Hello from Grindelwald, Switzerland!
In the previous newsletter, I shared a long-form essay on learning. Here is the link again: That’s How Learning Works?!?! A Comprehensive Model for Understanding the Learning Process.
This newsletter will focus on a few of the Organizing Factors — autonomy, relevance, and authenticity. These factors affect emotions and motivation, which change how quickly and well a person learns.
Here is Belcher’s Model for Learning (yes, I’m continuing to send this image in every email — returning to the same image with more information is how we create strong conceptual models! What do you remember from previous emails about the Model for Learning?)
Ideas
Autonomy
Autonomy is the sense of ownership in the learning.
Autonomy exists on a scale:
- Left side — “I must do this task or face extreme negative consequences; I also have no choice about the task.”
- Middle — “I must do this task, but here are a few ways to complete the task.”
- Right side — “I can question everything about the task, including whether or not to complete the task.”
When we are novice learners, autonomy is usually restricted; this is acceptable because the learner needs guardrails to have success. However, continuing to restrict autonomy hurts motivation — humans love to have control over their environment and make decisions for themselves. Restricting autonomy also hurts the rate of learning because the learner needs to experiment on their own to move from novice to intermediate to expert.
Relevance
Relevance is the relationship between the task and the learner, asking “how does this task relate to my experience?”
Relevance also exists on a scale (we are doing scales with all three of these):
- Left side — “Why would this task have any relationship to my experiences?”
- Middle — “I can see how this task has some relationship to my experiences.”
- Right side — “I am excited about this task because the task is fully aligned with my experiences.”
Relevance can help with motivation through the connection of the task with the learner’s experiences. In many cases, there is lower motivation if the learner cannot understand any connection with their experiences — think about sitting in a typical class in a very traditional school. However, making connections between the task and experiences can increase motivation for the learner, helping the learner increase their learning from the task.
Authenticity
Authenticity is the connection between a task and real-world outcomes.
The scale for authenticity:
- Left side — “When I finish this task, there will be minimal learning or impact.”
- Middle — “When I finish this task, I will have some real outcome.”
- Right side — “Finishing this task will produce an increase in my social status, finances, or relationships.”
In the same way as autonomy, restricting authenticity for novice learners can sometimes be beneficial. However, continuing to restrict authenticity will decrease motivation because the learner will not have a chance to see a real-world outcome. Creating is a major part of purposeful practice — learners must have the opportunity to see how their conceptual models interact with the real, messy world.
All three of these get to the “Why do I care?” question for a task, which is the major question for motivation. Dialing up or down on authenticity, relevance, and authenticity for learners at specific points helps with motivation, which then helps with the efficiency and depth of learning.
Stories
Here are a few stories about these ideas — I would love to hear your stories!
Story 1: One challenge in teaching is the tension in autonomy, especially when teaching novice students. I primarily taught high school physics; most students have an embodied understanding of physics — they have seen many objects move — but do not have a good set of conceptual models. I had to provide tasks that were to be done in a certain way initially, but then later tasks allowed students to choose how to complete the task. I tried to use the tension to my advantage, which helped students understand their physics learning journey.
Story 2: One fun part of coaching is that the players have self-selected into the activity — they wanted to play soccer! This made the relevance of tasks straightforward for both the players and their families, helping with motivation to accomplish the task. Almost all of the tasks had an easy connection with relevance; the only exception were “teamwork tasks” that focused more on togetherness rather than soccer-specific actions. However, after an explanation the players made the connection between the task and the game.
Story 3: As with the other two, there is a tension in authenticity. Novice learners must have specific and direct practice with the basic skills of the field, so some rote tasks are necessary. However, these tasks can be framed as a stepping stone — this mindset shift changes these tasks from a feeling of drudgery to a feeling of usefulness. As learners move towards the intermediate stage, they can start producing outcomes that are real; creating real outcomes will help improve motivation.
Questions
- Where does each task you give fall on the autonomy scale?
- Where does each task you give fall on the relevance scale?
- Where does each task you give fall on the authenticity scale?
- How does a series of tasks combine for each scale?
- What is the level of your learner — and how does this change where each task is on each scale?
Learning happens best when we share what we are thinking, so I would love to hear your answers! Also, you can use these questions as conversations starters with friends and family — hearing their answers would be great!
If this newsletter resonated with you, please share on the socials and with someone who you think would also benefit; I would greatly appreciate any help in spreading these ideas!
Thanks for reading this newsletter — and all the best!
Nathan
