Training prospective teachers to instil Habits of

Mind among learners: A South African experience

IACESA International Conference

Budapest, Hungary

19-20 June 2014

Mary Grosser North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus

Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

Research project: Schools as Thinking

Communities

Including the development of HoM as part of

the teacher training curriculum at the School

of Education Sciences, NWU VTC

2012-2015

Aims of the presentation

1. •Progress achieved: Infusing

Habits of Mind across the teacher training curriculum

2.

•Report on the data collected with student self-reflection and self-evaluation

Rational of the research project

Dispositions/HoM are:

Crucial for good thinking

Important to recognize when thinking skills are needed

Important to promote willingness to engage in thinking (Diamond, 2006; Facione, 2011)

Reality:

Development of dispositions of pre-service teachers and learners are school is fragile (Allamnakrah, 2013; Green, 2014; Hashim 2010; Lombard & Grosser, 2008; Scholtz et al., 2008).

Conclusion

Teacher training should be geared to guide pre-service teachers to develop their own HoM and provided with strategies/ways to nurture HoM

to enable them to teach learners how to become skilful and mindful at applying cognitive

tools when confronted with cognitive challenges/problems

Habits of Mind/thinking dispositions……. theoretical

framework

Identified 16 Habits of Mind

Art Costa & Bena Kallick,

1982

Reduced number to 7

thinking dispositions/attitudes

Peter Facione,

2000

Builds on the work of Costa & Kallick

(1982)

James Anderson,

2010

inquisitiveness, judiciousness, open-mindedness, systematicity, truth seeking, analyticity and confidence in reasoning

Cognitive modifiability (Feuerstein, 1978) and self-regulated learning (Bandura, 1977)

16 Habits of Mind Persisting Managing impulsivity

Listening with understanding and empathy Thinking flexibly

Thinking about thinking (Metacognition) Striving for accuracy

Questioning and posing problems Applying past knowledge to new situations

Thinking and communicating with clarity and

precision

Gathering data through all senses

Creating, imagining, innovating Responding with wonderment and awe

Taking responsible risks Finding humour

Thinking interdependently Remaining open to continuous learning

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What are the Habits of Mind?

Habits of Mind

Not behaviours we pick up and

lay down whimsically

Clusters of 16 intellectual behaviours

Triggered without painstaking effort:

reliably and accurately

Used when confronted with cognitive tasks

Intellectual resources:

improve quality of work/enhance

achievement

PURPOSEFUL DEVELOPMENT

PURPOSEFUL DEVELOPMENT

Desire for exactness and fidelity, do not

accept mediocrity

Striving for accuracy

Important for:

• Communicating • Problem-solving • Accessing and

analysing information

Remain focused, commitment, do not lose sight or get discouraged

Important for: • Remaining

optimistic • Being driven • Problem-solving • Dealing with

pressure • Setting goals • Being flexible • Demonstrating

leadership • To prioritize

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Habits of Mind : Dimensions of growth

Meaning

Value

Capacity Commitment

Alertness

Novice

Able

Skilled

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Habits of Mind : Growth levels of the dimensions

Sophisticated

Narrow meaning Low value

Limited strategies Externally prompted

Directed

Complex meaning High value

Expanded strategies Internally attuned

Self-managing

Assessing the HoM • External data energize learning

• Students must set and meet goals

• Assessment requires self-regulation

Feedback from teacher and test results, Observations

Students to participate in goals setting and creating plans to meet the goals

Continuous growth: Self-monitoring and self-modifying Assessment as learning

Checklists Rubrics Reflection: Internal voice Interviews

Assess-ment as learning

Empirical research: 2012-2015

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Aim • To create a profile of the Habits of Mind of pre-service teachers (focus on the 1st year students of 2012) • Encourage the growth of the HoM that appear to be fragile • Academic improvement /success(long-term goal) • Enhance teaching practice of pre-service teacher

Data Collection: mixed method • Self-developed Questionnaire • Informal discussions • Self-evaluation checklists • Reflection • Focus group interviews with students

Participants Purposive, heterogeneous sample

University in South Africa N = 300

Research process: data collection

Feb 2012

Baseline descriptive data

Profile

HoM Implementation across the curriculum

Feb 2012 – Oct 2015

August 2012

Focus group interviews

Analysis of student work

Self-evaluation checklists

1. Likert scale questionnaire 2. Student reflections

Research process: data collection

Oct 2012

Student self-reflection

HoM Implementation

across the curriculum

Feb 2013

Student self-reflection

August 2013

Analysis of student work

Self-evaluation checklists

October 2013

Analysis of student work

Data analysis: Student reflection and self-evaluation

February 2012

October 2012

Feb 2013

August 2013

Data analysis – Accuracy : Student evaluation: alertness and commitment– August 2013

Good (67.7%)

Do not need reminders (47.5%)

Confident to teach learners ( 50.6 %)

Continuously trying to improve my accuracy (68.3%)

Can construct own checklist with

criteria for learners

(45.7%)

Unsure (29.9%)

Need reminders sometimes (47.6%)

Not confident to teach learners ( 42.7 %)

Sometimes try to improve on accuracy (28%)

Unsure about constructing a checklist with criteria (47.0%)

Data analysis – Persistence: Student reflection : alertness and commitment– August 2013

Good (56.7%)

Do not need reminders (40.9%)

Confident to guide learners (54.9%)

Continuously trying to improve (64.6%)

Unsure (39%)

Need reminders sometimes (50%)

Not confident to guide learners (42.7%)

Sometimes try to improve (31.7)

Growth and development progress: Accuracy

February 2012

August 2013

Growth and development progress: Persistence

February 2012

August 2013 2012

Student rating of their growth and development in terms of accuracy and persistence on a 7-point semantic scale

Feb 2012

Able to skilled

Aug 2013

Emerging (novice) to developing (able)

Findings • Students have become more thoughtful/sincere/realistic about

their own development in terms of being accurate and persistent. • Students gained some independence in directing their learning • Growth observed in the meaning, value and strategies attached to

accuracy and persistence. • Level of accuracy and persistence appears to be still developing –

not yet sophisticated. • Difference in the way the students' perceived their accuracy and

persistence at the onset of 2012 – more realistic. • Internally attuned to assess own growth and development. • More alert to the value of the HoM in academic context. • More committed and accountable to assess the growth and

development of their HoM

Recommendations

• Using assessment as learning and developing Habits of Mind, require time.

• Assessment as learning and infusing Habits of Mind across the curriculum require explicit guidance and constant modelling.

• Reinforcing self-directed learning on a continuous basis.

• Monitor students in their 4th year to determine if they have internalized the HoM and if the HoM translate into their own classroom practice.

Conclusion It is not the strongest of the species

that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to

change - Charles Darwin

Based on the initial findings HoM can...

• create flexible, caring, creative and

confident people who can address the challenges of a complex, ever-

changing 21st century.

• increase student success, satisfaction and in the long run

throughput rate

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I would like to acknowledge the

National Research

Foundation and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

support at the

NWU for the research grant and funding

received to support the continuation

of the project .

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Acknowledgements

• Anderson, J. 2011. Succeeding with habits of mind. Victoria, Australia: Hawker Brownlow Education.

• Costa, A.L. & Kallick, B. 2009. Learning and leading with habits of mind: 16 essential characteristics for success. Victoria, Australia: Hawker Brownlow Education.

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Resources on Habits of Mind