Becoming Adaptive Experts:
Through a Learning Design Situated in Relevance, Problem-Solving, Reflection and Mentoring.

Action Research Cycle Two Report
Brent Hibbert
June 13, 2008


The Problem:

For eleven years my classroom teaching has been instructor driven in an assembly line environment. I teach a wide range of classes, from Horticulture to Welding, twelve different subjects total. I enjoy teaching and I’m passionate about it, but I have focused more on my students becoming “routine” experts instead of “adaptive experts”. I didn’t really understand the difference until I sought to change and improve my teaching practice. The starting point for understanding the importance of Adaptive Expertise, was reading Littkey’s book the “Big Picture”. This book, more than any other guided me in choosing an area of my teaching practice to improve.

There are several challenges to creating an Adaptive Expertise learning experience. One problem I have identified is time. Class periods are only 55 minutes. After subtracting the time it takes for students to dress down, clean up and then get back into their street clothes, 40 minutes of time remains to engage students in learning.

I find that my students have a hard time relating to school, and finding tangible value in what they are being taught. I need to create better ways to engage my students in the learning process and create situations where they want to be part of the creation of their own learning.

Each of these areas of concern contribute to the problem of “surface learning”. Each contributes to my tendency to “cover” the material and teach in an efficient manner instead of an effective manner. Students do not get the opportunity to become Adaptive Experts or to experience how experts learn, negotiate problems and reflect on their actions. If my students can become experts in one area (domain specific knowledge) then they should be able to transfer their experiences in expert learning to other areas and become Adaptive Experts or at least “Baby Adaptive Experts”.  

Research Question

Will creating student directed, problem-based, expert-guided experiences enable learners to create knowledge about how experts problem-solve, design, build and reflect?  Through these experiences will students be able to adapt their domain specific knowledge and become adaptive experts?

Purpose of my Action Research

The purpose of my project was to change my teaching practice and improve the learning experiences of my students. Each learner selected an individual project and each was also part of a group collaborative project. Students controlled what they investigated, experienced and learned within a four part “Expert Learning Framework” that I designed. The individual projects facilitated by the framework were a utility trailer, pickup bumper and a laminated recurve bow. The collaborative group project was designing and building duck and goose calls out of wood. Each student was mentored by experts and was able to observe the way experts do things, learn things, approach challenges, and reflect and improve. After this project, I want each learner to be able to adapt what they have learned to become adaptive experts in any area they want to pursue. Through this project, I have come to see myself as a “Learning Designer”.




My Actions, Outcomes and Reflections

During my second cycle, I refined the learning design I was creating that was necessary to place my students on a trajectory towards adaptive expertise. The core elements of my learning design that I took action on and measured outcomes of were:  

1.    Creating a Relevant, Real and Personal Learning Design
2.    Collaborating With Expert Mentors
3.    Designing Adaptive, Creative and Challenging Problem Solving Opportunities
4.    Model Reflective Thinking “in” Action and “on Action” and provide experiences for reflection.

I created a model of the elements of my design, which helped me to explain the core elements to other people and helped me to understand the connection between the elements.
 


Action 1: Creating a Relevant, Real and Personal Learning Design
Each student chose a design area that they were “passionate” about and that was relevant to them.  I found that their interest drove them to work hard. They worked hours beyond that school day, at home using SketchUp and creating designs using the portable wood lathe. They were willing to work towards an expert level.

During my second cycle, I spent more time with each student dialoging with them about their individual project. Each student’s project was truly a reflection of their life and their passions.

As a teacher and learner, I have always enjoyed building projects and I have always assumed that my students have enjoyed it at the same level I have. During my Action Research I have allowed my students the full rein to choose which direction they wanted to go with their projects.  This was hard for me at first because I have always been the one directing the classroom in what I thought was relevant.  I have learned that the kinds of projects I think are relevant for 16 year old learners may not be so relevant to them. The projects I used to have them work on are “Real” but possibly not “Real” for them.  Empowering my students to dictate the direction they want to take their learning has given them the power to select and build project that are truly relevant to them. I need to continually reflect and evaluate where I am standing and where I should be standing in the learning process with my students.  I need to listen more to the group as a whole and to each individual in the class.  

