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| Operating Principles: Some Key Findings for Enabling Group Learning |
We’ve identified some key concepts that place responsibility for interactive learning in the hands of participants and help them develop a more critical perspective. This methodology has a dual function. It is essential for establishing the trust and building the relationships that enable discussion of controversial or sensitive issues such as race and gender. It is also relevant as a broader learning theory in classrooms or forums in which race and gender are not center stage.
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| Sharing Power |
Participants play a major role
in defining the problems, selecting materials and designing the
learning process and outcomes. This changes the relationship among
the participants to each other and to those in “authority”.
Sharing power helps to disrupt habits about who is entitled to speak,
who has something to say, and what is acceptable.
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| Creative Experimentation and Active Learning |
| Participants explore problems using
various modes of engagement that reflect different learning styles
including discussion, role-plays, storytelling, and theater. New formats
encourage brainstorming and innovative problem solving. Participants
often plan group interactions within the classroom as well as group
projects tackling real world problems.
This form of experimentation requires intensive preparation, including
meeting with small groups of participants in advance. Student or
participant involvement in designing innovative formats is key.
It makes a huge difference to participant’s willingness to
take intellectual risks, to invest energy in the learning project,
to retain information long-term and to begin to innovate and problem-solve
creatively. Teacher-designed role-plays encourage active learning
but often do not have these community building or cascading effects.
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| Critical Reframing |
Participants brainstorm about
innovative frameworks for thinking about problems and are encouraged
to question things that they take for granted. Developing a "critical
perspective" means first understanding the assumptions and
values that underlie conventional approaches to controversial issues.
This shifts discussions away from polarized or zero-sum thinking
to stretch for new paradigms. Being critical also means expanding
the time frame and the scope for thinking about problems, by revisiting
conflict in subsequent sessions. The challenge is not so much to
resolve disagreement but to give participants resources to tackle
big issues of racial and social justice. To see these principles in action go to Law School Overview
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