Scientific Method -Based on a Study by Bernhard Riemann, Systems Research. (Richter, 1991) Richter argues that analysis and synthesis are scientific methods which not only cannot be separated but are complementary. He also underlines the relationship between analysis and synthesis, each one being at play in turn and sometimes simultaneously.55 The coming and going nature of cognitive development and process competencies means that a breakdown in fine meta-slices will be necessary to be able to assess them. In their article „Analysis-synthesis model bridge, from research to concept‟ Hugh Dubberly, Shelley Evenson, and Rick Robinson (2008) 56 came to the same conclusion in terms of the interplay between the processes of analysis and synthesis. They point out the fact that from an inventory, data are analysed, filtered and ordered as the process of investigations moves forward. Then, after having framed the situation, a problem can be identified as documenting on the subject and visualizing the analysis makes it easier to go back and forth as images of alternatives and definitions unfold.
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3. What can influence cognitive competencies? Learning is far from just happening at school as Le laboratoire des sciences de l‟Ecole Normale Supérieure in France reminds us. They put forward the idea that effects of education are never pure but woven into a cultural, religious, family, and social fabric. The act of learning is, therefore, an intricate pattern made of academic education, the influence of cultures to which one belongs, personal qualities and a personal response to them as well as other factors, such as creativity and a sense of reaching a goal, but nobody can be sure that every student has the same goal, the same culture... In terms of influences on these competencies Kurt W. Fischer and Samuel P. Rose 57 (1998) mention that the capacity for learning and thinking, although happening in spurts according to the age of humans, are grounded in neural networks. These networks allow shaping and reshaping of organized cycles which can feed on previously formed networks and readapt to new ones. However, they stress the fact that such neural activities and networks are only in activation when optimal support via the learning environment is given. So cognitive competencies seem to be dependent on the environment, and in this sense the role of the teachers is crucial to their occurrence and their development. Therefore, allowing each student to develop core knowledge and competencies does not mean that teachers no longer have a vital role and that problem-based learning or projectbased learning, within the philosophy that recognises equal rights and differences, must be satisfied with complete detachment. If teachers are no longer the centre of attention and are no longer seen as delivering knowledge but facilitating its acquisition according to their nature, they cannot step back and stop intervening, hoping that learning will occur spontaneously. In his article „Un universel mal partagé’, Olivier Maulini (1998)58 also underlines the fact that,far from being natural and intrinsic to humans, questioning and solving problems need to be nurtured. Cognitive competencies expected in engineers are exactly the same competencies used in scientific studies or research such as this one. Furthermore, a practitioner, in a reflective mode does nothing else but combine knowledge and competencies and adapt to situations as they arise. In terms of environment, group co-operation and group dynamics are also of vital importance, as they have been acknowledged by Aalborg University as vital to the learning process. Discussions are perceived in PBL as a pedagogical tool because as Palle Qvist quoting Marri (2003) 59 says that: „(1) It can help young people develop the group discourse skills and dispositions necessary for participatory citizenship in a multicultural democracy. (2) It enhances critical thinking (3) It deepens understanding of important democratic issues and concepts. (4) It develops a more democratic classroom community. (5) It influences future political participation.’‟ What about language? Often taken for granted in a written tradition, linguistic skills convey a lot of cognitive competencies. The initial observation from teachers of engineering science and others that students cannot express very important concepts in science, because they do not have the linguistic tools to express them, correlate this. Writing is perceived as standard assessment in PBL and academia as a whole, for instance this written report. Analysing and synthesising are all included in reading, retrieving information, and the act of writing a synthesis of research. In terms of intellectual development and intellectual growth Bruner (1966) 60 says that using words and symbols allows children to go from self-accounting of events to selfconsciousness and logical behaviour, which in reference to philosophy he calls analytical mode. In his opinion, language is used to bring an order to the world that surrounds us, and through this ordering processes going from enactive actions to iconic representations and symbolic words language depends on one‟s ability to internalise a system and to go beyond this system, i.e. to get to the world of abstraction. According to him, language is therefore an „instrument of thoughts‟ and this instrument can interfere with behaviour and cognitive 13
processes. To be able to see several alternatives is therefore linked to the level of encoding experience, manipulating grammar, vocabulary and syntax to express this experience, but also at a higher level to the manipulating of categories, classifications, conditionals, hypotheses and counterfactual information. On this basis experiences are constructed and then kept in storage for later use. Bruner‟s concept of the layering of experience, solving problems and self-consciousness through language help build a database of models based on having physically experienced the world is today reflected in the constructivist theory of learning and the way the mind is perceived. The act of writing is very demanding in terms of logical and critical thinking, taking this document as a reflection on it, it is obvious that making a comprehensible document for others to read means that to translate thoughts and experience in one‟s mind into clear and logical arguments requires a complete mobilisation of all the cognitive competencies. To synthesise on cognitive processes and for the purpose of this research a cognitive process will therefore be understood as: starting with a random initial research on different aspect to heritage from which questions, moving from what/how to hypothetical questions to allow the move from analysis to synthesis, will be identified, analysed and synthesised. A fine analysis and synthesis of meta-competencies within these key words will be given later.