In “The Big Picture” Dennis Littky said “When it’s real work, kids do it-no matter what the subject”, he also said “…the work that is done in schools looks like real work, but is not real enough…schools work really hard to make lessons that look and feel real, when all the while, the real world is going on outside..” (Grabelle & Littky, 2004,  p. 112).

One of the learners made an interesting statement, “I had no idea that there was so much involved in making a duck call, I can’t believe how much I have learned”.  What a wonderful thing to discover. It is so interesting that these three boys are some of the brightest young men I have ever taught, yet they struggle with their classroom classes at school.  

When I started this new learning design format at the first of the year and I didn’t fully grasp what I wanted to do, or where I would be going.  Through my reading and daily interactions with my students, and then reflecting on what I was doing and the outcomes of those actions, I have come to see the importance of my students projects being Real, Relevant and Personal for each student for them to be excited and put their energy and time into their project.  Learning occurs when an action is involved, and I definitely have experienced that with my own learning through this process.  

Brandon’s, life revolves around fishing and hunting, so for him to pick a recurve bow to design and build is very relevant to his life. He will be able to use the bow often.  It also opens up possibilities for him for future enterpenturial opportunities.  Building this bow allows him to use his hands in the process of building, and has given him a sense of pride in his work, which he has been able to share with others.  He shares in his blog, “I have been thinking of what to work on and I have decided that a compound bow would fit my choice. In making a bow I would better understand how well a bow is made in the future if I’m going to buy one. Not to forget the millions of small things I would learn and enjoy when creating and researching this topic”. Brandon also could see from the start that he would be able to use what he learned from this project in other areas of his life. He said in his blog, “We will we be researching our project and figuring out ways to use other subjects in learning…”.

Brandon, spent the most time in researching and in selecting his project. “I have been reading and taking the best things from all bows and trying to apply them to mine” (Brandon, blog entry).  I think much of that is because of his background and his family life.  Brandon’s parents have always been very supportive in him developing his creativity.  With the help of his parents, Brandon selected a project that was meaningful and one that he had dreamed of building.  Another aspect of building his bow, was that Brandon was able to put some personal touches on his bow, making it a “one of a kind creation”.   

Brandon’s project of making a wood laminate three piece wood bow has been real from its conception.  Brandon is an avid hunter and he uses a bow to hunt game about eight months of the year.  For Brandon to make a tool he can use most of the year and possibly harvest an animal with, is about as real as it gets.  Throughout the process of him designing, problem solving and building the bow, Brandon’s hands have been working the wood and creating a piece of art work as well as a functional tool.
 

Brian does a lot of outdoor activities like riding four wheelers, snowmobiling and fishing.  For him to build a trailer is meaningful to him at this time in his life because he wants a trailer he can use.  It is relevant to him because he enjoys building and designing.

Brian was a beginning welder at the first of the year when he came up with the idea to make a utility trailer. This was the first design he had to create himself. He didn’t use an existing plan set, instead he looked at a lot of different types of designs and used them as a reference, along with his knowledge and the knowledge of his mentor, to design a trailer unique to his needs. As he built the trailer, he also came to a better understanding of what he needed to know and learn to complete it so it met his expectation and state safety standards. Brian has had to develop his welding skills and learn different welding processes for him to complete his utility trailer.  Learning more advanced welding techniques helped him create a greater understanding and knowledge about welding and its process.  Welding each day with the goal of using what he was doing, to work on his trailer helped him advance his skills and adapt his knowledge.

Brian, had wanted to build a utility trailer for a few years, so selecting a project that was personal to him was very easy.  The hard part was talking his father into letting him build it.  There were a few hang ups there because of quality, design and time issues his father was concerned about.  
 

Trent is involved in several sports teams and is also an avid outdoorsman.  He enjoys welding and working on his truck. Trent seemed to struggle with finding a project to build.  I think there were so many choices, and the possibilities were endless, so it was a long process selecting only one. I helped him brainstorm about projects. He chose to build a rear bumper for his pick-up so he could design and build something fun and useful that he would use daily.  He wants to build something unique but functional.  Each time he walks by his truck he can see the real need and usefulness of a newer, stronger bumper.  Trent has struggled with school in the past, because when he gets done with school and goes home he can’t seem to make the connection with what happened at school and with what is going on outside. Trent has a personal interest in his project because it is one he can find a personal connection to and need for, he also can see the direct use and benefit of a stronger bumper.  He is also excited to work with people in the community on his project.  “This should be a pretty cool projects because we will have to find and work with people in the community that we have never met before people like engineers and such..” (Trent, blog entry).

