[MUSIC] You are welcome to lecture two which looks again at one great thinker of education, a philosopher, this time we're looking at David Perkins. And as I said in lecture one, we're adopting a dialogue approach, that we have Professor Emeritus John MacBeath with us again. >> Here I am again, George. >> Prof, in course one and course two, we heard a lot about David Perkins. What is so special about David Perkins in terms of his philosophy of education? >> Well, I think the special thing if you like, I think his particular contribution is that he talks to teachers. He's very practical. He's very grounded in what he does. And in the introductory slide in this course here, we talk about his witty style, his kind of peculiar way of using language. But sometimes we need to unpack a little-- I think we're going to do a bit of that, too -- some of his language, which isn't immediately self-explanatory. So, when we talk about the seven principles of the game, each of those seven principles need a little bit of exploring, I think we're going to do a bit of that. >> Yeah, I was wondering if this idea of the game is just a metaphor, or is it really talking about games? >> Of course he's not talking about games in the literal sense, but he's using the metaphor of the game to hang all these principles on. There is a book actually which is called The Learning Game, and in a sense, there is that notion of game playing as a metaphor of what happens in classrooms, and what happens in everything we do in learning. And his seven principles are, play the whole game, make the game worth playing, work on the hard parts, play out of town, uncover the hidden game, learn from the team and other teams, and learn the game of learning. Now, none of those are self-explanatory, and I think maybe we need to go on and talk a bit. >> Okay, yeah. Now, when he talks about playing the whole game, exactly what message is he communicating? >> Yeah. What he's saying is that often in classrooms, children aren't exposed to the whole game, the whole conceptual framework of what they're going to learn. They're just given little bits and pieces. So, we use the jigsaw puzzle as a kind of a metaphor here - how do you ever put together a jigsaw puzzle, if you don't have the picture on the cover, which tells you what the whole picture looks like. Because if you've just got little scattered pieces how can you do the jigsaw? So, that's the metaphor that he's talking about when he says you need to know the whole game before. >> The whole game, I see. Then he also talks about making the game worth playing. >> Well, why would you? Why would you want to play this game, you know? Why do you want to play this school game of I'm going to teach and you're going to learn? And so, making the game worth playing is saying to the teacher, you've got to devise different ways, think of different ways in which you engage young people in connecting with what you're going to teach. So, it's all about how do you connect the learning and teaching. >> Mm. I see. Connect the learning with teaching. Then work on the hard parts, which are the hard parts? The whole process of learning? >> Yeah, this is quite difficult actually isn't it? Because, first of all, he talks about how you have to deconstruct the game. Now, go back to the metaphor of the jigsaw puzzle, where you've got all the little bits and how they fit together. So, in order to make the jigsaw puzzle kind of work, or fit the pieces together, you have to understand how the pieces all fit. So, in a way, you have to come back and deconstruct, take out the individual pieces, so that you can understand better how they learn, and how they fit together. >> Hmm. I see, yeah. Now, the metaphor that talks about playing out of town. Playing out of town, what does that mean to the teacher? >> Yes, this is just another example of his quirky kind of language that he uses and they need a bit of unpacking, a bit of explanation. But he's using it kind of another game metaphor here. And if you think of a Ghanaian team playing in Nigeria, it's much more difficult to play on another pitch, rather than your own pitch. So, he's saying, yeah, it's okay in the classroom. You're playing on your home ground, and it's easy, and the teacher is going to tell you things. That's going to be easy. You've got the books and you've got the resources. But when you play out of town, you're playing in a different place. You know, I think maybe we have talked earlier in the course, indeed I think in the introductory course, where he talks about teaching in captivity and teaching in the wild - which he means it's all right when children learn well in "captivity", in the classroom but when you put them in an open and unstructured situation, an unstructured field, then it is much more difficult. So, playing out of town, is another way of saying that, kind of, teaching and learning in the wild. It's a much more challenging process. >> Then he also talks about a hidden game, saying "uncover the hidden game". What does that imply? >> The hidden game. What is hidden from children in the classroom? What is it that you, as a professor, teaching your students, what do you make known to them and what do they understand? What do you have that's maybe not disclosed to your students? How do they get inside your thinking? So, in the classroom context, teachers don't always share with young people some of the deeper structures, or some of the other kinds of things that are involved in learning. So, if we were talking about learning how to learn, you would be then helping young people to understand what's often hidden, which is the how to learn, rather than just the content of learning. >> Now, do you think this will apply to all levels of learning? >> Hmm. >> Do you have to help the learner uncover the hidden as a special part of their learning at all levels of learning? >> Yeah, I think that's what he's saying, isn't it? I think, you know, you're referring back, in a way, to Pai Obanya, who you talked about in the first lecture. He talked about levels, and I think at every level of learning, you need to look at the deep structures. >> Hm. >> You know, when he talks about teams, and learning from teams, he talks about learning, not as an individual activity that you do in the isolation of your own room and the isolation of your own head, if you'd like, but that we learn socially, we learn with and from other people. So, when he says learns from the the team, he's back to that kind of game metaphor, with that we learn best when we learn together with other people and that the learning game is a team game. >> Okay, okay. Now, this draws my mind back to the issue of homework. Who does homework? I know in Africa it's same as elsewhere, we expect students to do their own homework, it must be your own activity. So, this even challenges that practice. Now, what about learn the game of learning? >> Yeah, just a comment on homework first, I think, George. >> Okay. >> But we have had this discussion, and it's really interesting that you know, you're expected to go ahead and continue homework and do it on your own. >> Yeah. >> But if you're learning in school, and it's a social activity in school, why shouldn't learning out of school be a social activity? So, to talk about learning the game of learning, I think the quote is "I can hardly think of anything important than learning to learn. It's money in the bank." --exchanging metaphor here-- "It's money in the bank, and compound interest", because when you know how to learn, when you know the game of learning, then you're going to be a far better learner. >> David Perkins and his colleagues have developed some thinking routines. Can you talk about that? >> Yes. I think you probably are quite familiar with some of these routines, because I know they've been used in Ghana, and I know teachers have found them very useful. I think that's the beauty of what Perkins is about. That everything he does is very practical, and very classroom focused, and helps teachers, and helps young people, because they take away these routines as well and they learn to apply in their homework and their home study, and not just in their classroom. So, the four suggested here is see, think wonder. What do I see? What do I think about when I see something, and hm, what do I wonder about? So, there's a nice illustration here of a little girl looking at The Thinker. What's she seeing and what's she thinking? What's she thinking about his thinking and his wondering? And then, the one's that's quite a, a key thing to the evaluation of accessing what you've learned: I used to think, now I think. And then, connect, extend, challenge. How does this learning connect with what I already know? How does it extend what I already know, and how does it challenge what I used to think? And his fourth one, the Compass Points... >> Yeah, well, what is the Compass Points? What is it all about? >> Well, it's again just a very simple idea that you've got north, east, west and south. And east or E stands for excited. What excites you about this idea? The W, what is worrisome? What worries you about this? The N, the need to know. What else do you need to know? What else do you need to think about? What additional information would you need? And S is the stance or the steps or the suggestions that you take for moving forward in your learning from what you know now, to what you want to know or how you can extend your thinking into new areas. >> So, we have listened to David Perkin's philosophy, and what it's all about. I want you to explore further Perkins' thinking routines. I want you to consider how you might use one or more of these routines with your students. Discuss with your colleagues, how they might use and share their use of these routines. Then finally, read any of David Perkins' articles or books, and find out how his ideas can be applied to your context. Thank you, we'll meet again. [MUSIC]
