Inquisitive SCUBA Voyageurs Explore Undersea Garden of Octopus
Eight arms are indispensable for educators to attend to all aspects of teaching.
A light hearted Google search of "eight" and "teaching" provided an interesting link to the Big Eight which is a list of engagement strategies or skills that Annette Brinkman, Gary Forlini, and Ellen Williams promote in their book, Help Teachers Engage Students. They suggest that these strategies are basic to engaging students: expectations, attention prompts, proximity, cueing, signals, time limits, tasking, and voice. Whereas the book's intended audience is primary school teachers, the theoretical ideas echo what experts promote as sound teaching principles (similar ideas, with differing labels): learning outcomes, hooks, interaction, formative feedback, expectations and assessment tasks. http://www.oswego.org/instruction.cfm?subpage=7759
The Beatles' view of an octopus' garden is contrary to the idea that learning encourages students to reach beyond what is comfortable into the unknown and explore untested waters. Their misconception of an Octopuses' garden is where "We would be warm below the storm, In our little hideaway beneath the waves, Resting our head on the sea bed, In an octopus' garden near a cave, We would sing and dance around, Because we know we can't be found...No one there to tell us what to do...". http://www.lyrics007.com/The%20Beatles%20Lyrics/Octopus's%20Garden%20Lyrics.html
A teacher's metaphorical eight arms ensure that all aspects of course (garden) creation are addressed. Once the pathway has been established the eight arms can then attend to the actual teaching, including use of a variety of tools for digging (literature searches), blueprints (assignment criteria), planting (conveying information), weeding (clarification), pruning (narrowing questions), harvesting (long term learning), grafting (critical thinking).
The students in a garden of learning are explorers or voyageurs.
They can look, listen, touch, dig, explore, manipulate, feed on the fruit, experiment and also ask questions of the gardener. The Octopus instructor can lead the voyageur students on a structured path through the garden and can encourage new pathways to be formed. Fertile ideas can be formulated, seeds of evidence based information can be gathered, various proven methods of gardening can be replicated or new genetic strains created through recombination of previously unrelated encoded (DNA) materials. The octopus is also available to steer students safely away from dangers (such as predators that might be dwelling in the Beatles' cave) and misconceptions (such as the Beatles' song and dance that experts are not worth heeding).
SCUBA gear allows the students to surface from beneath the warm waves and engage the real world (the Beatles' storm) with their new knowledge and skills. They might even speak to the storm and in their new authority, and cause it to be still.
At first glance, this in class exercise of finding a metaphor, seemed a bit "song and dance" Beatlesque, but knowing the variety of proven teaching methods our professors utilize, the final homework assignment of exploring and refining the metaphors, caused more swimming about the garden to turn over new leaves and to seek new perspectives. Ah, no "resting our head on the sea bed" here!
The unexplored cave mouth beckons! Gathering our enlightened phosphorescent zooplankton we can head into the cave to explore its hidden treasures. Our cerebral, well armed octopi teachers can point out dead end paths and lurking dangers (misconceptions), plus suggest potential sources of fresh air (new ideas).
Bon Voyage, adventuresome voyageurs!
Hi Brenda,
ReplyDeleteWow! What a blog. I really appreciated your creativity in connecting your metaphors to the teacher and learner. For consideration, I wonder about your assumption that the Beatles misconceptions of the underwater garden prevents learners from exploring. Your text suggests that the students, while perhaps initially in a safe and specific cave or area, would then have no one to know where they are or to watch over them. It seems to me that this freedom may allow for exploration, creativity, independence and opportunity for growth. Just a thought...
Beth
Hi, Beth,
DeleteIn searching my previous class notes on Inquiry, I found this paragraph that gives further thought to your comment about the Beatles’ Octopus Garden unsupervised students learning by unrestricted exploration or “discovery learning.”
