21 February 2015

A Straw Man Against Self-Directed Learning

Journalist Annie Paul Murphy asks, "Are You an Autodidact? Or Do You Need Other People To Learn?" The answer to both of the title questions is yes, despite the author's attempt to suggest they are mutually exclusive. And there is a raft of research supporting that conclusion despite the author's ignorance of that research. The source article is misrepresented and the perspective of the source article is framed as if it represents a comprehensive view of educational psychology, which it is not. There is also a direct contradiction between the premise set at the outset and the final sentence, though this is a trivial issue and nothing more will be said about it. The post seems like it could have made an important point against the assumption of individualist ideology in education, but it currently misses that mark, too.

The source article was specifically addressing internet learning by “digital natives” while this article gives the impression that it is addressed to learning in general. The source article is not generalizable beyond that specific context which I will explain in a moment. Regarding the source of autodidactic learning the author was clearly not aware that there is a large and significant psychological literature going back to the 1970's that can be said to address this issue without using that term. The over-all theoretical framework is called Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the specific sub-theory that effectively addresses the origins of autodidactic learning is the Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT).

SDT explains the origins of autodidacticism because it starts with the assumption of an active organism. Humans are inherently active organisms. This activity is not random, it is directed by primary or basic needs, including the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Under conditions in which the primary needs are supported then autodidacticism can be expected to arise. The problem is that all mainstream K-12 schools studied to date since 1979 have been shown to thwart basic primary psychological needs. This includes studies from various theoretical and methodological traditions, not just SDT.*

The non-generalizability of the source article is based on specific research conducted within the SDT tradition that looked at the issue of the mythical contradiction between autonomy and structure**. It turns out that what is necessary is both structure AND autonomy. It helps to understand this finding to know that what counts as autonomy in any given situation is the subject's perception of autonomy not the objective circumstances. What the source article points out is that structured interactions are necessary for effective learning. The authors of the source article essentially arrive at the same conclusion that structure and autonomy are necessary, but their phrasing implies that the objective circumstance of autonomy are what matter. Given a proper understanding of autonomy their statement is slightly misleading and should instead emphasize that students should be given maximum support for their perception of autonomy with appropriately customized structure for their specific levels of development and skill.

As the author concluded all learners are embedded in social systems. The question is how well those social systems support their basic psychological needs. The generalization of the specific lack of structure in certain studies of the effects of structure on learning via the internet to the statement that “the very notion of self-directed learning [is] 'an urban legend in education.'” is grossly misrepresenting the psychology generally and the specific article. In fact, self-directed learning communities are the only schools to have data showing that they support the psychological needs of their students*** (Disclosure: I conducted one of those studies).

The truth is that schools are systems and as a consequence individualism as an assumed ideology**** is detrimental to managing that system properly. School systems have become dysfunctional under the influence of individualist ideology that frames all significant issues in term of the holy trio of students, parents, and teachers and completely ignores the systemic features. This post could have been an important contribution to pointing out how the individualist framing in education is detrimental, but it does not accomplish that purpose in it's current form.

Sources:

* Bouffard, Marcoux, Vezeau, & Bordeleau, 2003; Corpus, McClintic-Gilbert, & Hayenga, 2009; Gottfried, Fleming, & Gottfried, 2001; Harter, 1981; Hunter & Csikszentmihalyi, 2003; Lepper, Corpus, & Iyengar, 2005; Otis Grouzet, & Pelletier, 2005; Pintrich, 2003; Prawat, Grissom, & Parish, 1979; Wigfield, Eccles & Rodriguez, 1998 (Full citations can be found at http://www.teach-kids-attitude-1st.com/intrinsic-motivation-research.html)

** Jang, H., Reeve, J., & Deci, E. Engaging students in learning activities: It is not autonomy support or structure but autonomy support and structure. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 588-600.

