(Nakahara)Hello, everyone. I'm Jun Nakahara from the University of Tokyo. Today, we would like to have a discussion with Dr. Naomi Miyake, also from the University of Tokyo. Thank you very much for taking your time to join us. (Miyake)It is my pleasure. (Nakahara)This session is intended for people who are interested in teaching how to teach, especially graduate students who are interested in teaching at universities in the near future. First of all, could you give us your opinion about what is required of a person when teaching something, such as qualities or acts? Well, I know it's quite a general question. (Miyake)Once you are born, you can learn various things by yourself such as various words, there's something delicious over there, or something nice happens if you smile this way. I think you understand these things as a father. (Nakahara)Yes. Various things may also include worthless things. (*laughing) (Miyake)So you are able to predict what happens next through experiences you've had since you were little. People intrinsically have the skills to learn, when they were elementary school students, high school students, undergraduate students, and probably when they go out into the world. You should regard people as active learners who can think and learn by themselves. (Nakahara)I see. (Miyake)If you are able to realize what kind of information the learner is using, what he/she is trying to learn, and what he/she understands, I think supporting those kinds of things way would be the best to support him/her learn smoothly. (Nakahara)I see. In that sense, to teach someone is to recognize that he/she is a person who already has a skill to learn. Teaching someone must be close to reinforcing and vitalizing his/her learning method. (Miyake)I think so. (Nakahara)You have long been engaged in a research field called collaborative Learning. This term might not be so popular among general public. Could you describe what collaborative learning is briefly? (Miyake)You usually broaden the range of what you can predict by learning and experiencing by yourself, but collaborative learning is a learning method to broaden that range by learning what others know and experienced through communicating with them. (Nakahara)So, there are various learning methods depending on learners. Instead of learning alone, you can learn from other people's knowledge through dialog and communication with them. Is this what you mean? (Miyake)Exactly. (Nakahara)I see. I thought that it would be also called group activity or group discussion. Is collaborative learning the same as those things? Or is it a little different? (Miyake)The styles are very similar. If there is another person besides you that you can discuss with, you can learn from him/her, but the situation can be divided into two types. One is deliberately designed to induce dialogs, and the other is not deliberately designed but relies on the learning skill of the members; as I mentioned, they originally have such a skill. Then, some cases may succeed, but others may not. For the people who are going to have classes in the future, I would like them to support the students and facilitate their dialog by deliberately designing a situation. That would lead to the design of a class where students can learn more and more actively. (Nakahara)Could you give us an example of how to deliver a class? I mean, what kind of group discussion should take place? (Miyake)There are two important things. One is for the students to share a question that they feel eager to solve. (Nakahara)So, the question must be something that drives the students to solve. (Miyake)Yes. It must be something that you already know to a certain extent but would like to know more about so that you can broaden the range of prediction. For example, think of playing soccer. Suppose that you are now quite good at kicking a ball. You can play soccer well in the schoolyard because the yard is well-maintained but not in your friend's schoolyard because it is not well-maintained. Then you would think that you want to be able to kick a ball well in your friend's schoolyard. If people with the same wish gather and talk about how to kick a ball under such a condition, you can say that the question is shared by everyone. (Nakahara)I see. (Miyake)The other important thing is for the students to admit that everyone knows different things. I know how to kick this way, but he kicks that way, so I want to be able to kick like him. If you could design a situation where everyone could learn the differences among everyone, which leads to the improvement of the whole level of the group, everyone would feel satisfied to learn from others through a discussion. (Nakahara)When there is a person who knows A and another person who knows B, they could succeed in interacting or combining their ideas into idea A+, idea B+, or idea A+B. Is this what you mean? (Miyake)Yes. At first, each member talks about what he/she can do and believes that his/her own idea is the correct answer. Then another person says "I don't think that's right", or "Could you repeat what you said?" and he/she rephrases his/her idea. Through this process, he/she can clarify and specify what he/she thinks. Then another person may say "But in that case, I prefer this way". He/she may first reject that idea, but as he/she changes his/her own idea, he/she may realize its advantage. If he/she reaches the level of explaining the idea that combines both ideas, you can say that he/she has become wise. Collaborative learning with a dialog enables learners to go through such a learning process. (Nakahara)Here's a monitor. Let's use this. It's written "Knowledge Constructive Jigsaw", one of the methods of collaborative learning. What kind of method is it? (Miyake)It is a framework to provoke a dialog in a classroom setting so that children could broaden their range of experience along with the content of the textbook. (Nakahara)A framework? (Miyake)Yes. It is a framework. (Nakahara)How do you divide students into these three groups? (Miyake)Which subject should I use as an example? This framework is used by teachers of every subject at elementary, junior high, and senior high schools. I think science must be easy to explain. Is it OK? (Nakahara)Sure. (Miyake)The topic is about how clouds in the sky are made, which is learned in about the second year of junior high school. In a