Promoting Significant Learning
In the days of our students’ parents and grandparents, learners thrived on memorization, mostly out of context. Much learning was abstract, theoretical, dry, and irrelevant to people’s careers or everyday lives. Teachers clung to their “content” as if it were Holy Scripture that could not but benefit their pupils. Times have changed though, and that type of education is now considered inappropriate.
Researchers have realized that what engages students is the usefulness of the knowledge gained and the likelihood that it will impact others. That is why teachers these days are expected to demonstrate the relevance of their courses to their students, promoting creative applications. Showing students the significance of a course promotes intrinsic motivation. An excellent definition of significant learning comes from Dr. L. Dee Fink, author of the book Creating Significant Learning Experiences. Dr Fink came up with a “Taxonomy of Significant Learning”, which he sees as a successor to the classic taxonomy of cognitive skills developed by Benjamin Bloom and his associates in the 1950s. In his view, “individuals and organizations involved in higher education are expressing a need for important kinds of learning that do not emerge easily from the Bloom taxonomy, for example: learning how to learn, leadership and interpersonal skills, ethics, communication skills, character, tolerance, the ability to adapt to change, etc.” (“What Is Significant Learning?”).
Fink’s taxonomy revolves around the following kinds of learning:
• Foundational knowledge
• Application
• Integration
• The human dimension
• Caring
• Learning how to learn
In a recent interview, Fink elaborated on the importance of the shift from the content-centred approach to a learning-centred approach, stressing the need for change not just at the classroom level, but also at the organizational and national levels ("Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An HETL Interview with Dr. Dee Fink"). If you’re an educator still stuck on Bloom’s ideas, read Fink’s work. You’ll surely find it significant.
Posted by May Mikati on 30 January 2012, 2:36 PM
In the days of our students’ parents and grandparents, learners thrived on memorization, mostly out of context. Much learning was abstract, theoretical, dry, and irrelevant to people’s careers or everyday lives. Teachers clung to their “content” as if it were Holy Scripture that could not but benefit their pupils. Times have changed though, and that type of education is now considered inappropriate.
Researchers have realized that what engages students is the usefulness of the knowledge gained and the likelihood that it will impact others. That is why teachers these days are expected to demonstrate the relevance of their courses to their students, promoting creative applications. Showing students the significance of a course promotes intrinsic motivation. An excellent definition of significant learning comes from Dr. L. Dee Fink, author of the book Creating Significant Learning Experiences. Dr Fink came up with a “Taxonomy of Significant Learning”, which he sees as a successor to the classic taxonomy of cognitive skills developed by Benjamin Bloom and his associates in the 1950s. In his view, “individuals and organizations involved in higher education are expressing a need for important kinds of learning that do not emerge easily from the Bloom taxonomy, for example: learning how to learn, leadership and interpersonal skills, ethics, communication skills, character, tolerance, the ability to adapt to change, etc.” (“What Is Significant Learning?”).
Fink’s taxonomy revolves around the following kinds of learning:
• Foundational knowledge
• Application
• Integration
• The human dimension
• Caring
• Learning how to learn
In a recent interview, Fink elaborated on the importance of the shift from the content-centred approach to a learning-centred approach, stressing the need for change not just at the classroom level, but also at the organizational and national levels ("Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An HETL Interview with Dr. Dee Fink"). If you’re an educator still stuck on Bloom’s ideas, read Fink’s work. You’ll surely find it significant.
Posted by May Mikati on 30 January 2012, 2:36 PM
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