Workbook - Approaches To Learning (MYP Workshop Category 3)

Approaches to
learning (MYP
Workshop Category
3), Category 3
Workshop
Col. la Paz Puebla, Mexico

10 - 12 January 2019
Language of delivery: English

Facilitator/s: Lisa Rhoads
www.ibo.org/programmes/pd
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Mission statement
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable

and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful
world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and

international organizations to develop challenging programmes of
international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active,

compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people,
with their differences, can also be right.
Workbook Contents
IBMYP ATL Continuum DOC 2013............................................................................................6
Resource: ATL planning chart.................................................................................................16
ATL template............................................................................................................................18
ATL DP 11-13..........................................................................................................................19
Cropley, Arthur J (2001). Creativity in Education and Learning. RoutledgeFalmer. 1
38-143......................................................................................................................................22
HMIE. 2006. "Emerging Good Practice in Promoting Creativity." HMIe - Improving Sco
ttish Education. HMIe. Pp 1-21................................................................................................29
Bickley, M and Carleton, J. 2009. Students without borders. Learning and leading w
ith technology. Vol 37, number 3. Pp 20-23. Available from: http://www.learningan
dleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200911?pg=22#pg22...................................................50
ATL research L.King................................................................................................................54
Approaches to learning (ATL) across the IB continuum
Through approaches to learning in IB programmes, students develop skills that have relevance across the
curriculum that help them “learn how to learn”. Approaches to learning skills can be learned and taught,
improved with practice and developed incrementally. They provide a solid foundation for learning independently
and with others. ATL skills help students prepare for, and demonstrate learning through, meaningful
assessment. They provide a common language that students and teachers can use to reflect on and articulate
on the process of learning.
Approaches to learning are most powerful when teachers plan and students engage with them in connection
with significant and relevant content knowledge in order to develop transferable understanding.
Approaches to learning in the MYP

The focus of approaches to learning in the MYP is on helping students to develop the self-knowledge and skills
they need to enjoy a lifetime of learning. ATL skills empower students to succeed in meeting the challenging
objectives of MYP subject groups and prepare them for further success in rigorous academic programmes like
the IB Diploma Programme and the IB Career Related Certificate. Ultimately, ATL skills help to prepare students
for responsible participation in local and global communities.
In the MYP, ATL encompasses both general and discipline-specific skills. Many ATL skills are applicable to all
MYP subject groups; these general ‘tools for learning’ can be tailored to meet the specific needs of students and
schools. In order to develop ATL skills that facilitate effective and efficient learning, students need models, clear
expectations, developmental benchmarks (or targets), and multiple opportunities to practice. While ATL are not
formally assessed in the MYP, they contribute to students’ achievement in all subject groups. Teachers should
provide students with regular, specific feedback on the development of ATL skills through learning engagements
and that provide formative assessment.
Every MYP unit identifies approaches to learning skills that students will develop through their inquiry and
demonstrate in the unit’s summative assessment.
The most effective way to develop approaches to learning is through ongoing, process-focused disciplinary and
interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Teachers can use key and related concepts along with global contexts as
vehicles for teaching effective learning strategies. Likewise, approaches to learning can be powerful tools for
exploring significant content. This dual focus (content and process) promotes student engagement, deep
understanding, transfer of skills and academic success.
All teachers in MYP schools are responsible for integrating and explicitly teaching ATL skills.
Over time, students should develop clear and sophisticated understandings of how they learn best and how they
can evaluate the effectiveness of their learning. This kind of self-regulated (independent and autonomous)
learning helps students:
• reflect purposefully on their learning (metacognition)
• understand the diversity of human learning needs
• evaluate and provide evidence of their learning
• meet MYP subject group aims and objectives
• share responsibility for creating productive, cooperative and safe learning environments
• develop the confidence to try new strategies and explore new concepts and contexts for learning
• prepare for further study and responsible participation in local and global communities.
6/109
ATL skills and learning theory
Considered as a whole and at the highest proficiency, MYP approaches to learning represent the skills that
students need in order to become self-regulated, intrinsically motivated learners. MYP ATL skills reflect
“dynamic, internally controlled . . . processes that positively influence a student’s tendency to approach, engage
with, expend effort on, and persist in learning tasks in an ongoing, self directed manner” (McCombs, 1984).
Using the vocabulary of learning theory, ATL skills can be described as
• cognitive- learner-initiated use and practice of active information-processing and retrieval strategies
• affective (social and emotional)- self-management of mood, motivation, interpersonal relationships and
attitudes toward learning
• metacognitive- awareness, understanding and control of personal learning processes.
ATL skills are informed by and support the development of the attributes of the IB learner profile.
MYP ATL skills framework

The MYP extends IB ATL skills categories into ten developmentally-appropriate clusters. This framework
provides common ground from which schools can develop their own frameworks based on MYP units, including
local circumstances and requirements
MYP schools are responsible for developing an approaches to learning planning chart for all years of the
programme.
ATL skills are interconnected. Individual skills and skills clusters frequently overlap and may be relevant to more
than one skill category.
IB ATL skill categories MYP skill clusters
Communication I Communication
Social II Collaboration
Self Management III Organisation
IV Affective
V Reflection
Research VI Information Literacy
VII Media Literacy
Thinking VIII Critical Thinking
IX Creativity and Innovation
X Transfer
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Developing student responsibility for ATL
Some of the key questions to be answered by students with respect to ATL skills include:
• What are my present skills in this area and what evidence do I have of my development?
• What skills can I improve?
• What new skills can learn?
When specific ATL skills become an explicit focus for teaching and learning, students can begin to take
responsibility for their own development. Over time, students can identify themselves and their competence in
any learning strategy using terms like these:
Novice/ beginning – students are introduced to the skill and can watch others performing it (observation)
Learner/ developing – students copy others who use the skill and use the skill with scaffolding and
guidance (emulation)
Practitioner/ using – students employ the skill confidently and effectively (demonstration)
Expert/ sharing – students can show others how to use the skill and accurately assess how effectively the
skill is used (self-regulation)
A concept-based curriculum that uses ATL skills effectively enables all students to become stronger, more self-
regulated learners.
Important MYP ATL skills

Skills are sets of strategies and techniques that people use to achieve a specific purpose. Skills can be practiced
and continually improved. The skills in this table represent some of the important approaches to learning that
students should develop in the MP. Individual skills can be relevant for more than one skill cluster.
Schools can use this list to build their own frameworks for developing students who are empowered as self-
directed learners, and teachers in all subjects groups can draw from these skills to identify approaches to
learning that students will develop in MYP units. Students and teachers can also work to identify and develop
additional important general and discipline-specific approaches to learning skills.
COMMUNICATION
Exchanging thoughts, messages and information effectively through

I Communication skills
interaction
Inquiry focus: Give and receive meaningful feedback

How can students
communicate through Use intercultural understanding to interpret communication
interaction
Use a variety of speaking techniques to communicate with a variety of audiences
Use appropriate forms of writing for different purposes and audiences
Use a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiences
Interpret and use effectively modes of non-verbal communication
Negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers
8/109
Participate in, and contribute to, digital social media networks
Collaborate with peers and experts using a variety of digital environments and
media
Share ideas with multiple audiences using a variety of digital environments and
media
How can students Reading, writing and using language to gather and communicate information
demonstrate
communication through Read critically and for comprehension
language?
Read a variety of sources for information and for pleasure
Make inferences and draw conclusions
Use and interpret a range of discipline-specific terms and symbols
Write and for different purposes
Understand and use mathematical notation
Paraphrase accurately and concisely
Preview and skim texts to build understanding
Take effective notes in class
Make effective summary notes for studying
Use a variety of organizers for academic writing tasks
Find information for disciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiries, using a variety of

media
Organize and depict information logically
Structure information in summaries, essays and reports
Understand and implement intellectual property
Create references and citations, use footnotes/endnotes and construct a

bibliography according to recognized conventions
Identify primary and secondary sources
SOCIAL
II Collaboration skills Working effectively with others
How can students Use social media networks appropriately to build and develop relationships
collaborate?
Practice empathy
Delegate and share responsibility for decision-making
Help others to succeed
Take responsibility for one’s own actions
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Manage and resolve conflict and work collaboratively in teams
Build consensus
Make fair and equitable decisions
Listen actively to other perspectives and ideas
Negotiate effectively
Encourage others to contribute
Exercise leadership and take on a variety of roles within groups
Give and receive meaningful feedback
Advocate for your own rights and needs
SELF MANAGEMENT
III Organization skills Managing time and tasks effectively
How can students Plan short and long term assignments; meet deadlines
demonstrate organisation
skills?
Create plans to prepare for summative assessments (examinations and
performances)
Keep and use a weekly planner for assignments
Set goals that challenging and realistic
Plan strategies and take action to achieve personal and academic goals
Bring necessary equipment and supplies to class
Keep an organized and logical system of information files/notebooks
Use appropriate strategies for organizing complex information
Understand and use sensory learning preferences (learning styles)
Select and use technology effectively and productively
IV Affective skills Managing state of mind
How can students Practice focus and concentration

manage their own state
Mindfulness Practice strategies to develop mental quiet
of mind?
Practice strategies to overcome distractions
Demonstrate persistence and perseverance

Perseverance
Practice delaying gratification
10/109
Practice strategies to overcome impulsiveness and
anger
Emotional management Practice strategies to prevent and eliminate bullying

Practice strategies to reduce anxiety
Practice being aware of body-mind connections
Practice analyzing and attributing causes for failure

Self-motivation Practice managing self-talk
Practice positive thinking
Practice ‘bouncing back’ after adversity, mistakes

and failures
Practice ‘failing well’
Resilience
Practice dealing with disappointment and unmet
expectations
Practice dealing with change
V Reflection (Re-)considering what has been learned; choosing and using ATL skills
How can students be Develop new skills, techniques and strategies for effective learning
reflective?
Identify strengths and weaknesses of personal learning strategies (self-
assessment)
Demonstrate flexibility in the selection and use of learning strategies
Try new approaches to learning and evaluate their effectiveness
Consider content (What did I learn about today? What don’t I yet understand? What
questions do I have now?)
Consider ATL skills development (What can already do? How can I share my skills
to help peers who need more practice? What will I work on next?)
Consider personal learning strategies (How efficiently and effectively am I learning?

What can I do to become a more efficient and effective learner? How can my
understanding of personal strengths and weaknesses help me develop my own
strategies for learning?)
Consider ethical, cultural and environmental implications
Keep a journal to record reflections
RESEARCH
VI Information literacy Finding, interpreting, judging and creating information
How can students Collect, record and verify data

demonstrate information
literacy? Access information to be informed and inform others
Make connections between various sources of information
Understand the benefits and limitations of personal sensory learning preferences

when accessing, processing and recalling information
11/109
Use memory techniques to develop long term memory
Present information in a variety of formats and platforms
Collect and analyse data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions
Process data and report results
Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on their
appropriateness to specific tasks
Understand and use technology systems
Use critical literacy skills to analyze and interpret media communications
VII Media literacy Interacting with media to use and create ideas and information
How can students Locate, organize, analyse, evaluate, synthesize and ethically use information from
demonstrate media a variety of sources and media [including digital social media and online networks]
literacy?
Demonstrate awareness of media interpretations of events and ideas [including
digital social media]
Make informed choices about personal viewing experiences
Understand the impact of media representations and modes of presentation
Seek a range of perspectives from multiple and varied sources
Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a

variety of media and formats
Compare, contrast and draw connections among (multi)media resources
THINKING
VIII Critical thinking Analyzing and evaluating issues and ideas
How can students think Practice observing carefully in order to recognize problems
critically?
Gather and organize relevant information to formulate an argument
Recognize unstated assumptions and bias
Interpret data
Evaluate evidence and arguments
Recognize and evaluate propositions
Draw reasonable conclusions and generalizations
Test generalizations and conclusions
Revise understanding based on new information and evidence
<Evaluate and manage risk>
Formulate factual, topical, conceptual and debateable questions
12/109
Consider ideas from multiple perspectives
Develop contrary or opposing arguments
Analyse complex concepts and projects into their constituent parts and synthesize
them to create new understanding
Propose and evaluate a variety of solutions
Identify obstacles and challenges
Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues
Identify trends and forecast possibilities
Troubleshoot systems and applications
IX Creativity and The skills of invention – developing things and ideas that never existed
innovation before
How can students be Use brainstorming and mind mapping to generate new ideas and inquiries
creative?
Consider multiple alternatives, including those that might be unlikely or impossible
Create novel solutions to complex problems
Use lateral thinking to make unexpected connections
Design improvements to existing machines, media and technologies
Design new machines, media and technologies
Make guesses and generate testable hypotheses
Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products or processes
Create original works and ideas
Practice flexible thinking – arguing both sides of an argument
Use visible thinking strategies and techniques
Propose metaphors and analogies
X Transfer Utilising skills and knowledge in multiple contexts
How can students Utilize effective learning strategies in subject groups and disciplines
transfer skills and
knowledge among Apply skills and knowledge in unfamiliar situations
disciplines and subject
groups? Inquire in different contexts to gain a different perspective
Compare conceptual understanding across multiple subject groups and disciplines
Make connections between subject groups and disciplines
Combine knowledge, understanding and skills to create products or solutions
Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies (6d)
13/109
Change the context of an inquiry to gain different perspectives
14/109
ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) http://www.iste.org/standards
Partnership for 21st Century Skills
OECD DeSeCo (Definition and Selection of Competencies) http://www.oecd.org/edu/skills-beyond-school/
Andain and Murphy, Creating lifelong learners: Challenges for education in the 21st century (2d Ed., 2012)
15/109
ATL Planning Chart
Unit Plans The school continues to revise their unit plans in light of 2014
guidance. Careful attention is being paid to the alignment of MYP
objective strands to ATL skills that will be developed in the
learning experiences portion of the unit plan. Those skills will be
then be measured by the assessment task summatively, but will
also receive ongoing formative feedback from the teacher as the
skills are taught within the learning process. Students will also
self-assess in terms of their own progress with the affective skills
that teachers have also added to the ATL section of the unit
planner. Those skills will be taught explicitly to students ….
Horizontal Teachers meet once every two weeks for 30 minutes by MYP year
Planning to discuss how to continue to design learning experiences around
the ATL skills that were agreed upon for the unit that is underway.
Since this is a new process for the school, we have decided to
devote much of the horizontal planning time in the first year to
designing meaningful learning experiences that build the
identified ATL skill. In the second year, we will then revisit our
choices that we made in terms of ATL skills and decide if there
were better choices we could have made or if that skill is the right
one for the unit…..
Vertical Teachers meet once a month with their subject groups for one
Planning hour to discuss their approach to ATL skill development. In the
first year they are specifically to look at their summative tasks for
the units underway and see if the skills they have chosen to teach
actually manifest themselves in the summative task. It is our
experience, that many of the skills that we teach are not actually
measured by the task, so perhaps we should choose different skills
to build around or perhaps redesign the task. Extensive
conversations are underway regarding this process. Next year we
have decided to focus on the complexity of our assessment tasks in
terms of a scaffolded look at how “same” skills are applied in more
complex learning experiences/tasks over the MYP years…..
Student Self- While we have always asked our students to reflect on their
Assessment learning, we are now aware that it is critical that they focus on
how “they” perceive their own learning in terms of where they feel
they have developed a skill. Therefore, in our advisory, we have
decided that once a month, we will work with our students to
develop their reflection skills through a school-wide approach in
the first year. Since most of our students do not move, we feel that
this first approach we build a sound foundation for the beginning
of a reflective portfolio experience in year 2. ATL will become the
centerpiece of the portfolio as it will hopefully bring student work
to life through a student’s self assessment of their skills that are
then manifested in the work….
16/109
We are also having our students each pick one skill per quarter
that they would like to focus on in all of their classes throughout
the quarter. We assume that since they are picking the skill to
further develop that they consider themselves “novices”, or at the
beginning stage. At the end of the quarter they will self-assess to
determine their own growth. We will not be asking our students
to continually reflect as much in each subject, as our students
reflections have become superficial. Rather, we hope this
approach will make reflection more meaningful as it is only 4
times per year and differentiated for each student.
Community We are particularly excited by the opportunity for our students to
Project consolidate their past service experiences into a new venue called
the community project. There will be the opportunity for students
to use certain ATL skills that will be reinforced in MYP year 3 in
order for students to do their community project at the end of
MYP year 3. One of those ATL skills will be time-management. All
MYP year 3 teachers have agreed that as they work through each
MYP unit in that year, that they will purposefully breakdown the
summative task with students in terms of time and how to manage
it. Other affective ATL skills are also being discussed, but no
decision has yet been reached…
Personal The Personal Project is where all MYP teachers see their work
Project with ATL skills come home to roost. This year we will be focusing
on what skills our students have really mastered in terms of
presenting their projects, so we are focusing on the ATL Cluster of
communication. While it is too much to take on all
Communication Skills, our MYP 5 advisory has made a decision to
focus on building learning experiences around several skills that
they feel are crucial to a successful PP presentation. Each year we
will revisit our choices and discuss where our upcoming students
may need more support as each class of students is different….
Student Life Our counseling department is working with students by MYP year
throughout the year with developing aspects of the learner profile.
We are now considering how to use the ATL skill category of self-
management to further this effort. It is the goal of the school to
enable our students to be lifelong learners and we have decided
that including the ATL skills of self-management, along with the
attributes of the learner profile will better accomplish our goal….
ETC
ETC
ETC
17/109
COMMUNICATION MYP Year 1 Subject Group/Unit
MYP Year
Name
2 Subject Group/unit
MYP Year
name
3 Subject Group/Unit
MYP Year
name
MYP Year
name
5 Subject Group/Unit name
The skills of effectively
Communica- exchanging thoughts,
tion messages and information
through interaction
How can
students
Give and receive meaningful
communicate
feedback.
through
interaction?
Use intercultural
understanding to interpret
Use a vaariety of speaking
communication.
techniques to communicate
with a variety of audiences.
Use appropriate forms of
writing for different purposes
and audiences.
Use a variety of media to
communicate with a range of
audiences.
Interpret and use effectively
modes of non-verbal
communication techniques
Negotiate ideas
and use them purposefully. and
knowledge with peers and
teachers.
Participate in, and contribute
to, digital social media
networks.
Collaborate with peers,
experts or others, employing
a variety of digital
environments and media.
Share ideas with multiple
audiences using a variety of
digital environments and
media
How can Reading, writing and using
students language to gather and
demonstrate communicate information
communicatio
n through Read critically and for
language? comprehension
Read a variety of sources for
information and for pleasure.
Make inferences and draw
conclusions.
Use and interpret a range of
discipline-specific terms and
symbols
Write for different purposes.
Understand and use
mathematical notation
Paraphrase accurately and
concisely
Preview and skim texts to
build understanding

Make effective summary
notes for studying.
Use a variety of organizers
for academic writing tasks
Find information for
disciplinary and
interdisciplinary inquiries,
using a variety of media
Organize and depict
information logically.
Structure information in
summaries, essays and
reports.
The skills of working

SOCIAL
cooperatively with others MYP Year 1 Subject Group/Unit
MYP Year
Name
MYP Year
name
MYP Year
name
MYP Year
name
Use social media networks to
Collaboration appropriately build and
develop relationships.
Practice empathy
Delegate and share
responsibility for decision-
making
Take responsibility for one's
own actions.
Manage and resolve conflict
and work collaboratively in
teams
Build consensus
Make fair and equitable
decisions
Listen actively to other
perspectives and ideas
Encourage others to
contribute.
Exercise leadership and take
on a variety of roles within
Give and receive meaningful
groups
feedback
Advocate for one’s own rights
and needs
SELF
Managing time and tasks
MANAGEME
effectively MYP Year 1 Subject Group/Unit
MYP Year
Name
MYP Year
name
MYP Year
name
MYP Year
name
NT
Plan short- and long-term
How can
assignments; meet deadlines
students Create plans to prepare for
demonstrate summative assessments
organisation (examinations and
skills? performances)
Keep and use a weekly
planner for assignments
Set goals that are
challenging and realistic
Plan strategies and take
action to achieve personal
and academic goals
Bring necessary equipment
and supplies to class
Take responsibility for all
outcomes of goal directed
action
Keep to class schedules and
assignment deadlines
Keep an organized and
logical system of information
files/notebooks
Use appropriate strategies
for organizing complex
information
Understand and use sensory
learning preferences
(learning styles)
Select and use technology
effectively and productively
Managing state of mind