Mayer (2010) concludes in his investigation of discovery type learning that it “was more effective than pure discovery in helping students learn and transfer” (p. 14). Further, Mayer suggests that constructivist learning might best be supported by cognitive activities (such as Inquiry Learning) versus behavioral activities: “instructional guidance rather than pure discovery, and curricular focus rather than unstructured exploration” (p. 14 in McLaughlin, 2011).
Funny how the Beatles gain access to the most obscure discussions!
References
Mayer, R. (2004). "Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery learning? The case for guided methods of instruction". American Psychologist 59 (1): 14–19. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.14. PMID 14736316
McLaughlin, B. (2011). Green Guide 3 Teaching the Art of Inquiry, by Hudspith & Jenkins, 2001, Hudspith, B. & Jenkins, H. (2001). Green guide 3: Teaching the art of inquiry. Halifax, NS: Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Unpublished.
Hi Brenda,
ReplyDeleteAs I reflected on your metaphor I thought that the octopus represents the multi-tasking requirements of teaching. I mentioned this in class and I wanted to explore it a little more. I liked the way you linked the eight arms to the the eight strategies from the book 'Help teachers engage students.' Still, I have to ask whether the eight arms and the multi-tasking aspects of teaching represent how you feel about teaching. I know I find it overwhelming at times - trying to get plan my classes, keep up with the literature. Does the octopus feel this way to you too?
I was also struck by the idea of how students can use SCUBA gear to rise up to the 'real world'. Do you feel that the world of academia is some how foreign to the rest of the world?
I enjoyed reading your post!
Jules
Overwhelmed octopus - yes, but as experience equates to mastery, the stress has lessened as organizing classes is more streamlined.
DeleteAcademia as "foreign" to the rest of the world, or "isolated" or "protected" is, I believe, becoming less of an issue. As academia reaches out to community partners, uses more cooperative learning situations and post secondary education increases in popularity, there is less of a dichotomy.
Whereas a classroom can be a controlled microcosm, application of learned knowledge to the real world needs to be nurtured and advanced to the point where the student is ready to take on the wind and waves of change. In order to independently stay afloat, the student must master a profession, set of skills and/or body of knowledge to become a "professor" in his or her own right. A nurse must pass a licensing exam and prove competence with clients before being licensed and allowed to practice independently. My personal example is my clinic where I functionned as an independent, Registered Nurse entrepreneur. I couldn't have done that without a structured, protected academic education.
Unless nurtured in a controlled environment of academia before venturing out into the world a student could fail miserably (drown) and harm others in the process; scholarly preparation is necessary. Classroom controls are often in stark contrast to the irratic realities of the world.
Very interesting metaphor! Had a little trouble following some of it but honed in on the issue of 'multitasking'. One of lifes true myths-there is only a division of our attention which can lose the focus entirely. All octopi (?) are focused an a singular need 'survival' whether the immediate part of that need is food, defense or procreation! So I am suggesting a reverse role for the teacher with the student as the octopus and teachers as environmental control agents. As teachers we try to provide 'food for thought' while ensure no need for defense' and trying to keep their focus away for their social needs. Just a thought! Lyn
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lyn. I wrote based on an assumption that it was a continuation of our in-class discussion. A bit lazy - sorry!
DeleteInteresting thought as the students as octopi. Whatever the teacher offers in the way of a larger variety of learning tasks could have the students exploring multiple styles and activites of learning. As a pod of octopi, they have multiples of arms and brains, thus increasing the scope of learning, hopefully appealing to different strengths of learning styles.
Good suggestion re: the teacher ensuring a sense of safety.
neat metaphor. The octopus analogy reminds me of the movie ‘Finding Nemo’; learning in a fun environment created by the teacher. The thoughts that occured to me are as follows:The multitasking of a teacher every step of the way is part of ensuring the smooth flow of the lesson. As teachers we are also trying to reach out and accommodate the various types of learners. The cerebral octopus can anticipate the types of issues that crops up and provides the class with solutions or find new solutions to the perils of deep thinking. The deep thinking could take us to unexplored caves that the students enter and we explore with them.
