Learning by Doing Versus Learning by Watching: Merits and Limitations of Direct and Vicarious Experience

• In Event: Preparing Teachers for Family-School-Partnerships: Exploring the Use and Impact of Clinical Simulations in Teacher Education

Abstract

1.Objective

This presentation addresses three questions.
(1)Why do we need simulations?
(2)What do we mean by ‘simulations’?
(3)What do simulations involve?

Four barriers in teacher education programs perpetuate the need for family engagement simulations: scant attention in coursework, uneven fieldwork experiences, growing cultural mismatch between family and teacher demographics, and the complexity of parent-teacher interactions (Walker, in press). Simulations address these barriers through their customizable and ethical aspects. This talk describes how two kinds of simulations can simultaneously develop teachers’ content knowledge and social competence.

2.Perspectives

Across professions, simulations constitute a “signature pedagogy” (Shulman, 2005) that propels and assesses the development of expertise. From a learning sciences perspective, expertise that adapts across problem-solving contexts has two interrelated dimensions, efficiency and innovation (Schwartz, Bransford & Sears, 2000). In the context of teacher-parent interactions, adaptive expertise involves efficiently structuring the conversation while being responsiveness to individual family attributes (Bransford & Darling-Hammond, 2005; Walker & Dotger, 2012).

Can structuring and responsiveness be taught? Psychologically, learning occurs through two primary channels: observation (Bandura, 2001) and direct experience (Dewey, 2007; Ericsson, 2006). These perspectives inform contemporary definitions of simulations and guide the design of the two simulation pedagogies shared here. Although they differ in approach, both simulations target candidates’ knowledge, skills and dispositions for parent-teacher conferencing.

3.Methodology

Methods, analyses and results are compared for two kinds of simulations. First, a digital, vicarious learning environment including video models and expert commentary is described (Walker & Marksbury, 2015). Then, real-time embodied and standardized simulations in a mixed-reality environment are presented (Walker & Legg, under review). Both simulations involved the task of sharing unwelcome news with a student’s mother. Finally, both approaches assessed candidates’ performance using common criteria of effective parent-teacher communication (Walker & Dotger, 2012). These criteria include a phase model of four skills (opening, sharing information, gathering information, closing with a collaborative action plan) and three core dispositions (perspective-taking, positive tone, managing conversational flow).

4.Findings

Recognizing that no single approach is ideal and that different educator preparation programs have different resources and constraints, each simulation kind is discussed in terms of: its potential uses; how it addresses barriers to teaching and learning about family engagement and how it functions psychologically to promote the development of professional expertise. Each approach is also discussed in terms of its demands on instructors and candidates.

5.Significance

Implications of the two simulation forms are discussed in terms of teacher education curriculum reform and policy, research regarding the assessment of professional expertise, and theories of how people learn. Several outstanding questions are also addressed. Practically, what does it take to implement either simulation pedagogy? How might each kind of simulation supplement candidates’ clinical fieldwork? Empirically and theoretically: How real does a simulation have to be to have impact? Finally, what do we know about how either form of simulation transfers to student teaching and entry into the profession? A call for a common language and collective research activity among simulation users ends the presentation.

Author

• Joan Walker