V. Analysis and synthesis of cognitive competencies As previously mentioned this research has been conducted within a single module in a course approach setting, although 100% of it is organised in small groups of 16 students, and there are no traditional lectures only lessons in a multimedia laboratory. The course was in English and to be able to attend the students have to have reached the minimum level of B2 on the European scale. English is used as a communicative tool to study a subject, in this case heritage, the students are not taught English per se, but they are also developing language skills and new vocabulary in the field studied. They freely enrol for the course, there is a mix of different ages and cultures, since the required level is attained according to their level at entry level rather than age of students, hence, some might be in their second university year and others in the 5th or in master‟s classes. The variety of ages and maturity is seen as a positive input, as heritage is a field in which cultural backgrounds and cultural exchanges are assets. Altogether 32 students were involved in this research divided into 2 groups in the spring semester 2010. Out of 32, 2 were in their 1st year of the foundation course, 1 in his second year, and 28 in post-foundation specialised field and 1 in master class. In terms of Maggi Savin-Baden‟s model, this course might fit in the model III where problem-based learning for interdisciplinary understanding as the study of heritage includes sociology, history, geography and art amongst many other domains. The analysis and synthesis and the results given will follow some of the model of the aligned pedagogy, as previously mentioned, in terms of the space and organisation, objectives and knowledge, student learning and progression, assessments and evaluations. 1. Space and organisation For some weeks students used a model in groups to understand how to use open-ended questions in investigating procedure. Students engaged in task-based activities most of the time and they did this on their own at their own space. Constant class feedbacks, group discussions and recording of discussions and discoveries were accentuated by the fact that the teacher‟s interventions during class time were kept to a minimum. To be as rarely as possible addressing the whole class, the teacher moved around and organised tutorials. A lot of planning as well as updating and creating activities on the ICT platform were done outside class time according to the needs and the observations made in class. (Annexe 1 example weekly planning) The aim was as Kjersdam, Finn & Enemark, Stig (1997)61 mention „using the project-organized model knowledge and cognition are established during discussions 14
between the students in the project group, and often without the personal appearance of the supervisor.‟ The corpus of knowledge about heritage was not separated and isolated, but was injected as needed and according to the activities and the questions formulated by students, although at the beginning of the course chronological events about heritage were chosen to approach a brand new subject, as students often do not really know what studying heritage is. The multimedia room is equipped with computers which have cameras and headphones with an access to internet and intranet. This room was chosen because the layout allows students to speak to each other while sitting in their space in front of their individual computer, but also because it allows them to get closer and share 1 computer between 2 or 3. The room is designed in such a way that 4 students are grouped around computers in four different areas in the room which are close together to facilitate contacts and discussions as the same time as spontaneous individual and collective media search or sharing documents. Movements in the classroom are not restricted, and students are allowed to move from one group to another or to speak to students sitting nearby. Not all the activities are multimedia based, and away from keyboard students engaged in handling archives, documents and objects that they brought in for some of the activities on memory, for instance. Inspired by the research previously mentioned, the activities have been developed in layers over a 14-week period. The very short time allocated to implant, observe, record and help develop the loop: analysis- identification-synthesis-knowledge was helped by the use of an ICT platform called Moodle. The platform allowed students to engage immediately and spontaneously in research and investigations. This platform was, in fact, developed before the semester began. As Lebrun mentions, working around ICT tools, one has to align the pedagogy around objectives, tools and methods.62 But to do this teachers have to realise what is needed is an understanding of what can be achieved with the tools. He insists on the fact that using ICT tools one must refrain from being too technical: the aims are still pedagogical, the tools serve the pedagogy but they are not the pedagogy. However, he underlines the positive effect of ICT in problem-solving and group activities as process competencies. Fitting with this idea, the ICT platform was used in several ways to introduce the course, the objectives, the methodology and the evaluations, to post documents, archives, videos and other visual resources, to put in place a model of research that students used to construct and weave in knowledge and cognitive competencies. The first weeks students used a model of investigation put on line by the teacher which allowed core knowledge to be acquired and concepts to be clarified as much as allowing students to get to know each other and to get used to working together in different settings, sometimes individually, in pairs or in groups of 3 or 4. The model as time went on disappeared and students had to create their own. The progression of activities allowed students to free themselves of the given model, as the teacher would not give them any questions and then had to formulate their own on a variety of imposed core knowledge or free investigating areas in heritage from the formulation of their own questions. From the observations done during the course, the room allowed great flexibility in terms of activities and pairs/groups