*** Berg & Corpus, 2013; Newell & Van Ryzin, 2009; Van Ryzin, Gravelly, & Roseth, 2009; Van Ryzin 2011; Vedder-Weiss & Fortus, 2011 (Full citations can be found at http://www.teach-kids-attitude-1st.com/intrinsic-motivation-research.html)

**** FrameWorks research paper: Reform What? Individualist Thinking in Education: American Cultural Models on Schooling (2008) http://frameworksinstitute.org/toolkits/educationreform/resources/pdf/education_cognitive_interviews.pdf

The original article got wider distribution here:
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/07/ed_tech_promoters_need_to_realize_we_re_not_all_autodidacts.html

13 February 2015

What Can Home Schoolers Teach Schools?

It might seem like an odd idea to think that schools can and should learn from home schooling. But, I am a psychological researcher and in 2013 a colleague and I published a paper showing that a home school resource center and a democratic school (similar to A.S. Neill's Summerhill or Sudbury Valley School) accomplished something that all the mainstream public and private schools studied for the last thirty years have not. Those schools maintained the intrinsic motivation of their students. This is particularly important because, first, intrinsic motivation is the gold standards for learning and, second, the levels of intrinsic motivation are an indirect indicator of psychological well-being. They are nurturing their children in ways that mainstream schools do not. My new book is called Every Parent’s Dilemma: Why Do We Ignore Schools That Nurture Children? Other researchers also found similar results for other democratic schools and a charter school network. But home schooling is the largest of these options with an estimated 2 million children in the USA (~4%). The other models are estimated to serve only hundreds or, at best, thousands of children. My book proposes that that our education system should stop ignoring these models by presenting a policy proposal that would lay a groundwork for schools to learn from these types of schools that have pioneered methods of maintaining the intrinsic motivation and engagement of their students. Check out the 3.5 minute video about my book and the crowd funding campaign that ends Saturday (Valentine’s Day) here: http://igg.me/at/parents-dilemma

Education for Entrepreneurship

Yong Zhao, in two of his recent books, points out that we can PREVENT entrepreneurship through high-stakes testing. That is the experience that China, Zhao's native land, has had for about 2000 years. They want more entrepreneurship and are eliminating testing as part of their plan to get it. Professor Zhao, in his book World Class Learners, points to democratic schools like Sudbury Valley School (SVS) as examples of places that do produce entrepreneurs. Based on a study of SVS alumni a friend and I figured that they produce about twice as many entrepreneurs compared to the national average. The study data is only suggestive since it was produced by SVS, but Zhao's exploration of what is required for entrepreneurship makes the claim more credible. SVS does not force children (its a K-12 school) to take any classes. The only requirement is participation in the democratic governance of the community itself. Students of all ages have the opportunity to participate in every aspect of the operations of the school including hiring and firing staff. More importantly they are empowered to make and enforce all the rules that govern day-to-day life. The children are "forced" to be self-directed in their learning due to the lack of traditional instructional requirements but within a democratic social structure that reinforces awareness of how any actions they choose might negatively affect others. Access to resources is explicitly codified so that they understand that if they wanting funding they have to either make a case for being given funds or earn the funds directly by providing value to others. Other types of resources also involve systems that balance access with reasonable preservation of the asset along with management of controversy and safety, if necessary. Another line of evidence from my own work also suggests that democratic schools like SVS and home schoolers provide important supports for students that would lead to more entrepreneurism. I am a psychological researcher and in 2013 a colleague and I published a paper showing that a home school resource center and a democratic school (similar to Sudbury Valley School) accomplished something that all the mainstream public and private schools studied for the last thirty years have not. Those schools maintained the intrinsic motivation of their students. This is important because, first, intrinsic motivation is the gold standards for learning and, second, the levels of intrinsic motivation are an indirect indicator of psychological well-being. Those schools are nurturing their children in ways that mainstream schools do not. The way you get intrinsic motivation is to support students to satisfy their primary needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. For the goal of encouraging entrepreneurship this is critical because entrepreneurs must exhibit a balance of independent thinking (autonomy), ability to act effectively to achieve goals (competence), and fit their ideas, products, or services into the needs of the market (relatedness). I do not have data on entrepreneurship amongst home schoolers, but I suspect it is also higher than the national average. My new book is called Every Parent’s Dilemma: Why Do We Ignore Schools That Nurture Children? Other researchers also found similar results for other democratic schools and a charter school network. But all the models put together serve less that 5% of children in the USA. My book proposes that that our education system should stop ignoring these models by presenting a policy proposal that would lay a groundwork for schools to learn from these types of schools that have pioneered methods of maintaining the intrinsic motivation and engagement of their students. Check out the 3.5 minute video about my book and the crowd funding campaign that ends Saturday (Valentine’s Day, 2015) here: http://igg.me/at/parents-dilemma -- Yong Zhaos Other Recent Book Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?: Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World