scientific manner, clouds are a mass of air at the surface of oceans lifting along mountains, and the higher it reaches, the lighter it becomes. Then the air expands by itself. This is written in the textbook. And once the air expands, the temperature inside falls, and this is called adiabatic expansion. This is also written in the textbook. (Nakahara)Sounds difficult. (Miyake)Yes. There is adiabatic expansion. It seems strange that the expansion leads to cooling down. In addition, the amount of invisible vapor included in the mass of air is decided by the temperature of the mass, so once it cools down, vapor cannot be contained anymore. Then the vapor turns into water. This is called saturated steam amount, and the textbook explains it with an example of drops of water seen on a glass in midsummer. (Nakahara)I heard of that for the first time in 20 years. (Miyake)Twenty? You are young! So the air lifts, cools down, and expands adiabatically, then the amount of vapor included in the air decreases. If there is a dust, it works as a core and the water particles become visible, and they are clouds. A teacher would explain all this, perhaps with the simplest words, the best illustration, and an electronic blackboard. (Nakahara)Yes. (Miyake)But doesn't this sound like it is the teacher who is learning? (Nakahara)I see. (Miyake)The students who are supposed to be the learners just listen to the teacher saying "He/she is a good presenter." They never say adiabatic expansion, and never think by themselves what will happen with the saturated steam amount if the temperature rises or falls. They would never relate those things to how the clouds are made. (Nakahara)So, when there is a question composed of knowledge and concepts, do you mean that teachers should not explain all by themselves, but let students think about them? (Miyake)Students need to comprehend the concepts and combine them to solve a question, but it would be inefficient if it is done independently. There is one who can kick a ball in this schoolyard, and there is another one who can kick in that schoolyard. Then it would be more efficient to work together. When there is a question that everyone wishes to solve today, the teacher would first say "Let's think scientifically about what clouds are together." When asking the question, you should let students write down what they are thinking about. Then, you can let students realize how much they already know about it, but that they cannot give a perfect answer to the question, and let them feel they would like to solve it. After that, give a learning material to a group by telling them "Think about what happens to the gas when it lifts," and give another group another material by telling them "Here it says 'adiabatic expansion.' Read this explanation, and comprehend what it says.” Give another group another material by telling them "What is saturated steam amount? What does it have to do with how the clouds are made? Give your own answer." Let them work on the questions to organize their answers for about 10 to 15 minutes. Through that process, each student develops his/her own idea. The phase so far is called the expert group phase, and the students become instant experts. (Nakahara)I see. (Miyake)But everyone also knows that the knowledge they currently have is not the answer itself, but only partial knowledge. By designing the situation in this way, you can prevent students from relying on a single person who is good at science to find the answer immediately. Instead, organize new groups with each member from all expert groups. Tell them "I think none of you have yet figured out what the answer is. Now, you three combine the three pieces of information you have brought to the group. Discuss and give your own answer", and let the students work on a discussion. (Nakahara)So, what the teacher must do is create the initial question for the students, to create the partial learning materials and to facilitate their group activities. (Miyake)Yes, exactly. (Nakahara)I see. (Miyake)The answers they figured out in groups are supposed to be better than the ones the students tried to give alone. They can feel that the group discussion improved their understandings. The phase so far is called the jigsaw group phase. There will be several jigsaw groups in the classroom, and the comprehension level differs from group to group, so the next thing to do is to let them make a presentation on what they discussed in groups. By exchanging the ideas through becoming presenters and listeners, each student will be able to find the most convincing expression to explain the answer by themselves. If the teacher unconsciously reveals his/her idea like "Oh, that expression was good", then the next group might use the same expression. In this way, all the students gradually reach the answer. But finally, you must let the students think alone again. (Nakahara)Yes. (Miyake)The learners come back to individual in the end. You use group activities, but you must be aware of why you use groups and dialogs. It is for individual students to clearly express their ideas, to realize the difficulty of conveying their ideas, to be able to accept other ideas, and to develop new ideas. Group activity is not for making friends. It is for brushing up their own ideas. (Nakahara)They are not making groups to make friends. (Miyake)Certainly. (Nakahara)By the way, does it take a long time to conduct this kind of class compared to giving a usual lecture, where teachers explain things one-sidedly? (Miyake)It takes about 45 to 60 minutes. (Nakahara)Then various kinds of activities must be packed in that amount of time. (Miyake)Yes. (Nakahara)How is it effective in learning? (Miyake)By using this style, students can answer questions such as "When the gas around the ocean lifts, what happens?" or "The temperature of the gas falls by expanding without the provision of heat from outside. What is this phenomenon called?" Students can retain what they have learned better than when they learn through lecture style. Rather than listening to the teacher explaining 10 times, speaking and rephrasing by themselves like "Was it adiabatic compression? Adiabatic expansion? What was it?" and asking others "How do you read this?" and being able to read what they could not read at first would enable students to confirm their knowledge in their own manner. (Nakahara)You must