The Fourth Dimension: A Challenge to Teachers - Write it Down!
Robert Keig Stallman, Per-Ludvik Kjendlie, Bente Laakso
Here
we address a “fourth dimension”. For those of you who take observation,
evaluation and feedback seriously, this fourth dimension is registration. By registering what we
have observed and evaluated, our pedagogical instincts can be verified or
rejected. Each new pupil and each new educational question, is a new challenge.
We address each new challenge with curiosity. We constantly ask questions. Our
questions can often be answered by simple manipulation of the information we
register. You can join the team who would love
to help you answer your questions. When you do A what are the learning results?
How does this compare to B? If so inclined, you can do much yourself.
Continuous
evaluation is an integral part of teaching. Your teaching is greatly enhanced
by evaluating systematically. This gives the learner continuous feedback on the
mastery process. It can be done discreetly so that it becomes part of the
learner’s private mastery profile. We are not necessarily “testing” the pupils.
We simply assign some tasks which are objective, measurable. We observe,
evaluate and record them. They become simply another learning task. This
becomes so routine that learners are often unaware of being evaluated. Of
course, in some cases we tell them what we are doing when we feel that it can
enhance motivation.
Permit
two examples. The Cities of Lillehammer and Sandefjord, in Norway, have had the
same coordinators of school swimming for many years. Swimming instruction is
compulsory in the Norwegian primary school. The coordinators have instituted a
system which gives children feedback on not only how they are doing in the
mastery process, but on how they perform when evaluated on measurable tasks. To
enhance the feeling of the learner that a task allowing objective evaluation is
simply part of the learning process, it is often down played though systematic
and objective. It is simply part of learning and teaching.
In
this way, the coordinators and their team of teachers, have amassed an
impressive data base. Over the past 15
years, simple manipulation of some of these numbers has helped them answer some
of their questions. Knowing more about how their pupils have mastered the
essential tasks, helps the schools do it even better next time.
Join
us! We want to answer questions. We want to do it better. We need your help.
Citation: Stallman, R.K.,
Kjndlie, P-Ll, and Laakso, B. (2017). The Fourth Dimension: A Challenge to
Teachers - Write it Down. In: Avramidis S.
(Ed.). Conference on Near-Death
Experiences while Drowning (p. 29). Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA:
International Swimming Hall of Fame.