formation as students could work with different people and were not restricted to one group all the time. In terms of socialising within the group it has proved to be very positive, as it was noted that group co-operation and developing personal and interpersonal skills are often difficult to foster. The idea of „free of supremacy‟ and „democratic‟ setting63 of the kind hoped for in PBL also means that students do not have to feel trapped in one group for too long a period, especially when the group faces unfair repartition of tasks. Research conducted at Louvain University also seems to indicate that „Claroline‟, the tools they explored, enhanced the quality of group interactions in problem-solving, the quality and variety of the resources used by teachers, as well as the competencies in research strategies and ICT skills.64 In that sense the ICT platform was an efficient teaching assistant because it helped put in place a clear and logical model in terms of investigation strategies, and in the building and layering of knowledge and competencies moving from the teacher‟s directing open-ended 15
questions to their own model. It also allowed the teacher to use a wide variety of resources needed in the study of heritage: documents, and archives, people‟s testimonies in oral, visual and written forms. In terms of spontaneous search and flexibility, freedom, autonomy and time given to individual and group tutorials, as much as in-action and on-action reflective activities, the ICT platform was also a powerful tool, because it facilitated active interactions and simultaneous activities. Other ICT tools were also used spontaneously on students‟ initiative, when working for their group oral presentations. Pages were created by them on Google doc and as they sat in class or anywhere in the world they could simultaneously work on the same documents, chopping and changing parts as their investigations went on. What was noticed is that group dynamics seem to have an impact on the analysis and synthesis competencies. As a matter of fact, the written minutes of students after having engaged in analysis and synthesis activities orally for some weeks show that the exchanges of knowledge and clarifying of concepts were enhanced. They found the act of writing very tedious at first and showed reluctance, but as the course went on they were able to analyse a question they had formulated as a group nourishing each other. (Annexe 1 and 2: examples of in-action and on-action formatives evaluations, p. 28 and 29.) 2. Learning objectives: Figure 1 an overview of the learning outcome using Savin-Baden‟s65 table. Steps of schema for a course in heritage 1 consider what it is you Want students to learn
2 decide how learning will be Assessed
3 make a list of what you want them to learn (your learning intentions)
4 break down of learning Intentions into list of capabilities, knowledge, Understandings
5decide how you expect Them to learn i.e. what Learning activities will they Undertake 6locate ways of enabling them To illustrate what they have learnt
7 learning intentions that Allow students to show They are working towards A capability 8 provide learning intentions That show how students May have moved beyond The intentions specified
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Examples To understand heritage and key features To develop process competencies individually and collectively To become autonomous in their own research To speak, write and understand the English language in a variety of situations Individual and team written projects Oral individual and collective presentations Auto-evaluations Concepts in heritage To follow a modelling scientific approach in research strategies To devise their own modelling scientific approach in personal research strategies To make decisions and choices To develop linguistic skills and academic knowledge in English To acquire field knowledge in heritage: classification and parameters of heritage and the institutions, concepts: heritage, identity, memory, multiculturalism, interculturalism, human rights To develop process competencies following the proposed classification: to speak in a variety of situations and to develop grammatical and lexical knowledge to express cause/effect, consequences, interrelations between domains or areas of research, hypotheses and syntheses Research individually or collectively key concepts and parameters Discuss and share knowledge, data and experience Analyse and synthesise data and share results
They are able to use a variety of stimuli leading to discussions They can use multimedia for spontaneous research They are able to understand process competencies and to move from analysis to synthesis They can classify heritage and discuss key concepts and parameters They are able to do random research, to identify an open-question and/or a hypothesis They can inject field knowledge in their arguments and use it in their synthesis They can move from initial random research to specific areas of research in a given subject They can move from analysis to synthesis with some degree of awareness while doing so
Formal assessments had to be included, as the course was taking place within curricular constraints, and quantitative evaluations are the basis on which the failure or pass grade will be given. In students‟ eyes and for the students‟ validation of ECTS on the European scale the latter are important. In terms of teaching heritage as a discipline, most of the implemented curriculum comes from the UNESCO who are the leaders in this field. This research will not be able to develop their recommendations in that field, but the principles of identifying heritage, researching it, visiting sites and giving access to information about it will be followed. Along with the tables pages 18 and 19 a variety of taxonomies have been applied to heritage and this research: Aalborg‟s university definitions66; Philippe Perrenoud (2005)67; Ronald Barnett (1994)68; John Bowden (2003)69; Frédéric de Coninck (2009)70; Stephen Fallows and Christine Steven. (2000)71;Sharon E. and al (2009)72. The following interpretation and adaptation to heritage as a discipline have been devised to plan the progression of the activities and projects. Competencies classified as: know-how (savoir-faire), personal