Affective skills
Mindfulness Practice focus
and
concentration
Practice
strategies to
develop
mental focus
Practice
strategies to
overcome
distractions
Practice
strategies to
overcome
distractions
Perseverance Demonstrate
persistence
and
perseverance
Practice
delaying
gratification
Emotional Practice
Management strategies to
overcome
impulsiveness
and anger
Practice
strategies fto
prevent and
eliminate
bullying
How can Practice
students strategies to
manage their reduce stress
own state of and anxiety
mind? Self- Practise
Motivation analysing and
attributing
causes for
failure
Practice
managing self-
talk
Practice
positive
thinking
Resilience Practice
strategies of
‘bouncing
back’ after
adversity,
mistakes and
failures
Practice
"failing well"
Practise
dealing with
disappointme
nt and unmet
expectations
Practise
dealing with
change
Reconsidering the process of

Reflection learning; choosing and using
ATL skills
Develop new skills,

techniques and strategies for
effective learning
Identify strengths and

weaknesses of personal
learning strategies (self-
assessment)
Demonstrate flexibility in the
selection and use of learning
strategies
Try new ATL skills and
evaluate their effectiveness
Consider content
– What did I learn about
today?
– What don’t I yet
understand?
– What questions do I have
now?
Consider ATL skills
development
– What can I already do?
– How can I share my skills
How can to help peers who need more
students be practice?
reflective? – What will I work on next?
Consider personal learning
strategies
– What can I do to become a
more efficient and effective
learner?
– How can I become more
flexible in my choice of
learning strategies?
– What factors are important
for helping me learn well?
Focus on the process of
creating by imitating the work
of others
– What can
Consider I do tocultural
ethical, become and a
more efficient implications
environmental and effective
learner?
– How acan
Keep I become
journal more
to record
flexible in my choice of
reflections
learning strategies?
– What factors are important
for helping me learn well?
Finding, interpreting, judging
RESEARCH
and creating information MYP Year 1 Subject Group/Unit
MYP Year
Name
MYP Year
name
MYP Year
name
MYP Year
name
Collect, record and verify
data
Information
literacy
Access information to be
informed and inform others.
Make connections between
various sources of
information
Understand the benefits and
limitations of personal
sensory learning preferences
when accessing, processing
and recalling information
Use memory techniques to
develop long-term memory
Present information in a
variety of formats and
platforms
Collect and analyse data to
identify solutions and make
informed decisions
Process data and report
results
Evaluate and select
How can information sources and
students digital tools based on their
demonstrate appropriateness to specific
information tasks
literacy? Understand and use
technology systems
Use critical literacy skills to
analyse and interpret media
communications
Understand and implement
intellectual property rights
Create references and
citations, use
footnotes/endnotes and
construct a bibliography
according to recognized
conventions
Identify primary and
secondary sources
Interacting with media to use

and create ideas and
information
Locate, organize, analyse,
evaluate, synthesize and
ethically use information from
Media literacy
a variety of sources and
media (including digital social
media and online networks).
Demonstrate awareness of
media interpretations of
events and ideas (including
digital social media)
Make informed choices about

personal viewing
experiences.
Understand the impact of
media representations and
modes of presentation
How can Seek a range
sources of perspectives
and media. (3b)
students from multiple and varied
demonstrate sources
media Communicate information
literacy? and ideas effectively to
multiple audiences using a
Compare, contrast and draw

connections among
(multi)media resources
Analysing and evaluating

THINKING
issues and ideas MYP Year 1 Subject Group/Unit
MYP Year
Name
MYP Year
name
MYP Year
name
MYP Year
name
Practice observing carefully
Critical
in order to recognize
thinking
problems
Gather and organize relevant
information to formulate an
argument
Recognize unstated
assumptions and bias
Interpret data
Evaluate evidence and
arguments
Recognize and evaluate
propositions
Draw reasonable conclusions
and generalizations
Test generalizations and
conclusions
Revise understanding based
on new information and
evidence
Evaluate and manage risk
Formulate factual, topical,

conceptual and debatable
questions
Consider ideas from multiple
perspectives
Develop contrary or opposing
arguments.
Analyse complex concepts
and projects into their
constituent parts and
synthesize them to create
new understanding
Propose and evaluate a

variety of solutions
Identify obstacles and
challenges
Use models and simulations
to explore complex systems
and issues.
Identify trends and forecast

possibilities.
Troubleshoot systems and
applications.
Generating novel ideas and

considering new perspectives
Creative
Generate impossible ideas.
Thinking
Use brainstorming and visual

diagrams to generate new
ideas and inquiries
Consider multiple
alternatives, including those
that might be unlikely or
impossible
Create novel solutions to
authentic problems.
Make unexpected or unusual
connections between objects
and/or ideas
Design improvements to
existing machines, media
and technologies
Make guesses, ask “what if”
questions and generate
testable hypotheses
How can Apply existing knowledge to

students be generate new ideas, products
creative? or processes.
Create original works and

ideas;use existing works and
ideas in new ways
Practice flexible thinking –

develop multiple opposing,
contradictory and
complementary arguments
Practice visible thinking

strategies and techniques
Geenerate metaphors and
analogies
Utilising skills and knowledge

in multiple contexts
Utilize effective learning
Transfer strategies in subject groups
and disciplines
Apply skills and knowledge in
How can
unfamiliar situations.
students
transfer skills Inquire in different contexts to
and gain a different perspective.
knowledge
between Compare conceptual
subjects understanding across
multiple subject groups and
disciplines
Make connections
betweensubject groups and
disciplines
Combine knowledge,
understanding and skills to
create products or solutions.
Transfer current knowledge
to learning of new
technologies.
Change the context of an
inquiry to gain different
perspectives.
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Resources:
The Diploma Programme: From principles into practice (‘09)

What is an IB education? (’13)
The IB learner profile in review: Resources for reflection (‘12)
IB learner profile in review: Report and recommendations (’13)
Learner profile in action (’13)
Programme Standards and Practices (‘14)
Subject guides and unit plan(s) brought by participants
Session 3: Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Slide: session description
Session three examines the IB’s approach to teaching and learning.
• What does it mean to say that IB teaching and learning is rooted in constructivist theory
and strategies?
• What’s coming next? The DP learning and teaching skills and approaches to be
implemented in 2015.
• How to apply this information in our schools.
Slides: Constructivism
From the “Teaching and learning” chapter of Towards a continuum of international education
(‘08)
Constructivism is a theory of cognition, now widely used and accepted, that asserts that
knowledge is not passively learned but actively built and refers to approaches that
recognize the importance of engaging and challenging existing mental models in
learners to improve understanding and performance. (12)
[Constructivists hold that] A new concept is developed when meaningful connections are
made between bodies of knowledge and other existing concepts, and the making of
these connections leads to a deeper understanding of the world and an improved ability
to solve problems. Humans are by nature makers of meaning. … Central to teaching for
understanding is the use of guiding or key questions. (13)
Effective learning for life in the 21st century recognizes that … constructive critical
thinking is a tool necessary for individual and collective survival. (13)
Constructivists such as Perkins and Vygotsky held that understanding is constructed
over time through experience.
from The Diploma Programme: From principles into practice (’09)
The teacher is viewed as a supporter of student learning rather than a transmitter of
knowledge, making use of questions and tasks that help the student work in their
‘proximal zone of development,’ (Vygotsky), which lies between what the student can
manage on their own and what they can manage with the support of the teacher. (37).
Slide: Approaches to teaching and learning (ATL) evolution
Current IB documentation indicates that the IB is still constructivist in theory. The document
under development now, Approaches to teaching and learning guide, has, according to
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Approaches to teaching and learning: Project update (‘13), incorporated such constructivist
essentials as inquiry and conceptual focus and added four additional expected approaches.
The new guide also specifies five categories of skills to be promoted.
Slide: Skill Categories
The goal is to foster the development of learners who demonstrate the following skills:
• Social skills
• Research skills
• Communication skills
• Self-management skills
• Thinking skills
Activity 1: Skills
Making connections.
• In your table groups, link each ATL skill to 1 or more learner profile attributes. Develop a
brief explanation for each linkage.
• Be prepared to present your links and explanations in plenary.
• Skills: research, communication, thinking, social, and self-management.
Notes:
Slide: Approaches to teaching in IB programmes:

• Based on inquiry
• Focused on conceptual understanding
• Developed in local and global contexts
• Focused on effective communication and collaboration
• Differentiated to meet the needs of all learners
• Informed by assessment (formative and summative)
Activity 2: Approaches TBA
Activity 3: Summative – applying IB standards and practices

• Working in table groups, identify aspects of teaching and learning that need
improvement your schools. Refer to the Programme standards and practices (‘14)
section on Curriculum as well as to the list of encouraged approaches. See the DP
section of Programme standards and practices (’14) in the Short Document section of
this workbook.
• Choose a partner who shares your area of concern.
• Examine the area in context and brainstorm solutions.
• Develop a preliminary action plan. Remember to think about such matters as: Who does
what? When? How will improvement be measured?
• Use the Action Plans section at the end of the workbook
Notes:
Document Recording
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Reflection:
Where’s the line between what students need to be told about concepts and what they
can discover by moving through a scaffolded series of questions?
OR
As far as your own teaching is concerned, which teaching approach would you like to
cultivate in your classroom practice? What does cultivation require in your case? What
would help you most?
Resources:
• Towards a continuum of international education (‘08) (See the section entitled
“Teaching and learning” (12 – 17).
The Diploma Programme: From principles into practices (’09) (See the section entitled
“Teaching, learning, and assessment” (35 -39).
Approaches to teaching and learning in the DP: Project update (’13)
IB and the ELA Common Core State Standards – Relationship studies: Resources to
inform curriculum alignment (’13)
IB and the Mathematics Common Core State Standards – Relationship studies:
Resources to inform curriculum alignment (’13)
Handbook of operating procedures for the pertinent year
Guides for subject areas and core elements
Session 4: Assessment and Academic Honesty

Session 4 description
The fourth session focuses on IB DP assessment practices and on academic honesty issues.
Identifying what makes DP assessment different: it is primarily a means of enabling
learning and secondarily a means of measuring accomplishment.
Exploring the dimensions of academic honesty, and
Discovering ways of improving the practice of academic honesty in our schools.
Assessment
Slide: But where are Assessment and Academic Honesty on the Wheel model?
• Assessment is generally included in discussions of Approaches to teaching and learning
because assessment is integral to these approaches and because a primary function of
assessment is to support learning.
• Academic honesty is a necessary condition for valid, reliable assessment.
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HMIE. 2006. "Emerging Good Practice in Promoting Creativity." HMIe - Improving Scottish Education. HMIe. Pp 1-21.
Emerging Good Practice in Promoting Creativity
A report by HMIE March 2006
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Reprinted with permission.
Emerging good practice in promoting creativity
1. Introduction …………………………………………………… page 3
2. Understanding creativity …………………………………….. page 4
3. Emerging good practice and issues ………………………….. page 6
4. Learning, teaching and creativity …………………………… page 13
5. The role of ICT ……………………………………………….. page 14
6. Evaluating creativity ………………………………………….. page 15
7. Support for creativity ………………………………………… page 16
8. Conclusions …………………………………………………… page 18
9. Useful links …………………………………………………… page 20
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1. Introduction
The National Priorities, published in 2001, highlight important outcomes of education in

Scotland. National Priority 5 sets a clear expectation that teachers will ‘encourage creativity
and ambition’ in their pupils. ‘A Curriculum for Excellence’ 1 also stresses that pupils need to
be able to ‘think creatively and independently’ to become ‘successful learners’.
In implementing the National Priorities, many schools have responded enthusiastically to the
idea of promoting creativity. They have engaged in imaginative and wide-ranging practices to
promote and develop creativity in learners and teachers. However, at the same time many
teachers have been concerned by a lack of clarity about what creativity means and remain
uncertain about the best ways to promote it. Schools and education authorities have also
struggled to know how to evaluate their success in promoting creativity and have been unsure
about what might be considered as evidence of that success.
In response to a request from the Scottish Executive Education Department, HMIE has
gathered evidence
• to identify and analyse emerging good practice in promoting creativity, and

• to provide advice on a range of issues related to creativity including learning and
teaching, assessment, and current practice in evaluating success in promoting
creativity.
This report is based on evidence from inspections of pre-school centres, primary and
secondary schools and community learning and development (CLD). HM inspectors visited
establishments to observe good practice. They gathered views from student teachers,
teachers, headteachers, educational psychologists, subject advisers and HMIE colleagues.
They attended staff development events organised by education authorities and Tapestry2 and
met professional staff involved with Chartered Teacher accreditation and the Scottish
Qualification for Headship (SQH). In addition, they collected evidence of some specific
projects identified by teachers as contributing to the development of pupils’ creative skills.
1
‘A Curriculum for Excellence’ was published by the Scottish Executive in 2004. It was prepared by the
Curriculum Review Group, charged with supporting an improved curriculum 3 – 18 following the National
Debate on education.
2
Tapestry works in partnership with a number of universities and organisations to make leading edge thinking
and research accessible to the education community in Scotland. More details of their work can be found in
section 7 – Support for creativity. Their conferences, seminars and workshops have been very well attended.
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2. Understanding Creativity
Teachers’ understanding of creativity
Teachers have differing, and sometimes conflicting understandings of the term ‘creativity’.
Some identified it with particular subjects or areas of the curriculum. Others argued that there
were opportunities for pupils to be creative in all curriculum areas. Some regarded it as an
enduring characteristic or talent in certain pupils while others saw all pupils as creative. Some
thought that creativity was promoted through environments, and responsiveness; others
emphasised the importance of particular learning and teaching approaches in promoting
creativity.
There was widespread discussion about how creativity linked with other aspects of cognitive
development. One widely supported view was that creativity was synonymous with
‘problem-solving’, ‘thinking skills’, ‘enterprise’, or ‘imagination’; or was linked very closely
with collaborative groupwork. Many teachers linked particular types of thinking, labelled
‘lateral’ or ‘divergent’ or ‘intuitive’, with creativity and considered that ‘convergent’ or
‘deductive’ or ‘logical’ activities provided less fertile ground for creativity.
Some teachers argued that very young children were particularly creative because they saw
the world in fresh and unconstrained ways. Others argued that creativity flourished once a
discipline was mastered, promoting examples of the most creative artists or scientists, who
had mastered their discipline as a prerequisite for their creativity.
This section therefore seeks to clarify the meaning of creativity in educational contexts and to
comment on some of these views which influence teachers’ practices in promoting creativity.
Greater clarity about the concept of creativity is important to establish a firm basis for a
discussion of ways that creativity is best promoted.
Towards a shared understanding of creativity: what is creativity?
Creative thinking and behaviour have some closely inter-related characteristics.
• Creative people often have lots of ideas. The ability to generate a large number of
ideas on a topic is one aspect of creative thinking. Although a large number of
ideas is not necessarily valuable in itself, the ability to produce or brainstorm a
large number of ideas is a helpful stage before further sifting or considering a
range of options. Associated with producing a large number of ideas is the notion
of creative flow or stream of consciousness, where the creative thinker pours out
ideas easily and smoothly.
• Creative thinking often produces a wide range of ideas. This involves thinking
beyond the obvious ideas in any situation to explore a wide variety of options or
possibilities. Prior learning and experience are very helpful as sources of ideas; so
is the ability to imagine widely and vividly. Thinking about a wide range of ideas
or possibilities enriches exploration and discussion, as well as the forms of
expression of thoughts and feelings that we use.
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• A distinctive feature of creative thinking is thinking or doing or seeing things

differently, sometimes referred to as ‘thinking out of the box’. The processes of
intuition and insight sometimes help learners to see things differently. Insight and
intuition are often thought of as magical though they are often founded on
experience, hard work and expertise. The creative learner’s ideas, perceptions,
behaviour or the connections that they make may sometimes seem unhelpful or
even odd. In other contexts, they will be extremely valuable and may lead to a
discussion about new and better approaches, breakthroughs in thinking, or new
perceptions. Originality3 in thinking, seeing things differently, is very useful in
solving difficult problems, introducing new approaches and strategies and
catching attention and interest.
Some key questions about creativity
The remainder of this section addresses some of the key questions about creativity which
were inherent in the views expressed by teachers, and which influence their practices in
promoting creativity.
Is creativity another area of the curriculum?
Many schools promote creative thinking and behaviour very effectively through existing
curriculum activities. Some schools put a specific focus on creativity. It is too restrictive to
see creativity as a separate programme.
Is creativity promoted only in some subjects or curriculum areas?
Creativity is possible in all subjects and areas of the curriculum. This does not mean that the
scope for creativity is identical in each area.
Inspection visits found creative activity in all subjects. The nature of different subjects and
their patterns of delivery meant that some offered more opportunities for creativity than
others. Some subjects dealt more frequently with open-ended issues or encouraged personal
interpretation and expression, or choice and selection of ideas. For these reasons, creativity in
schools has been traditionally identified with aspects such as the expressive arts or writing.
Other types of subject learning which placed emphasis on a fixed response, memorisation of
facts, calculation, or understanding of a process had less scope in those aspects for creativity.
However, it was often the dominant learning and teaching approach4 used in a subject which
determined the scope for creativity more than the nature of the subject itself.
Is everyone creative?
All pupils have creative abilities and their creativity takes a wide variety of forms. Each
individual has a wide range of ideas, perceives things in a personal way and, at times, shows
insight and inventiveness. Some pupils demonstrate high levels of creativity in particular
areas such as music, fashion, science or problem solving, or in maintaining positive
relationships. Others may be creative in the range and quality of ideas and words that they
3
In terms of pupils, it is important to think of ‘originality’ as fresh or different perceptions rather than to expect
pupils to have ideas or make inventions that no one else has ever considered.
4
See section 4: Learning, Teaching and Creativity, page 13
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use in language, their flair for designing and making or their ability to manipulate numbers.
Some pupils may not be creative in one particular area but show creativity in a range of
contexts across the curriculum. Where staff organised opportunities for creativity across the
curriculum, pupils were more likely to find and develop their creative talents in particular
areas.
Are younger children more creative?
Young children see the world in a fresh and vivid way. Adults respond warmly to the
comments of young children, their role play, models and art work, the sounds that they
produce from musical instruments, their imaginative solutions to problems and the questions
that they ask which show their perceptions. Young children often have considerable
opportunities to choose how to express their ideas, and staff encourage their responses
whether conventional or unusual. This creates a positive climate for young children to show
their creativity. As pupils acquire experience, develop skills and broaden their knowledge and
understanding, they are able to use their increased control of materials, movements, media
and ideas to demonstrate a more mature level of creativity. Ironically, in contrast with the
view that a climate of ‘anything goes’ is conducive to creativity, the opposite is the case.
Higher levels of creativity usually result from an interaction of considerable knowledge and
skill with a willingness to innovate and experiment.
How does creativity relate to thinking skills and to enterprise?
Not all thinking is creative thinking. Creative thinking is one area of thinking which will have
some of the features identified above, and may sometimes be labelled as ‘lateral’ or
‘divergent’ or ‘intuitive’ thinking; but it is not a discrete area. For example, a creative
solution to a problem may involve careful analysis or recall of information alongside thinking
‘outside the box’. Or a fresh perception or insight. Key areas of thinking interact helpfully
and strengthen each other.
Creativity has much in common with enterprise. Creative skills and thinking play a major
part in enterprise activities. It is the specific social or economic context of an enterprise
activity which may distinguish it from creative activities which are more focused on
individual expression.
3. Emerging good practice and issues
Pre-school centres
Many very good examples of promoting creativity were found in pre-school centres. Where
practice was good, staff organised a range of opportunities that promoted children’s creativity
in a flexible and uninhibited way and used their interactions and responses to encourage
spontaneity and excitement. Creativity was at its best where children asked questions, or
made observations or reached a problem naturally in their play: such as how to get toy cars
across a river or to help a ‘patient’ in the hospital corner. They found ways to solve their own
problems and to test solutions. They sometimes used trial and error to reach solutions but
often drew on their previous experience or on their imagination to solve problems.
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In one nursery class, children selected and gathered a variety of natural materials to decorate
clay cakes they had made. They visited a local pond and designed and built boats to sail
there. Staff encouraged the children to be open-minded and inquisitive in designing different
types of boat. The children carried out investigations to test their ideas, often collaborating
and providing mutual support.
Staff introduced the learning contexts but maintained sufficient flexibility to allow children
to experiment and explore their own ideas. The children were beginning to lead their own
learning by planning their activities.
There were strong links with the P1 class. The work on the river was part of a bridging
project. The children were surrounded by colourful displays of their activities, captured on
camera and video, to help them build on their experiences and remind them of their work
together.
Pre-school staff regularly used role play, music making, expressive painting, model making
and expressive and imaginative movement to promote children’s creativity. Children
designed and decorated freely using paints, dough and clay. Sometimes the children made
their own instruments to make music, or ‘made music’ on a piano or explored sound through
percussion instruments. Specially designed indoor and/or outdoor activity areas encouraged
imaginative and exploratory play.
Many nurseries used sound or sensory gardens to develop children’s knowledge and
understanding of the world. In one garden, imaginatively shaped peepholes encouraged
children to observe the changing views from unusual angles. The children explored the
garden using touch and smell, made bird feeders to hang in the garden and told each other
stories about the garden. They climbed on frames made by a local woodcarver who explained
the materials and carving to them.
Some pre-school centres had not achieved a good balance between creativity and other
learning approaches. In some centres, planning needed to be more flexible to provide scope
for children to explore and experiment by themselves without teacher direction. Some centres
overemphasised familiarisation with materials and techniques at the expense of opportunities
for children to express their thoughts and feelings in pictures, paintings and models: both are
important. Similarly, opportunities for children to explore and express musical sounds, to
express themselves in movement and role play were not always sufficiently emphasised.
Primary schools
Primary teachers often expressed concerns that an overcrowded curriculum had reduced their
scope for creative work. They looked forward to the opportunities which would be provided
by implementing A Curriculum for Excellence, arguing that greater flexibility in national
advice would ‘give them permission’ to spark pupils’ imaginations and curiosity for learning
in more effective ways, by focusing more on teaching and learning approaches.
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Many schools where creativity was valued had taken account of the guidance from the case
studies linked to the Learning and Teaching Scotland Creativity Counts Project5. Others had
become involved in the Future Learning and Teaching (FlaT) project to promote learning for
life. Increasingly, school development plans and CPD plans included arrangements for
teaching creatively and teaching for creativity.
In one school, staff and pupils worked to ensure that creativity was part of the ethos of all
classrooms and was a key feature of enterprise projects. Teachers provided well-structured
lessons but also encouraged pupils to be divergent thinkers and to risk sometimes being
unconventional. A rich breadth of experience provided opportunities for creativity in aspects
such as interpersonal relationships and challenging situations, such as service to the
community, maintaining the school garden and caring for birds there, and residential
excursions. Staff recorded evidence of creative activities on DVD and PowerPoint for future
reference and discussion.
A range of activities which fostered their creativity included pupils:

