The Learning Pit

Recently I have been doing observations in other schools - I will delve further into this in another post.  One of the schools that I visited was a MLE and was said to be an outstanding school.  As a result of having been at that school and having viewed their learning in practice I was doing some research around MLE when I came across the article Modern Learning Environments – the underlying philosophy to success. On this webpage there was a mention of the 'Learning Pit' - something that all learners must go through in order to achieve success.  I was interested in this concept as it seemed to align with the 4E's that my students now assess themselves on at the end of every lesson.  When researching this further I found both a presentation by the person who created the concept of the 'Learning Pit' and a research article written on it.

Attached are the presentation and the research article:
Presentation
Research article

Within the research article there was a diagram that helped me understand the four stages of the learning pit and begin to understand how these linked in with the 4Es that I ask my students to work with each day.

I will be going through this with my students on Monday and looking at how this works and ties in with the style of learning that they are doing currently.

The Four Stages of the Learning Pit

Stage 1: CONCEPT
The Learning Pit begins with a concept. The concept can come from the media, conversation, observations or deliberate study. So long as most pupils have a basic understanding of the concept, then the Learning Pit can work. Examples of the sorts of concepts that might be suitable can be found later in this article, as well as in Challenging Learning. 

Stage 2: CONFLICT
As soon as a concept has been agreed, the teacher’s responsibility is to create ‘cognitive conflict’ in pupils’ minds. Cognitive conflict arises when people have at least two opinions in their minds, both of which they agree with but that both of which are in conflict with each other. For example, I agree that stealing is wrong but I also think that Robin Hood was a good man; I agree with both statements even though they are in conflict with each other.

Stage 3: CONSTRUCT
Giving students the opportunity and reason to construct meaning for themselves is the raison d’être of the Learning Pit. After they have struggled in the Pit for a while, some of students will begin to make meaning. Some may even have a ‘Eureka’ moment. This is at the heart of the Learning Pit and is explored later in this article.

Stage 4: CONSIDER
The final stage encourages pupils to reflect on how their thinking has changed, been adapted, assimilated and / or constructed throughout the course of the lesson. Thinking about thinking, or metacognition, is a crucial factor in the learning process. The Learning Pit provides a frame of reference to help structure this metacognitive reflection for pupils.