Vignette 3
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ART OF TEACHING: ENGAGING STUDENTS IN INQUIRY LEARNING Vignette #3 Critical Thought & Inquiry Through Progressive Case Third Year ~ Business Law This chapter offers insight into the question: How to develop case study and critical thinking in a large class environment? Dana Collette’s main intention is to develop students’ capacity to think critically about the course focus - business law. The sequence begins with Dana in a large class lecture format, building students’ background skills and knowledge through proven protocols of direct instruction; good review, clear introduction, clear explanation of foundational theories and critical thinking tools, supported by good examples, visuals, small group breakout, and humour. Dana divides the class time into seminar and experiential learning in order to get students inside the case studies in a way that will activate deep inquiry. Treating case study as good narrative or story, she composes intriguing scenarios that offer students a gradual increase in complexity and nuance. The cases, which she aptly describes as “messy”, evoke a high degree of interest and engagement. She models and coaches students to adopt an attitude of questioning and a thirst for ambiguity. She states explicitly that all students will build their capacity and confidence to transfer the metaskills of thinking into future professional challenges. To help the students learn to reach full-minded and reasoned judgements about the case scenarios, she guides the students in the skills of developing powerful questions, how to research and interpret the requisite background information, then finally, to make clear well-supported decisions. Leaving nothing to chance or intuition, she provides formative assessment and personal feedback to both challenge and actively support students’ efforts to move to an orientation that eschews right and wrong answers. Taking advantage of the rich diversity in her classroom, Dana has students form teams with the goal of achieving maximum diversity with respect to culture, language and experience. She teaches, models, and coaches the teams in basic process protocols that strengthen participation and collaboration. Students explain how this moves them to unanticipated learning - beyond the outcomes of business law. Students also work in new teams as they present their legal decisions in a mock-trial format with colleagues. Students clearly recognize Dana as an exemplary model of the process she hopes they will learn. In one example, we see how Dana responds to students’ struggles and successes by designing a graphic organizer to help students frame salient information in the case. Such adaptations were valued by those who were having difficulty moving directly to narrative form in their case reports, especially students for whom English is a foreign language. Dana Collette Summary of Themes: Inquiry Model: 3 case studies presented with progression of complexity Major emphasis on learning the meta-skills of critical thought Model of teacher-as- researcher: ongoing inquiry into teaching / learning Teams of 3 are teacher- structured with clear protocols: Focus on diversity Assessment: Criterion- based with ongoing comprehensive feedback & coaching-to-mastery
Transcript of Vignette 3
ART OF TEACHING: ENGAGING STUDENTS IN INQUIRY LEARNING
Vignette #3
Critical Thought & Inquiry Through Progressive Case Third Year ~ Business Law
This chapter offers insight into the question: How to develop case study and critical thinking in a large class environment?
Dana Collette’s main intention is to develop students’ capacity to think critically about the course focus - business law. The sequence begins with Dana in a large class lecture format, building students’ background skills and knowledge through proven protocols of direct instruction; good review, clear introduction, clear explanation of foundational theories and critical thinking tools, supported by good examples, visuals, small group breakout, and humour.
Dana divides the class time into seminar and experiential learning in order to get students inside the case studies in a way that will activate deep inquiry. Treating case study as good narrative or story, she composes intriguing scenarios that offer students a gradual increase in complexity and nuance. The cases, which she aptly describes as “messy”, evoke a high degree of interest and engagement. She models and coaches students to adopt an attitude of questioning and a thirst for ambiguity. She states explicitly that all students will build their capacity and confidence to transfer the metaskills of thinking into future professional challenges.
To help the students learn to reach full-minded and reasoned judgements about the case scenarios, she guides the students in the skills of developing powerful questions, how to research and interpret the requisite background information, then finally, to make clear well-supported decisions. Leaving nothing to chance or intuition, she provides formative assessment and personal feedback to both challenge and actively support students’ efforts to move to an orientation that eschews right and wrong answers.
Taking advantage of the rich diversity in her classroom, Dana has students form teams with the goal of achieving maximum diversity with respect to culture, language and experience. She teaches, models, and coaches the teams in basic process protocols that strengthen participation and collaboration. Students explain how this moves them to unanticipated learning - beyond the outcomes of business law. Students also work in new teams as they present their legal decisions in a mock-trial format with colleagues.
Students clearly recognize Dana as an exemplary model of the process she hopes they will learn. In one example, we see how Dana responds to students’ struggles and successes by designing a graphic organizer to help students frame salient information in the case. Such adaptations were valued by those who were having difficulty moving directly to narrative form in their case reports, especially students for whom English is a foreign language.
Dana Collette
Summary of Themes:
Inquiry Model: 3 case studies presented with progression of complexity
Major emphasis on learning the meta-skills of critical thought
Model of teacher-as-researcher: ongoing inquiry into teaching / learning
Teams of 3 are teacher-structured with clear protocols: Focus on diversity
Assessment: Criterion-based with ongoing comprehensive feedback & coaching-to-mastery