Brandon and Brian’s projects seemed to come easy to them, Trent spent the same amount of time selecting his project, but he seemed to struggle finding just the right project.  I see the difference in my students in that Trent was involved in sports in the fall and the other two boys weren’t.  I see that as being a distraction for Trent in his selecting a project because he knew he would be gone a lot from class and would have even more limited time.  Trent also has a girl friend and the other two boys don’t, so I think that played a part in it also because he spent time after school with her, and the other boys spent a lot of time after school working on their projects. Looking back, maybe I could have encouraged him to choose a project that he could involve her in, so he wouldn’t feel divided between time spent with her and working towards expertise with his project.

The circumstances that surround my students I have no control of, but by giving more feedback and listening to Trent I think I could have helped him with this selection process better.  I also think that we as a group should have sat down and discussed each other’s projects and what would be involved and the outcomes.
 
We also had a group project that the students and I selected and then collaboratively planned. This project was to design and build water fowl (duck & goose) calls.  This was a very exciting project from the start for my students.  They all hunt ducks so this project was very real and personal to them. After they built their calls they would be able to use them while hunting.  I am not a water fowl hunter but all three students were so excited about building calls so even though the “finished product” wasn’t really relevant to me the “process” was. I knew that their excitement would be a springboard towards adaptive expertise.

A significant measure of the relevance of this project, is that the learners would take home my small portable wood lathe to create projects on. Each would take turns having the lathe at their home. Usually they would have it for two to three days, and then another learner would take it to his house. Sometimes two of them would get together and work on a call. Brian even took the opportunity to teach his little brother to use the lathe, and turn his own duck call.

Normally, it might take a group longer to select a project to do collaboratively but these boys selected one in less than fifteen minutes. The reason that this happened was because they all have similar interests in hunting.  Next time I do a collaborative group project I am sure this will not happen as smoothly, because the dynamics of classes do not usually mesh as good as this group did. It will continue to be a challenge for me to help my students open up and find possibilities find a consensus on group projects.  I need to make sure each student can find a personal connection with the project to their life while it reflects the focus of the class.   I think this in an area I need to be careful with because students young and old generally are influenced greatly by their teachers.  Students are always trying to please the teacher, so they want to do what the teacher thinks is “right”, and many times this stifles creativity.  I need to be very aware of this in the future with my teaching because it is so easy for me to try and direct my student’s projects into areas that interest me.  
Throughout my master’s program I have experienced professors with opposite views on helping students learn and be creative.  One view is to show past work of other students to give the students a range of ideas to start from and what the expectation of the assignment is.  The other view is to not show any work or projects that previous students have done so as to leave the chalk board blank, so the students are not limited by what others have done previously.  I have tried both ways this year and I think for a student to learn to become creative they need to have a foundation of experience to draw upon before they can start to adapt their knowledge or expertise into other areas.  They also need to build confidence through this process of trying new ideas, without the possibility of unwanted criticism while they are learning.   

One of the problems I have stated with my teaching practice in the past has been focusing on the end project and not the process of learning.  Going through the process of my Action Research Project has been the greatest “Real” learning experience of my life.  I have experienced “Real” learning first hand and what benefits can come from it.  For the first time I have been able to take home and implement what I am learning in my online classes to my work place. Most of my OMET projects are not “busy work”. I can choose a way to meet the requirements of a course that are real and relevant to my needs.

Another aspect I have found is even when I am working on a project that has not been specific to my area of interest, as long as it is “Real” and it can and will be used in a class setting, I am much more willing to work and participate on those projects.  In the past teachers always have you working on some project they say could be real, in some time, place or situation.  When I hear that the project you will be working on won’t be used or implemented I emotionally check out, and don’t put the effort into the project like I do with others that are real.   One of the exciting results from me changing my practice is that I personally can see a change in myself in my interest and excitement level.  This is because I can see the direct correlation to what I am doing, to what the results are in myself and my students.   

