Rebecca your account of your recent learning experiences generated many insights into what Piaget (father of schema theory!) termed disequilibrium -- the phase of lifelong learning beyond assimilation and into the deeper tasks of accommodation.
How’s the thesis coming along? It sounds super interesting. Please keep us posted on your progress!
I’m going to look into that disequilibrium phase further, thanks. Neatly there with the thesis. It’s on the links between instruction and indicators of wellbeing in the context of study skills.
I agree totally with your views on Teacher Professional Learning and Adult Learning. We all learn with the same processes, and adults (sometimes) have more background knowledge to support their learning... The difference is that some learners take longer than others, irrespective of the learners' ages. The difference is often due to what the learners already know and can do... There is dated research from as long ago as the 1950's that supports this position. In line with this thinking, the KEY QUESTION is: Why has Teacher Professional Learning (with all those resources and time over all those years - how many???) NOT really made a lot of difference to what happens in many classrooms and how well students learn?
Yes, I read some research about how we are slower learners as we age. we have crystallised intelligence but less fluid intelligence and I think this has implications for how we learn. I think PD generally have an effect size of 0.2 which if you believe Hattie isn't even as effective as business as usual, which he puts at 0.4!
Agreed - and I thought one of the reasons we slow down as we age is that older learners have a lot more background knowledge to sort through than younger (novice) learners? And agree with this 0.4 - except I think it should be applied as a measure of all school based interventions… Just not for individualised students with additional needs - teachers (special & regular) should clearly see that such an intervention is working after 2-3 weeks - and change if it’s not?!
I’m not a fan of Hattie’s work more specifically as I think it’s a bit misleading at times & he doesn’t offer any intervention alternatives? Check out intensiveintervention.org (one word) for both behavioural & academic interventions if you don’t already use that?? Enjoy the start of your new school year! 👍😊
Very interesting and insightful piece Rebecca, I've found if I'm very curious and interested in something, I'm more able to learn and retain information.
Why are using a book based on SPSS when you yourself are not using SPSS?? What statistical software are you using instead?
I checked out the book on Amazon. The material about Null Hypothesis Significance Testing is not very good, and the author does not really understand some basic statistical concepts. Beware. Also beware of SEM -- it's basically statistical voodoo, and you can't get sanctimonious about p-hacking if you're using these sorts of methods.
Anyway, it's good to see you back here -- we've all been missing you.
Hi Theodore, I’ve found the theory about cut-offs etc helpful. The SPSS instructions are only one part of the book. I can see your point about SEM. I’m doing another run of the model at a second time point to avoid overfitting of the model. Hopefully that will add some rigour. Thanks for the kind words. I will be trying to get out from under this beast and post more often :)
Great post! I am also suspicious of adult learning theory. I'd come across LDH's review before, and looking back at it, it doesn't say much about the theory, despite the 2nd recommendation.
In general, I would argue that expert vs. novice differences are often more significant than adult vs. child differences, and adult learning theory appears to be popular especially among people who don't really understand how learning proceeds in schools, and who assume that it's all memorisation based or that children can't become experts (which they can). Again, good read!
Very interesting piece. It's interesting to consider how learning processes differ/maintain across the lifespan in the context of brain changes across the lifespan. The architecture of the brain is of course generally stable across the lifespan, but there are important and significant changes in the relative amount of grey and white matter for example, or short vs long range connections. So while learning is likely similar in many ways across the lifespan, it stands to reason there will also be important differences that track with changes in the structure of the brain. I recently started a substack on how neuroscience can inform education (https://neuroeducation.substack.com/). Your post makes me think it would be interesting to also explore the adult learning issue from a brain perspective.
This is superb Rebecca and busts many myths in such an eloquent way. Thank you.
Thanks, Tanya. I enjoyed learning through SOLAR.
Learning is churning.
......and rearranging!
