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Creating a Significant Learning Environment with a New culture of learning

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."  
-Plato

In a New Culture of Learning, authors Douglas Thomas and Jhon Seely Brown (2011) explain that a new culture of learning has two elements: "The first is a massive information network that provides almost unlimited access and resources to learn about anything. Second is a bounded and structured environment that allows the unlimited agency to build and experiment with things within those boundaries."  

How can we implement these two elements in our classroom? Douglas Thomas mentions in his book that for a new culture of learning to exist, we need to incorporate passion, imagination, and constraint; the main ingredient is the play. Douglas Thomas defines play "as an emergent property of the application of roles to the imagination." Combining these elements helps to cultivate our students' imagination and helps us have an authentic learning environment. 

The new culture of learning is adapting to changes and seeking new ways of learning through innovation, cultivating imagination, and learning by doing. According to Professor Douglas Thomas, his main objective is to seek a balance between the institutional structure and individual freedom. Douglas Thomas defines the New Culture of Learning as "finding new ways to capture and harness imagination in a world of constant change."   

Facing changes in our lives is a process that takes time and effort; Likewise, a change in the educational system is necessary over time. For the change to start happening, it first must start with me as a teacher, and then I can motivate those involved in my innovation pilot. Dr. Harapnuik defines CSLE (Creating Significant Learning Environments) as an integrated approach to creating flexible, engaging, and effective learning environments. Creating a significant learning environment -CSLE- where the student is the center and allows my students to develop and execute at their own pace, choice, ownership, and voice, we can begin to create lifelong learners through authentic learning -COVA-. This change in our classrooms from the traditional teaching approach to the CSLE+COVA approach is necessary for students to enhance their knowledge and confidence in the classroom.  

CSLE+COVA+PASSION+IMAGINATION+CONSTRAINT+PLAY with these factors, we can have an appropriate environment where students can grow their minds and show their abilities and needs. 

Dr. Harapnuik mentions that the roles of the teacher are Presenter, Facilitator, Coach, and Mentor. Douglas Thomas says that "the teacher's job is to create a context where we can cultivate imagination, honor passion, and help people connect their passions to what they need to learn." 

To create a significant learning environment and incorporate a new culture of learning, we must focus on student-centered learning and emphasize elements such as passion, imagination, and constraint built with the play. For children, passion comes from what they see around them and their curiosity to know more. As teachers, we need to allow the students to explore and cultivate their passions in an environment appropriate to their age and needs. Douglas Thomas says that "the play helps students develop their imaginations. "The connection between resources and personal motivation led people to cultivate their imagination and recreate the space in a new way" (Thomas Douglas, 2011). 

The three dimensions of learning are knowing, making, and playing. Knowing knowledge is a fact that can be true or false; it is concerned with two questions What and Where. Making things happens through hands-on activities to create something. To Huizinga, "play is not something we do; it is who we are." In the twenty-first century, an environment is required where students are building, creating, and participating.  

Based on my experience and connecting with Thomas and Brown's A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (2011). I have been working for nine years in preschool because I use the play to learn, so I never get bored. We are always playing, singing, dancing, and using technology. 

As a preschool teacher, I can support my students by creating a significant learning environment. I have started with the classroom where my Innovation Plan is piloted to begin the process. 

To develop passion, imagination, and constraint through play, I will include in my innovation plan the model of blended learning methodologies studied and implemented for this 21st century. Blended learning allows students to acquire individual learning, improves the teaching routine, and helps the teacher monitor student progress to get an evaluation. Blended learning has many benefits. 

During 20 years of working in classrooms, I have seen that children lack the motivation to read. Most read because they must do some homework; it is required to read. Reading is essential for students because it has many benefits. At the beginning of the program, my goal was to promote the pleasure of reading and create a habit. Usually, my students have the freedom to choose the book or the iPad and the place where they want to read; they also read at their own pace. The books to select and the iPad readings follow TEKS and District requirements. This project is focused on all pre-kindergarten students since reading is essential for learning. I am applying pedagogical theories, constructivism. One of the articles that helped me clarify my ideas for this project was "Do we need a Theory of Blended Learning?" (Bates, 2021). 

In every project, there are challenges. One of the challenges to face is teaching students for life. With the use of technology, in this case, the iPad, students need to learn how to use this tool. Another critical challenge is that children are easily distracted at this age, so they do not have self-discipline. The way to face the challenge is to have the necessary resources so that students can do hands-on activities and that the lessons are connected to previous knowledge and can be applied to real life. Monitoring the students is how I will know if they used the applications. 

Some rules must be followed in every organization, and the Channelview District is no exception. However, my school has a principal committed to children. She is aware that we need to make changes in our education, so the principal is excited and interested in the project's execution. 

Some strategies have been used in the past, and we can connect them with technology and thus continue using them. So, it is time to change and implement student-centered with a creative learning environment where we put play as the main ingredient. Douglas Thomas invites us to develop passion, motivation, and constraint through play. My innovation plan is fun and creative, where children can develop the elements required for a New Culture of learning. 

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  • Harapnuik, D. (2015, May 8). Creating Significant Learning Environments (CSLE). 

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ-c7rz7eT4&t=9s 

  

  • TEDx. (2012, September 12). A New Culture of Learning, Douglas Thomas [Video]. 

           YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM80GXlyX0U&t=1083s 

  

  • Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the 

           Imagination for a World of Constant Change. CreateSpace Independent 

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