Powerful Learning Environment in Science and Technology

6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 3 with catalog number 4022719DNW for working students in the 1st semester at a (D) Master - preliminary level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

Alvorens men een inschrijving kan nemen op 'Krachtige leeromgeving', moet men ingeschreven of geslaagd zijn voor 'Leren van individuele leerlingen'.

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Multidisciplinary Institute for Teacher Education

Department

Multidisciplinary Institute for Teacher Education

Educational team

Nadine Engels (course titular)
David Maquenne
Anja Decoster
Steven Claes
Ingeborg Plackle
Iris Stiers
Jetske Rosa Strijbos
Anne Schatteman
Lies Vanerum
Katrien Van Roelen
Liesbeth Noppen
Els Govaerts
Nathalie Michalek
Céline Gillardin
Bart Windels

Activities and contact hours

40 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
140 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

Pedagogy

The pedagogical track in this module provides the general theoretical frameworks for creating powerful learning environments. The topics include: mission and societal aims of education in connection to curriculum goals and objectives; comprehensive observation for mapping initial needs and strengths of students and learning groups; instructional design and constructive alignment; taxonomies of educational learning objectives; theories of learning and related designs for teaching and learning, and differentiation models; ethical compass and growth mindset; philosophies of, approaches to, and tools for assessment with a special focus on assessment for learning; 21st century skills, ICT, Powerful learning environments in an urban context.

Domain specific applications

In this track, students are introduced to subject specific teaching within their domain:

Subject specific pedagogy as a scientific discipline: essence and unique social relevance of the domain, aligning the subject and the learning of students, subject specific didactical concepts and misconceptions.
Frameworks for subject specific pedagogy: didactic application of 21st century skills, STEM and Nature of Science, educational reform and subject specific education, curriculum goals, own science beliefs within pedagogical-didactic paradigms.
Teaching methods: classroom activities including current and authentic contexts, concrete and operational learning objectives.

Reflective and Inquiry-Based Practice

During the video stimulated reflection sessions in a small group, students analyze the full complexity of classroom practice. The interaction between teacher (mentor) and student is the focus during this reflection. In the context of differentiation models, the students watch the documentary "The Classroom Experiment" and ask a learning question that combines themes from the documentary to their own classroom practice. The session is structured according to the framework of GRROW coaching. Students integrate in their reflection offered frames of reference that contribute to the design of a positive and inclusive living environment (pathway pedagogy and subject didactics) and independently consult scientific sources to strengthen the reflection. During the session, students actively contribute to the reflection of their fellow students by applying coaching skills (e.g. involved confrontation, challenging, inspiring, allowing and giving space, relaxing...). Assignments for preparation and aftercare of the session are included in the portfolio (e.g. learning questions concerning professional practice). The portfolio consists of 4 different themes: reflective skills, coaching skills, vision and professional competences. Combining these 4 themes shapes the personal development plan.
For students with an LIO status: through reflection sessions in small groups, students systematically analyze their experiences with professional practice. They succeed in integrating offered frames of reference into their own reflection. The sessions are structured according to the framework of GRROW coaching.

Course material

Handbook (Required) : Wat echt werkt, 29 strategieën voor het onderwijs, Mitchell D., Uitgeverij Pica, 9789493209510, 2022
Digital course material (Required) : Beschikbaar via Canvas

Additional info

For students of campuses Anderlecht, Diest and Leuven 24 contact hours will be organised. 156h are completed as self-study (including internship).

In this module students acquire an integrated set of competences necessary to teach a full class. They need to integrate the learning outcomes specified for the different learning pathways in their internships. In order to prepare for practice students are expected to attend the lectures and workshops.