• composing their own music and exploring free-form dance
• contributing to a UNICEF programme on global citizenship
• using research-based role play to explore the functions of local, national and European
government
• developing higher-order thinking skills through ‘philosophical’ discussions.
In another school, a new approach to homework required pupils to carry out research on a
given topic and be ready to present their findings to the class in imaginative ways. The school
encouraged parents to be involved in this work. The outcomes were innovative and diverse.
One pupil, helped by his parent, constructed a model of the Olympic stadium in Athens and
inscribed the researched facts on parts of the model: the back of the flag, the running track,
the seats, the advertising hoardings, the medal podium. This feature proved very engaging
and helpful to classmates, who could look at the facts again, once the presentation had
finished. Another pupil prepared an attractively presented illustrated reference book for the
class library. Several pupils created and used PowerPoints to share their homework with the
class. As a result of this approach, pupils were able to exercise choice, work in a new way
with their parents and develop new skills in presentation. Pupils appreciated the degree of
control (and responsibility) this gave them.
Primary teachers most commonly provided opportunities for creativity in the expressive arts,
aspects of language such as writing, enterprise projects and designing and making within
technology. Scope to develop creativity beyond these areas often depended on the learning
and teaching approaches adopted. For example in mathematics, some teachers asked open
ended questions and set tasks which encouraged pupils to struggle with challenging ideas and
to spark off ideas with each other. Sometimes this led - and sometimes it misled - pupils to
experiment with trial and error, and with systematic approaches. They could experience both
the reward of painstaking effort and the delight of a sudden insight. In one school, pupils
5
See www.ltscotland.org.uk/creativity
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used a range of problem-solving strategies and their mathematical knowledge to help them
design creative playground games. The successful designs were then painted across the
playground area. In contrast, too many teachers relied on pupils solving mathematical
problems from textbooks or taught very specific problem-solving skills but did not provide
opportunities for pupils to apply these skills in challenging contexts.
Secondary schools
Within secondary schools too, much work to promote creativity was focused in the areas
traditionally considered to be the heartland of creative activity. Inspection reports record
pupils’ creative achievements in a wide variety of art work using a broad range of media. In
many art departments, pupils’ coursework, sometimes with support from local artists-in-
residence, demonstrated both their art and craft skills and their creative application in
personalised and innovative sculpture, glasswork, jewellery and paintings. In English
classrooms, pupils commonly expressed their thoughts, feelings and imaginative ideas by
writing poetry, prose and drama in ways that demonstrated their creativity with language and
ideas.
The interdependence of skills and their creative application was also evident in music where
pupils had acquired sufficient expertise to improvise, compose and interpret music in
coursework and in preparing for and performing in choirs, ensembles, bands and orchestras.
Events such as the Battle of the Bands and Rock School involved increasing numbers of
pupils, notably boys, in stimulating performances of rock and pop music. School shows
allowed pupils to demonstrate a whole range of talents in the performing arts and helped to
develop resourcefulness, tenacity and other creative traits.
As in primary schools, designing and making in many home economics and technical
education departments provided rich contexts for creativity; although, in contrast, in some
departments teaching the same subjects work was dull and routine. In home economics,
pupils often responded positively where there were genuine opportunities to make choices,
take chances and be innovative in working with food and textiles. Pupils participating in
Junior Master Chef and similar competitions were able to use their knowledge to try out
ideas confidently and present their meals to a high standard.
In one school as part of their work on healthy eating, S1 pupils researched, designed and
prepared their own low-fat, creative ice cream and designed their own recipes for unusual
soups. Teachers expected each small group to be ‘self-starting’ and willing to try out different
ideas and stressed that there would be no right answers. The ideas of some group members
sparked off ideas in others. In the testing phase, some of the fruit combinations for the ice
cream proved less than palatable, but pupils spoke enthusiastically of how much that had
been part of the learning, and the fun!
In another school, staff in the home economics and art departments worked with a group of
senior pupils in designing and making a range of fashions. Pupils used their own highly
creative designs and materials from a variety of sources, including local mills. They modelled
the clothes for a photographic shoot and held a fashion show in the town hall.
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In a third school, senior pupils made their own formal gowns for their Prom, as well as using
digital sewing machines to create a variety of individual embroidered designs for a range of
fabric items.
A fourth school regarded creativity as a key component of enterprise projects, for example
emphasising the creative elements in pupils’ designs, packaging and ideas for marketing
biscuits they had baked.
Creative work in technical education is expressed in a variety of ways.
In one school, staff created an environment which would stimulate creative work. Pupils were
surrounded by diverse examples of high quality design and technology. Displays illustrated a
range of architectural and engineering features, with exhibits illustrating varying styles and
designs from the commercial world.
In a second school, pupils in craft and design worked individually on their own designs for
clocks. Each had been asked to work to a given theme (Hebridean life), to research their
options, choose and prepare their own design brief. Each of the artefacts they produced
presented a personal interpretation of that theme: a standing stone, a tractor, a chessboard
with Celtic pieces, a black house….
Teachers in a third school stimulated creativity by encouraging pupils to present and discuss
their work with the class. They developed pupils’ confidence to take risks with their creative
work by encouraging them to value and praise personal and different ideas and artefacts.
Partnerships with local companies, competitions and award schemes, such as the Engineering
Education Scheme and the Arkwright Scholarships6, encouraged young engineers to work
individually and collaboratively in real life contexts where creative solutions were valued.
Good examples included a design for a hydraulics system of the kind used on the Falkirk
Wheel and a casting design which, when executed, became an impressive roadside sculpture.
Although examples of promoting creativity were found across the curriculum, as illustrated in
the LT Scotland case studies7, they were not widespread in other subject areas. For example,
there were few examples of teachers presenting mathematics activities in a challenging way
to promote creative responses. Good practice included developing pupils’ understanding and
appreciation of the importance of mathematics in real life contexts, cultures and heritage.
Teachers showed pupils how Pythagorean principles were used by rope stretchers in Egypt to
ensure right angles when building the pyramids, for example. They engaged pupils in ‘real’
financial planning, including calculations of whether or not they could afford to make a
dream project come true. They helped them see the mathematics of natural patterns and road
designs and to illustrate the use of ‘The Golden Ratio’ in nature and in art.
6
These scholarships are awarded by competition to fund successful design proposals
7
The LT Scotland case studies in all areas of the curriculum and school life illustrate ways in which teachers
are fostering higher-order skills that underpin creative thinking and work. www.ltscotland.org.uk/creativity
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In one learning community, teachers had introduced a ‘Problems of the Month’ initiative for
pupils in P7 and S1. At Christmas time, crackers containing different maths problems were
made up by secondary pupils for groups of primary pupils. They pulled the crackers and
worked in pairs to solve the problems. In addition, secondary pupils worked collaboratively
to solve problems as part of some maths topics – for example, multiplying out two sets of
brackets. Each pair of pupils presented a possible solution for class discussion after which the
agreed ‘right’ or ‘best’ answer was named after the pupil who worked it out. Rewards for
success in such activities included ‘Mathemagician’ pencils.
There was some emerging evidence of effective practice in dance for boys and girls within
S1/S2 physical education programmes and extra-curricular provision. In one school, pupils
could take an optional course in dance which included devising, choreographing and
performing their own routines. At another, large numbers of pupils attended a dance club at
the end of the day where they explored dance forms and expressed themselves creatively
through dance.
The HMIE report on learning and teaching in science, Improving Achievement In Science In
Primary and Secondary Schools8 reported that effective science courses included ‘relevant
and challenging content, including practical work, that captured pupils’ interests and
developed the full range of investigative skills.’ The ‘full range of investigative skills’ was
best demonstrated in open-ended investigations where pupils combined critical and analytical
skills with the use of their knowledge and experience to inform intuition and hypothesising,
and tried out and tested different solutions when their first solution proved fruitless.
However, such examples were not common.
Community learning and development
In community learning and development, many providers support the delivery of initiatives to
develop the creativity of children and young people. For example, Dynamic Youth is an
annual event which is funded by BP and organised through Youth Scotland. It provides
teams from youth organisations with the opportunity to design an innovative idea which will
have a sustained impact on improving their local community. Young people develop skills in
thinking, problem-solving, design and working together as a result of their participation. In
addition, young people have opportunities to work for a range of achievement awards,
including The John Muir Trust, junior challenges, The Duke of Edinburgh Award, Young
Quality Scot and Youth Achievement Awards. These offer participants opportunities to
develop the full range of creative skills. The impact of these activities can be measured, by
the recipients and the wider community, in the number and nature of awards presented.
Local authorities are developing opportunities for young people to play a more active role in
decision making and in building the capacity of their local community. In one council, young
people now assess applications from their peers for projects funded through a Challenge
Grant Fund. Local authorities and partners are also creating and supporting structures which
enable young people to contribute to community planning. Consultation exercises planned
8
HMIE publication, March 2005
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and run by young people, with support from CLD staff, have helped young people to make
an impact on the provision of youth services.
Staff supported young people in one town to participate in local community planning. They
did this in innovative ways by recruiting and training six local young people as ‘Youth Future
Agents’. The Youth Future Agents organised a local community-planning event for over one
hundred young people. This event allowed young people to identify and prioritise key local
issues. The results contributed to the development of the local community plan. Building on
this, the young people worked with community planning partners to secure resources to
develop significant youth services in the area.
The impact that this work had on the Youth Future Agents was considerable. Those
involved had generated lots of ideas, had been responsible for implementing the resulting
action plan, developed their core skills and gained in self-confidence. The learning
experience gained through Youth Futures enabled them to move into further education,
training and employment.
CLD providers often use the arts, including drama and music, to engage with young people in
youth and children’s work settings. They generally use a community development approach
which involves empowering young people to make decisions as a team. This may include
agreeing the content and design of programmes and making decisions about budget
allocations.
In one community, young people were involved in a project to set up their own record
company. They took part in training workshops facilitated by record industry professionals.
Not only did they learn about musicianship, stage techniques and how to work in groups but
it also taught them about how to promote events and about legal issues in the recording
industry. The project team developed a website and produced a CD featuring local bands and
artists.
CLD workers also offer young people residential experiences and outdoor education
activities as part of youth work programmes. These typically engage young people in teams
on challenges which utilise problem-solving and thinking skills. Young people are often
involved in the planning of such events, including raising funds, the organisation of
programmes, task allocations and planning meals.
Effective CLD projects have increasingly involved young people in using media resources.
Staff in one centre enabled youth and community groups to access high quality multi-media
resources such as digital based music, web design, photography and video. Through
workshops, tutorials and group discussion, participants with little or no experience learned a
range of new skills from each other and from highly trained staff. They took part in
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workshops and experiential learning sessions in ICT and digital music. They clearly
identified the personal benefits of being involved in this project in terms of learning how to
manage and plan events, prepare marketing strategies and develop technical recording skills.
CLD providers often work with some of the most disadvantaged young people and use a wide
range of methods to develop the full range of personal and social skills. As part of The
Prince’s Trust, a community project in north Glasgow brought young people from the asylum
seeker, refugee and indigenous communities together to identify hidden talents and develop
them through special interest focus groups. This has engaged young people in work on film,
music, drama and dance, art and design, sports and outdoor education.
4. Learning, teaching and creativity
The creative learner
All pupils learn in a wide variety of ways, through:

• listening to an explanation, answering a set of factual questions, reasoning logically,
following a set of instructions, practising a skill, analysing and testing ideas
as well as
• brainstorming and exploring ideas, designing and making, solving problems, seeing
links and connections, imagining and expressing perceptions.
The latter group of approaches is more closely linked with creative thinking. It is important
for the creative learner’s development, therefore, that the learning experience includes these
types of opportunities.
Evidence from inspection visits found that the dominant learning and teaching approach used
in a subject or curriculum area determined the scope for creativity. Where teachers
emphasised didactive teaching, closed questions, recall and much practice and consolidation,
there was limited scope to demonstrate creativity. Where classroom relationships encouraged
pupils to ask questions and to regard mistakes as part of learning, and teachers emphasised
exploration of ideas, open-ended questions, expression of individual ideas and open-ended
tasks, pupils’ creative responses were much more frequent.
However, different types of activity and different types of thinking are very closely
interrelated. There are clear synergies between creative thinking and other types of thinking.
For example, in an activity such as problem solving, the learner may play about with ideas or
drawings or language or numbers; tease things out; ‘mind map’; imagine, as well as follow
instructions; read and record evidence carefully; make deductions or take measurements.
Throughout, the thinking processes will connect and the learning process will be enhanced by
previous experience (of solving other problems, of the particular context), knowledge and
skills. The best environment for the development of the creative learner is a rich environment
for learning which challenges the learner to think in wide variety of ways.
Teaching to promote creativity
Some teaching approaches and environments fostered creativity; others inhibited its
development. Where teachers designed activities and contexts to promote creativity and
expected and trusted pupils to be creative, take risks, speculate, perceive and respond in
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different ways, express themselves openly, self-evaluate and persevere after initial attempts,
pupils generally lived up to these expectations.
Some teachers placed great stress on particular techniques such as brainstorming, mind
mapping or listening to music during activities, or extended discussions to think through
issues. These proved very useful in particular situations but were best regarded as specific
tools from the broad possible range of activities which promote creativity, rather than the
main methods to be used.
Some teachers were uncertain about whether to provide input, stimulus or support for creative
activity, concerned that they would impose their own ideas on the pupils. The quality of
response was improved where teachers providing stimuli to thinking or feeling, allowed ideas
to trigger other ideas, asked challenging questions but, when appropriate, detached
themselves from the activity and consciously avoided providing a teacher’s answer to a task.
Finally, providing opportunities to enhance teachers’ own creativity through continuing

professional development is an important way of making them more aware of the importance
of creativity in their teaching and also helps them to become more creative teachers.
Assessment
Teachers were often uncertain about the place of assessment of creative work in a context
where new and different responses are valued and many outcomes or responses are possible.
Yet teachers were readily able to point to examples of creative work that they regarded as of
good quality. Many commented on the range or quality of ideas or aspects of originality or
imagination embodied in the pupil’s response, demonstrating a framework against which they
made judgments about achievement. They also involved learners in self- and peer-
assessment for example, through discussions of the qualities of their artwork or models, or
improvisations in drama, or the ways that they had solved mathematical problems, or
delivered a presentation to the class using multimedia.
Assessment in this area is primarily assessment of learning to be creative. Therefore, it is

often based on observation and focused on providing positive and constructive feedback to
the learner. It involves learners in forming their own views of quality and valuing different
views held by others. It is designed to improve the quality of the creative process and
response as well as the outcome. On the basis of professional judgement about these aspects,
teachers will conclude that some pupils demonstrate creativity in some areas or subjects.
5. The role of ICT

At its best, ICT taps into young people’s interests and expertise, exploits their curiosity to
explore, and provides a stimulating set of tools to produce creative outcomes. In some areas
of the curriculum, ICT was making a significant contribution to the creative process. For
example, the use of computer software in art and design allowed for creative manipulation of
images. It enabled learners to compose and arrange music, as in a recording studio. It
facilitated the creation of two- and three-dimensional drawings in graphic communication.
The potential for ICT to be used creatively across the curriculum was often underdeveloped.
ICT offers learners the opportunity to:
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• make connections with information and people;

