The objective of this study is to analyze the effect of “child-led learning” or personalized learning strategy on the learning outcomes upon a small sample size of schoolchildren in Y4, and to identify the differential learning requirements of different students, based upon their cognitive abilities or performance. This strategy is based upon the study of Lash (2003), that points out that during the preconception stage of learning, the child uses his/her imagination to direct the activities, and can involve acts of imitation, play and language development. This type of learning can be facilitated by encouraging the child to explore his/her environment, and use the different objects in it in a meaningful way, while ensuring that the environment is devoid of risks. Such a strategy is utilized by our school, to be incorporated into the teaching and planning practices and also to create and maintain a personalized learning strategy as a product of reflective practice. This case study shall elucidate the effect of this new learning/teaching strategy on the achievements accumulated by the child. The study will also incorporate an action research, that will aim to provide differentiated support (through specific interventions) to stretch and challenge the more able pupils (identified as ‘gifted’ or ‘talented’) in order for them to develop specific skills to overcome those challenges independently. The combined effect would be to study the efficacy of child led learning, as well as the effect of challenging and motivating learning environment on students.
This will create a learning experience that is more personalized to the child’s learning speed, and use his/her own curiosity to aid and motivate the learning process. Furthermore, such a strategy can also prevent disengagement of the student with the curriculum outcomes due to learning activities that enforce cognitive dissonance (Dean and Jolly 2012). Such a dissonance is generally reflected by the poor retention of learning across the years, even after achieving the learning outcomes, as per the evaluation by the teachers. The case study is to facilitate the learning process to be memorable enough to enable academic progress of the children.
The child led learning will be incorporated by a primary and secondary school, and will involve children within a wide spectrum between aspirants of Ivy League and Oxbridge institutes to students with moderate needs or learning difficulties. The objective is to analyze the efficacy of the child led learning strategy on the retention of knowledge by them. The case study will be on a group of 15 children, two of whom are considered Able, Gifted and Talented (AGT), studying a foreign language (Arabic) for the last 2 years, showing a remarkable proficiency in both written and verbal communication in the foreign language. These students were able to demonstrate an exceptional talent in utilizing their environment in the usage of their newly learnt language, enabling them to communicate in that language. This outlined the children within the category of AGT, as exceptional, and comparable to only a few children nationally (Lancsngfl.ac.uk. 2018). The rest of the 13 students have a low Cat4 results, and diagnosed of having mild learning difficulties, flagged in the SEN department (Gov.uk. 2018). These children also had a prior training in Arabic as a foreign language, however have shown an improved ability of verbal communication in Arabic, but not as much in reading or writing in Arabic. These children are deemed to have special learning needs, and require a stress free environment to increase their learning abilities. This will enable differentiation between children who are exceptional or gifted from those with moderate learning disability and have special learning needs (Gov.uk. 2018). The support staff will comprise of SEN specialists that will provide support in the learning of language during the term two of secondary school curriculum to student between the ages of 9 and 10. The training will be aimed to provided a personalized learning based on the differentiation of the students (as per the tests), thereby attempting to serve the learning requirements of both the able students as well as students with moderate learning difficulties. It enables a more individualized support to all individuals with different abilities or strengths, and incorporates individualized targets for the study outcomes. These students shall receive the support within the framework of the ‘ordinary’ lesson planning, and thereby combining the learning strategy under the singular approach of the providence of personalized learning, that can foster the development of self confidence, and enhances the learning and retentive abilities of the student. The students will be drawn from an ‘ordinary’ mixed ability class that is aimed to teach a foreign language (Arabic). Thus, the group will consist of learners of the same language, at different levels of proficiency (ability to read or write vs. ability to talk and understand).
The study also utilizes the findings by Sokoloff and Thornton (1997); Kang (2007); Wang, Woo and Zhao (2009); which shows that an appropriate learning environment can nurture the strengths, interests and abilities of the children, and can facilitate the process of knowledge construction/retention and critical thinking. Environments that enable the children to participate with others, and also have fun while learning can encourage academic learning and development.
Cognitive abilities test version 4 (Cat4) is utilized by the school in order to assess (in detail) the cognitive potential as well as cognitive functioning of the children. The test assesses the verbal, quantitative, non verbal and spatial cognitive abilities of the children, providing a standardized representation of information that can be used to compare performance of the different students, and assess their learning strengths and requirements. Analyzing the results from particular groups or cohorts can additionally increase the foreknowledge of the possible challenges the group might face, in the future, and help to identify their need for support, and actions that are aimed to address such needs. The results can also help in an effective designing of the curriculum and their choices offered to students, thereby maximizing the knowledge retention. Overall, the tests allow the identification of the specific needs of the selected students. This can allow implementation of intervention strategies that will be different from the support that they generally receive during their ordinary classes.