interpersonal skills (savoirêtre), and situational skills (savoir-agir) Some of the French terms are in brackets because, although helped by colleagues to translate them, there are no official translations yet of these terms in English, except for know-how. The last one „savoir-agir‟ in French does not exist officially either, although it encompasses the idea of translating knowledge to action which has been acknowledged in medicine for instance by Sharon E. Straus, Jacqueline Tetroe and Ian Graham(2009) but also by Philippe Perrenoud (2005) or Barnett (1994) previously mentioned. Although Blooms‟taxonomy is not used here, since the cognitive process is not perceived as linear, some of the cognitive actionverbs are still relevant. For the purpose of this research these are defined as: Know-how (savoir-faire): competencies drawn from repeated experience and applications of a corpus of knowledge, whatever it may be which can have an intellectual, physical, spiritual, or emotional dimension. Personal and interpersonal skills (savoir-être) : personal ways of being in relation to oneself, others and the world and the manner in which one interacts and behaves in a given situation including different dimensions of being, whether they be: intrinsic, formatted by cultural, religious, political, ethical or educational influences. Situational skills (savoir-agir): competencies in action for which the sum of knowledge+ know-how + personal and interpersonal skills is greater than the parts and which come into being when one is led to take an action in a given situation to solve a problem or to suggest solutions to a situation whether it be spontaneously or not, scientific or an everyday situation. Process of cognitive competencies: random initial research on a given subject, from which a problem or a question will be identified, analysed and synthesised and solutions proposed. A table on page 20 sums up this interpretation and will be used for written group assessments. What this table reveals is that, even if each step of the cognitive process can be labelled, i.e. doing initial random research, identification of problem, analysis followed by synthesis, it also shows that, in fact, the competencies involved are constantly interacting. What is even more difficult to separate is the interplay between the meta-skills of identifying, analysing and synthesising. For instance, the act of identifying a problem amongst many after an initial random research activity means that students have to analyse and synthesise theoretical knowledge and personal experience of that knowledge, before being able to formulate a question on which they then can concentrate. 17
Equally, when analysing data, for instance students have to use a variety of sources, acknowledge links, respect a variety of opinions and use them in arguments, understand cause and effect, see the interdisciplinary links, synthesise and draw conclusions and share the results with their peers. All this is done simultaneously. What it also shows is that this interpretation of the above definitions is personal and has been created to suit this research and in relation to the interpretation of the research done previously, and it is the result of an arbitrary decision to classify them in that way. However, it was vital to develop some kind of tool to record students‟ initial meta-skills and to record their progress as the course unfolded and activities were created to help them move as stipulated in the learning objectives i. e.: to move from initial random research to specific areas of research in a given subject, and from analysis to synthesis with some degree of awareness. Looking at the tables below, we can immediately see the different parts of the process and the added value in terms of competencies developed when a research project is done collectively, in bold in the table. It shows how PBL can be a catalyst to enhance them. Step 1 Knowledge gathering
Know-how
Personal / interpersonal skills
Situational skills
Knowing background field knowledge
Using people‟s research to inject knowledge
Defining subject
Using people‟s research in personal argumentations Evaluating own progress
Reusing knowledge covered in class Planning further steps
Showing understanding interrelationship Developing an overview of subject Using people‟s research in personal argumentations Using a variety of sources appropriate with field
Managing time Sharing knowledge with others Using multimedia interactive tools/platforms to share knowledge
Reacting to group findings Posting results Planning tasks for each member Solving conflicts in group
Organising meetings Figure 2: table of meta-competencies in step 1: knowledge gathering
Step 2 Formulating an open-ended question
Know-how
Personal / interpersonal skills
Situational skills
Situating own question in relation to existing research
Situating own question in relation to existing research Evaluating own progress
Identifying a question related to the above
Managing time
Sharing knowledge with others Using multimedia interactive tools/platforms
Formulating a group question Planning further steps Reacting to group findings Solving conflicts in group Planning tasks for each member
Figure 3: table of meta-competencies in step 2: formulating an open-ended question
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Step 3 Analysis of individual question
Know-how
Personal / interpersonal skills
Situational skills
Expressing cause/effect
Using people‟s research in argumentations Managing time
Formulating more questions from developed parts Using results from methodological tools Planning further steps
Expressing inter relationships of context Expressing hypothesis Giving explanations for events
Sharing knowledge with others Using multimedia interactive tools/platforms
Giving factual information Drawing conclusions from developed parts of research Using a variety of resources used in field
Reacting to group findings Solving conflicts in group Planning tasks for each member Adjusting personal methodological tool/results in relation to the others findings Writing an d posting results
Using a variety of methodological tools
Figure 4: table of meta-competencies in step 3: Analysis of individual question
Step 4 Synthesizing
Know-how
Personal / interpersonal skills
Situational skills
