campusreview.com.au
Research conducted by the late Dr Erminio Costa, a former director
of the UIC Psychiatric Institute, discovered that the effects of social
isolation, namely anxiety, aggression and memory impairment,
come about as a result of altered levels of an enzyme that controls
the production of a brain hormone that acts to reduce stress.
In fact, when stress occurs, rationalisation is turned down, along
with learning and memory. According to the Australian Spinal
Research Foundation, chronic stress affects memory retention:
“When we are chronically stressed, the electrical signals in the brain
associated with memories weaken, whilst the areas in the brain
associated with emotions strengthen.” Stress also leads to lower
levels of dopamine in the body, resulting in a lack of enthusiasm
and motivation. In fact, “neuroscientists have measured that stress
measurably shrinks your brain”.
As Donato and McCormick found in their study, ‘A Sociocultural
Perspective on Language Learning Strategies: The Role of
Mediation’, “social interaction is viewed as a prerequisite for the
growth and development of cognition”, resulting in sociocultural
factors being seen to be intertwined with mental function. Further,
connectedness is shown to improve overall mental health – a
precondition for successful learning.
Author and academic Dr Emma Seppala, from Stanford
University, found that people “who feel more connected have
lower levels of anxiety and depression”.
“Moreover, studies show they also have higher self-esteem,
greater empathy for others, are more trusting and cooperative
and, as a consequence, others are more open to trusting and
cooperating with them. In other words, social connectedness
generates a positive feedback loop of social, emotional and
physical wellbeing.”
Therefore, research is now clear that nurturing connectedness
in real time face-to-face encounters promotes positive mental
health and improves educational outcomes.
ADDRESSING ISOLATION IN THE CLASSROOM
Apart from restricting access to social media and developing a
disciplined and thoughtful approach to media use, a proactive
approach to learning is needed to address an apparent cognitive
deficit associated with isolation.
Many schools have wellness and chaplaincy programs that
address the mental health of students. However, there is the
potential for a “whole school pedagogical approach” that utilises
the classroom as a space of learning through connectedness.
In the common classroom experience, many students have little
or no engagement in the learning process, which only serves to
exacerbate feelings of isolation and lead to the kind of anxiety and
depression that adversely effects learning outcomes. Therefore,
it is suggested that collaborative-based learning is a pedagogy
that effectively responds to student isolation and its effects, as
it validates the importance of connectedness through personal
dialogue and the exploration of ideas.
Further, through group discussion, an exchange of ideas takes
place in which pathways to meaning are constructed through a
creative process of dialogue and discovery based on research,
which leads to the collaborative sharing of ideas.
In addition, with collaborative learning, development takes place
among fellow students and is encouraged and validated by peers.
Students, therefore, shift their paradigm away from the teacher
and student dynamic to a collegial student with student dynamic,
Technology
with the teacher as guide, coach, group facilitator and encourager.
In this learning environment, learning in isolation is replaced by
a collaborative learning process of mutual encouragement and
shared goals. Therefore, learning ceases to take place among other
students, but is facilitated primarily with other students.
Therefore, we can conclude that collaborative learning includes
many of the social processes that diminish the effects of isolation
and enhance the kind of connectedness that engages students in
positive experiences of learning.
According to Dr Lin Lin from the University of North Texas,
collaborative learning (CL) “recognises the importance of team
building and contains regular self-evaluation, and the emerging
cohesiveness in CL classrooms is also a function of the special
dynamics of the CL process. Furthermore, students are able to
control and organise their own learning”. In so doing, there is greater
learning buy-in and, consequently, ownership of learning outcomes.
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING AND ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Collaborative learning serves to connect students together
in a mutual learning relationship that responds to the issues
associated with isolation and opens the door to a dialogue that
promotes higher order thinking.
In fact, through collaborative investigations and dialogue,
participants explore ideas and develop understandings as
they negotiate their response to the essential questions of the
topic. It amounts to a learning environment that assumes that
while knowledge is fundamental, understanding is premium.
Understanding that demonstrates higher order thinking arises in
the process of seeking to answer essential questions.
Conversely, a coverage of information, for the purpose of
imparting knowledge only, does not engage students in the learning
process, nor does it provide them with the necessary tools and skills
required for the complexities and depth of higher order thinking.
Such an approach skills students to look for information and recall
it, but does not enable them to understand its implications, give
application to different contexts, facilitate creative thinking, solve
complex problems or respond to unforeseen circumstances.
Alternatively, understanding, sought in the context of collaborative
learning, is hard earned in a process and exchange of dialogue
that thoughtfully explores ideas in an environment that disbands
isolation, and its accompanying inhibitors to learning, and creates
the kind of social learning environment that engages students.
Teachers initiate this process through carefully designing
assessments that ask for every student in each group to contribute
to the final outcome. They also manage the groups to ensure that
all students are buying into the process and following the school’s
procedures for compliance and consequences. The robustness
of this process has the potential to clear the way for students to
respond to essential questions and gain the kind of insight that can
be transferred between topics and across the curriculum.
Indeed, throughout this process, skills are acquired that
develop the student’s ability to grasp concepts, create insights,
be perceptive within a context, formulate solutions, respond
constructively to unforeseen circumstances, and explore ideas
and issues while developing constructive and engaging learning
relationships. ■
John Lewis is the academic coordinator at Prescott College in
Adelaide and has a PhD from the University of New England.
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