• think and behave imaginatively and creatively;
• question and challenge, using other ways of looking at subjects;
• develop greater autonomy and responsibility for their own learning;
• interact with scenarios which would not be available in the classroom situation;
• explore different styles of communication and expression; and
• produce something which is original to the individual or group and of high quality.
ICT also widens the choice of media and tools used in creative activities, including the use of
digital still and video cameras and digital editing, animation video techniques, multi-media
software, video-conferencing and website creation. Used well, these facilitate active
involvement, a sense of individual responsibility and a personalised approach to learning.
Many pupils are now involved in designing their own websites, using Think.com and Grid
Club, for example. Many contribute to, or even design their school websites.
In one secondary school, pupils in geography worked in pairs using a range of online
resources of texts, maps and photographs and provided their own version of their research in
PowerPoint presentations.
In another school, groups of pupils in English used a digital video camera to make short films
presenting their interpretations of poems. The task was designed to emphasise personal and
imaginative responses based on textual analysis, cooperation and enterprise.
In one primary school, pupils exchanged teddy bears with an American school. Using digital
photographs, they regularly emailed progress reports of the American bear’s ‘experiences’ of
Scottish cultural life to their partner school. In return, they received updates of the
‘adventures’ the Scottish bear had in the USA.
6. Evaluating creativity
‘The National Priorities are barely three years old; it takes time to change attitudes and
practices.’
‘Current measurement tools don’t fit the bill.’
Just as teachers found it difficult to assess creativity, education authorities, schools and
teachers found it difficult to evaluate their success in promoting creativity. When questioned,
teachers pointed to evidence of the outcomes of creative thinking and activity: for example,
colourful and stimulating wall displays; imaginatively created and presented storybooks;
effective PowerPoint presentations; accomplished performances in concerts and shows and
notes on pupils’ successes in creative activities. These are all valid sources of evidence of
success.
For headteachers and senior managers, the evaluation of the success of a school or
department in promoting creativity should be informed by this kind of evidence across
classes based on lesson observations, their own professional judgements, the discussions of
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their management teams and discussions with teachers about creativity. Some quality
improvement officers expressed the view that an important indicator of success was
teachers’ levels of creative energy and enthusiasm, their open-mindedness, their readiness to
learn along with their pupils. “If teachers are fired up, the learning is more likely to be fired
up.”
Some headteachers used an agenda to focus their discussions about creativity. Discussing and
gathering evidence related to a set of questions such as the following helps ensure that there
is a qualitative evaluation of creativity in a school.
• How well has the theme of creativity within National Priority 5 been promoted in the
school, for example in school or departmental plans?
• Is creativity promoted across the curriculum and in whole school activities?
• How does the establishment encourage and recognise creative people, ideas, projects
and achievements?
• Is there a climate of experiment (exploring and trying out ideas, being allowed to
learn from mistakes)?
• How well do teachers respond to children’s questions and ideas about their own
learning?
• Is there clear evidence of teachers promoting creative work in classes and of high
quality responses by pupils?
• What staff development opportunities are provided to promote creativity?
7. Support for creativity
The Scottish Executive Education Department will make available before the summer a brief
overview of some key national policy documents across the U.K. and other support material
for developing creativity in education. A helpful bibliography compiled as part of that work
can be found in Appendix 1: Useful Links.
Creative Projects
In the course of visits to schools and centres, a number of projects were identified by teachers
as having made a notable contribution to creative activities for pupils. A few are illustrated
below.
Challenge Glasgow is a popular cross-curricular competition for pupils at P6 to S2. It aims to

involve young people in problem solving, collaboration, creativity and initiative using ICT
resources. “The only other requirements are imagination and a desire to succeed.” The
Challenge can be carried out as part of the curriculum, as a supported study or as an extra-
curricular activity. Teams set off in a virtual hot air balloon. Their task is to solve all the clues
for one leg of a round the world trip, thereby identifying a country and touchdown point.
They can use the Internet, email ‘experts’, use reference materials from the school library or
any other imaginative ways of solving the clues. Having found out what they need to know,
teams must then prepare a brief PowerPoint or similar presentation of their travelogue.
The Angus Digital Media Project is part of the FLaT project based in Brechin involving
pupils in six cluster primary schools at the P6 to S2 stages. The aim of the project is to
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improve literacy through working with moving image texts. The work is based upon group
collaboration, prediction and hypotheses. Pupils create short films which build upon group
ideas. Each P6 class has received an emac, microphones, digital video, tripods, a TV and a
DVD. Children are learning about the hardware and moving image language. Pupils work
together in small groups of up to four. They each take roles, such as writers, thinkers and
doodlers. The films currently being created will culminate in a mini Oscars event to be held
in Brechin Town Hall. An evaluation team from Glasgow University has been commissioned
to monitor improvements and impact. Team members will undertake lesson observations and
involve pupils and staff in the evaluation process. An interim report is scheduled for 2006.
Itchy Coo offers new ways of learning a language that is an integral part of Scottish life.
Matthew Fitt, the Schools Officer uses storytelling to engage pupils in creating stories in
Scots. In one secondary school, pupils worked with Fitt to write their own play version of
Tam o’ Shanter, which they performed at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
Over 500 schools have been visited to date and during these visits, boys have been notably
enthusiastic in their responses to the activities and about reading the Scots texts used. In
addition to working with pupils, Itchy Coo also runs training workshops for teachers and
provides classroom materials and by summer 2006, the company will have published 24
books in Scots. In their submission to the Cultural Commission, James Robertson (General
Editor) and Fitt wrote:
‘The scope for releasing and realising the creative potential, especially of our young
people, in drama and literature through their increased familiarity with and
competence in Scots, is unlimited… The interaction between Scots and English,
which is something many of us live with on a daily basis, can be a source of energy,
renewal and versatility.’9
Staff development
Student teachers, and class teacher mentors, report a variable awareness of the role of
creativity in learning through Initial Teacher Education. In the time available for professional
studies in a busy postgraduate certificate of education course, creativity may be the focus of
one lecture and/or workshop session. When a group of students who had recently completed
placements were asked about the guidance they had been given in reaching a definition of
creativity within learning and teaching, their replies included, ‘I don’t believe I have had
any.’ and ‘Not very much.’ More encouragingly, when asked about the contexts in which they
would expect to see pupils working creatively, their answers ranged across the curriculum.
‘Motivating contexts which reflect the learners’ interest or are relevant to their lives,
stimulated by paired and group work……. Contexts to promote creative thinking and
independent learning, with appropriate and adequate support.’
229 teachers now hold Chartered Teacher status, with around 2,900 currently engaged in
modules for accreditation. There are roughly equal proportions from primary and secondary
schools, including special schools. The GTC reported growing evidence of thinking and
planning for creative activities in the submissions they are receiving. They cited projects in
art and design, drama and religious and moral education in particular as strong examples
within submissions of work designed to develop creative thinking skills. Teachers have
presented evidence from poetry workshops, storytelling sessions and creative writing
9
The Scots Language in a Future Scotland: A Submission to the Cultural Commission, December 2004
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activities. Project reports include, for example, an enterprising class of pupils who directed an
art exhibition. They arranged all the sponsorship, prepared the publicity, set up the exhibition
of their art work, prepared and gave speeches and made a video of the whole process. Some
of the project reports contain references to work done by Matthew Fitt. 10 The GTC is looking
at ways of sharing exemplars and case studies to further encourage and promote Chartered
Teacher status and good practice. At least two of the registered CPD providers are presenting
new courses linked to creativity: Creativity in the Classroom Context and Creativity for
Learning.
Within the Scottish Qualification for Headship, emotional intelligence is addressed as a

creative aspect of leadership. Leaders from business and industry are also invited to share
their expertise and offer a broader view of leadership. This particular strand of the leadership
course is designed to suit the needs of each individual and the context of his/her school.
Education authorities are providing support through varied programmes of in-service

training. One authority has made a major commitment to train all of its teachers in
cooperative learning techniques. Elsewhere, authorities are presenting programmes on wide-
ranging themes, such as: thinking through philosophy; searching for meaning; self-
empowered learning; teaching for creative learning and raising attainment: self-esteem and
emotional intelligence; creative learning. Training events are also being used to promote and
share good practice.
Tapestry provides a network of support arising from its commitment to build on its major
conferences by involving leading international figures in continuing work for and with
teachers and schools. They have secured the agreement of, for example, Tony Buzan, Leslie
Kenton, Eric Jensen, Reuven Feuerstein, Carla Hannaford and Paul Robertson to work
alongside Tapestry to
• create modules accredited through universities to be part of the collaborative personal
development framework;
• participate in follow-up activities including locally delivered one-day courses, local
twilight sessions, in-school and in-cluster staff development; management seminars;
support for education authorities in mounting their own events
• prepare supportive booklists to be published by LT Scotland
• maintain a skill base of qualified leading edge trainers.
Teachers who attended Tapestry events commented on the powerful impact of high quality
presentations and identified the follow-up activities as the major feature which distinguished
Tapestry’s work from other inspiring, but ‘one-off’ training experiences.
8. Conclusions
This report focuses on emerging strengths and seeks to identify the positive features of
emerging practices in developing learners’ creativity. The overall picture remains variable.
While some teachers have spoken confidently about there being sufficient training,
confidence and networking to sustain and disseminate good practice (‘a critical mass in the
system’), others feel isolated and uncertain. Although education authorities are providing an
increasing range of training, some of the programmes are at an early stage.
10
See reference on page 17
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Nevertheless, teachers’ and headteachers’ professional development is crucial for success. A

significant number of teachers have now heard first hand about ways to nurture creativity
from internationally renowned academics and researchers at workshops, masterclasses and
conferences run by Tapestry. Some have been able to work with these leading figures in their
own classrooms, as part of follow-up programmes. Many are finding new ideas, energy and
inspiration from their involvement in the Chartered Teacher and SQH programmes and in
new and empowering approaches to CPD following the Teachers’ Agreement.
Collaboration is necessary to ensure the successful dissemination of good practice in

creativity, and to support further teachers’ confidence in teaching for creativity. LT Scotland
has a key unifying role to play, both in coordinating and supporting the next stage of
development. The SEED publication on aspects of policy and support materials will provide
further assistance.
Tapestry’s experience and vision bring valuable insights and its extensive network of
practitioners provides ready access to groups of committed and creative teachers, able to
share real classroom experiences and advice with colleagues.
With A Curriculum for Excellence will come further innovation. It would be timely if, as part
of this important initiative, teachers could come together to spark ideas, share practice and
continue to shape the vision for the future. In fact, be creative.
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APPENDIX 1
Useful Links
All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education. National Advisory Committee on
Creative and Cultural Education (1999)
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/naccce/index1.shtml
Unlocking Creativity: A Strategy for Development. (DCAL, DE, DETI, DHFETE, 2000)
http://www.dcalni.gov.uk/Contman/includes/upload/file.asp?ContentID=88&file=c_24
Unlocking Creativity : Making It Happen. (DCAL, DE, DETI, DHFETE, 2001)

http://www.dcalni.gov.uk/ContMan/includes/upload/file.asp?ContentID=88&file=c_23
Unlocking Creativity : A Creative Region. (DCAL, DE, DETI, DHFETE, 2004)

An Evaluation Survey of Creativity Seed Fund Projects. (Education and Training

Inspectorate, 2005)
Appreciating Creativity: Quality Indicators (Education and Training Inspectorate, 2005)

http://www.dcalni.gov.uk/allpages/allpages.asp?pname=creativity
Creativity in Education. Learning and Teaching Scotland/IDES Network (2001)

(Not available online)
Creativity in Education – Case Studies. Learning and Teaching Scotland/IDES Network

(2001)
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/creativity/case_studies.asp
Creativity Counts – A Report of Findings from Schools. Learning and Teaching

Scotland/IDES Network (2004)
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/creativity/files/creativitycountslts2004.pdf
Creativity Counts – Portraits of Practice. Learning and Teaching Scotland/IDES Network

(2004)
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/creativity/files/portraitsofpracticelts2004.pdf
Delivering the Arts in Scottish Schools. Glasgow Caledonian University/University of

Strathclyde (2005)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/09/2783815/38157
Arts Education in Secondary Schools: Effects and Effectiveness. National Foundation for
Educational Research (2000)
http://www.nfer.ac.uk/research-areas/pims-data/summaries/eaj-effectiveness-of-arts-
education-iii.cfm (Summary only)
“Our Next Major Enterprise…” The Final Report of the Cultural Commission (2005)
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http://www.culturalcommission.org.uk/cultural/files/Final%20Report%20June%2005.pdf
From Consultation to Design – Design for Learning: 21st Century Schools The Lighthouse
(2004)
(Not available online)
Creativity in Education website

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/creativity/index.asp
Creativity website (Department of Cuture, Arts and Leisure, Northern Ireland)

http://www.dcalni.gov.uk/allpages/allpages.asp?pname=creativity
Future Learning and Teaching (FLaT) Programme website

http://www.flatprojects.org.uk/
3-18 Curriculum Review website

http://www.acurriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk/
National Priorities in School Education website

http://www.nationalpriorities.org.uk/intro/introduction.html
Assessment is for Learning Programme website

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/
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Bickley, M and Carleton, J. 2009. “Students without borders.” Learning and leading with technology. Vol 37, number 3. Pp 20-23.
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ATL
IN THE IB DIPLOMA
A Literature Review of the Key Skills of

Effective Learning
Lance G King
May 2013
ATL in the IB Diploma
Introduction 1
The Wider Need for Skills Training 2
Learning Skills 4
Effective Learning 5
Metacognitive Skills 5
Developing the Self-Regulated Learner 6
ATL Skills 7
Communication Skills 9
Social Skills 14
Self-Management Skills 20
Metacognition 21
Organisation 23
Affective Skills 24
Resilience 26
Self-Motivation 29
Mindfulness 30
Research Skills 33
Assessing Learning Skills 38
Bibliography 42-54
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0
ATL in the IB Diploma
Introduction
There is a clear need for a direct focus on the teaching of effective learning skills – studies show that up
to 73% of university students report difficulties preparing for an exam and most have weak or ineffective
strategies for processing information both in the classroom and in their own study (Rachel, Daigle,&
Rachel, 2007).
Good note making has been positively correlated with academic achievement and yet when making notes
from lectures or from text most students miss between 60 - 70% of the key points (Kiewra, 1985b,
O’Donnell & Dansereau, 1993). Unfortunately, material omitted from notes has been found to have only
a 5 - 15% chance of being recalled (Howe, 1970, Aitken, Thomas & Shennum, 1975).
Even when they have good notes many students still have great difficulty organising the information they
have collected, 52% percent admit that their notes are disorganised and 61% report having trouble
sequencing the ideas to make coherent sense (Rachel et al. 2007).
Even given well organised, well structured notes with summaries provided and most of the hard work
done, many students still employ ineffective or redundant study strategies such as rereading and
recopying to process those notes. Two thirds of students at the secondary level have been found to study
for tests purely by rereading their notes with more than half of them doing that reading the day before
the test or examination. Of those who try to actively process the information they need, many do nothing
more than recopy their notes verbatim and 50% use passive repetition of key points as their single study
technique (Jairam, & Kiewra, 2009).
The best students in the world, those whose study is most effective in helping them to achieve their
desired qualifications, all have one characteristic in common, metacognitive awareness. In other words
they have learned how to critically analyse their own learning and evaluate the effectiveness of the
strategies they are using. They treat learning as a process requiring many different techniques and
strategies depending on the subject and the context . They actively seek out options for every stage of
the learning process, they try out different things and they notice what works and what doesn’t. To do
this the best students are continuously engaged with both the subject matter they are learning and the
processes they are using to learn that subject matter. They view any learning failure as a failure of
process rather than that of the individual, they find better processes and apply them, they reflect on the
results and they continually improve the success of their learning efforts (Derry, & Murphy, 1986, Hattie
et al, 1996, Kobayashi, 2004, Yaworski, Weber, & Ibrahim,2000).
Unfortunately the direct teaching of learning skills is still an uncommon topic in most school programmes.
Only 20% of teachers believe that teaching students “study skills” is a priority (James, 2006) and only 17%
of students report that teachers actively help them to learn or improve their study skills (Saenz, &
Barrera, 2007).
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1
The Wider Need for Skills Training
It has often been said that most of the jobs that today’s children will take have not been invented yet and
that most of children in school today will have at least 5 different careers in their lifetime and will need to
be able to re-invent themselves for each career change. It is also predicted that 95% of jobs in the future
will involve information processing through an electronic interface of some kind.
A 2007 survey of 400 hiring executives of major USA corporations quoted in both The Global Achievement
Gap (Wagner, 2010) and 21st Century Skills (Trilling & Fadel, 2009) asked what knowledge and skills they
were looking for in potential future employees. The results were, in priority order:
1) Oral and written communication skills
2) Critical thinking and problem solving skills
3) Professionalism and work ethic
4) Collaboration across networks
5) Ability to work in diverse teams
6) Fluency with information technology
7) Leadership and project management skills
Knowledge of mathematics came 14th on the list just ahead of science knowledge and foreign language
comprehension.
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has highlighted the following skills as critical
for success in the digital world:
1) Creativity and Innovation
2) Communication and Collaboration
3) Research and Information Fluency
4) Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making
5) Digital Citizenship
6) Technology Operations and Concepts (Larson & Miller, 2011)
Similarly the industry funded Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (AT21CS) consortium
advocates for ten skills grouped into four categories:
Ways of Thinking
1) Creativity and innovation
2) Critical thinking, problem solving, decision making
3) Learning to learn, metacognition
Ways of Working
4) Communication
5) Collaboration (teamwork)
Tools for Working
6) Information literacy (includes research into sources, evidence, biases, etc.)
7) ICT literacy
Living in the World
8) Citizenship – local and global
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9) Life and career
10) Personal & social responsibility – including cultural awareness and competence
(Binkley, Erstad, Herman, Raizen, Ripley & Rumble, 2010)
A big influence at the present time in US education is Tony Wagner from Harvard through his book “The
Global Achievement Gap” where he argues for a set of seven core competences to be developed in every
student by the time they leave high school:
1) Critical thinking and problem solving (the ability to ask the right questions)
2) Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
3) Agility and adaptability
4) Initiative and entrepreneurialism
5) Accessing and analysing information
6) Effective written and oral communication
7) Curiosity and imagination
(Wagner 2010)
In Australia Lee Crockett and others are exerting similar influence towards skills based education in their
country and beyond by advocating for the creation of the ‘global digital citizen’ through the development
of what they call their 21st Century Fluencies:
1) Information Fluency
2) Media Fluency
3) Creativity Fluency
4) Collaboration Fluency
5) Solution Fluency
(Jukes, McCain & Crockett, 2010)
In 2009 the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conducted a survey of 17
countries looking to determine the extent to which key skills - “those skills and competencies young
people will be required to have in order to be effective workers and citizens in the knowledge society of
the 21st century” – were defined, taught and assessed.
The survey discovered that the need was well recognised across the globe in various national curricula
but often the 21st Century Skills were contained within the curriculum as smaller sets of broader ‘key’
competencies or skills.
“For example, the New Zealand curriculum makes reference to five key competencies:
thinking; using language, symbols and text; managing self; relating to others;
participating and contributing. Poland has the following set of skills and competencies that have
to be acquired by the end of lower secondary education: reading; mathematical thinking;
scientific thinking; communicative skills; technological skills; information usage; self-orientation;
team working. Other OECD countries that have similar overarching sets of key or basic learning
skills or competencies include Belgium, Italy, Korea, Mexico the Slovak Republic, Spain, and
Turkey (Ananiadou & Claro,2009).
All over the world education authorities and individual schools are grappling with the question of what
skills school students need to be taught in order to increase their chances of success in both higher
learning and the world of work and enterprise.
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3
In the broadest sense all the components or categories of skills in all these models could be termed
‘learning skills’ because they are all the components of what it takes to be a brilliant learner in a modern
digital age. We are right now the first generation of a new age. An age where all information will
ultimately become freely available and we may well see the highest priority of education move from
content to process, from what to learn to how to learn. For this age, the pre-eminent skills will be the
skills of effective learning.
Learning Skills
The evidence for the effectiveness of the direct teaching of the skills of effective learning is quite robust
but in the available literature such evidence is usually related to measuring the effects of one specific
intervention.
Teaching students self questioning strategies was found to be a successful intervention in learning to read
by Huang (1992).
Time management and goal setting techniques were rated as the best self-management skills by
undergraduate students (Gerhardt, 2007) and the self-management of learning has been shown to
improve academic productivity and achievement (Dean, Mallott & Fulton, 1983).
A meta-analysis by Hembree (1988) concluded that training in the deliberate reduction of test anxiety
improved test performance and increased grade point average.
Training in the use of structural aids to learning – such as advance organisers, summarising (Armbruster,
Anderson and Ostertag, 1987), rehearsal (Dwyer, 1986), the selection and use of effective task strategies
(Schunk & Gunn, 1986), the construction of graphic organisers, summary writing (Weisberg & Balajthy,
1990) and writing strategies such as planning, organising, writing, editing, and revising (Englert, Raphael,
Anderson, Anthony & Stevens, 1991) uniformly produce significant improvements in learning
effectiveness.
In a large-scale study (Noble, Davenport, Schiel & Pommerich, 1999) of high school students academic
performance and proficiency in study skills were found to be directly related to course GPA and
standardised achievement score.
In an investigation of the determinants of success of college students the two most significant factors
were found to be clear achievement goals and an understanding and application of good study skills
(Robbins, S., Lauver, L., Le, H., Davis, D., Langley, R., & Carlstrom, 2004)
Interventions for the enhancement of learning have also been found to have very positive effects on
affect. For example, students reported greater affinity for teachers and increased agreement with the
goals of education (Gadzella, Goldston & Zimmerman, 1977) or more positive attitudes towards study
and specific subjects (Bean, Singer, Sorter and Frazee, 1986). A more positive attitude also was also
reflected in reduced anxiety ( Nist, Mealey, Simpson, & Kroc, 1990) and increased task persistence
(Relich, Debus & Walker, 1986).
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One of the most recent analyses of the effects of learning skill training interventions is from Lyn Lavery
(2008). In her meta-study of available papers in the field she found that the most effective skills based
interventions for improving learning were, in priority order:
• Organising and transforming information
• Learning to use delayed gratification
• Self-verbalisation for focus
• Self-assessment
• Asking good questions
• Taking good classroom notes
• Using memory techniques
• Goal setting
• Reviewing information regularly
• Self-monitoring success of study strategies
• Using visualisation
• Time management
• Organising the study environment
Lavery also noted though that the greatest improvements in student learning were achieved by strategy
interventions that aimed at the forethought phase of learning, such as goal setting and planning, self-
instruction and self-evaluation.
Effective Learning
Intrinsically motivated learning is achieved through the application of a dynamic, internally controlled set
of metacognitive, cognitive and affective processes that positively influence a student’s tendency to
approach, engage with, expend effort on, and persist in learning tasks in an ongoing, self-directed
manner (McCombs, 1984). Exactly what everyone does when they are intensely interested in something.
In order to maintain interest in their learning tasks and implement efficacious learning strategies and
skills it is necessary for students to be aware of their own learning competencies, abilities and
deficiencies. It is also necessary for them to realise that they can take positive self-control in learning
situations and in so doing increase both their sense of personal efficacy and their learning achievement.
Once perceptions of competency and positive self-control have been developed, students are more
inclined to try out new cognitive and affective strategies in new learning situations and they then develop
more control over their own learning in a self-directed manner (Kirschenbaum, & Perri, 1982; Lodico,
Ghatala, Levin, Pressley, & Bell, 1983).
In support of McCombs’ study, Hattie, Biggs & Purdie (1996) also distinguish clearly between
metacognitive, cognitive and affective interventions. They describe metacognitive interventions as those
that focus on the self-management of learning - planning, implementing and monitoring learning efforts –
as well as gaining the knowledge of when, where, why and how to use specific learning strategies in their
appropriate contexts. Cognitive interventions are described as those which focus on developing the
particular skills necessary to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge or skill, and affective interventions are
described as those that focus on such noncognitive aspects of learning such as motivation, self-concept,
emotional management and resilience.
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Metacognitive Skills
Metacognitive skills are the umbrella skills which drive the whole learning improvement process and
through which the greatest improvements in academic performance can be achieved. Metacognition
simply means the executive function of thinking. That is, that part of our thinking that is always reflecting
on the success or otherwise of our strategy use, looking to make changes and try out new ideas where
necessary, implementing changes and reflecting on results.
“There are two layers of problem solving: applying a strategy to a problem, and selecting and
monitoring that strategy. Meta-cognition refers to higher-order thinking which involves active
control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning” (Hattie, 2009)
Within the IB a focus on metacognition is already well established through the application of the inquiry
learning cycle which in itself is intrinsic to the entire curriculum:
critical sustained
reflection inquiry
principled
action
This cycle of reflection, when applied to the processes of learning within ATL, creates metacognitive
awareness.
The implementation of metacognitive skills training helps build self regulated learning. Once a student
has built up a ‘library’ of specific cognitive and affective learning strategies and skills they can then use
their metacognitive skills to use, monitor, check and evaluate the success of the strategies they employ.
(Paris & Winograd, 1990; Weinstein, 1987; Zimmerman & Martinez-Ponz, 1992)
Metacognitive training for students is the first necessary step in the process of improving all their ATL
skills and is the common requirement for performance improvement in all ATL skills.
This is the aim of bringing an ATL focus into the DP as the learning skills training base through which, in
combination with developing metacognitive awareness and inquiry learning in the classroom, all the
aspirations of the learner profile can be achieved for every student.
Developing the Self-Regulated Learner
“One source of the differences between the highest- and lowest-achieving children is
the degree to which they become self-regulators of their own learning” (Biemiller &
Meichenbaum, 1992).
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“SRL [Self-regulated Learning] is defined as a goal oriented process, proceeding from a
forethought phase through self-monitoring and self-control to self-reflection. SRL can
foster deep and meaningful learning as well as significant gains in student achievement”
(Pintrich, 2000, 2004)
“Students who are more cognizant of themselves as learners and who can better
regulate their own intellectual activity are more successful in learning, problem solving,
and transfer, and function better in overall academic capacity” (Vrieling, Bastiaens &
Stijnen, 2010)
Training in self-regulation processes such as goal setting, self-monitoring and self-reflection has been
shown to increase levels of both motivation and achievement (Schunk, 1996; Wood, Bandura & Bailey,
1990)
High achieving students have been found to use significantly more self-regulated learning strategies than
low achieving students and their membership in either group has been predicted with 93% accuracy by
looking at their use of self-regulated learning strategies (Zimmerman & Pons, 1986) which also has
proved to be the best predictor of their achievement in standardised tests.
Self-regulated learners have learnt how to:

• set learning goals
• plan out their study
• ask good questions
• self-interrogate as they learn
• generate motivation and perseverance
• try out different learning processes
• self-monitor the effectiveness of their learning
• work to deadlines
• reflect on achievement and
• make changes to their learning processes where necessary
(Zimmerman and Schunk, 1989)
Within the Diploma, through an increased focus on both the development of metacognitive awareness
and the inculcation of the key ATL skills needed for effective learning students will gain all the skills
needed to become self-regulated learners.
When any child has reached this level of self-regulation, they are ready for all forms of higher education,
for the demands of a changing workplace, and for the world of work and enterprise. They have gained all
the capabilities they need to be a lifelong learner and have fulfilled all the aspirations of the Learner
Profile.
ATL Skills
In considering the skills of effective learning it is first important to define what we mean by a skill.
The definition relied upon in the MYP Principles to Practices – The New Chapter (due for release in 2014),
is that
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“A skill is a set of strategies and techniques harmonised to achieve a single purpose
which improves with practice”
As such a particular skill is quite different from an ability or a talent, it is truly international and can be
developed by any person in any context.
At all three levels of the IB, ATL skills are grouped into 5 Categories:
• Communication
• Social
• Self-Management
• Research
• Thinking
At the MYP level these five categories are then expanded into ten clusters of skills as follows:
Skills Categories Skills Clusters

Communication - Communication
Social - Collaboration
Self Management - Organisation
- Affective Skills
- Reflection
Research - Information Literacy
- Media Literacy
Thinking - Critical Thinking
- Creativity and Innovation
- Transfer
With definitions as follows:
Communication The skills of effectively exchanging thoughts, messages and
information through interaction
The skills of reading, writing and using language to communicate
information
Collaboration The skills of working cooperatively with others
Organisation The skills of effectively managing time and tasks
Affective skills The skills of managing state of mind
Reflection The metacognitive skills of re-considering what has been taught and
learned by reflection on content, ATL skills and learning strategy use
Information literacy The skills of finding, interpreting, judging and creating information
Media literacy The skills of interacting with different media to compare and contrast
different representations of information
Critical thinking The skills of critique of text, media, ideas and issues
Creativity and The skills of invention – developing original and novel ideas and
Innovation products
Transfer Utilising skills and knowledge in multiple contexts
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All ten Skills Clusters are then sub-divided into examples of use in practice in the classroom. To date over
160 individual skills practices have been identified at the MYP level.
For the Diploma I propose keeping the same overall structure of ATL skills as in the MYP but searching for
more appropriate examples of practices, techniques and strategies for 16-19 year olds within each of
those skills clusters. Each ATL Skill Category will be dealt with individually.
Communication Skills.
One difficulty in trying to define key ‘Communication Skills’ for today’s senior students is that for them
life is communication. These students are part of the first ever digital generation, they have grown up
within the flow of information that is the internet and they communicate in a thousand different ways
every day. In 2006, the media scholar Henry Jenkins and co-authors Purushotma, Clinton, Weigel and
Robison authored a white paper titled Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media
Education for the 21st Century (Jenkins et al, 2006). In this they describe ‘participatory’ culture as one
with
“relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support
for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship
whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices. A
participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter,
and feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care
what other people think about what they have created.”
In essence a culture of communication and collaboration.
In the last 100 years or so (in the western world at least) the means, talents and skills needed to make a
living have undergone enormous change from a dependence on manual skills to a dependence on
communication skills.
“At the beginning of the century at least 80% of the American labor force were primarily
employed in tasks that depended on manual skills. Only 20%—the white-collar segment—
performed work that was based on communication abilities. At mid-century 63% of the
nation's work force were employed in farming and blue-collar occupations; the number of
workers holding white-collar jobs had almost doubled to 38%. At the end of the century
62% of our labor force make their livelihood using skills based on their communication
abilities and many of the remaining 37%, although defined as farming and blue collar, are
dependent on their communication abilities to function in the present communication
society. Occupations that are voice dependent account for 34% of all workers. 2 In urban
areas such as New York City at least 87.5% of the work force are dependent on
communication skills. 3 Bureau of Labor 6 projections for the year 2005 indicate that US
employment will increase by 17.7 million jobs, at least 92% (16.2 million) of which will be
based on communication skills” (Reuben, 2000).
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Figure Fig. 1.. Change in occupations in the United States from 1900 to 2000.
Light grey bars indicate manual labor jobs, dark grey bars indicate communication jobs
(Reuben, 2000).
Tony Wagner, the recently appointed first Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology &
Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, in his book the Global Achievement Gap, describes Communication
Skills as the Fifth 21st Century Survival Skill. He quotes his own work showing that 52.7% of employers
surveyed say that “Written Communications, which includes writing memos, letters, complex reports
clearly and effectively, is ‘very important’ for high school graduates’ successful job performance” and that
“80.0% of employer respondents report high school graduate entrants as ‘deficient’” (Wagner, 2010)
Students in the final years of their school based education need to be very aware of the link between
professional competence and communication competence (Russ, 2009). The requirement for strong
communication skills is often implied in job descriptions (Krapels & Davis, 2003) and is expected in all
university courses even those in which there is little written communications (Faris, Golen & Lynch,
1999). The AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) for example, lists communication as
a fundamental personal competency needed by all successful Accountancy students (Jones, 2011), the
American Society of Clinical Oncology has a similar view (Back, Arnold, Tulsky, Baile, & Fryer-Edwards,
2003) as does the Society of Professional Engineers (Sageev & Romanowski, 2001).
Good communication skills have been significantly correlated with improved social self-efficacy (Erozkan,
2013), self-esteem and self-confidence (Riggio, Throckmorton & DePaola, 1990) and even with giving “a
non-native English-speaking country a competitive edge and attracting lucrative foreign investment”
(Wharton, 2002).
Within high schools good communication skills are needed not only for success in every subject discipline
but also to help form and maintain good interpersonal relationships both with other students and with
adults be they teachers, administrators or parents (Gallagher, 1991, Lass, Ruscello, Bradshaw, &
Blakenship, 1991).
In an influential white paper produced by the University of Melbourne in association with Cisco, Intel and
Microsoft as the foundation document for their ATC21S (Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills)
project, the authors declare that the most essential communication skills for adolescents in their mother
tongue are:
• “Ability to communicate, in written or oral form, and understand, or make others
understand, various messages in a variety of situations and for different purposes.
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• Communication includes the ability to listen to and understand various spoken messages
in a variety of communicative situations and to speak concisely and clearly.
• Ability to read and understand different texts, adopting strategies appropriate to various
reading purposes (reading for information, for study or for pleasure) and to various text
types.
• Ability to write different types of texts for various purposes. To monitor the writing
process (from drafting to proofreading).
• Ability to formulate one's arguments, in speaking or writing, in a convincing manner and
take full account of other viewpoints, whether expressed in written or oral form.
• Skills needed to use aids (such as notes, schemes, maps) to produce, present or
understand complex texts in written or oral form (speeches, conversations, instructions,
interviews, debates).”
(Binkley, Erstad, Herman, Raizen & Ripley 2011)
By the time students reach Grade 11 (Year 12) the assumption will be that they have gained all the basic
communication skills and that they can manage the communications necessary for adequate
performance at the DP level. They need to have sufficient vocabulary, syntax and grammar knowledge to
be able to communicate and to be understood in written form and they need to be competent at three
forms of inter-personal communication:
Verbal messages
- of the type and at the level of language that the listener will understand
- brief, succinct, organised
- free of jargon
Paraverbal messages:
- tone, pitch, pacing suitable for the aim of the communication
Nonverbal messages:
- body language consistent with verbal message
- eye contact appropriate to the message and the listener
They also need to be aware of the skills of effective listening and have the ability to relay the message
back to the speaker in a way that confirms understanding and seeks further communication:
- paraphrasing
- checking perceived emotional content
- summarising
- questioning
General rules for effective communication are very simple but every culture has its own mores and
shibboleths that can profoundly influence the clarity of both verbal and non-verbal communications. In
Japanese culture for example there are nine non-verbal codes of communication that are seen as having
an important influence on the meaning of any verbal communication:
- body language (kinesics)
- eye behaviour and facial expressions
- use of space (proxemics)
- touch (haptics)
- appearance
- space and time
- smell (olfactics)
- tone, pitch and pacing (vocalics)
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- silence
It will be important for every teacher at the DP level to be very aware of the meaning and significance of
both verbal and non-verbal messages within the culture of their students and their parents. Within
subjects there will be communication strategies and skills that need to be defined by subject teachers
and taught specifically within those disciplines. Many communication skills and strategies will be common
across all subjects though and it is important for interdisciplinary groups to meet and consider their own
specific subject needs for communication skills and the communication skills that can be taught
generically.
For example a Business Studies departments needs might be:

Speaking, Persuasion and Active Listening:
a) Deliver self-prepared speeches
b) Organise ideas sequentially for a persuasive aim
c) Adapt the message for the audience
d) Use and cite appropriate references
e) Demonstrate supportive listening
f) Participate effectively in group discussion
g) Synthesise group ideas, summarise and give feedback
Writing, Reading and Comprehension:

a) Practice the processes and procedures for all forms of business writing
b) Build arguments, formulate claims and cite research to support those claims
c) Adapt writing to the needs of the reader
d) Make use of technologies used for information research
e) Use appropriate language, sentence and paragraph structure
f) Demonstrate proof reading and editing skills
g) Read challenging academic texts and create summaries of key points
Information Gathering and Analysis

a) Plan out and implement research strategies involving different media
b) Differentiate between quantitative and qualitative data
c) Organise, critically analyse, compare, contrast and interpret data
d) Express relationships between ideas in various ways
e) Produce visual displays of information
f) Draw conclusions based on validated argument
g) Cite references appropriately
(Young & Murphy, 2003)
In the MYP the Communication Skills Cluster is broken into two parts and further sub-divided into 27 skill
practices that teachers can focus on in the classroom.
These examples of essential communication skills are not age specific, a student who develops
proficiency in all the skills listed here would have all the communications skills needed for success in both
the academic world and the world of commerce and enterprise.
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This framework can act as a starting point for Diploma teachers to bring all students up to the same level,
whether they have been through the MYP or not so that their communication skills are up to the
standard needed to manage the Diploma.
COMMUNICATION
Exchanging thoughts, messages and information effectively through
Communication skills
interaction
How can students Give and receive meaningful feedback
communicate through Use intercultural understanding to interpret communication
interaction Use a variety of speaking techniques to communicate with a variety of
audiences
Use appropriate forms of writing for different purposes and audiences
Use a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiences
Interpret and use effectively modes of non-verbal communication
Negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers
Participate in, and contribute to, digital social media networks
Collaborate with peers and experts using a variety of digital environments and
media
Share ideas with multiple audiences using a variety of digital environments
and media
How can students Reading, writing and using language to gather and communicate information
demonstrate Read critically and for comprehension
communication Read a variety of sources for information and for pleasure
through language? Make inferences and draw conclusions
Use and interpret a range of discipline-specific terms and symbols
Write for different purposes
Understand and use mathematical notation
Paraphrase accurately and concisely
Preview and skim texts to build understanding
Make effective summary notes for studying
Use a variety of organisers for academic writing tasks
Find information for disciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiries, using a variety
of media
Organise and depict information logically
Structure information in summaries, essays and reports
One difficulty at the senior student level is being able to separate out communication skills from the
general assessment requirements to process, understand, transfer and utilise essential knowledge. But
through the use of modern technology including personal communication devices and social media
platforms an amalgamation of many communication and social skills can be achieved which when
highlighted by teachers can bring new understandings to students of the ATL skills in use.
Consider electronic communication. The first commercial text message was sent in December of
1992, by Dec 2012 there were 15,000,000 text messages being sent every minute. Today the number of
text messages sent and received everyday exceeds the total human population of planet earth. Facebook,
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which started as a social connection vehicle for university students reached an audience of 50 million
users in just 2 years. By November 2012 Facebook had more than 1 billion monthly active users and
mediated over 2.7 billion ‘likes’ each day. There are 200 million monthly active users on Twitter, 175
million tweets on average sent every day in 2012 and 163 billion tweets sent since Twitter started (Royal
Pingdom).
These communication innovations are important because with text messaging and tweets we need to
consider the shift in grammar, syntax and spelling that pervades these communications. With Facebook
we need to consider the multimedia aspects of the communication especially the shift towards more
visual information processing. Vimeo is a very successful social media video site with 14 million users at
present, from which 200 petabytes of video was accessed in 2012. Ustream is a video streaming site with
more than 60 million monthly viewers where anyone can stream their latest news in the hope of
communicating to the world. All the major news networks keep a close eye on this and other platforms
for up-to-date communication of news as it happens. Four billion hours of YouTube is watched on
YouTube every month and 300 million new photos are added to each day to Facebook.
If the measure of good communication is consistency between the message sent and the message
received then all these social media communication platforms contain very valid communication tools
and it is up to teachers to incorporate as many of these information systems into their daily
communications practice for students as they can.
One example of incorporating new communication technologies into student assessment was
developed for PISA 2009. The Electronic Reading Assessment used a simulated reading exercise in a web
based environment. This represented both a movement towards the use of more innovative
assessment items and also a step towards changing assessment exercises into more authentic
and up-to-date tasks.
Social Skills
Both Vygotsky and Piaget saw learning as a social phenomena. The Piagetian approach usually pairs
children with developmental differences to create learning through comparing and contrasting skills and
understanding. The Vygotskyen approach on the other hand utilises the interaction of a child with an
older more knowledgeable figure to create the ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) within which
learning occurs. In both cases it is the collaboration and communication between the participants that
creates effective learning (Dillenbourg, Baker, Blaye, & O’Malley, 1996).
The modern approaches of shared, situated and embedded cognition view learning as the result of a
complex interaction of minds within specific cultural contexts and emphasise the social structures within
which those interactions occur. These approaches necessitate consideration of all aspects of the
environment in which learning occurs. In modern times this needs to include the pervasive influence of
social media facilitated communication as an integral factor in of the cognitive activities associated with
learning.
“Under this view, knowledge is not something that is handed down from one partner
to another. Rather, knowledge is coconstructed through interactions among collaborators.
This approach emphasizes that the whole of group behavior is more than the sum of its
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individual parts (Lai, 2011)
In the 1990s, in reaction to the use of software that increasingly isolated the individual user, the
computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) approach was developed to study how people can
learn using computers in collaborative groups. In CSCL learning takes place through interaction with both
the material on-screen and with other people. Studies into the effectiveness of this method of learning
are ongoing, facilitated to a greater degree today by new technologies such as Skype, Twitter video,
ComBOTS, Gizmo Project, Google Talk and iChat etc. Results to date have been somewhat contradictory
with higher level learning, increased participation and engagement being reported as well as more
confusion, time wasting and conflict (Phielix, Prins & Kirschner, 2010).
Collaborative learning has been found to boost scores in mathematics for 7th grade students (Webb,
1993), improve academic performance for lower ability students (Saner et al, 1994), improve
understanding of facts (Fall et al. 1997), increase student motivation and engagement (Cumming, 2010),
and to produce higher satisfaction in learning (Klein, 1992). On the other hand Tudge (1992) found that
among science students collaboration was more likely to decrease performance than increase it and Yun-
Ke Chang et al. (2010) found that the use of wikis to improve academic performance enhanced the
students’ collaboration skills but not necessarily their learning.
Gender seems to have some influence on the effectiveness of collaboration in improving learning. Boys
generally appear to gain more benefit from and find it easier to accept collaborative learning than girls in
general do (Webb, 1991), and girls have even been found to suffer significant declines in performance
after collaborating (Tudge, 1992). In collaborative groups with more boys than girls the boys were found
to dominate making it harder for girls to have equal say. However in balanced gender groups there were
no differences found in interaction patterns between boys and girls. Other influences are the ability level
of the student and the level of development of the individual student’s social skills, both of which
correlate with improved collaboration and improved learning. (Webb, 1991).
In the on-line environment, one might expect that collaborative projects would create a safe
environment for opinion and disagreement within members of a group but conversely Curtis & Lawson
(2001) found that in on-line discussions students were less likely to disagree with or challenge one
another than in face to face group work, and they also found that significantly more of the groups time
together was given to planning in online groups, which was not always appreciated.
Collaborative learning approaches have been found to promote both critical thinking (Thayer-Bacon,
2000) and the development of metacognitive awareness (Schraw & Moshman, 1995; Schraw et al., 2006)
and to positively influence students’ motivation.
“Collaboration provides opportunities for peer modeling, and models of successful

