What are NTN's essential conditions for deeper learning?

Deeper Learning at NTN

Too many students in schools are deprived of a thinking curriculum, and have limited access to a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment. This unequal distribution of resources, known as the opportunity gap, disproportionately impacts underrepresented students and families (Noguera, Darling-Hammond, & Friedlaender, 2015), most specifically, communities of color. School and district leaders must lead the work of closing cultural and instructional opportunity gaps by cultivating deeper learning conditions that result in “outcomes that matter” for each learner. The word “each” matters because this is more than just making deeper learning experiences available for all learners, but also demanding that each learner has the resources they need to succeed in those deeper learning environments. This is choosing equity rather than equality, and we believe that each learner deserves our commitment to that choice. Through collaboration with teachers, university academics, and the business community, and informed by research, NTN has identified learning outcomes that are aimed at fully preparing them for college and career success. These "outcomes that matter" include: Knowledge and Thinking, Collaboration, Oral Communication, Written Communication, and Agency. At NTN, we believe that for deeper learning to result in “outcomes that matter” for each learner the learning must be authentic, active, relational, responsive, and complex.  Each of these deeper learning conditions is expanded upon below.

AUTHENTIC

Learning experiences that are authentic improve engagement and depth of thinking. Learners should experience the immediate usefulness of new learning (Vella, 2002). If the learning is personally relevant, learners connect to why they are doing the task, which improves performance (Pink, 2010). Authentic learning that is personally relevant will connect to emotions, and emotions are what fuel thinking for all learners (Immordino-Yang, 2016). This requires ongoing efforts to understand your learners and your community, and to create intentional connections between your discipline and their lived experiences. Inquiry is a key driver for intrinsic motivation to learn, and creates autonomy for the learner (Pink, 2010). Also, in sparking curiosity, which sustains the inquiry, learners become more intellectually invested (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2014).

ACTIVE

Learning experiences that are active increase engagement by providing opportunities for learners to be active sense-makers, rather than passive recipients of knowledge. Learners better understand and apply new concepts through interactive, student-centered learning (Pellegrino & Hilton, 2012). Learners must have an opportunity to conceptualize it, get a chance to feel it, and do something with it. They must be invited to put themselves into the learning task, into the delight of learning.  Without engagement there is no learning (Vella, 2002). Inquiry is, again, a key strategy for activating the learning experience. In order to be lifelong learners, we must consistently practice the learning process, which includes asking questions and actively exploring those questions together.

RELATIONAL

Learning experiences that are relational show up well through dialogue, where we are able to construct meaning collectively that is inaccessible to us individually (Bohm, 2014).  And through dialogue and discourse, when we authentically turn to one another, better relationships and community are generated. Whatever impedes dialogue must be courageously addressed and eliminated. Whatever enables dialogue must be fearlessly nurtured and used. Relationships must transcend personal likes and dislikes (Vella, 2002). Deeper relationships, established with intention, support collaborative inquiry and reflective dialogue. Helping students experience this kind of learning requires both high expectations and a supportive, caring relationship. “This combination of personal warmth and active demandingness earns the teacher the right to push for excellence and stretch the student beyond his comfort zone” (Hammond, 2015). We must build trust and rapport to ensure a culture of safety and care, requiring a new type of relationship called a learning partnership (Hammond, 2015). 

RESPONSIVE

Learning experiences that are responsive consistently assess the needs of each learner and respond to those needs. This includes proactively planning for a range of targeted experiences as well as the adjustments made in the moment to better bridge the learning experience to the learner. This means knowing where and how to begin. The learning of knowledge, skills, and attitudes should be arranged from simple to complex and from group-supported to solo efforts (Vella, 2002). Learning experiences that are responsive provide appropriate challenge in order to stimulate brain growth to increase intellective capacity. Being responsive also includes holding and communicating high expectations for each student’s achievement. Research demonstrates that students have the capacity to live up or down to our expectations, and that teachers’ expectations are significant predictors of students’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement in school (Quaglia, Fox, & Corso, 2010). Beyond holding high expectations for each learner, it is also the teacher’s responsibility to provide concrete support for meeting those standards (Hammond, 2015). 

COMPLEX

Learning experiences that are complex develop productive struggle, and include higher order thinking and problem solving. In her book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (2015), Zaretta Hammond introduces the concept of productive struggle, defined as the mental activity and growth that takes place when the learner works through something difficult. Work at this level is not too hard or easy, guiding the learner to develop new skills by building on what they already know. Inquiry plays a key role in helping students engage in productive struggle.  In order to be continuous learners, we must have regular opportunities to ask questions, explore new possibilities, and share our thinking.