Given that the core principles of constructivism posit that the learner internally constructs their own meaning from a given experience, with reference to their own prior experiences, the development of self-directed learning ability is critical. Self-directed learning was also an aspect of the first teaching objective of the project (Appendix A.1) where students had to plan ahead effectively to remain productive should group members be absent. As in many cases it was Hamish who was absent, his task then was to ensure he had not fallen behind the group and was able to be of use when present. There are few if any examples of Hamish taking the initiative to catch himself up (indeed, there were times when he explicitly and almost pridefully
acknowledged he had not caught up on the missed work, particularly when it was not a topic of interest to him). What was far more common was evidence of and preference for self-directed learning during Challenge sessions where Hamish was present and expressing either positive emotions relating to the topic or a strong positive self-efficacy. Phrased differently, when Hamish felt he either had the tools to self-regulate and self-direct, or when he felt guided learning insufficient to cover the topic, he was quick to plan a research programme for himself and his team. The Challenge session on the 21st of March provided a prime example of this, with two very different activities. The first was the interpretation of weather data, about which
Hamish was decidedly less than positive (18.03.23 lns 8-15):
Hs: …the problem with us is we’re given all of this us relevant set of data which to took us flipping ages to format but um then once we’d done that we weren’t given enough guidance to then go on to find cause we were meant to be comparing the um the weather here with the standard of the terrain along the um Hobson’s Conduit and we couldn’t find anywhere where to get this kind of information for um Hobson’s Conduit for what the general conditions of it were on these days and then to compare that with the weather so
we understood what we were meant to do we just couldn’t get there cause we didn’t have the right resources or we couldn’t find them
Hamish’s group was given sufficient data from the weather monitoring station on site (Appendix A.4), but Hamish felt that they were not given enough information regarding the goal, or
sufficient guidance on accessing resources. Because Hamish did not feel he was adequately aware of the end goal or related success criteria, he was not as self-directed or self-regulated in the activity (Perry, 1998) and lacked any level of intrinsic motivation to succeed, being content merely to copy the data table, which did not make it into the team’s final report anyway. He was not unwilling to consider the impacts of weather on the Nine Wells site; our interview produced several attempts to predict conditions based on weather patterns, and even explanations for certain phenomena. Rather, because he felt he was unaware of his target, he was unwilling to take risks with his learning (Perry, 1998) within the classroom setting.
If we contrast this with the afternoon session, some differences become immediately apparent. In this instance, Hamish was specifically aware of the aim (to link local conservation to biodiversity) but experienced strongly negative emotions relating to the provided resources (18.03.23 lns 106-119):
Hs: Umm well firstly I think this was just a minor point and I don’t know how much this affected other people but it was more just the fact the way it was laid out it looked like it was laid out for 5-year-olds …at the moment we have to read medical journals for some of our coursework so we’re dealing with very kind of sophisticated kind of out of our league stuff so we’re used to dealing with all this other stuff and when we’re given a piece of material that is quite clearly or looks to be aimed at um a younger learning age you kind of get put off by it … if it gives you information you should just read the damn thing um but yeah you kind of feel superior when looking at it and you think I looking at this I don’t think this will give me any relevant information kind of the key skills we’re taught of this year is to sort of be able to skim something and see where the relevant information is
Hamish’s strong emotions in this instance came from a strong task-related self-efficacy, where he felt that due to his reported BTEC experiences with research in more academic sources, this publicly available pamphlet (Figure 3.2) appeared to be childish in design, and Hamish
disengaged because he felt it was not a suitable resource. Because he felt compelled to complete the research task set for him however, he and his team set about doing independent research on biodiversity via Google, where they were able to “make general sort of predicted links as to why um Anglia Water or whatever it was called um might uh be changing their plans or might have certain ideas for uh plans they have” based on their own research and on their previous
instruction on the topic.
Perhaps the best example of self-directed learning however came immediately before the Primary day, which Hamish had been anticipating greatly. Having been given, in his mind, a clear and appropriate goal and sufficient guidance and skills to access resources to meet the goal, Hamish was actively involved in and enthused by all of the preparation necessary to set up an interactive activity related to flow deflectors. He was given the choice from among three options, and then his group was provided materials and an open-ended goal for the structure of the activity. It was clear the lack of prescribed activity was able to trigger their creativity; several quite different iterations of the final product were proposed before the team determined the most realistic and engaging scenario for the students. This selection process was quite engaged, with the team proposing and discussing ideas before doing internet searches to support their plans.
Early on, the group realised their direct instruction on flow deflectors had been limited, and therefore engaged in independent research to learn more. That research fairly quickly turned up the idea of using natural materials in the deflectors, which was one they chose to carry
through. Multiple set-ups were then considered, including asking students to design a way to clear debris (placed by Hamish or his teammates) from the gutter using only a select set of materials. The group actively discussed the pros and cons of each model before eventually deciding to provide the Primary students with a variety of raw natural materials such as sticks, rocks, and leaves as well as Plasticine and a gutter. The goal would then be to select and place materials such that they would produce the maximum flow rate given a certain slope to the gutter and a set volume of water.
The risks the group took here, as well as the variety of sources they consulted, was much higher than in previous sessions, where the team was more inclined to rely on the instructor or on classmates for assistance. Hamish explained the difference by stating that “when you have to communicate this information to other people that’s when you sort of uh start becoming a little bit more engaged in the whole um the whole activity and the whole research uh task” because the consequences for lack of attention fall not only on the one who failed to complete the task, but on a whole other group of individuals, in this case the Primary students. In this instance, this combination of altruistic motivation and project autonomy led Hamish to pursue varied topics, such as volumetric flow rate equations and the natural impacts of the flow deflectors. The team was also to appropriately pace themselves and determine an appropriate runtime for the activity, so that on the day it was as seamless as is reasonable to have expected. A few Primary teams were disappointed with their results, and at times Hamish had some difficulty in keeping the students on-task, but in general he felt as if the day ran smoothly and the Primary students left with at least an overview of stream ecology and water management. Hamish’s reaction to having completed the task was as positive as his predictions (18.05.18 lns 362-364):
Hs:…it was quite interesting the way we had to sort of take our knowledge of the
situation think ‘right how can we make this simpler while also keeping why it’s important present’ so yeah we had to think about that quite a lot
In this instance, Hamish’s emotional, cognitive, and behavioural engagement (Sinatra et al., 2015) was increased through the instructor’s stratagem of placing Hamish and his team in control of the day’s activities and allowing them to direct and control their own learning.