think by yourself after all. (Miyake)Getting actively involved drives you to learning. (Nakahara)I see. (Miyake)That's why the learning outcomes also turn out to be better in this style. (Nakahara)I see. Dr. Miyake, you are involved in various activities and one of them is to change the classes at elementary, junior high, and senior high schools. You meet teachers at those schools through the board of education. How are you approaching them to increase the number of classes conducted in this style at those schools? (Miyake)Mostly, I ask the board of education to hold a training session over a three- or four-day period and call for teachers who would like to participate. In some prefectures, there is a training session for all the teachers who are in their first year to work at senior high schools, so I go to help them. On the first day of the session, teachers actually experience the jigsaw method. (Nakahara)They absolutely need to experience it to understand what it is. (Miyake)Yes. There are about two types of activities. They absolutely need to experience it to understand what it is. There are about two types of activities. We give social issues for science and math teachers. Social issues allow diverse ideas, so you can deepen your ideas in a good discussion. We give humanities teachers topics such as how the clouds are made. By going through the jigsaw method, you reach a single correct answer, but even so, what each member thinks of and describes how the clouds are made is still different. Teachers can realize that the individual deepens their learning, and this is actually the expert group phase. The next thing to do is to have all the teachers, who experienced different learning materials, come together, share what kind of class they experienced, and explain the essential point of the method. (Nakahara)I see. Teachers again experience the jigsaw method. (Miyake)Yes. (Nakahara)I assume that most teachers have never experienced such a method when they were students. Is it easy for them to be able to conduct the jigsaw method immediately or does it take a long time? (Miyake)It is true that they need to practice the method several times to get used to conducting the method and grasp the essence, but it depends on teachers. (Nakahara)Really? (Miyake)Yes. One of the teachers told me, "Dr. Miyake, this is exactly what I have wanted to do in my class. I didn't know how to do it, but I can do it starting tomorrow!" by experiencing the method only once. (Nakahara)That's an extraordinary teacher! (Miyake)Yes. (Nakahara)But that means that there are also those who have difficulty in grasping the essence. (Miyake)Yes. (Nakahara)Today, you are traveling around the country. How many schools are you involved with? (Miyake)I am involved with senior high schools through the board of education of prefectures in about three prefectures. The largest is Saitama Prefecture. There are 189 public senior high schools in Saitama, and there are teachers who conduct jigsaw methods at almost all of the schools. There are also teachers who are engaged in the promotion of this method as a prefectural service at 88, which means more than half of the schools. (Nakahara)What a huge scale! (Miyake)Yes, it is. (Nakahara)Those who learned at those high schools enter the universities. (Miyake)Yes. (Nakahara)That's interesting. (Miyake)It is. Regarding elementary and junior high schools, if it comes to city or town level, I am involved with about 19 cities and towns, including a town in Tottori Prefecture, which occupies 10 percent of the whole area. There is only one elementary school and one junior high school, so all the teachers are engaged in the method. (Nakahara)You are extremely busy! I am so sorry for troubling you to come over. (Miyake)No, no. It is fun traveling around the country. There are a lot of green fields, blue oceans, and delicious foods. You like sushi, don't you? (Nakahara)You know a lot about me! (Miyake)Yes. (Nakahara)I'd like to ask many more questions, but I'm afraid we're running out of time. Finally, could you give a message to the people watching this online? This video is intended for young researchers and practitioners who will be teaching at universities in the near future. Could you give any advice to them based on your experiences? What do they need to do or what should they take care of when improving or facing up to teaching how to teach? (Miyake)OK. There is not always a theory or a manual for advising how to teach. There are many texts written about whether you should do this way or that way, but the important point is how you have learned and how others have learned. You should get back to that point and think by yourself about what kind of learning people are good at or what kind of support would lead to their good learning. Try to support the person in front of you and analyze what kind of learning emerges. You might be busy with your daily life at university, but if you have a chance to help an instructor doing something new in groups in his/her class, be positive and make use of the situation. (Nakahara)I see. (Miyake)Go, join, and experience. In addition, read high-quality literature on how people learn. You shouldn't take it into your head that you are not allowed to experience real educational settings before acquiring learning theory with books. Instead, the teaching content is more important. You should acquire expert knowledge of what you want to teach. If you love to learn, you should think of a way of how to share your learning with others. (Nakahara)I see. There are books and manuals you can refer to, and this creative teaching is also content. You may feel motivated to do something through reading and watching these things, but you cannot become an educator right away, so you have to be exposed to real learning settings. (Miyake)Yes. (Nakahara)Teaching is practice. You need to give it a try to see what you can do. (Miyake)Yes. I'm afraid we're running out of time, but here on the screen is written COREF. This is the abbreviation of our organization. (Nakahara)Yes. (Miyake)Search COREF on the internet, and you can find various real-life practices there. (Nakahara)That's great. (Miyake)They might be helpful. (Nakahara)COREF, COREF. (Miyake)Yes, it is called COREF. I hope everyone will enjoy the website. (Nakahara)Today's guest was Dr. Miyake. Thank you very much. (Miyake)Thank you.