Rebecca your account of your recent learning experiences generated many insights into what Piaget (father of schema theory!) termed disequilibrium -- the phase of lifelong learning beyond assimilation and into the deeper tasks of accommodation.
How’s the thesis coming along? It sounds super interesting. Please keep us posted on your progress!
I’m going to look into that disequilibrium phase further, thanks. Neatly there with the thesis. It’s on the links between instruction and indicators of wellbeing in the context of study skills.
Great article. Thanks for the read.
Btw you might want to take a quick look at the spelling in the title 😂
Two people checked that article before it went out! Dang! Thank you though!
I agree totally with your views on Teacher Professional Learning and Adult Learning. We all learn with the same processes, and adults (sometimes) have more background knowledge to support their learning... The difference is that some learners take longer than others, irrespective of the learners' ages. The difference is often due to what the learners already know and can do... There is dated research from as long ago as the 1950's that supports this position. In line with this thinking, the KEY QUESTION is: Why has Teacher Professional Learning (with all those resources and time over all those years - how many???) NOT really made a lot of difference to what happens in many classrooms and how well students learn?
Yes, I read some research about how we are slower learners as we age. we have crystallised intelligence but less fluid intelligence and I think this has implications for how we learn. I think PD generally have an effect size of 0.2 which if you believe Hattie isn't even as effective as business as usual, which he puts at 0.4!
Agreed - and I thought one of the reasons we slow down as we age is that older learners have a lot more background knowledge to sort through than younger (novice) learners? And agree with this 0.4 - except I think it should be applied as a measure of all school based interventions… Just not for individualised students with additional needs - teachers (special & regular) should clearly see that such an intervention is working after 2-3 weeks - and change if it’s not?!
I’m not a fan of Hattie’s work more specifically as I think it’s a bit misleading at times & he doesn’t offer any intervention alternatives? Check out intensiveintervention.org (one word) for both behavioural & academic interventions if you don’t already use that?? Enjoy the start of your new school year! 👍😊
Very interesting and insightful piece Rebecca, I've found if I'm very curious and interested in something, I'm more able to learn and retain information.
Yes, you probably have more background knowledge about things you like :)
Why are using a book based on SPSS when you yourself are not using SPSS?? What statistical software are you using instead?
I checked out the book on Amazon. The material about Null Hypothesis Significance Testing is not very good, and the author does not really understand some basic statistical concepts. Beware. Also beware of SEM -- it's basically statistical voodoo, and you can't get sanctimonious about p-hacking if you're using these sorts of methods.
Anyway, it's good to see you back here -- we've all been missing you.
Hi Theodore, I’ve found the theory about cut-offs etc helpful. The SPSS instructions are only one part of the book. I can see your point about SEM. I’m doing another run of the model at a second time point to avoid overfitting of the model. Hopefully that will add some rigour. Thanks for the kind words. I will be trying to get out from under this beast and post more often :)
Great post! I am also suspicious of adult learning theory. I'd come across LDH's review before, and looking back at it, it doesn't say much about the theory, despite the 2nd recommendation.
In general, I would argue that expert vs. novice differences are often more significant than adult vs. child differences, and adult learning theory appears to be popular especially among people who don't really understand how learning proceeds in schools, and who assume that it's all memorisation based or that children can't become experts (which they can). Again, good read!
Very interesting piece. It's interesting to consider how learning processes differ/maintain across the lifespan in the context of brain changes across the lifespan. The architecture of the brain is of course generally stable across the lifespan, but there are important and significant changes in the relative amount of grey and white matter for example, or short vs long range connections. So while learning is likely similar in many ways across the lifespan, it stands to reason there will also be important differences that track with changes in the structure of the brain. I recently started a substack on how neuroscience can inform education (https://neuroeducation.substack.com/). Your post makes me think it would be interesting to also explore the adult learning issue from a brain perspective.
Thanks for the rec, Gavin. I am seeing the effects of less grey matter but loving the crystallised intelligence that comes with middle age.