Giving an overview of findings
Understanding limitations of research
Using results from methodological tools
Answering individual question
Managing time
Understanding limitations of research
Sharing knowledge with others Using multimedia interactive tools/platforms
Giving alternatives answers to existing research Formulating future areas of research
Figure 5: table of meta-competencies in step 4: Synthesizing
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Suggesting new developments according to field Reacting to group findings
Students Knowledge gathering Knowing background field knowledge Defining subject
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Showing understanding interrelationship Reusing knowledge covered in class (3 pts)
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Developing an overview of subject Using people‟s research to inject knowledge Using people‟s research in personal argumentations Using a variety of sources appropriate with field Formulating an open-ended question Identifying a sub-question related to the above Formulating a personal question Situating own question in relation to existing research Analysis of personal question Expressing hypothesis
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Giving explanations for events Expressing cause/effect
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Expressing inter relationships of context Giving factual information
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X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Using people‟s research in arguments Drawing conclusions from developed parts of research Formulating more questions from developed parts Using a variety of resources used in field Synthesizing
X
Giving an overview of findings Giving a conclusive1 answer to personal question Understanding limitations of research Giving alternatives answers to existing research Formulating future areas of research Suggesting new developments
X
X
X
X X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X X
X X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
English skills Grammar
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Vocabulary
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Spelling Bonus pt for referencing
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Total/31
Figure 6 assessment sheet used to record individual cognitive competencies 1
Conclusive= going back to question and using all the elements and research + quotes to provide an answer
20
VI. Results of the case study Thirty-two students chose the course in heritage for which the only enrolment requirement was a minimum level in English. 1. Using Moodle and IT Moodle was used to layer the targeted competencies and knowledge in heritage for each session. The platform allowed a variety of open-ended questions to be posted as examples for students to get used to doing spontaneous and collective research. As the teacher‟s input was kept to a minimum in class, much of the work was done prior to the sessions, except for the „come-together, let‟s clear misunderstandings and let‟s synthesise together moments‟. So it became clear that the more invisible teachers are in class, the busier they are outside the class, working on the ICT platform, planning and adapting activities designed to target the step-by-step cognitive process outlined above. Following Maggi SavinBaden‟s guidelines (Savin-Baden 2007)73, the ICT platform helped in the modelling of the research process, and from the beginning students were taken through the different steps of the cognitive process, starting from formulating open-ended questions that lead to knowledge gathering, to group analysing, using a variety of methodological tools normally used in heritage, such as tangible traces, interviews, reports and surveys and synthesising. In terms of collaborative tools, students chose to use Google pages in and outside the class for collaborative projects or group posts. Working in a small multi-media room also implied that there was a maximum of 16 students in each class, which was a big asset in terms of quality time given to them, either in individual or group tutorial settings or as a whole class. A more elaborated study of Moodle as an epistemological tool is currently being undertaken. 2. Gathering background knowledge The first table of results at the end of the semester and after 3 evaluations for the 1st step of the process shows that, if compiling background knowledge and using a variety of resources seem to be spontaneous, the rest of the meta-competencies needed to be activated through a variety of activities and formative evaluations. It comforts the idea that, unless clear steps are given to move from open-ended questions to hypothetical questions, students do not seem to be able to do so naturally. We could deduce from this, that an optimal support environment needs to be put in place for weeks and consciously so by teachers in many modules for cognitive competencies to fully develop.
Figure 7: acquisition of competencies trough time step 1
21
3. Identifying and formulating a question As the objective was to establish what students would do naturally, the evaluation sheet with all the steps and the meta-competencies was not shown to them before the first evaluation but after it. Students seem to agree that, if they had known about it before, they would have respected it, which might suggest that teachers‟ targeted learning outcome ought to be made very clear to them before any evaluation. However, if this was true for step 1, figure 8 below shows that for the second step of the process being aware of the targeted competencies does not guarantee their manifestation, since even after having manipulated many open-ended questions, students still could not understand what a hypothetical question was, and a specific activity was designed on this subject. It is only after the second evaluation and after analysing what a hypothetical question could be in the field of heritage that each class agreed on a single hypothetical question to be analysed by the whole class. In terms of identifying questions and formulating questions students initially, in their individual written piece, showed that this part seems to be understood, as 32 out of 32 did it successfully.