In the study, the students who have been identified as able or gifted, and having the ability only to read or write in Arabic (but unable to speak the language), are placed in a challenging environment, where they need to work with the other students who can speak in Arabic. This program is aimed to challenge these two students to develop the necessary skills to develop the communication skills in a foreign language, and therefore foster cognitive development in order for them to become more independent and engaged learners. The idea is to create a learning environment that supports the learning outcomes, and therefore enhance the retention of knowledge imparted within this setup. Such a strategy delineates the importance given on the IQ scores of students, and focuses more on the abilities of the students to overcome challenges. Gardner (2000), supported such a shift of focus, explaining that a high IQ score of students can have little or no value if the student does not possess the ability to use the intelligence to any useful action that has an intrinsic value in our culture and society. With such overview, it can be the expected that the gifted and talented students selected in the study will be able to develop their skills of communication in the foreign language, by being in a learning environment where they will be able to lead their own learning process by engaging with others who can communicate in the same foreign language. This will put stress on these “gifted” students to adapt to the environment containing other students who are more proficient in verbal communication in the selected if the 13 students with a lower Cat4 scores, allowing them to decide on the choice of learning activities they need to engage in. An understanding of how much the students know, as well as a knowledge of what the students want to know or their preferences towards specific learning activities can help to create an environment that is flexible and supportive of their independent wishes and abilities to read, write or speak. Different authors have suggested that learning can become more engaging and relevant through integrated approaches of learning and teaching that incorporates real life scenarios where the students have to actually utilize their understanding of the subject. The ‘integrated approach’ will utilize the differential learning outcomes of the selected students, and analyze how the challenging environment can facilitate knowledge retention in the two ‘gifted’ students selected in the study.
The assessments that are utilized to identify the individual needs of the child as well as provide an understanding of their cognitive strengths or weaknesses can include the results of the following tests:
The results of the case study can also be implemented in my teaching practice, utilizing participant observation to identify the key facts of the study, as well as through non-participant observation of the studies done by my colleagues. The planning and design of the curriculum will also be based on the results and outcomes of the studies that have been shared through professional dialogues with colleagues or peer-reviewers.
Bell and Opie (2002) pointed out that conducting an informative study involves considerable time and energy investment, and that a research is about identifying a topic that is worthy of investigation. Kitzinger (1994) also mentioned that focus groups can be effective for exploring specific issues, and focuses on a collective activity (teaching in this scenario).
The first step will be to collect the Cat4 and PASS results of each student included in the study. These results will enable demonstration of any link between the performances of the two students before the support program, as well as during the study and also at the end of the research period.
Observing the behavior of selected students in other subjects such as Science, English, Physical Education, Music, in order to develop a context of how the students responds to situations outside the classroom, and also to help them to make decisions regarding their learning choices. Both participant observation, as well as non-participant observation can be utilized in the study involving studies conducted by me and of those done by colleagues.
Using the data collected to plan and improvises intervention sessions that will be conducted thrice a week, spanning for 45 minutes, and will provide a child-led learning strategy in the delivery of language lessons on a foreign language (Arabic). This will be a strategy used by me in the role of a teacher. This will further allow the implications of the case study to be utilized as a part o f the Action Research.
Assessment of the learning outcomes of the children, and improvising them by addressing the specific learning needs of the students, utilizing the needs of learners identified by Tomlinson (2014), in The Differentiated Classroom. A review of all school and government documentation will be conducted to provide a wide and deep background for the analysis.
For the proposed study, both SENCO and Inclusion will be contacted in order to support the 13 students with learning difficulties and two students who are ‘gifted’, once every week, apart from interviews with the parents of these children and questionnaire for the children that can be valuable for the study purpose.
Identifiable information like direct data of the children, their assessment scores or results will be secured through encryption, and anonymous ID will be used to classify the evidences and photos ensure anonymity and confidentiality of the students. The study, if successful can be utilized on a larger scale, providing benefits in studies on other languages taught in the school like French or Spanish. Moreover, it can provide valuable insights as to the factors that foster effective learning and retention of knowledge by the students.
References:
Bell, J. and Opie, C., 2002. Learning from research: Getting more from your data. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Cassady, J.C. and Johnson, R.E., 2002. Cognitive test anxiety and academic performance. Contemporary educational psychology, 27(2), pp.270-295.
Dean, K.L. and Jolly, J.P., 2012. Student identity, disengagement, and learning. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(2), pp.228-243.
Gardner, H.E., 2000. Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century. Hachette UK.
Gl-assessment.co.uk. (2018). Cognitive Abilities Test: Fourth Edition (CAT4). [online] Available at: https://www.gl-assessment.co.uk/products/cognitive-abilities-test-cat4/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
Gov.uk. (2018). Special educational needs and disability (SEND) – GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/special-educational-needs-and-disability-send [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
Kang, J., 2007. How Many Languages Can Reggio Children Speak? Many More than a Hundred!. Gifted Child Today, 30(3), pp.45-65.
Kitzinger, J., 1994. The methodology of focus groups: the importance of interaction between research participants. Sociology of health & illness, 16(1), pp.103-121.
Lancsngfl.ac.uk. (2018). Managing AGT Provision : First Steps : Defining AGT. [online] Available at: https://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/projects/able/index.php?category_id=17&s=!B121cf29d70ec8a3d54a33343010cc2 [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
Lash, M., 2003. Child-led learning: Why does it work. Paths of Learning, 18, pp.7-10.
Sokoloff, D.R. and Thornton, R.K., 1997, March. Using interactive lecture demonstrations to create an active learning environment. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 399, No. 1, pp. 1061-1074). AIP.
Tomlinson, C.A., 2014. The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Ascd.
Wang, Q., Woo, H.L. and Zhao, J., 2009. Investigating critical thinking and knowledge construction in an interactive learning environment. Interactive learning environments, 17(1), pp.95-104.
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