ReplyDeleteLovely and creative post, Brenda! I like the idea of bringing in "the big eight" to represent the arms. And that makes me wonder why these eight, and not eight different things? And which of these eight are actually essential? In other words, could any of them be left out without harming students' learning?
ReplyDeleteIf we use those "big eight" as the arms in your metaphor, which of them are using the tools that you mention, for digging, planting, etc? It would be interesting to push your metaphor farther by figuring that out.
There's a duality to the cave that I think both you and Beth have picked up on -- potential for harm as well as potential for benefit. Perhaps this is the case for any situation in which tremendous growth is possible, that there are aspects of danger lurking. Perhaps part of the octopus' job is to help the divers navigate through the potentially dangerous cave safely. Some guidance and structure may be bulwarks against harm (or, in the case of learning, perhaps just irrelevance).
The multi-tasking aspect of teaching is nicely captured by the octopus metaphor, and as Jules points out, that multi-tasking can be an exercise in exhaustion! How much of it is necessary, and how much of it is mere habit, things we have become accustomed to doing that, if considered with reflective scrutiny, turn out to be inessential? Perhaps a critical spotlight on the many ways we keep ourselves busy as teachers could enable us to let some things go.
I wouldn't say that experience equates with mastery, as it's quite easy to gain experience in doing things poorly. As Biggs points out in Teaching for Quality Learning, honest critical reflection can make the difference between 20 years of experience and one year repeated twenty times! Certainly I've known many people who were experienced but quite poor at what they did, as well as many people who were inexperienced but quite skilful. This suggests to me that the relationship between experience and mastery is more complicated than it might first appear.
What you say in your response to Jules regarding the relevance of academia to the rest of the world seems spot on to me. Hopefully as we develop our abilities as scholarly teachers and increase the use of authentic assessment tasks and learning experiences, the perceived gap between the two will narrow!
As Lyn suggests, we could play with the metaphor a little more. Maybe students and teachers are all octopi, balancing different tasks, whirling together in the garden, a flurry of appendages striking this way and that.
Also, as Lyn notes, there is a mythical quality to the popular conception of multitasking: really, we can only pay conscious attention to one task at a time (the rest we cope with through autonomic and subconscious -- largely habitual -- responses). So when we multi-task we're actually shifting our attention between tasks. To what extent does this interfere without abilities? How much of our teaching can we make habitual, so that we don't have to pay conscious attention to it? How much SHOULD we make habitual, even if we can? Anna's comment about accommodating learners in our multi-tasking suggests to me that there may be some things that we can't, or shouldn't, relegate to habit . . .
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ReplyDeleteAhh! The flurry of arms and activity at the planning stages of the course... Yes, Prof Michael and Jules, I would like to dump many of the 'necessary' tasks such as re-doing CPR for the 27th time, re-writing the hospital's annual quiz for the 12th time, and having to buy yet another nametag that was originally free and now my 4th one costs $16 (and never because I lost one). Am I grumbling? Thank you God for my job and for people that streamline processes!
DeleteI have found that I myself often created work for student learning that I no longer use. I have morphed and moulded those tasks into more interactive, in-the-moment critical thinking exercises that produce more abundant fruit. It is less stressful and I find the current methods more relaxed, pleasant, more interactive and I gain better insight into my students, plus I can deliver more timely and pertinent formative feedback. The students have expressed a greater pleasure (in their thanks) in learning. There is less of a chance of habit formation when using real-time, real -life patient cases.
On my narrower viewpoint, the Octopi arm-tasks of a teacher include the administration of the course (such as meetings, room bookings, photocopying, etc.) as well as actual teaching.
"Owl" (Beth) always thank my peers for coaching (Jules) and feeding (Ahmed) my sheepish (Anna) pool of neurons (Lyn) and my sheperd for guiding me (Michael and Pierre)!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful information with us!! It was an amazing post!
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