Action 2: Collaborating With Expert Mentors

Proven experts do things differently than other people. They look at problems differently and can model adaptive problem solving for their mentees.  I connected my students with expert mentors willing to teach and spend time with the learners.  The mentors also provided feedback to the learners.

My students and I worked during the second cycle to build relationships with each of their mentors.  

Brandon’s mentor was Jeff. Jeff is a proven expert bow maker. He was willing to share his knowledge with Brandon. He was willing to spend time to teach and mentor Brandon. Brandon spent about 50 hours building his bow and he did it all on his own time, outside of class. He spent about 10 hours in the design of it. Brandon did a lot of research on his own, on the style of bow and wood he wanted to use. His dad helped him in this too.  Brandon talks a lot about Jeff in his blog and how much of an asset he was through the process, and how much time he spent interacting with him while designing and building his bow.

I introduced Brandon to another expert, Clyde, who was a wood worker who had more expertise in the best way to cut the angles on his riser. I helped Brandon figure the angle of the “risers” of his bow. The method that Jeff uses involved a bandsaw which is a way to cut it if you’ve done it a lot, but  as it was Brandon’s first time cutting a bow, he wanted to do it in a more exact way. He was able to work with Clyde in this process.
 
Brian wanted to have me mentor him because of my knowledge in building trailers.  I have been building trailers for about 12 years now and I have been involved in making about 25 trailers of different sizes and shapes.  I also have welded for about 18 years and understand how trailers need to be built to be structurally sound when finished.  Brian and I spent many hours working on different design ideas and the pros and cons of each way.   I would also talk with him daily about his progress in his designs and many nights we would talk using skype about his ideas and which ideas he wanted to use.  I would suggest different sites and local places to look at trailer when he would get stumped on a part of his trailer and how to design it.  Brian didn’t write anything about his mentoring experience with me helping him with building his trailer.


Trent’s mentor ended up with job problems and moved out of state, so we had to locate a new expert in that field for him to work with.  We had a hard time but we finally found a man in the community that is an expert metal fabricator and has built chassis and off road vehicles most of his life.  He was very excited about the opportunity to mentor one of my students and share what he could with him.  Charlie has also been very positive about all of my student’s projects and the schools program.

Group Project, duck calls,
I have from time to time I have asked help from my friends in designing and building projects that they had more knowledge about.  I looked in our community to find a call maker to help my students with designing and the building of their calls, and could not find one.  I did find a wood turner (Clyde) who makes wooden bowls and other items on his wood lathe.  He helped my students learn safe practices when using the wood lathe and table saw.  Clyde is a very soft-spoken man with a passion for woodworking.  He shared his love for wood working through his help with their projects.  He was very willing to help them with all of their projects from Brandon’s wooden bow to the duck calls they were making.  One of the great lessons learned by my students was when a mistake was made with a tool or with a piece of wood, Clyde never got too worried about it.  His only concern was for the safety of the students.  Many times things went wrong when the boys were learning how to use the equipment and a piece of hardwood was ruined.  It was interesting to watch this process because each time it would happen the boys would brace themselves to get reprimanded.  Clyde never raised his voice or got upset or says a bad word, except for how they could prevent it the next time.  The boys quickly gained confidence and they also realized that in the end the only thing that mattered was to learn and to enjoy what you are doing, and enjoy it while you are doing it.  

Our next step was to find an expert call maker, so the students and I researched on the internet to find the best call makers in the business and we were able to find several and I emailed them about what we were planning to do, and if they had many suggestions on the best way to precede.  What was very interesting was that I emailed four of the top call makers in the United States and they all emailed me back within eight hours.  I found that to be very exciting and their responses were very positive and supportive of what we wanted to do.  The one call maker who has made more calls that have won world championships than any other had a very interesting reply when he emailed me back.  One of his big concerns was that my students didn’t just make a nice looking piece of wood, but that they should strive to become experts and learn all about how calls worked and why they worked the way they do.  The following is an excerpt from the email I got back from Expert Call Maker #1.

“Sounds like a worthy project.
 
With my next comment please understand that it is coming from my love of the sport and my firm belief that quality functional instruments and meaningful instruction are the keys to become a good waterfowl caller. I would only caution that there are enough "junk calls" already out there and to add to the problem these cause the average waterfowler in his quest to become a better caller should not be the only goal of the students. Strive for quality...not in looks...but in functionality. A "good looking" call has never called a single duck to decoys. It always has been and always will be the interface of a functional call and meaningful instruction that allows the waterfowler to bring those ducks down from the sky and properly position them for identification and clean harvest.
 