student performance can be more motivating to students than teacher modeling.
Working with others promotes academic engagement through the added
responsibility of group performance, which causes individuals to persist at difficult
tasks longer than they normally would (Turner, 1995).
In the MYP the Social Skills category is specifically linked with the Collaboration Skills cluster which is then
further sub-divided into 14 skill practices that teachers can focus on in the classroom.
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These examples of essential collaboration skills are not age specific and they are not exhaustive but a
student who develops proficiency in all the skills listed here would have many of the collaboration skills
needed for success in both the academic world and the world of commerce and enterprise.
This framework can act as a starting point for teachers to bring all students up to the same level, whether
they have been through the MYP or not so that their communication skills are up to the standard needed
to succeed well in the Diploma.
SOCIAL
Collaboration skills Working effectively with others
How can students Use social media networks appropriately to build and develop relationships
collaborate?
Practice empathy
Delegate and share responsibility for decision-making
Take responsibility for one’s own actions
Manage and resolve conflict and work collaboratively in teams
Build consensus
Make fair and equitable decisions
Listen actively to other perspectives and ideas
Encourage others to contribute
Exercise leadership and take on a variety of roles within groups
Give and receive meaningful feedback
Advocate for your own rights and needs
Instruction in the skills of collaboration is often not specifically provided in the school setting as the
practice of collaboration is in itself, often thought to contain within it the skills that need to be practiced
and developed. But the specific teaching of these skills has been found to improve both the process and
the effectiveness of learning in classroom situations where students are required to work in collaborative
groups (Fall et al. 1997; Webb, 1995). Developing students’ skills in communication, interpersonal and
teamwork skills, conflict resolution, decision making, problem solving, and negotiation all help improve
the effectiveness of collaboration as a learning tool.
As well as teaching the specific skills that students lack, teachers need to provide opportunities for them
to practice collaboration skills, and teachers also need to think about the possibility of group assessments
to create incentive for students to improve their collaboration skills. One such approach involving
assessment of the collaboration process of all the individuals in a group as well as the group as a whole is
the SPIDER Web Discussion™ method created by Alexis Wiggins:
“The name is an acronym, describing the specific aspects of the discussion and its process:
S ynergetic – a collaborative, group effort with a single group grade
P rocess – a process that must be practiced and honed
I ndependent – students work independently; teacher observes and gives feedback
D eveloped – a developed, sustained discussion that aims to “get somewhere”
E xploration – an exploration of ideas, texts, or questions through discussion with a
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R ubric – a clear, specific rubric against which the students can self-assess
Through specific processes like modeling, coding, group grading, and feedback sessions,
SPIDER Web Discussion trains students to work together collaboratively in their
problem-solving and to self-assess that process. The result is deep, high-level inquiry led
and assessed by the students themselves, whether they are in second grade or high-school
Geometry. In short, SPIDER Web Discussion aims to create authentic collaborators,
communicators, and self-evaluators out of all students (Wiggins, 2011)
In this model, extensive training in equitable group discussion, Socratic questioning, collaborative
processes, listening skills and peer engagement lead to increases for participants in all social skills as well
as deeper engagement with the subject matter under investigation.
Collaboration is the “mutual engagement of participants in a coordinated effort to

solve a problem together.” Collaborative interactions are characterized by shared goals,
symmetry of structure, and a high degree of negotiation, interactivity, and interdependence.
(Lai, 2011)
Collaboration skills are often reinterpreted as or subsumed into a group known loosely as ‘social skills’
which can be defined as “specific behaviours that an individual exhibits to perform competently on a
social task” (Cook, Gresham, Kern, Barreras, Thornton & Crews, 2008, pg 132). Social skills often
encompass such skills/behaviours as:
• Interpersonal behaviours – making friendships
• Peer-related skills – acceptance, collaboration, empathy
• Teacher-pleasing skills – following direction and instruction, compliance
• Self-related behaviours – understanding personal motivation, dealing with stresses
• Assertiveness skills – being unafraid to express own opinions and ideas without aggression
• Communication skills – reading accurately and responding well to verbal and non-verbal cues
(Elksnin & Elksnin 1998)
Social skill deficiency in childhood has been found to be the single best predictor of significant problems
in adulthood (Strain & Odom, 1986) and it is more frequently found in teenagers with learning and
behaviour problems than in the general student population (Elksnin & Elksnin, 1998). Social anxiety has
been found in 19%-33% of university undergraduate students (Beidel, Turner, Stanley & Dancu, 1989)
and 91% of a group of 99 social phobics reported deleterious effects on their academic performance as a
result, usually through lack of class participation, fear of assignments requiring oral presentations and
group work (Turner, Beidel, Borden, Stanley & Jacob, 1991). Seventy five percent of students with
learning disabilities have been found to deficient in social skills (Kavale & Forness, 1996).
To function effectively in the high school environment students need to be adept at both peer-related
and teacher-related social communication and behaviour. Both represent zones of proximal development
for academic success and social success skills. To aid this process particularly for students with some form
of pre-existing behavioural difficulty, specific training in social skills can sometimes be of great benefit.
In relationship to teachers, the larger the difference between teachers’ expectations and students’
behaviour the greater the difficulty students will have in achieving academic success (Cook et al. 2008).
Being able to represent yourself assertively, ask questions, resolve conflict and solve communications
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problems may not be behaviours that necessarily produce the most harmony or compliance in a
classroom but teachers need to realise that these are all important social and communication skills which
students need to practice in order to develop proficiency.
With regards to peer relationships, many negative outcomes including victimisation, violent behaviour,
low academic achievement and dropping out of school have all been linked to low social skills and a
failure to achieve sufficient status within a peer group (Lopez & DuBois, 2005).
Socially skilled students tend to be more successful at school. They are better able to negotiate a trouble
free path through relationships with both teachers and peers, they form more stable relationships and
they are able to self-manage feedback and learn from interactions (Simonsen, Myers, Everett, Sugai,
Spencer & LaBreck, 2012).
The results from trials of social skills training are generally positive although somewhat mixed. The
benefits of school-wide social skills training for both at-risk and general students have been found to be
an increase in safety and academic performance and a decrease in problem behaviours (Bradshaw,
Mitchell & Leaf, 2010) and Simonsen et al. found that what they called ‘packaged social skills instruction’
Second Step, Project ACHIVE, Incredible Years and teacher or school developed social skills instruction
(SST) all led to positive student outcomes. In an analysis of 5 meta-studies Cook et al. (2008) concluded
that SST interventions produced improvements in two thirds of high school students with (or at risk of)
emotional /behavioural disorders. One online programme of social skills, cognitive –behaviour therapy
and relaxation techniques produced a significant decrease in social fears and an increase of social skills
(Lehenbauer, Kothgassner, Kryspin-Exner & Stetina, 2013). However in a meta-analysis of 49 studies into
SCT (Social Competence Training) results showed that the programme was only ‘moderately effective
(Beelman, Pfingsten & Losel, 1994).
Most recently in the Netherlands social skills training camps have been trialled targeting children from 7-
13 years with problem behaviours. The children first attend a 6 day Sterkamp (Star Camp) and then get
the opportunity 6 months later to attend a follow-up camp called Maankamp (Moon Camp). The camps’
programmes include group based social skills training in combination with physical education and adult
mentoring. Drawing on previous research into effective SST organisers also included the parents of the
children in the programme, made sure they had diversity of composition of all groups and delivered the
programme in an outdoor, natural setting. Assessment of the children attending both directly after the
camps and 12 months later showed ‘large positive changes’ for most outcome measures (van Vugt,
Dekovic, Prinzie, Stams & Asscher, 2013).
In today’s world social collaborative skills are practiced and developed both online and off but it is online
where relationships are most numerous, complex and broadly based. With the development of Web 2.0
functionality, internet users are no longer passive recipients of information but active data creators.
“Digital media creativity among young people is a social process that inevitably entails
social negotiation between peers, explorations of the relationship between the self
and others and performances of social identities like gender, ethnicity and class”
(Mostmans, Vleugels & Bannier, 2012)
Web 2.0 is the term that describes the second generation of the World Wide Web that enables people to
collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 refers to the transition of web pages from static HTML
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production to more dynamic formats that allow viewers to utilise applications on the page, give
immediate feedback and generate content of their own. A Web 2.0 site will usually allow users to interact
and collaborate with each other in a ‘social media’ enhanced dialogue through open communication and
the development of web-based virtual communities of users.
In the USA studies show that that 57% of online teens (around 12 million people) create content for the
internet. They create blogs and web pages for school, friends or organisations, they share original
artwork, stories, photos, or videos online or they sample and remix other online content into new original
creations.
o “33% of online teens share their own creations online, such as artwork, photos, stories,
or videos.
o 32% say that they have created or worked on webpages or blogs for others, including
those for groups they belong to, friends or school assignments.
o 22% report keeping their own personal webpage.
o 19% have created their own online journal or blog and 38% read them.
o Teens are much more likely than adults to blog and they are also more likely to read
blogs.”
(Lenhardt & Madden, 2005)
The social influence of all this time online cannot be underestimated. For teenagers the internet means
connection with others, it means social interactions whether by email, Facebook, Twitter, chat, blogs,
games etc. Most western teenagers today are immersed in one or more web-based social networks from
the moment they get out of bed until the moment they go to sleep, 7 days a week, 52 weeks of year. This
is today’s participatory social culture where creativity, communication and collaboration blended with
media skills are the currency of value. In the white paper mentioned earlier Jenkins et al. called this
grouping of skills “media literacies”.
“”A set of cultural competencies and social skills that young people need in the
new media landscape. Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one
of individual expression to community involvement. The new literacies almost
all involve social skills developed through collaboration and networking”
(Jenkins, Purushotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2006 p 4).
The media literacies chosen by Jenkins et al. (2006) are:

