Learning Resources that Challenge and Engage
This resources section of the Hub is focused on ideas that facilitate student learning. The range of ideas, resources and tools explicitly involve challenge, self-efficacy and collaborative growth. Attempting lessons based on these ideas should provide concrete actions linked to your vision of creating learners who are resilient, embrace challenge and able to take ownership of their learning.
All of the lesson plans and supporting resources can be used with your students in classrooms or remotely. We encourage you to try out the lesson ideas, not just once but a few times. Keep coming back to the same lesson resources, adapt them to suit your own practice, context or current affairs, and build the ideas into something personal and practical for you.
Check out the Action Learning section of the Hub too. In addition to the resources here, the action learning page encourages you to share your actions – and resources – with colleagues, so you can have a go at something new together!
The Learning Pit: A Model for Challenge
In Flinders Community of Schools we believe that students should be empowered to learn through challenge and a culture of collaborative growth. The Learning Pit is one of the models we use to describe the process of learning through challenge.
The Learning Pit works on the principle that learning is a positive struggle. Its’ purpose is to reassure, so that learners can take comfort from knowing that challenge is a normal part of the learning process.
The Learning Pit model helps students develop self efficacy; become more resilient, examine and learn from mistakes, be curious, and develop a language for learning.
Introducing the Learning Pit model to your students helps create a shared language of learning in your classroom and provides the very best opportunity for your learners to grow – in knowledge, skills and attitudes.
Try this with your students:
- Explain to your students what the Learning Pit model means.
- Ask your students:
- What is it like when you learn something new in school?
- Can you think of a time when you had to struggle?
- What do you do when the learning gets hard?
- What did you do to work through the difficulty?
- What do you say to yourself?
- What can we say to help each other?
- What would you do next time something is difficult?
- How might the Learning Pit help?
- Encourage your students to create posters with their own designs for the Learning Pit, showing what positive struggle is like for them. For example, rather than saying “I can’t”, you can say “I can’t do it…yet!”
- Share your students’ Learning Pit designs on Twitter using #LearningPit and follow @TheLearningPit @ChallengeLearn
We will update this site with the new lesson resources regularly, as a preview or follow-up to Challenging Learning workshops, ensuring that each resource helps you towards your vision … so do keep checking back, as we will be adding more ideas and further resources!
You could also let us know what you’ve been trying with your students – we’d be happy to add your lesson ideas on to the Learning Hub too!