I fully understand the need to learn the skills needed to turn and finish a barrel and insert blank on a lathe. I would suggest you do not stop there. Delve into the physics of what causes sounds to occur and the dynamics of the reed/sounding surface relationship. The better one can understand the complexities of the sounds a functional call should be able to produce the better one can work to achieve these results. Hit and miss, hack and whittle and maybe getting lucky once isn't the answer in the long run. Strive to be able to identify and then control all the variables. Learn what a single change will affect in terms of composite sound output before moving on to make other changes. Don't be afraid to "think outside the box". Don't fall into the trap of just trying to copy someone else's call.
 
Sorry for the diatribe but I really think "quality" goes far beyond just Turing wood and making a beautiful looking call.”      Expert Call Maker #1

I also had two other call makers we corresponded with numerous times during the process of designing and building the calls.  One interesting thing was most of the time when I or the students would email one of these experts we would have a hard time because we didn’t even know the enough to ask the right question to ask to get the answer we needed.  Because we were “baby adaptive” experts we weren’t sure of what we needed to know.This went on for months as we correspond back and forth, and finally my students made a finished project, their first duck call.  They were so proud and excited about their accomplishment in finishing it.  

“They are all very different and unique” (Brian, blog entry).

“I have been having a lot of fun with these duck calls, learning a lot too. It was pretty cool when Brian got his to work the other day even though it was not completely finished yet”, “I have completed my first duck call, at first I was not so happy with it but then it…started to grow on me, and it is not to bad for my first attempt”, “I finally made my first pretty well crafted duck call. The barrel is made out of cocobola and the stopper is made of ebony and I think it looks pretty cool” (Trent, blog entry)

“This is my first complete duck call that I have made. To accent the call I soldered a flat piece of brass together and made a collar. Hopefully on my next one I will have a better and more innovated way of making the accent collar…” (Brandon, blog entry)

We also bought a book on how to build duck calls By Ed Glenn & Greg Keats “TURNING CUSTOM DUCK AND GAME CALLS”.  This book was a great asset to my students in designing and figuring out how to make and build certain aspects of the call.  If they couldn’t find the answer of how to do something we would brainstorm ideas, or email one of the online mentors or ask one of their local mentors.  

One of the first steps in this process was to build several metal mandrels to put the wood on to turn them in the wood lathe.  We needed an expert metal machinist so we went and asked a local man (Glen) and he was more then willing to help them with whatever they needed to build.  They spent many hours over at Glen’s shop designing and building the parts and pieces to build their calls.   

Several times the boys would say they couldn’t believe how nice, and how willing the experts were in helping them in any way they needed.  Through building these projects these boys built relationship with their mentors, which also helped them created a larger learning community for themselves and the mentors.  

Giving my students the opportunity to select any project to build was a bit uncomfortable for me. In the past I have had some experience in building the projects that my students have built, so I have had some knowledge about the process.  When Brian wanted to build a trailer and Trent wanted to build a bumper I was very comfortable with those processes.  But when Brandon wanted to build a wooden bow I really didn’t know how to react because I had no back ground in that area and I didn’t know where to start. When my students came up with the idea to build wooden duck calls, I was very excited, but a little uneasy about it inside because I didn’t have any knowledge about using a wood lathe or building calls.  

I did almost all of the research in finding mentors except for Brandon with his bow project.  I attribute this to my old habits as a teacher in doing all the research and preparation so I have things ready for class so we could get through the material because the time is too short each day.  In the future I will spend more time in helping to set up a situation for each student to go out and research and find their own mentor, with my guidance and support.  I think they will have more of a sense of ownership if they were to do this.  It took my students most of the class to get the comfortable in asking their mentors questions and have good discussions with them.  I would like to see my students start building a learning relationship much earlier so the student will feel more comfortable and their minds will be more open to learning.