Play — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving
Performance — the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation
and discovery
Simulation — the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes
Appropriation — the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
Multitasking — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.
Distributed Cognition — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities
Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common
goal
Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources
Transmedia Navigation — the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple
modalities
Networking — the ability to search for, synthesise, and disseminate information
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Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple
perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.
These are the 21st Century literacies (Wagner) and fluencies (Crockett et al.) that have been mentioned
previously. These media literacies encompass aspects of all five ATL skills categories and represent real
life approaches to information processing in the classroom through which skills in every category can be
highlighted.
Designing subject specific tasks around the development of any of these media literacies will exercise
students in most aspects of ATL - Communication, Social, Research, Self-Management and Thinking skills.
Self-Management Skills
The self- management category of ATL skills at the MYP level includes three clusters
Organisation – managing time and tasks effectively
Affective Skills – managing state of mind, which is further broken down into 5 sub-sets of skills:
- Mindfulness
- Perseverance
- Emotional Management
- Self Motivation
- Resilience
Reflection – re-considering what has been learnt and how it has been learnt, choosing, using and
evaluating ATL skills
I propose that for the Diploma level we simplify this grouping as follows:
Self- Management:
Organisation – managing time and tasks effectively
Affective Skills – managing state of mind:
- Mindfulness
- Self Motivation
- Resilience
Reflection – developing metacognitive skils
The rationale for these changes is contained in the following text.
SELF MANAGEMENT
Metacognition - reconsidering what has been learnt and how it has been
Reflection
learnt; choosing, using and evaluating ATL skills
How can students be Identify strengths and weaknesses of personal learning strategies (self-
metacognitive? assessment)
Consider content (What did I understand today? What don’t I yet understand?
What questions do I have now?)
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Consider ATL skills development (How proficient do I feel in the significant
skills practiced in this unit)
Consider learning strategies (What learning strategies have I been engaged
with? How effective was each one for me? Which factors seem to be most
important to me in helping me learn well?)
Identify strengths and weaknesses of personal learning strategies (self-
assessment)
Metacognition
Within the Reflection Cluster are found all aspects of metacognitive skill development
In order for any learning strategy training to be effective it is first necessary to develop the metacognitive
skills of noticing present strategy use, analysing, comparing, experimenting, gathering feedback, making
changes and implementing new strategies. These ‘executive’ functions need to be in place first before
any specific learning strategy training takes place in order for any strategy training to be put into use by
the student in their own studies. Without the meta-level skills being applied, direct learning strategy
training has little impact and quickly disappears once the instructional context is changed (Kuhn, 2000)
Metacognition refers to the learners’ awareness and knowledge of their own learning processes, as well
as their abilities and tendencies to control those processes during learning (Derry & Murphy, 1986).
Metacognitive activities for regulating and overseeing learning as defined by Brown, Bransford, Ferrara &
Campione (1983) include planning (goal setting, choosing strategies, scheduling time and resources ),
monitoring (checking progress, reviewing, rescheduling), and evaluating outcomes (both process and
content).
Children in pre-school and primary education often demonstrate metacogntive abilities in selecting and
applying learning strategies (Siegler, 1994) but Mok, Fan & Pang (2007) in studying students in Hong Kong
found that this ability declined after the transition to secondary school. Some of their suggested
explanations for this decline included the increasing self-consciousness of teenagers, the demands at
school to cover content overriding the awareness of process and more use of surface learning
approaches in the secondary classroom than deeper level approaches often found in primary and pre-
school education. This result was in contrast to a recent study from England in which metacognitive
ability improved significantly with age during adolescence and then plateaued, but did not decline, into
adulthood and ‘middle age’(Weil, Fleming, Dumontheil, Kilford, Weil, Rees, Dolan & Blakemore, 2013).
One of the metacognitive interventions successful in enhancing achievement is direct instruction in self-
management skills like planning, information organisation, goal setting, scheduling and time
management (Wang, 1983). Karoly and Greiner (1976) found that students who received training in self-
monitoring, self reward, and planning strategies significantly outperformed other groups on nearly all
measures of academic achievement.
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Robert Sternberg and Howard Gardner have together produced a model of student performance
improvement based on the metacognitive process that they call PIFS, Practical Intelligence For Schools.
This model looks at the seven intelligences of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences theory:
• Linguistic
• Logical- Mathematical
• Spatial
• Musical
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• Body-Kinesthetic (Gardner, 1993)
from the point of view of Sternberg’s Triarchic theory which proposes three key aspects to every
intelligence:
• Analytical
• Creative
• Practical ( Sternberg, 1996)
This PIFS model then develops five metacognitive themes or questions related to learning which teachers
can help students use in order to enhance the ways of thinking they will need most for success at school.
These themes are:
o Knowing Why – understanding the purpose of all classroom learning and tasks
o Knowing Self – identifying strengths and weaknesses in present learning strategies and
skills
o Knowing Differences – recognising that different school subjects require different types
of thinking and learning
o Knowing Process – understanding the steps needed in learning and the range of possible
learning strategies available
o Revisiting – using review of content and process effectively
This model recognises five different areas that make up the full metacognitive process necessary for
academic performance improvement. The PIFS programme
“Successfully enhanced both practical and academic skills in each of the target skill
areas (reading, writing, homework, and test taking) in children from diverse
socioeconomic backgrounds attending diverse types of schools”
(Williams, Blythe, White, Li, Gardner & Sternberg, 2002)
Metacognition training through ATL in the Diploma programme will set the foundation for the learning of
all the other ATL skills. At the Diploma level metacognition can be seen as the umbrella skill which makes
all learning process improvement possible. Whether Diploma students come from the MYP or from other
programmes, they all need to first be focused on their meta-cognitive ability. This is often a good way for
a teacher to start a new year by investigating the metacognitive skills proficiency of their students and
then using exercises within their subject areas to raise the students awareness of the importance of
metacognition for effective learning and give them practical mechanisms to use to do so (see Teacher
Support Materials – Metacognition, 2013).
In a (meta) study of 800 meta-studies of factors effecting student achievement Hattie (2009) found that
the most uniformly positive results in terms of academic engagement, understanding, transfer of skills
and high performance in assessments come about through a focus in the classroom on learning strategy
training in a metacognitive, self-regulated context in connection with specific content.
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Through the introduction of the idea of self-regulated learning in the classroom teachers can often
highlight the importance of both the skills of good learning and the need for metacognitive awareness to
improve and develop those skills.
Organisation
The most obvious skill that students require in order to be successful not only in the Diploma but at all
levels of education and learning, is the skill of organisation.
IB Diploma students are particularly susceptible to stress as they try to read all the material they need to,
review their learning as they go, finish assignments on time, study for tests and other assessments and
work on their long term projects like their Extended Essay as well as balance a busy social life and often a
part-time job as well. It is easy for a students to feel overwhelmed by the workload and feel that there is
never enough time to get anything done well which results in stress (Sax, 1997). Academic stress often
comes from a perception that there is too much material to cover and not enough time to develop it well
(Carveth, Gesse & Moss, 1996). Other stressors can be financial, time or health related or self imposed
(Goodman 1993). Poor time management behaviours such as procrastination and last-minute cramming
are often at the heart of self-imposed stressors which often lead to sub-standard academic performance
(Longman & Atkinson, 1988). The two main strategies used by students to lower stress levels are time
management and leisure activities (Mattlin, Wethington & Kessler, 1990) and of the two, time
management has been found to have the greatest ameliorative effect on stress (Misra & McKean, 2000)
Students are very aware of their own deficiencies in this area but often do not have effective strategies to
overcome them. In one study 67% of students entering university reported that their greatest lack was
their ability to manage their time effectively (Weissberg, Berentsen, Cote, Cravey & Heath, 1982). At the
secondary school level students themselves readily identify their top time wasters as Facebook, texting,
phone-chat, television and daydreaming.
Time management is often a well understood but poorly practiced strategy in high school students
(Brown, 1991)and has often been researched in the context of being a feature of self-managed or self-
directed learning (McCombs, 1986). Time management has rarely been studied as a single influencing
factor. The few singular studies there are show that effective time management practices allieviate stress
(Lay & Schouwenburg, 1993), increase academic performance (Campbell & Svenson, 1992) and
contribute largely to ‘strategic study’, a strategy often suggested as a study skills method (Kirschenbaum
& Perri, 1982).
In the MYP the Organisation Skills Cluster is sub-divided into 8 skill practices that teachers can focus on in
the classroom.
These examples of essential organisation skills are not age specific and they are not exhaustive but a
student who develops proficiency in all the skills listed here would have many of the organisation skills
needed for success in both the academic world and the world of commerce and enterprise.
This framework can act as a starting point for teachers to bring all students up to the same level, whether
they have been through the MYP or not so that their communication skills are up to the standard needed
to manage the Diploma.
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SELF MANAGEMENT
Organisation skills Managing time and tasks effectively
How can students Plan short and long term assignments; meet deadlines
demonstrate Create plans to prepare for summative assessments (examinations and
organisation skills? performances)
Keep and use a weekly planner for assignments
Set goals that are both challenging and realistic
Plan strategies and take action to achieve personal and academic goals
Bring necessary equipment and supplies to class
Keep an organised and logical system of information files/notebooks
Use appropriate strategies for organising complex information
Time management is often expected of students but not specifically taught. In the table above, simple
time management strategies are outlined and in the ‘stand-alone’ paper of this present work will be
developed further.
If all Diploma teachers co-ordinate their deadlines for students so that any individual student’s
assessments are well spread throughout the school year, if teachers help their students learn how to
break down assignments into achievable steps and timeline each step, plan out review and study for tests
and exams and build study timetables then a great deal of poor time management will be alleviated.
Time management is not something we can assume that students will be good at, like all ATL skills it is a
specific skill which must be taught.
Although good time management is always insisted upon by the best teachers, and students get shown
over and over again how to do it, students are often very poor time managers. One reason for this has
been proposed as perceived control of time (Macan, Shahani, Dipboye & Phillips, 1990) also called a time
attitudes factor (Britton & Tesser, 1991) wherein a student that feels they are in charge of their own time,
and can happily say “No” to people is able to reject unprofitable Time Consuming (Cemaloglu & Filiz,
2010) activities in favour of time management activities. These students report greater work satisfaction,
less overload, more efficient thinking, greater enjoyment of their studies and more perseverance.
But this performance improvement is only partly attributable to time management strategies themselves,
a greater effect may be due to the shift in attitude, something that can be influenced by affective skill
development.
Affective skills
In addition to the meta-cognitive and organisational skills mentioned above it is also advantageous for
students to learn the skills that enable them to gain some control over mood, motivation and what we
tend to call attitude. These are the skills needed for students to build resilience in learning, to learn to
deal effectively with any setbacks and difficulties, to learn how to bounce back, make changes and
persevere – the skills of the self-regulated learner.
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The self-regulated learner is the one who is using the metacognitive process, as described above, to not
only monitor effective cognitive strategies for learning but also to regulate their emotional or affective
responses in learning situations. These students, whether through training or natural ability have learned
how to monitor their own emotional state and its effect on their learning and how to cope well with the
emotional highs and lows of academic endeavour.
Studies of self-regulated learners have found that many of these students have strategies that they use in
a deliberate way to help them generate self-belief and an intrinsic motivation to learn. They deliberately
use delayed gratification and positive self-talk to generate self-motivation, they exhibit good impulse
control and in order to improve learning performance often use attention focusing tactics to screen out
distractions and increase concentration (Pressley & Woloshyn, 1995).
Students who employ self-regulated, self-determined approaches to learning not only achieve higher
levels of academic achievement than those that do not, they also experience a sense of personal
satisfaction in their work and are more inclined to make adaptive changes to enhance future
performance ( Pintrich, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Zimmerman, 2000).
Students, who experience a greater sense of competence and self-direction in their daily learning, are
more likely to persist with difficult learning tasks and they experience an enhanced sense of personal well
being and satisfaction upon completion (Baard, Deci, & Ryan, 2004; Sheldon & Kasser, 1998).
While every teacher would probably agree with the research findings above the question still remains –
are these affective attributes of students that predispose students to self-regulated, self-motivated
learning based on innate disposition or personality, or are they teachable skills?
The best evidence for the teachability of affective skills comes from the research on attribution
retraining. Teaching children how to deliberately change what they attribute as cause, particularly in
situations of learning failure or poor performance has proved to be a successful intervention resulting in:
• improvements in reading persistence (Chapin & Dyck, 1976, Fowler & Peterson, 1981)
• higher levels of completion and higher scores with computer assisted mathematics instruction
(Okolo, 1992)
• increases in mathematics scores (Horner & Gaither, 2004)
• improvements in motivation (Koh, 2008)
• improvements in reading comprehension and retention of improvements over time (Berkeley,
Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2011)
Other affective skills training that has been shown to produce changes resulting in higher academic
performance include:
• relaxation training for reducing exam anxiety (Hembree, R. 1988)
• developing an internal locus of control (Nowicki, Duke, Sisney, Stricker & Tyler, 2004)
• improving motivation, performance and self-esteem (Meuller & Dweck, 1998, Niiya, Crocker, and
Bartmess, 2004).
• improving achievement motivation (Dweck, 2007).
Affective self-management skills are teachable and they can make a huge difference to a child’s
motivation and resilience. Self Management skills training is the newest addition to the ATL portfolio of
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skills and has within it the potential to address some of the most critical influences on a student’s
learning which lie at the heart of helping students to achieve the characteristics of the learner profile.
The Affective Skills component of the Self Management Skills cluster at the MYP level is divided into 5
skills sub-sets. This division into these particular sub-sets is based upon the teachability of affective skills
and so is somewhat conceptually arbitrary but very practical as is needed at the MYP level. At the
Diploma level it can be assumed that students have mastered all the basic skills and the particular
affective skills needed to handle the challenges of higher learning can be grouped into three key skills
sub-sets: Mindfulness, Self-motivation and Resilience. These groupings are themselves still very
conceptual and it is recognised that, depending on how it is taught, each subset could contain elements
of all the other affective sub-sets. Such is the nature of Affective Skills.
SELF MANAGEMENT
Affective skills Managing state of mind
How can students Mindfulness
manage their own state Self-motivation
of mind? Resilience
Resilience
Resilience appears to be the affective concept that is most inclusive of almost all the other desirable
affective elements of the successful Diploma student. The resilient learner is mindful, persevering,
emotionally stable and self motivated. Through focusing on developing resilience with respect to learning
teachers may find that many other important affective skills are practiced and developed as well.
The concept of resilience comes from Garmezy (1974) who worked with the children of parents
diagnosed with schizophrenia and a high risk for psychopathy. Within this group he found a few children
who resisted the effects of their parents’ mental illness well and managed to develop their own adaptive
and healthy patterns of behaviour. Later in the eighties the concepts of invulnerability (Anthony, 1974),
and invincibility (Werner & Smith, 1982), suggesting as they did a fixed attribute evidenced only in some
children, gave way to the idea of resilience being a characteristic more fluid in nature and able to be
developed and fostered in all children. Rutter (1987) and Benard (1993) showed that an individual’s
resilience varied over time and research results began to reflect the idea of resilience as positive
adaptation despite adversity, which was never permanent and more of a developmental progression with
new vulnerabilities and strengths emerging with changing life circumstances (Luthar, 1991).
Benard (1993) found that the four most common internal attributes of resilient children were:
1. social competence - responsiveness, empathy, caring, communication skills, a sense of humour
2. problem solving skills – planning, organising, seeking out resources, thinking critically, creatively
and reflectively
3. autonomy – sense of identity and the ability to act independently and exert control over their
own circumstances, task mastery, internal LOC, self efficacy, the development of resistance (to
negative messages) and detachment (from dysfunction)
4. a sense of purpose – having goals, aspirations, achievement motivation, persistence, hopefulness,
optimism.
McMillan & Reed (1994), in studies of at-risk middle and high school students, simplified this list down to
a combination of high intrinsic motivation and an internal locus of control (LOC), which seemed to
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characterise the successful, resilient, at-risk students. These students had a strong sense of self efficacy
and saw themselves as being successful because they had chosen to be so and had put in the necessary
effort. They had clear, realistic goals, were optimistic about their future and took personal responsibility
for both their successes and their failures. These students believed that their success was primarily due to
their own actions: “Resilient students do not believe that the school, neighbourhood, or family is critical
in either their successes or their failures” (p. 138). “Even though they welcome and appreciate the efforts
of the significant adults in their lives, they do not see these people as being responsible for their success
or failure. They credit themselves” (p. 139).
Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde and Whalen (1993) claimed that the optimal conditions for learning are not
created by goals that are too easy or too difficult but by goals that are challenging but achievable. Alfi,
Assor and Katz (2004) point out that “Optimal challenge, by definition, entails the possibility of temporary
failure and frustration. In fact the possibility of such temporary failure makes such tasks optimally
challenging and therefore interesting and intrinsically motivating” (p. 31). But this would seem to be true
only for the particular student who is confident of being able to cope with temporary failure. Another
student in anticipation of even temporary failure may well slip into helpless or self-handicapping
behaviour. This type of academic underachiever has been shown by Nurmi, Onatsu and Haavisto (1995),
“typically to anticipate failure in a task and therefore to concentrate on creating behavioural excuses for
it instead of formulating task-oriented plans” (p. 189).
One of the clearest differences between the resilient learner and the more ‘helpless’ learner is seen in
their response to failure. The resilient individuals attribute failure to a lack of effort and take effective
remedial action but the helpless individuals attribute failure to a lack of ability about which, they believe,
there is nothing they can do (Dweck, 1999).
In a very similar vein, Martin and Marsh (2003) described a mastery pattern of behaviour in students he
called the Success Oriented and a helpless pattern of behaviour in students he called the Failure Avoiders
and the Failure Acceptors. The three groups were distinguished from each other most significantly by
their different reactions to failure. The Success Oriented exhibited no fear of failure and used failure as
feedback, altering their behaviour where necessary. The Failure Acceptors expected failure, were
resigned to it and were subsequently helpless. The Failure Avoider category broke down further into
three self explanatory groups, the Overstriver, the Defensive Pessimist and the Self Handicapper.
In response to failure situations is seen the clearest distinctions between the resilient and ‘helpless
behaviours and between academic high and under achievers. Most theorists in the field agree on this
distinction:
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Responses in Situations of Failure
Resilient “Helpless”
Resilience/vulnerability high self-efficacy; learns low self-efficacy;

(Benard, 1993) from mistakes; strength overwhelmed by failure;
focused deficit focused
Locus of Control internal – takes responsibility external – takes no
(Rotter, 1966) for failures responsibility for failure
Learned Helplessness optimistic explanatory style – pessimistic explanatory style
(Seligman, 1975) failure is externalised where – failure is internal; stable
appropriate but modified by and global and reinforced by
behavioural internality characterological internality
Attribution Theory lack of effort; maintaining lack of ability; performance
(Weiner, 1973) effective striving in adverse deterioration in adverse
conditions; challenge conditions; challenge
seeking; learning goals avoiding; performance goals
Mindset Theory Growth - adaptive, effective Fixed – self defeating;
(Dweck, 2007) remedial action; positive negative affect in aversive
affect in aversive circumstances; helplessness
circumstances; incremental
intelligence
Behaviour Patterns (1) Mastery – takes Failure avoidance – takes no

(Seifert, 2004) responsibility, learns from responsibility for failure;
mistakes; success and failure success and failure are
are internal, stable, internal, stable,
controllable uncontrollable
Learned Helplessness –
everything is failure; takes
full responsibility for all
failure; failure is internal,
stable, uncontrollable
Work Avoidant – takes no
responsibility for failure
Behaviour Patterns (2) Success Oriented – no fear of 1)Failure Avoidant – fear of
(Martin and Marsh 2003) failure failure:
Overstriver – achieves to
avoid failure;
Defensive Pessimist – sets
low standards
Self Handicapper – failure is
choice or uncontrollable
2) Failure Acceptor – expects
failure, is helpless
Academic Performance High achievers Low or underachievers

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The literature reviewed reveals a consistent dichotomy between what might be called healthy and
unhealthy reactions or responses to failure situations.
The healthy response to failure is for the individual to:
1. find the facts,
2. take responsibility for his/her own actions,
3. make changes to his/her process or strategy
4. have another go.
This type of reaction has been termed failing well (King, 2009).
Extremely high goal orientation, self discipline and determination to have a better life than their parents
are key characteristics of academically successful, resilient students (Merdinger, Hines, Osterling & Wyatt
2005) as well as the presence of positive adult role models with high expectations, often teachers, who
intervene on their behalf and act as “gatekeepers for the future” (p. 875).
Individual students like these described will be found in every school but schools that are most effective
at promoting the resilience of their students are those that provide opportunities for children to make
mistakes and learn from them, to develop problem solving skills, autonomy, a purposeful, constructive
and optimistic outlook on the future, and effective communication and relationship skills (Benard, 1993).
To do this schools need to run programmes that promote the development of an internal LOC in
students, as well as self efficacy, optimism, a sense of personal responsibility and the ability to fail well
(McMillan and Reed, 1994; King, 2009).
Self-Motivation
As Alfie Kohn points out in “Punish by Rewards” no one can ever motivate anyone else, the only true
motivation is self-motivation (Brandt, 1995). All we can ever hope to do as teachers is to arrange the
variables that we have some influence over to help self-motivation to arise and then to facilitate its
development.
Motivation for learning is closely related to the skills of ‘learning to learn’ and perceived self-efficacy for
learning (Warr & Downing, 2000; Parsons, Hinson & Brown, 2001). Self efficacy when related to learning
tasks is a combination of a learner’s judgements about their ability to handle the task level of difficulty
and their confidence in their cognitive skills (Pintrich, 1999). Self-efficacy is an important factor in both
academic achievement (Bong, 2001, Ning & Downing, 2010) and academic motivation (Bong & Clark,
1999).
Two orientations of motivation are widely accepted, that of intrinsic or internal and extrinsic or external
motivation. Intrinsically motivated learners engage with learning for the interest they have in the subject
or the challenge of overcoming an obstacle or the pleasure they get from finding out new things, whereas
extrinsically motivated learners tend to learn in response to a perceived reward in terms of approval or a
particular grade, score or mark.
“People with high levels of self-efficacy are more likely to persevere in the face of
difficulties, more likely to demonstrate intrinsic motivation when engaged and
performing a task, and less likely to feel disappointed in the face of failure. They are
less likely to feel stressed and more frequently perceive a difficult situation as
challenging as opposed to difficult” (Prat-Sala & Redford, 2010, p285).
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Classroom environments that actively help develop students’ autonomy and self direction will increase
intrinsic motivation and help improve students efficacy as learners (Deci, 1975) whereas classroom
environments and processes which offer tangible rewards for performance outcomes undermine intrinsic
motivation (Deci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999).
Teaching styles which are authoritarian and controlling produce students with low self-efficacy who tend
to lose initiative and learn less effectively than students whose teachers are more authoritative and
supportive of autonomy and self-regulation (Flink, Boggiano & Barrett, 1990, Lamborn, Mounts,
Steinberg, & Dornbusch, 1991).
The strongest self-motivation for learning occurs when three factors are present – autonomy, mastery
and purpose (Howard, 2010). These factors tie in well with the School Intelligence ideas of Sternberg et
al. mentioned earlier.
Autonomy means giving students power over their own learning and responsibility for asking the right
questions, finding the right answers and then creating their own understandings and applications.
Teaching to the test does not produce autonomy within the student. Only by practicing independent
(autonomous, self-directed, self-managed, self-regulated, lifelong) learning in the classroom will the
student be able to get better at it.
Mastery means achieving high competence in a set of skills, in this case the skills of good learning. By
teaching the ATL cognitive, affective and metacognitive skills mentioned here teachers will be giving
students challenges to master that are skill based and can be self-assessed. Improving their ATL skills will
then impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of all their other learning creating more self confidence
and self-motivation around learning school subjects. This approach requires teachers to maintain a dual
focus in the classroom on both content (what the students are learning) and process (how they are
learning) and to see improving the processes of learning (the ATL Skills) as being a important outcome in
every lesson.
Purpose means answering the question ‘Why?’. Why am I learning this? One way to develop purpose is
through relevance, making the learning relevant to today’s world by connecting the topic to be taught to
a real world situation, problem or event. Another option is to look at purpose through the lens of
developing intrinsic operators:
- to feel satisfied, proud of yourself
- to challenge yourself and see what you are capable of
- to get a measure of your progress to date
- to gain useful knowledge and skills
- to develop and increase your intelligence
- to practice concentration, determination and the exercise of effort
These motivational operators then tie in well with the development of ATL Skills in particular the affective
skills.
Mindfulness
At the MYP level the three Affective Skill areas of Mindfulness, Perserverance and Emotional
Management are dealt with separately through which important issues for students and schools like
bullying, anger management and academic skills like concentration and perseverance can be addressed.
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At the DP level it is assumed that most of those issues have been addressed and underlying skills have
been learned or a student would not have attained the Diploma level. At this level a focus on Mindfulness
as a overarching concept is developmentally appropriate and can include aspects of the emotional
management skills most useful at this level like managing test anxieties and dealing with stress as well as
strategies to develop mental quiet and help overcome distractions.
Jon Kabat-Zinn is credited with making the idea of mindfulness explicit, his definition being of “paying
attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgementally” (Kabat-Zinn,
1994, p. 4). Mindfulness techniques have long been a part of Eastern religious practices but in the last
twenty years mindfulness itself has become part of mainstream awareness and is defined most often as
“ inherently a state of consciousness” that involves consciously attending to one’s moment to moment
experience (Shapiro, Carlson, Astin & Freedman, 2006).
“Mindful awareness involves reflection on the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the
mind that emerge moment by moment; it helps people recognise when they are distracted
fatigued or biased; and may help to recalibrate the alerting, orienting, or executive functions”
(Reid, 2013)
The practice of mental relaxation is at the core of most mindfulness training but rather than the focused
attention on mantra or objects required of practices like Transcendental Meditation, in developing
mindfulness the mind is relaxed and held open and all that is required is awareness and acceptance of the
moment to moment flow of thoughts, feelings, memories and experiences of the present mind.
Mindfulness is not something that needs to be practiced sitting cross-legged in silence, awareness of
mind can happen at any time and many mindfulness practices have developed that are very active like
mindful walking, driving and jogging (Thompson & Gauntlett-Gilbert, 2008).
In psychotherapy the practice of mindfulness has been used very effectively to treat people with “mild to
moderate” psychological distress (Baer, 2003). In the USA especially, many mindfulness based therapies
have arisen like Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT),
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and
programmes to develop mindfulness from two days to eight weeks long are running in many schools
(Montgomery, Kim, Springer & Learman, 2013).
Mindfulness training has been found to produce improvements in both psychological and physiological
well being, with reductions being found in depression (Segal, Williams & Teasdale, 2002), anxiety (Hayes,
Strosahl & Wilson, 1999) helplessness (Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, and Walach, 2004), chronic pain
(Kabat-Zinn, 1990), substance abuse (Bowen, Chawla, Collins, Witkiewitz, Hsu, Grow & Marlatt, 2009),
binge eating (Kristeller & Wolever, 2011) and physical impairment (Thompson & Gauntlett-Gilbert, 2008).
Research also shows that mindfulness improves the functioning of the brain (Brown, Ryan and Cresswell,
2007) with improvements being reported in reading comprehension and working memory capacity
(Mrazek, Franklin, Phillips, Baird & Schooler, 2013), attention span (Brefczynski-Lewis, Lutz, Schaefer,
Levinson & Davidson, 2007), digital memory span (Chambers, Lo,& Allen, 2008) and visual/spatial
processing efficiency (Kozhevnikov, Louchakova, Josipovic & Motes, 2009).
There are many mindfulness practices that can be used in schools (Seagal, Williams & Teasdale, 2002) but
some of the most common are:
• Eating a raisin – applying all one’s attention to the slow dissolving of a raisin in the mouth
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• Mindfulness of breath – sitting quietly, eyes closed focused on beathing
• Body scan – sitting quietly, eyes closed, directing attention slowly in a flow from one part
of the body to another
• Walking mindfulness – walking while paying close attention to all sensory input
(Thompson & Gauntlett-Gilbert, 2008)
Mindfulness can be used at any time in any subject to focus students on their own perspectives on idea,
their own biases and prejudices, the influence of their own or an adopted culture, the ethical and moral
implications of any concept. Also mindfulness techniques can enable imagination to make links between
ideas, to spur creativity and generate novel and original thoughts.
As well improving cognitive skills it has been suggested that one way higher institutions of learning could
achieve cross-cultural education, contemplative learning and true internationalism would be to include
mindfulness training in undergraduate programmes (Mahani, 2012).
One of the most interesting applications of mindfulness training is Niemiec, Rashid & Spinella’s (2012)
proposal for the development of Strong Mindfulness – integrating mindfulness and character strengths.
Using Peterson and Seligman ‘s (2004) universal classification of 6 virtues and 24 character strengths:
• Wisdom and Knowledge
o Creativity
o Curiosity
o Judgement
o Love of Learning
o Perspective
• Courage
o Bravery
o Perseverance
o Honesty
o Zest
• Humanity
o Love
o Kindness
o Social Intelligence
• Justice
o Teamwork
o Fairness
o Leadership
• Temperance
o Forgiveness
o Humility
o Prudence
o Self-regulation
• Transcendence
o Appreciation of beauty and excellence
o Gratitude
o Hope
o Humor
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o Spirituality
...and using mindfulness techniques to bring those character strengths to life.
In looking at all the Affective skills discussed here and at the Learner Profile itself there seems to be a
great deal of cross-over between the ultimate outcomes of an IB education and the character strengths
mentioned above.
Possibly mindfulness training could be used as the vehicle to achieve all those objectives?
The ATT document will look at ways in which mindfulness practices could be taught at the Diploma level.
Research Skills
“Inquiry-based learning describes a range of learner-centred pedagogies
increasingly employed in higher education where students learn through
engaging in open-ended research and inquiry. It is acknowledged that this
type of pedagogical approach requires advanced information literacy
capabilities in students, and that there is a need to support the development
of information literacy in inquiry-based learning curricula” (McKinney, 2013)
At the MYP level the Research Skills Cluster is divided into 2 skills sub-sets: Information Literacy and
Media Literacy which are then sub-divided into 18 skill practices that teachers can focus on in the
classroom.
RESEARCH
Information literacy Finding, interpreting, judging and creating information
How can students Collect, record and verify data