Figure 8 acquisition of competencies trough time 4. Analysing the question The third step contained a higher number of meta-competencies, and students were able to situate their hypotheses in relation to other research and identify a sub-area from which sub-questions emerged only in the third evaluation. The most difficult problem was the formulation of questions or quests, since students did not understand straightaway that illformed questions in heritage could lead to different answers, and that personal interpretations and memories of scientific facts could contradict each other. So it is not until the third evaluation that hypotheses in heritage were formulated by all the students.
Figure 9 acquisition of competencies trough time 22
In the second evaluation done in pairs, the interactivity seems to enable the students to perceive sub-questions and to relate the parts to the whole, something which was missing in the first evaluation. . A question then naturally appeared: at which point does a piece of factual information become knowledge? If students could use people‟s research they did not necessarily use it in their arguments but stated it as a mere fact, and therefore sub-questions and conclusions were difficult to generate. As some research show, knowledge takes much longer than a semester or a year to master (Fischer et al., 2003; Salomon & Perkins, 1989). 74 It is, therefore, impossible at this stage to really know the impact of these scientific investigations done in heritage on future research projects. In the last class research the students had to find a hypothesis and related subquestions; they had to organise themselves as a group of 16 and find ways to create different sub-groups in the class. Each sub-group had to formulate and analyse a relevant sub-question, which enabled students to see the scientific interrelationships between sub-questions. Then each sub-group presented the result of their analysis to the other groups and finally each student wrote an individual synthesis. 5. Moving from analysis to synthesis showing some awareness After the first 6 weeks of intensive task-based activities, and in-action reflective sessions in class the results show that, although all students were able to give an overview of their initial random research and analyse it, to reinvest knowledge and make interdisciplinary links, only 5 out of 32 students did actually move to the synthetic part. It is surprising that the wide age range did not seem to make a difference, although 4 out of the 5 who managed to synthesise some aspects of their research in the first evaluation, were the ones who are in post-foundation courses and engaged in their specialised fields. By the time they finished the semester nearly all 32 students had moved up to the fourth step, but giving alternatives and suggesting new developments or giving solutions as the table below shows, still seemed to be difficult to reach in heritage, which does not mean that it would be the case in other fields. Although it could be argued that the way a question is formulated or an analysis conducted can be creative, being able to synthesise did not necessarily lead to being creative.
Figure 10: acquisition of competencies though time synthesizing
23
After the first evaluation the marking scheme was put on Moodle and students were quite amazed to see what researching actually involves. A class discussion about the cognitive competencies in play took place, but 2 students remarked that I should have given it before and that it would have made a difference. Some of them also complained that for the mark they received I had given too much importance to the cognitive skills and not enough to the English part of the report. This point was taken in and for the following group oral presentation I adjusted the marking scheme accordingly. As a matter of fact, having discussed the concept of synthesising and practised it in task-based activities for several weeks made no difference as none of them actually included hypothetical questions but stayed in the realm of open-ended questions in their oral presentations, which is the second evaluation. For this oral presentation another marking scheme was created because the written scheme used for individual written assessment did not make it possible to record presentation skills and co-operative skills at work. Another one was also put together for the last written group project. But what can be said is that there has been some awareness as to the different processes taking place when doing research and answering questions. What is also interesting to note is the fact that the table regrouping the meta-skills shows that synthesising does not mean proposing new ideas. It is possible to identify an openquestion amongst many and to analyse it and to synthesise what one has researched without being creative and innovative. The innovation might not be related to synthesis but to an entirely independent process. Therefore, it is not possible to assert that being able to synthesise leads to innovation. For instance, in a given report, when all the quotes and references are removed and one would only look at an individual personal reflection and proposals, it might come as a surprise to see what would be left standing alone as a manifestation of personal skills in proposing innovative way of tackling a problem or a quest.