I spent quite a bit of time with several of the mentors discussing what the students were doing and what they needed and how we could design a good learning experience for them.  Each mentor was very receptive in having me discuss their projects with them.  They seemed to enjoy it more and more as the year went on. I think that was because they were able to reflect on what they and the students were doing and why things were happening the way they were.  They also seemed to gain a renewed interest or excitement for what they were doing, which showed up in the mentoring they did with the students.  

I think the mentors got as much out of this experience as the kids did.  Building relationships between the mentors and the students was a two-way street.  Both benefited immensely and both will benefit from this experience and relationship in the future.

Action 3. Designing Adaptive, Creative and Challenging Problem Solving Opportunities

One of my goals was to provide opportunities for learners to think in ways characteristic of experts. To do this, I designed activities where they had to think analytically, creatively and practically. These activities gave them the opportunity to activate prior knowledge and to apply it flexibly to meet changing demands. They also worked collaboratively and individually to design and build projects and to solve problems. They used SketchUp to plan their projects and to explore different design solutions.

My students began learning how to use SketchUp, which is a free 3D drafting program offered by Google.  My students were able to learn how to draw layouts and plans for their projects using this technology.  Having the ability to draw their projects in 3D and then being able to edit them easily and quickly, and email them to me for feedback enabled them to see their projects built and what they would look like before they actually made it. They could work through any design problems before they started physically building or manufacturing.  SketchUp also gave them the freedom to build multiple drawings in a short time, and be able to see the different possibilities of what their project could become.

One thing that was effective with SketchUp is it was a challenge to learn to use it but it is intuitive enough that students could design basic sketches without in depth knowledge of the program itself. It lends itself to an exploratory style of learning. The designers of SketchUp believe that placing a free, intitutive program in the hands of millions is better than having an expert few use 3D modeling and CAD programs to design a few things.

I should have set a specific amount of time aside each week to work on SketchUp so they would develop a deeper understanding of the process of design.  I would also have them take their drawings to their mentors for evaluation and feedback before they started building.  I had planned on having my students enter some of their drawings into the weekly contest SketchUp has, but that plan never surfaced because of a conflict with the class I was offering and my students’ school schedules.  

Brandon is a very creative individual to start with. He is surrounded by a culture of expertise. His parents and brother are creative entrepreneurs and well-known in their field.  When Brandon decided to build a recurve bow out of wood, he spent many hours researching what material to use, what it could look like and how to actually build it.  His parents would tell me he would be doing research on the computer really late each night trying to figure out what would be the best process to use.  Brandon was able to avoid many of the problems in building a bow for the first time because of his mentor.  Jeff helped him work through different issues Brandon would have.  He also would question Brandon to really think about the process and not just tell him the answers to problems, so he would think about how it all connected.  Many of the skills Brandon learned in building his bow he was able to adapt and transfer them to use in designing and building his duck calls.  He would tell me that it was an enlightening experience for him to realize those connections.  Brandon also told me that building his bow was a very long and tedious process, but that it was one of his greatest learning experiences.  He learned more from that and from building the duck calls then most all of the classes he had ever taken.  

For one duck call project, Brandon wanted to put a brass collar on his call. Probably about half of the duck calls made have a brass accented collar.  He hadn’t ever put brass on a call and he hadn’t seen it done. Collars that you buy are round and preformed and ready to apply. Brandon didn’t have immediate access to a preformed collar but he found a flat piece of brass at his house and he cut a strip of it off and formed it around a pipe to create a collar and soldered the ends together to manufacture his own collar. At the end of this process he could see a lot of room for improvement and had ideas for how to do it better next time. He had learned how to solder copper and steel at school and knew some basic metal manufacturing techniques. He was able to adapt his knowledge to a new challenge and to innovate when needed.

Brian spent a lot of time designing his trailer on SketchUp and working out the details of how it should be built.  Going through the process of designing his trailer on SketchUp really helped Brian understand the process it would take to build it. It also helped him work through some of the design problems he was facing.  He also was able to utilize what he was learning from the different mentors involved in the different projects, especially the point that there was always multiple ways to do things.  This opened up possibilities that he had never had before at looking for solutions to problems.  

