Since 2016, the schools in the Monifieth Cluster have been developing their education practise on the principles of best learning and teaching as outlined by Professor John Hattie. Visible Learning is the result of the research undertaken to understand what provides the most success in learning, based on over 68,000 studies and 25 million students.
John Hattie defines Visible Learners as students who can:
- Articulate what they are learning
- Explain the next steps in their learning
- Set learning goals
- See errors as opportunities for further learning
- Know what to do when they are stuck
- Seek feedback
A tool we use to support our learners is the Learning Pit created by James Nottingham
The Learning Pit is:
- An ILLUSTRATION OF LEARNING to help students identify how much progress they have made so far (e.g. I’m in the pit right now because of a few contradictory thoughts that I’m trying to sort through)
- One way to ENCOURAGE POSITIVE ATTITUDES TOWARDS CHALLENGE (e.g. let’s step out of our comfort zones and into the Learning Pit together!)
- A more STUDENT FRIENDLY way to discuss ideas similar to those written about by the pioneers of educational psychology (e.g. Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, 1978; and Jean Piaget’s theory that challenge leads to development)
- PLAYFUL, SHARED LANGUAGE that can support conversations at home as well as in school (e.g. what did you do at school today? I ended up in the Learning Pit and had to think really hard about the best ways to sequence my ideas)(https://www.learningpit.org/guide/)
We also support our learners to understand the concept of Growth Mindset, as developed by Professor Carol Dweck at Stamford University. Growth Mindset is the idea that intelligence is not ‘fixed’ and we know we can develop our understand and knowledge in all areas. We seek to help our learners not only understand they CAN make progress and achieve – even with the hardest learning – and HOW they can support themselves through various metacognitive strategies.
At Auchterhouse Primary, our goal is to build resilient, life-long learners.
