A Vocabulary of Learning

A VOCABULARY OF LEARNING

Ian Mitchell

Eumemmerring Secondary College

Over the last eight years I have made a number of attempts to give students an overview of the nature of quality learning. These have had mixed success, but it is only as a result of the work of Ian McDonald that I have realised the crucial role of vocabulary in this area. Students have little experience in thinking about learning and a lack of vocabulary to talk about it. PEEL has given me much more precise meanings for many terms that I find useful, but my students do not share these meanings. Ian McDonald ran a Year 11 elective subject on learning, but found he could do little until he had built common meanings for a vocabulary of learning.

I decided to try and do something systematic about this in my Year 11 class by compiling a list of terms that could form a vocabulary of learning that is appropriate to Year 11 Chemistry.

My first draft includes:

Thinking questions
Puzzle questions
Self questions
Comprehension questions
Link
Extend
Predict
Original view
Model
Justify
Criticise an idea
Test an idea
Consistent
Inconsistent
Apply to a new situation
Main point
Process information
Personal meaning
Analyse a problem
Plan
Check

I found I wanted four different terms for questions: thinking questions are reflective, challenging (student) questions; puzzle questions are "I don’t understand x" questions (Has anyone a better label?); self questions are asked by students to overcome poor learning tendencies such as. "What am I looking for here?"; and texts, tests and teachers are full of comprehension questions.

I tried to use common terms but I aim to build a richer, more specific meaning for apparently familiar words such as "check". My strategy is to use two to five planned and unplanned events per week to briefly introduce and practise using these terms. From next term I will use a personal checklist after each lesson to keep track of my use of each term. So far I have not tried to discuss the general issue of building a vocabulary of learning; I am waiting until a few terms are in regular use. I would be very interested in ideas on vocabulary from other teachers.