demonstrate Access information to be informed and inform others
information literacy? Make connections between various sources of information
Understand the benefits and limitations of personal sensory learning
preferences when accessing, processing and recalling information
Use memory techniques to develop long term memory
Present information in a variety of formats and platforms
Collect and analyse data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions
Process data and report results
Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on their
appropriateness to specific tasks
Understand and use technology systems
Use critical literacy skills to analyse and interpret media communications
Understand and implement intellectual property
Create references and citations, use footnotes/endnotes and construct a
bibliography according to recognized conventions
Identify primary and secondary sources
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Media literacy Interacting with media to use and create ideas and information
How can students Locate, organise, analyse, evaluate, synthesise and ethically use information
demonstrate media from a variety of sources and media [including digital social media and online
literacy? networks]
Demonstrate awareness of media interpretations of events and ideas
[including digital social media]
Make informed choices about personal viewing experiences
Understand the impact of media representations and modes of presentation
Seek a range of perspectives from multiple and varied sources
Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a
Compare, contrast and draw connections among (multi)media resources
The above framework can be used to bring any inexperienced students up to speed with their
information processing skills but at the DP level it will be important for students to be integrating and
practicing all these skills and more in their own academic researching. Teaching at this level needs to
provide many opportunities for students to practice sophisticated research skills both in a well scaffolded
classroom environment and also in an independent, self directed manner.
Good quality research skills have always been at the heart of all academic endeavour but the mechanisms
of search and the media of information have changed enormously especially in the last 30 years. In 1981
Marland broke research skills down into 9 sequential stages all of which are just as valid today as they
were in 1981 but the presence of the electronic library and the internet makes some of those skills
broader in application than they once were (Barry 1997; Jenkins et al. 2006). Where once researching
meant finding the information you wanted researching today is much more about comparing, contrasting
and validating available information and winnowing down the volume of data into a manageable
quantity.
Marland’s stages (1981) Addenda for 21st C skills

1. Formulate and analyse needs Generating key words, concepts, formulating highly
focused search questions, search strings
2. Identify and appraise likely sources Knowledge of a wide range of information
platforms, databases and search engines, access to
libraries – hard copy and digital access, establishing
RSS feeds
3. Locate individual resources Effective search skills, search within search,
advanced search protocols, Boolean search
operators; Dewey classification system
4. Examine, select and reject sources Investigate primary and secondary sources,
verification, comparison, cross checking
5. Interrogate sources String searching, hypertext management,
skimming, scanning, speed reading, assessing
reliability
6. Record and store information Downloading, storing, printing, translating between
data presentation media, cataloguing, indexing
7. Interpret, analyse synthesise and evaluate Distinguishing fact from opinion, interpreting visual
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information collected information, processing maps, charts, video; key
word searching, summarising, comparing
references, collecting citations, building
bibliography; marshalling evidence, constructing
arguments
8. Present and communicate resulting work Understanding file transfer protocols, data
reinterpretation, media management, presentation
formats, building persuasive visual presentations
9. Evaluate what has been achieved Seeking feedback through formal and informal/
social media systems
The term digital divide originally referred to the difference between the haves of the digital age who
were those with access to computer equipment, and the have nots being those with limited or no access.
This distinction is now narrowing much more and the divide is reformulating around differential
possession of digital skills (Van Dijk, 2005, Norris, 2001) sometimes called the cognitive divide (Scott &
O’Sullivan, 2002). The internet is fast becoming the most important information source and
communication facility in contemporary society and internet skills can now be considered as vital
personal assets.
“When these (internet) skills are unequally divided among the population,
the consequences of this skills inequality may even exacerbate existing
social inequalities” (Deursen & Van Dijk, 2010, p. 894)
Internet skills have been found to contribute to academic success in the school environment (Kuhlemeier
& Hemker, 2007) and although teenagers are often seen to be the most prolific internet users they are
not all equally proficient in the internet skills they need for effective research and learning (Lauman,
2000). Teenagers often have less well developed search skills than adults (Ofcom, 2006), and only
rudimentary techniques and strategies for simple searching, hypertext and hypermedia navigation (Facer
& Furlong, 2001, Pew, 2007).
Steyaert (2002) created a model of internet skills containing three aspects:

• Instrumental skills – the functional operation of available technology
• Structural skills – the manipulation of the structures within which information is found
• Strategic skills – active searching, scanning, selecting for relevance
Van Dijk (2005) elaborated on this model and created a distinction between the skills of operating the
internet as a medium (Operational and Formal) and the skills related to interaction with the content or
subject matter provided (Information and Strategic). Further studies showed that the proficiency in the
general (Dutch in this example) population of Operational and Formal skills appeared to be related to
structural problems of access whereas proficiency in Information and Strategic skills was found to be
directly related to both education level and intellectual capacity. In one study of populations of 18 years
and over they found that the medium-related skills (Operational and Formal) decreased with increasing
age but content related skills (Information and Strategic) were found to increase. But whereas teenagers
had more familiarity with the operation of all internet components their Information and Strategic skills
were found to be very low (Deursen & Van Dijk, 2011). In a related study of senior school students
Deursen and Van Diepen (2013) found that while the levels of medium-related skills were adequate in the
students their content-related skills were very poor. Age and gender were not found to be significant
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influences and the best predictor of proficiency in content-related skills was the student’s level of
educational achievement.
Most students think of researching as putting key words into a search box which leads them to
undervalue the importance of other methods (Nichols & Mellinger, 2007).
“In the Internet world, the ease of finding something obscures the difficulty of
finding the right thing” (Gustavson & Nall, 2011, pg. 291)
Students tend to start by getting infatuated with information, the more of it the better without
discrimination and then end up feeling simply overloaded and often give up.
Deursen and Van Diepen (2013) in their study of Dutch senior high school students given an internet
research assignment found most students using only very general search terms, no students at all using
Boolean operators to refine their searches and most paying no attention at all to the source of their
information. Any information would do, finding the answer was the prime objective and the idea of
interrogating the validity of the data did not occur.
To manage the data flow necessary to research well it is necessary for students to make sure they
become proficient in all four modes of information seeking (Bates, 2002). These come from the
consideration of whether the searcher is Active or Passive in their search strategy and whether the search
is Directed or Undirected. The intersection between these four process parameters give rise to four
different research modes or methods which Bates claims are all important for students to master in order
to be able to gain a comprehensive 360® view of any subject.
(from Darling & Foster, 2012, pg. 434)
Searching is both directed and active, attempting to answer questions and develop understanding around
specific topics or questions.
Monitoring is directed but passive and involves scanning information collected around topics of interest
but with no particular question in mind just keeping abreast of developments and ‘news’ and being alert
for anything which may be pertinent to a current inquiry.
Browsing is active but undirected, there is no specific topic in mind and the researcher is simply grazing
over anything which catches their attention and allowing themselves to follow strings which may or may
not lead to valuable information
Being Aware is both passive and undirected and means simply being aware of all the unsolicited
information that surrounds us and allowing our attention to scan it for relevance while not paying direct
attention to it.
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Searching:
Searching is the skill most often associated with research in all forms and Google is the most popular
search engine in the western world but most students have very poor searching skills. Within Google and
in most other search engines there are a set of Boolean operators which students need to gain
proficiency with to help them narrow down their searches. Most search engines will recognise AND and
OR to differentiate important terms and speech marks or brackets to isolate specific search terms or
quotes. Domain Limited Searching is another useful tool where by adding specific words to the search
terms a search can be limited to specific sources of information. Tacking on terms to your search inquiry
like site:gov will limit a search within Google to only governmental websites, site:U will limit searching to
university websites and adding a minus sign before the word site will instruct google where not to look in
its search eg. adding on –site:gov would instruct google to look at every site except those with a .gov tag
in their URL. Students also need to get familiar with academic search engines like Google Scholar which
has its own search protocols. There are online tutorials that come with every search engine which will
quickly and simply explain top students how to use all these search defining terms but students also need
lots of practice both within class and at home to get familiar with using search limiters and search
refiners.
Monitoring:
Monitoring involves first employing an RSS Reader (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) to
collect together all the internet content (feeds) produced regularly that are of interest and then scanning
through all the collected feeds on a regular basis looking for topics of value. The most popular RSS
Readers today are Feedly, Newsblur, Netnewswire, Bloglines and Newsgator and new ones are generated
daily. Most are able to be set to choose feeds very selectively and most have apps to enable the user to
access the same feeds from their phone. They can be used to gather all forms of digital data from written
blogs and articles to pictures, YouTube clips, podcasts and live broadcast. Learning to use RSS feeds is a
critical skill for students to keep up to date with developments globally and in their chosen subjects and
needs to be the first step that teachers help set up for any project work, for the Extended Essay, for TOK,
CAS, Environmental Systems and Society and for any subject where research is a component part.
Monitoring is not the set up part though, monitoring means regularly skimming through all the feeds
collected by the RSS Reader, finding the relevant information and downloading or summarising or filing
the important data. If performed on a regular basis, especially in response to questions or lines of inquiry
from teachers, monitoring can be a vital tool which keeps the student current and enables them to make
relevant connections between their subjects and the world around them. Feeling overwhelmed by
information is a common concern of students but by learning good refining skills and specific search skills
students can learn to narrow down the scope of their searching and cope with the volume they then
produce. Research is more information selection and management than it is searching and finding.
Browsing:
“Browsing is the complimentary opposite of monitoring. Here we have no special
information need or interest, but actively expose ourselves to possibly novel
information. It can be said that monitoring and directed searching are ways we
find information that we know we need to know, and browsing and being aware
are ways we find information that we do not know we need to know” (Bates, 2002, pg. 5)
This is the skill that most students already have, in abundance. The modern teenager in a western ‘wired’
environment probably spends more time engaged with this activity per day than almost anything else.
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Most people know it as surfing and it is characterised by a general direction of interest but a willingness
to be distracted in almost any direction at all. The tools in use are mostly ‘favouriting’ websites, using
place holders or ‘likes’ to keep connected to particular themes or strings.
The problem with browsing is that it often takes place when searching or monitoring need to be taking
place and as such can be a major distraction.
Being Aware:
This is not so much a skill as an awareness of all the messages and information in all media forms that
surrounds us all day and every day. As such it is more a practice of mind than a skill – see Mindfulness in
the Affective Skills section.
Training in internet research skills will be vital for every student who is engaged in any form of inquiry
learning or who uses the internet for the completion of any schoolwork. Teachers need to recognise this
fact and build sufficient opportunity either within their subjects or as separate skills focused modules to
bring all students up to speed with their internet skills. These skills along with communication and
collaboration skills are the foundation skills of lifelong learning in the 21st Century.
Assessing Learning Skills
“In the traditional teacher-centred, content-focused transmission model of

teaching and learning... assessment focuses on the products of learning rather
than the how and why of student learning” (Anderson, 1998).
“We don’t pay a lot of attention right now to giving students feedback on their
progress as learners. Mostly, students get grades that tell them how they have
done relative to their classmates. That information is not useful feedback on
their progress as learners, nor does it do anything to help students develop
skills for self-assessment” (Cross, 1998)
“If the improvement of learning is the priority for the twenty-first century,
teachers and students need to be able to use the results of their assessment to
improve their own performance. This is unlikely to happen unless students and
teachers have information not only about students’ content knowledge but also
about how they are developing as lifelong learners in terms of cognition,
metacognition, motivation and affect” (de la Harpe & Radloff, 2000)
Students’ cognitive, affective and metacognitive skills can be assessed using many different and widely
available instruments – usually questionnaires. Some examples being:
LASSI – Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (Weinstein, Zimmerman & Palmer, 1988) available at
http://www.hhpublishing.com/_assessments/LASSI/
MSLQ - Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia & McKetchie, 1991),
available at http://www.indiana.edu/~p540alex/MSLQ.pdf
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ILP – the Inventory of Learning Processes (Schmeck, Ribich, & Ramanaiah, 1977)
LTS - Reasoning Learning Tests (Guthke, 1982)
LPQ - the Learning Process Questionnaire (Biggs, 1987)
and there are many others.
The characteristics of the self-regulated, lifelong learner can also be assessed separately or in
combination using teacher constructed assessment techniques such as CATs – Classroom Assessment
Techniques (Angelo & Cross, 1993) available at http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/cat.html
Student cognitive and metacognitive characteristics can also be assessed using personal interviews using
SRLIS – the Self-Regulated Learning Interview Schedule (Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1986)
http://technologication.com/files/2010/03/Zimmerman_Pons_Student_Self_Regulation.pdf
Students can also be encouraged to use Learning Logs (Dart & Clarke, 1991) where they write, on a
weekly basis descriptions of the learning strategies they have used or been exposed to and reflect on the
relative effectiveness of each strategy for them.
The biggest problem with most assessments of learning effectiveness or learning skills is that what they
are usually measuring is either characteristics of the person that tend to ‘go-with’ effective learning (like
time management) or the effect of the use of a particular skill on subject matter by virtue of the degree
of understanding achieved of that subject matter and the ability to present that understanding back to
the teacher in some form. A learning skill has no content of its own, in measuring a learning skill all you
are ever doing is measuring the application of a skill to certain content within certain context.
Whatever the means employed it is very useful for students, on a regular basis, to gain some measure of
their own proficiency in the specific ATL skills being focused on by the teacher or the department or the
school.
One method of assessing skills that has been shown to improve both self-confidence and self-motivation
is self-assessment (Dweck, 1999). Using this technique students are relied upon to accurately judge their
own competence or proficiency improvements in specified skills against generalised skills proficiency
measures.
Using this method teachers will:

1) Decide which particular and specific skills are going to be focused on in your
classroom/subject/department/school
2) Make the skills to be focused on explicit by clear description of each skill and by using
examples of high and low skills proficiency
3) Allow the students to self assess their perceived competence in the skills in question
4) Analyse the results obtained looking in particular for any general skills deficiencies across the
class
5) Develop mini-lessons or tutorials or find on-line exercises for students to complete to bring
all students up to the same level
6) Build into subject lessons exercises which enable students to practice and improve the skills
in focus
7) Ask the students to continue to self assess their proficiency up to mastery level
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The self-assessment chart on the following page has been adapted from Dreyfus & Dreyfus (2000) and
Berliner (2004) from skills assessments applied to the development of professional expertise among
teachers and contains four levels of expertise or proficiency in any skill identifiable through behaviours as
ranging from:
• the Novice – Observation – watching others performing the skill
• the Learner – Emulation – copying others practice of the skill
• the Practitioner – Demonstration – being able to demonstrate the skill on demand
• the Expert – Self-Regulation – being able to perform the skill without conscious attention
The highest level of skill proficiency is seen within this model as self-regulation. This skills progression is
in line with both Abraham Maslow’s levels of learning (1987) and John Stevenson’s development of
capability (1992). Once a person can use a skill unconsciously without deliberate awareness then they are
at the completely un-scaffolded level of the self regulated learner and is deemed sufficiently proficient to
be able to teach that skill to others. Stephenson saw the development of the capabilities of the lifelong
learner as being the movement from being able to use a learning skill with known content in known
context (competence) to being able to use that skill with unknown content in unknown context
(capability). This ties in very well with the overriding aim of all IB teaching and learning as the
development of the self-managed, self-directed, self-regulated, lifelong learner.
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ATL Skills Proficiency
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

The Novice The Learner The Practitioner The Expert
Observation Emulation Demonstration Self-Regulation
Dreyfus & Observes others Copies others Can demonstrate the Can perform the
Dreyfus performing tasks and performance of the skill on demand skill without
(2000) using the skill skill thinking through
Flexibility of skill use the process first
Berliner Gains an Works through the in different contexts
(2004) understanding of how skill in a step by step is developing Can teach others
the skill fashion, seeks the skill
operates and what clarification for Automaticity is
the distinguishing correctness of developing Automaticity is
characteristics of the performance established
skill are Errors are corrected
Consolidation of quickly High levels of
Gathers procedural learning is occurring performance
information about through experience Minimal teacher occur
the performance of scaffolding required
the skill, asks Is very conscious of – setting directions, Any errors are
questions to clarify performing the skill goals, assessable corrected
procedure and correcting errors outcomes automatically
with deliberation
Errors are frequent No teacher
scaffolding
High levels of Medium level of needed
scaffolding from scaffolding needed -
teacher needed - correcting poor
explanations, performance,
training, structural answering questions
support
Stephenson Is not performing the Performs skill only Can perform skill Can use skill with
(1992) skill with known content either with different unfamiliar
in known context content or in content in
different context unfamiliar
context
Maslow Unconscious Conscious Conscious Unconscious

(1987) Incompetence Incompetence Competence Competence
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Workbook - Approaches To Learning (MYP Workshop Category 3)

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Approaches to

Col. la Paz Puebla, Mexico

Language of delivery: English

This workbook is intended for use by a participant at an IB-approved

Following the workshop, participants who wish to provide information or

Permission must be sought from the IB by emailing copyright@ibo.org for

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active,

Approaches to learning in the MYP

• reflect purposefully on their learning (metacognition)

• understand the diversity of human learning needs

• evaluate and provide evidence of their learning

• meet MYP subject group aims and objectives

Using the vocabulary of learning theory, ATL skills can be described as

• metacognitive- awareness, understanding and control of personal learning processes.

MYP ATL skills framework

IB ATL skill categories MYP skill clusters

Self Management III Organisation

Research VI Information Literacy

VII Media Literacy

Thinking VIII Critical Thinking

IX Creativity and Innovation

• What skills can I improve?

• What new skills can learn?

Important MYP ATL skills

Exchanging thoughts, messages and information effectively through

Inquiry focus: Give and receive meaningful feedback

Use appropriate forms of writing for different purposes and audiences

Use a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiences

Interpret and use effectively modes of non-verbal communication

Negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers

Make inferences and draw conclusions

Use and interpret a range of discipline-specific terms and symbols

Write and for different purposes

Understand and use mathematical notation

Paraphrase accurately and concisely

Preview and skim texts to build understanding

Take effective notes in class

Make effective summary notes for studying

Use a variety of organizers for academic writing tasks

Find information for disciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiries, using a variety of

Organize and depict information logically

Structure information in summaries, essays and reports

Understand and implement intellectual property

Create references and citations, use footnotes/endnotes and construct a

Identify primary and secondary sources

II Collaboration skills Working effectively with others

Delegate and share responsibility for decision-making

Help others to succeed

Take responsibility for one’s own actions

Make fair and equitable decisions

Listen actively to other perspectives and ideas

Encourage others to contribute

Exercise leadership and take on a variety of roles within groups

Give and receive meaningful feedback

Advocate for your own rights and needs

III Organization skills Managing time and tasks effectively

Keep and use a weekly planner for assignments

Set goals that challenging and realistic

Bring necessary equipment and supplies to class

Keep an organized and logical system of information files/notebooks

Use appropriate strategies for organizing complex information