10 February 2015

Freedom, Schmeedom: Need support is what matters

The following is a post I composed for the democratic education community. For those who are not familiar with democratic schools then you should understand that this movement was known as the "free school movement" in the 60's and 70's. While the name has waned in use there is still a tendency in the schools discussions of what they do to refer to freedom. The post: Talking about freedom may be hurting more than its helping our schools. Democratic schooling has a long rhetorical tradition that has touted “freedom” as a central feature of its pedagogy with many schools including “free” in their names as a marker for it (such as the Village Free School in my area). As a psychological researcher who has done one of only two scientific studies that suggest that democratic schools actually get a measurable and valuable outcome that has never been found in mainstream schools, I contend that the rhetorical gloss of “freedom” obscures more than it clarifies the most educationally important feature of democratic schools. The “freedom” rhetoric is dangerous to the success of democratic schools in two ways. Internally, within schools that are attempting to create “freedom” for children, the term is likely to mislead the community about what is necessary for them to succeed as an educational environment. And it is also likely to mislead parents who are considering democratic schools as an option for their children. The internal problem arises because freedom has a variety of meanings and can be used to defend a variety contradictory positions. For example I refer you to cognitive linguist George Lakoff's book Whose Freedom?: The Battle over America's Most Important Idea which is an exploration of the use of the word freedom in political discourse in the United States. One of the main points is that the extremes of our political field use the same term but mean opposite things with one side emphasizing “freedom to” do things while the other side emphasizes “freedom from” other things. This inherent flexibility leads to a situation in which both sides of a debate are using the same term to mean opposite things and the decision making that follows may devolve into mutual accusations of insanity and a contest of wills instead of authentic consideration of the best interests of the community as a whole. The external problem arises from the same inherent flexibility in the term but hinders effective communication with outsiders who are attempting to figure out what to expect from an institution that would become a major influence on the development of their beloved child if they enroll. In this case the same problem with misunderstanding arises but has another level of complexity with negative outcomes for the school. Independent of whether parents share the same understanding of the term they may in either case disagree that “freedom” is what their child needs. I suggest abandoning the rhetoric of freedom and instead adopting a more scientifically respectable approach to helping everyone understand how education happens in democratic schools. Specifically I suggest that democratic schools adopt the idea that primary human needs are the foundation of education and that democratic schools are especially good at supporting the primary psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. It is also advantageous to point out that no mainstream school has ever been shown to support those needs while two scientific studies published in peer reviewed journals show that democratic schools do. You will notice that autonomy is one of the needs. This is why there is a kernel of truth in the freedom rhetoric. Autonomy is defined as the perception that you are the causal and volitional source of your own activities. Autonomy support is the provision of circumstances that enables a person to have that perception. In the United States and much of the Western world that will mostly look like having choices, while in Asian countries it may not. Thus for us Americans it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking about our autonomy as “freedom.” But this is a mistake because of the slippery slope of ambiguity that the term brings with it. The fact is that the three needs are interdependent and what may look like “freedom” may inhibit relatedness or competence and inadvertently end up being need thwarting. Autonomy support is a very clear set of behaviors. Plus there is a clear opposite, control, that can be described with similar precision. This means that democratic schools can provide parents with a guide to the specific behavioral supports for psychological supports they can expect to see. The schools can also refer to the behavior guidelines to be specific about what makes them special as an educational environment. Support for primary human needs is the foundation of education and democratic schools are one of only three models that have evidence showing they provide that foundation. My new book presents a policy that directly acknowledges primary needs as the foundation of education. Adopting that policy might be a way that democratic schools could clarify for themselves and the world-at-large how they can consistently deliver on the promise of providing an effective environment for education. My crowdfunding campaign for the book ends on Saturday, February 14th, 2015, so, please, check it out: http://igg.me/at/parents-dilemma