The first problem Brian faced was the welding teacher did not believe he could build a trailer and did not want him to build it or help him build it. I talked with Brian about strategies to enroll the teacher in his project and he was able to start building the project. As the project proceeded Brian was unable to follow his design plans because the teacher had different ideas for his project and Brian had to build it the way the teacher wanted it built. He was afraid to stand up to the teacher because then the teacher would not have let him even work on the trailer. This happened because the teacher is from the old school and since he is the teacher he has all the knowledge and there is only one right way to do things. This experience was frustrating for Brian and we talked about different ways to enroll the teacher in Brian’s design plan, but none of the strategies worked.

Brian also spent a tremendous amount of time designing and building duck calls and working on perfecting his practice.  He really enjoys working with his hands in building projects and he can see how math is useful in everything he builds, but when he goes to school and sits in math class he has a hard time making the connection with the outside world.  Brian made the following statement in his blog “I have a hard time learning…reading out of a book…getting out of class and visualizing what I am going to build is how I learn best”.  It goes back to the point that there must be an action involved for learning to occur.  

Brian moved towards adaptive expertise by innovating. He took angora goat horn that didn’t have the right structure or shape to make a call in the way that he had been making them (out of square pieces of wood). The horn was also soft and layered and of a different structure than wood.  After he turned the horn on the lathe, the horn would dry and change from its turned shape. This caused fitting problems. This also caused different sound problems. He talked with me about it and we came up with strategies for how to address these problems. In the end, the call was shorter than most calls. He learned the shapes make a difference in the sound quality and volume.  He was able to adapt his knowledge from making wood calls, to making a call from a different material.

Brian told me one day that his math class had been making more sense since he started working with Glen machining the mandrels for building the duck calls.  He also asked me why they didn’t teach math that they could use outside of school.  

The hardest part of Trent’s bumper project has been in the designing of it, he has struggled with it for about six months.  I don’t know why it has been such a struggle for him.  Time has been the main issue. The opportunity or the pressure to make all of his own decisions might also be a factor.  Many times he asks me what to do and I keep putting it back on him for the answers.  This is very different from all of my teaching in the past because I would always just tell him the answers, because of time limitations.  Now I see that learning is of greater importance than the end product.

One of my greatest realizations from my action research is that I now understand that it is not about the end product so much as it is in the journey to get there.  Learning occurs on the path, not in the arriving.  Bereiter & Scardamalia talk about this in Surpassing Ourselves, “It is the size of steps within the mind of the expert that we are talking about, not the size of steps as manifested in the resulting object” (1993, p. 143).  For the first time in twelve years of teaching I have focused on my students learning and how to improve the process, instead of the end product.  The interesting part of it is that my students’ end products are the highest quality that has ever come out of my program at school.  When I focused on creating learning experiences, high quality projects followed.

Action 4:  Model Reflective Thinking “in” Action and “on Action” and provide experiences for reflection.”

Reflection is the key to becoming an adaptive expert.  Experts reflect “in” action and reflect “on” their action.  I modeled reflective thinking and encouraged my students to reflect before, during and after  tasks.  This encouraged them to make assessments and adjustments while they worked and to make revisions afterwards. They created a personal blog to share their projects and reflections.

I wasn’t sure how Brandon would approach designing and writing in his blog about what he was learning.  The interesting part was he put the most effort into the project and had the best site because he had a variety of pictures and detailed information about what was going on in the pictures.   He also discussed throughout his blog how he wanted to build his bow, and what he was actually doing.  He ended up with a total of  twenty-two posts in his blog and eleven pictures of building his bow and duck call.  The more he wrote and posted pictures the more he could connect all the steps in making his bow and his duck calls.  Brandon enjoyed blogging more than the other learners, partially because he has a greater understanding of language arts.  He did spend most of his time describing his process and not why he was doing it or what he was thinking when he was going through it.  Much of this is probably my fault in not making the connection with each student, of the importance of meta-cognitive thinking.   

Brian’s blog was very short, he seemed to be excited at first but nothing materialized. He only posted six times throughout the whole year, and one picture.  Brian loves to work with his hands building projects, he mentions in his blog that “I have a hard time reading out of a book”. Brian related to me also that writing is just as hard as reading school books.  The interesting part is that Brian does read a lot of hunting magazines and books.  That shows me that it all has to do with his interest level in what he is doing.  Brian built some of the most beautiful duck calls this year, and he is on his way to building a business making and selling them.  The interest and passion is there, but somehow traditional school thoughts about writing have cluttered his mind.  I think the more I could get him to write about his experiences in designing and building he would become more interested and start to enjoy reading and writing more.  It just has to be relevant to him or he will never put any effort into it.  