VI. Conclusion Has the research really been worth doing and how will it be integrated into the researcher‟s daily life? The advantage of cultivating a reflective approach to teaching is that, while doing so, the teacher can really understand what kind of knowledge is essential when having to react very quickly to a situation. As a matter of fact, it would be very interesting to research on what really is kept of the theory of curriculum development or didactics when having to deal spontaneously with a student in a real life situation. It can be said that action-research has been very rewarding as a personal experience and has highlighted the fact that, besides sound knowledge of one‟s discipline it is very difficult to select core knowledge from a corpus and to adapt it to students. One must never take it for granted that what teachers may consider useful knowledge might in fact be irrelevant to students. In terms of knowledge being useful or not, it is an on-going debate and the shift from knowledge-based curriculum to competencies-based curriculum might be a wiser choice, however knowledge must not be undervalued either. What became clear analysing the in-action and on-action, written traces is that one can never be sure how much knowledge students have actually cultivated. In retrospect I think that teachers must not undermine their responsibility when it comes to using evaluations as diagnostic tools to clarify misunderstandings about concepts. What must also be asked is what rewards are there to be gained for students and teachers. Not reaching a goal from the teacher‟s or the student‟s point of view is frustrating, but as autonomy and awareness are built together the notion of what is normally recognised as failing can be transformed into a fruitful experience. The notion of working together highlights a common goal and in a way develops awareness on both sides, the students‟ and the teacher‟s In terms of integrating the principles given by Aalborg University about the model, this research shows that more time to study and integrate the complexity of such a system was needed. However, the fact that teachers and professors at Aalborg have been successful in 24
drawing out the essence has been useful in understanding the model and putting some of them to the test. The fact that other researchers, such as Maggi Savin-Baden who produced a planning tool, means that teachers have an efficient tool which allows them to have a complete overview of their intentions, and this has been of great help although very difficult. Because to understand this table and before attempting using it, one has to do a lot of reading to understand her lexicon. So, it took a real intellectual effort to be able to fill it in, but once it was done it proved to be very valuable. As English is an international language, words do not have a stable value around the world and this makes the task of understanding complex concepts complicated. To add onto this difficulty of self-interpretation of words, the other tedious task is that the definitions of competencies, knowledge and other key words are developed according to groups of individuals and their institutions. As a consequence, arbitrary definitions used were developed for survival sake and also to see how such definitions could be adapted to her discipline. The problem of instability of the language used across the world by individual, institutions or specific groups of people is a recurring problem in research, for instance if the „PBL aligned model‟ is relatively clear, the notion of „zig-zag‟75 is too vague and open to a wide range of interpretations. This is obviously a problem because, before attempting any implementations, so much information, concepts and others key words within a given system have to be demystified, and one has to get into people‟s world before being able to understand what they mean, and this takes considerable time and effort. In terms of teacher-training it is obviously a problem when one has to deal with the bulk at once. To achieve some complete overview has meant that a breakdown of all the concepts, steps and corpus of science of education has been necessary before processing and then added on the basis already there. As the heritage of science of education is rather substantial, the process of learning to implement PBL is a complex experience. The aligned pedagogy also poses a problem in terms of being able to isolate an element and to relate it to the part, since, as it was noted when one is out of alignment, so will the others. So, in fact although cognitive competencies were the initial targets they had to be put within the PBL system to be fully acknowledged. On this problem Margaret Donalson says that if attention is solely concentrating on small parts then little will be seen of the whole. Conversely if too much attention is given to a large area, the small parts are blurred and our perception of them inaccurate. 76 The ability to synthesise and propose new ideas might therefore depend on this fact as the constant coming and going acknowledged is needed to have a visual image of the relationship between parts and whole. In terms of cognitive competencies what has been highlighted is that their somewhat hectic occurrence makes them also unstable and difficult to pin down. However, formative evaluations in this research have been more revealing and more efficacious in planning further steps than normative evaluations which only give quantified data which say nothing about what has been achieved by students in relation to where they started. The idea of progression and seeing students as individuals learning at different paces has relieved some of the pressure that teachers put on them in normal settings. It has also relieved some of the stress often felt between teachers and students as a certain relationship was built on other values besides giving/receiving a grade. What‟s more, pushing them to go further, making them more aware of their own progression, shortcomings and challenging them has proved to be fruitful. Yet, one must acknowledge the fact that the choice of evaluations is arbitrary and so are the researchers‟ perceptions of what is relevant or not to put in the assessing equation. In that sense interdisciplinary research would offer the possibility to construct a more complete understanding as different facets could be put together and the discovery in one field would fuel another. As to the question of the place of human and social sciences in an engineering curriculum, the shift from a knowledge-based curriculum to a competencies-based curriculum might serve a fuller integration of the disciplines in human and social sciences. A competencies-based curriculum does not mean that an overview of the diploma on the overall curriculum level is not necessary. To be aware of what competencies are developed where, to 25