Learning Outcomes

General competences

Programme specific learning outcomes

1, 2, 3, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20

Pedagogy

The student shows an open, inquisitive and professional attitude.
The student is able to draw connections between societal aims of education, curriculum goals and objectives for specific learning situations.
The student is able to handle a set of observation tools in order to retrieve the characteristics, needs and strengths of students and learning groups.
Based on observation and conversations with students and members of the school team, the student is able to draw up a balanced and multidimensional description of the diversity and social dynamic functioning of a learning group and to describe how the diversity can be utilized in a constructive way.
Based on the models of instructional design and constructive alignment he student is able to align students’ readiness, learning objectives, learning contents, learning tasks and assessment.
Based on research evidence the student is able to estimate the opportunities and limitations of designs for teaching and learning related to respective theories of learning and to evaluate their contribution to powerful learning environments.
The student is able to make well-founded choices in approaches to teaches and legitimate his/her choices based on the objectives/type of knowledge aimed for.
The student’s guiding principles are growth and learning progress for every student and a positive interaction respecting the students’ identity.
The student is able to draw connections between philosophies of, approaches to and tools for assessment.
The student develops a growth-oriented view of assessment.
The student is able to make well-founded choices of assessment tools and to develop tools for ‘evaluation for learning’.
The student is able to integrate ICT effectively when designing powerful learning environments.
The student is able to consider the specific characteristics of an urban context when creating powerful learning environments, including its variety of cultures, living conditions and perspectives in the diverse population of learners. S/he takes account of the required responsiveness of the curriculum to the diversity of backgrounds including languages.

Domain specific applications

The student shows an open, inquisitive and professional attitude.
The student is able to express the essence and the unique social relevance of science education.
The student is able to express the 21st century skills, scientific literacy and the nature of science.
The student is able to frame his/her own science beliefs within pedagogical paradigms and can express the didactic implications thereof.
The student is able to situate the role of the curriculum goals in science education.
The student is able to situate the curriculum goals and learning contents for sciences within a horizontal and vertical coherence and within a STEM context.
The student is able to choose concrete and operational learning objectives based on curriculum goals.
The student is able to describe models for teaching and instruction and classroom activities in science and STEM education.
The student is able to identify and argue cognitive processes that play a role in learning scientific concepts.
The student is able to let students actively (re)discover and process the learning contents by means of a meaningful choice of classroom activities, learning resources and group settings.
The student is able to identify and argue the role of current and authentic contexts in order to create a powerful learning environment.
The student is able to give examples of misconceptions within the sciences.
The student is able to describe strategies to minimize the negative impact of misconceptions on science learning.
The student is able to identify elements of subject specific pedagogical research in order to frame own didactic choices.

Reflective and Inquiry-Based Practice

The student shows an open, inquisitive and professional attitude.
The student can discuss, adjust and report on his own performance in a (self-)critical manner.
The student can formulate and argue concrete strengths and working points with regard to the student's own reflection and coaching skills.
The student can identify learning questions in an authentic educational environment and share them with colleagues.
The student can systematically analyze a situation in an authentic educational environment from different perspectives.
The student can apply the results of relevant (educational) research and subject didactic expertise and content and use them in function of formulated learning questions.
The student can actively search for solutions to strengthen his or her mini-lessons on the basis of the reference frameworks he or she has provided.
The student can formulate concrete follow-up steps to strengthen his/her mini-lessons.
The student makes a constructive contribution to the learning process of others by applying basic coaching skills (active listening and exploration, appreciation and validation).

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 30% of the final mark.
Written Exam determines 70% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Oral justification with a relative weight of 30 which comprises 30% of the final mark.

Note: The students justify to a jury the pedagogical-didactic choices in the design of the submitted lesson preparation and written justification for this lesson design, based on the pedagogical-didactic frameworks and their domain-specific applications.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written assignment with a relative weight of 70 which comprises 70% of the final mark.

Note: A lesson preparation and an extensive written didactic justification for a lesson design, from the pathway Pedagogy and Didactics + the domain-specific applications.

Additional info regarding evaluation

In order to pass this course, the student participates in all parts of the evaluation. Active participation in the reflective sessions in which reflective and coaching skills are practiced, is required. For Reflective and Inquiry-based practice a pass/fail is applied. A final grade can only be calculated if a score was obtained for each category of the evaluation and if a student actively participated in the reflection session. If not, the overall score will be 'absent' (afw).  
A student can pass the course unit only if at least 7/20 is obtained for each exam category. If that is not the case the final score will be equal to the lowest exam category score.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context