Trent had twenty posts in his blog, and four pictures.  He gave some good information about what he wanted to do, but struggled following through with his ideas until the end of the class.  

I need to spend more time at the beginning of the class and through out the class, discussing why reflecting in their blogs is important in the reflection process and how it can benefit them in the future.  I am always trying to get them to write more and reflect, the interesting thing is I am just learning for myself and I am expecting my students to understand at my level of understanding.  I do think next time these boys take a class they will have a greater understanding of the benefits of reflecting on what you are learning.  Group discussions and reflecting on their projects through the year helped with their understanding of each project but that didn’t transfer to writing in their blogs.  I was really struggling at the end of my first cycle with my students not writing and I was discussing this in my learning circle and one of my group members suggested that I should have the post pictures of what they were doing and then write on what was going on in the picture.  I focused on getting them to post pictures for that next few weeks, but Brian and Trent still didn’t see the benefit of doing it.  Trent is so busy I think he just didn’t ever have time, and Brian really struggles with his English classes at school and that seems to transfer over into writing in his blog, even though it is all about him and his project.  If I had spent more time with each of them individually working on what the benefits of reflecting are I think they would have made greater strides in their writing.  Time is such a factor, it is so hard to fit everything I need to into a 45 minute slot to teach in.  

Growing up I had a similar experience to Brian with writing. The more I was able to write about things in my life that were exciting and that I was passionate about the more I enjoyed writing. I had never taken the time to reflect on my experiences before I started my OMET experience.  At first I didn’t completely understand the importance writing down my experiences and then reflecting about them.  As the year progressed and I would go back and read my past experiences I could start making more and more connections to how I was changing my practice and if what I was doing was working or if I needed to reassess my practice and try something different.  Through reflecting in my learning circle and in my blog I have come to see the importance of it as part of the complete process of learning and gaining new knowledge.  

Written reflections are important but I found that dialoguing in with my learners was equally, if not more vital to the process of becoming adaptive experts. I modeled reflective thinking and talking during each class. We talked before we worked, during, and after. Talking out loud about what we were doing is something I have never done as a teacher before. Talking out loud collaboratively helped us see things in new ways and develop different problem solving strategies. Listening to mentors talk out loud as they worked helped students to see how experts look at problems in different ways.  Talking out loud makes the thought process more visible. If students just watch an expert do something, and don’t observe the reflecting “in action” that is happening, they miss out on much of the strategies the expert utilizes.  

One of our experts, while turning mandrels talked out lout and modeled his problem solving strategies as he worked through the process of building the mandrels. When talking about this with the learners, they recognized how he did things differently than their other machinist mentor. They felt in some ways he was more accurate in his designs and they could recognize this in part because of the way he reflected “in action” and “on his action”. When measuring the mandrels he made, his mandrels were very accurate.

I was talking to one of the Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) Officers one day about my action research project and how I was trying to change my practice.  During our visit I told him about the projects my students had been involved in designing and building over this past year.  He was very interested and excited to see what they had done.  He writes articles for a IDFG magazine and he wanted to write one about my students and their projects, so he came over on day and interviewed my students about their projects and what all had been involved in making them, and what they had learned.  He was very interested in the Duck Calls and the Recurve Bow Brandon made because of the IDFG involvement in managing wildlife and passing ethical hunting traditions on to the next generation. He took several pictures, and he is writing an article that will be published in the Fall of 2008, in the Idaho Game Warden Magazine.  My students are very excited that other adults besides me and their mentors are so interested and excited in what they are doing and building.  We talked about this in class several times and the learners told me that it really made them feel that they are a valued part of the community, and that they had something to offer.

Summary of Adaptive Expertise Survey

To gain an better understanding of where my students are in relation to the goal of Becoming Adaptive Experts, I adapted a survey from a conference report presented at the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference by  Fisher and Peterson (Appendix 1). This survey provides insight into multiple perspectives, metacognition, goals and beliefs, and epistemology which are qualities of adaptiveness.  I only have three learners involved in my project, so the purpose of the survey was to guide me in understanding my learners and in improving my practice instead of scientifically measuring the student’s qualities.