what extent and how would facilitate the reading of an entire course. It would also mean that teachers are aware of what competencies their students are developing. So what is also needed is to map the links between human and social sciences and engineering sciences and to harmonise them across disciplines. To do so means that teachers have to work and plan as a team, which is exactly what we expect from our students when we ask them to work as teams. Although as previously mentioned this research is not sufficient to generate a theory and was not intended to, at ground level it has lead me to be aware of the steps of the cognitive process and how to encourage them. The results also seem to support the theory that learning is not a linear activity, and that social and human sciences have much to offer to engineers when it comes to developing cognitive competencies needed in engineering sciences. Analysing, synthesising and suggesting new solutions or ways of looking at a problem also relate to the complex question of creativity which has not been fully explored here. What appears though in the given context is that creativity seems to belong to the „situational competencies‟ (savoir-agir) category and is an active process, which was also highlighted in Osborn‟s Creative Problem Solving Process (CPS) in the 1950s and his later work. (Osborn 1993)77 What must also be taken into account is what Ritcher (Ritcher .T 1991)78 calls, „availability of knowledge’ either empirical or theoretical, since it seems that the depth of new proposals will be directly influenced by both. This is also true for teachers looking for gaining an insight into how to transmit knowledge and cognitive competencies effectively in their daily practice. As education is becoming global, there is a need to train deep critical thinkers to solve complex problems and to train teachers to help them developing critical thinking. For instance, UNESCO‟s project Online Educational Resources (OER) wants to generate what is called „capacity building’79. Projects such as wikieducator Learning4Content programme recently launched with 77 participants in 25 countries, is an example of this worldwide ambition.80 This type of mass education shifts the role of trainees and experienced teachers from passive to active learners involved in solving their own specific problems. Although, as James C. Taylor reckons, what is needed is to train teachers to develop innovative methodologies.81 In this case what would the role of PBL be? If it was the chosen methodology of teaching, how would wikieducators be trained to use it? Furthermore, as Leonard Annetta, Michelle Cook, and Maya Schultz82 (Leonard A., Cook Michelle, Schultz Maya, 2007) mention, the dynamic PBL/ serious gaming has much potential in terms of teaching and learning and so we can imagine that in the future online courses for teachers will use virtual classroom environments to practise teaching/learning scenarios in order to apply and transmit PBL‟s related knowledge and competencies.
26
VII. Annexes Annexe 1 In-action formative evaluation while watching videos online: Formulating questions arising from the video I had a dream http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMXaTktUfA&NR=1&feature=fvwp Q1) How would former slaves families be able to forget what happened to their ancestor and live in peace with white people ? Time is passing by Less movies / articles about it = Less information Teaching Q2) What influence did this speech have on people in the US ? Black and white people go to school together Black people can find jobs Mass effect, unity of black people Q3) Education today: Are they being thought? What‟s the place of these events in history books? Q4) Retribution? Q5) How can we be objective about an event? Multiply sources More facts than opinions Q6) Do you think that M.L.K dreams have become a reality? Some points yes, but still some work to go
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Annexe 2 On-action formative evaluation using what students know to prepare a research question around endangered heritage. 1. logical map of events and links
Endangered species
1
8 Damages after human disasters
9
UNESCO 7 10
4
Damages after natural disasters
Environment agreement
5
6 Environment assossiations
2 National parks 3
1 List and protection of endanger species 2 help, subventions 3 protection of natural parks, volunteers 4 fight against polluting industries 5 protection of endanger species in national parks 6 help, subventions 7 species are in danger because of natural disasters 8 species are in danger because of natural disasters 9 agreements said conditions to protect endanger species 10 conditions => avoid human disasters
2. How do we collect information or data about people, places, needs,
funding in heritage? What kind of tools can we use? Videos / books / interviews / internet
28
Tools: census and survey
3. Formulate potential questions of research we have chosen national
parks
Do you think that national parks are useful? What are the aims of natural parks? Have you ever been in a national park? Do you know who are looking after parks? (who are in charged of parks?)
Annexe 3 Overview of competencies needed by teachers to implement PBL
Know-how (savoir-faire)
Personal and interpersonal skills (Savoir-être)
using the existing corpus and assimilating it to draw own methodology and definitions to apply it using a variety of resources and ICT tools proposing a variety of experience from which knowledge can be constructed creating a learning environment on Moodle: creating activities and giving access to resources balancing the activities in which knowledge and competencies can be developed being able to adapt curricular content to the level of the students planning curriculum across disciplines with colleagues being able to understand the limitations of one’s discipline
Situational skills (savoir-agir )
respecting ethics in research and in teaching intervening when necessary to help students achieve their aims encouraging respect and motivation in the group facilitate positive exchanges among students, using a mixture of evaluating tools to measure progress and targeted competencies with fairness and objectivity, respecting the cultural backgrounds of students and discouraging negative competition putting a code of ethics in discussions, debates and opinion giving activities being adaptable and open-minded knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses recognising potential in others and encouraging their development establishing class rules and objectives adapting knowledge and experience of that knowledge to a given context within specific constraints, educational requirements and the specifications and parameters of the subject to be studied by students making decisions and changing activities according to audience and the difficulties in the acquisition of knowledge and competencies adapting evaluations formative and normative
29
VIII. References 1
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