Literature Review 6C

As my ideas for inquiry are based on the effects of using ICT in dance education, whilst attending a continual professional development course at my Academy I was introduced to the theories of John Hattie. I was interested in discovering his size effect chart showed that using a number of different ICT tools had a positive effect on teaching and learning.

James Nottingham, leading the discussion, uses Hattie's size effect chart as part of his research into how students learn. James Nottingham focus's on stretching and challenging students. He teaches that while students need to practise skills in order to learn they must go out of their comfort zone and work above their current ability- 'Wobble'. He uses Hattie's chart to demonstrate which teaching methods will enhance student learning. This course inspired me to look further into Hattie's "Distribution of effect sizes".

John Hattie's "Distribution of effect sizes" chart shows the average effect of a number of different teaching methods, to include many ICT tools which are shown to have a positive effect on student learning. Most teaching and learning methods have a positive effect but the average effect is the point where we look to help students to make 'significant' (more than average) progress. These teaching methods are those which have more effect than the "hinge point" of 0.4. "An effect size of 1 indicates that a particular approach to teaching or technique advanced the learning of the students in the study by one standard deviation above the mean".

This lead me to then question why some teaching methods are more effective than others in relation to students learning and progress. I researched the work of Herrmann who divided different learning styles into four categories; Theorists, Innovators, Organisers and Humanitarians. In 1982 Herrmann developed a model for whole brain learning whereby he identified these four learning styles relating to right-brain and left-brain learning. He believed that each person will learn by using two of these styles, so teachers should aim for whole brain learning, using a variety of teaching strategies to ensure individual progress. Herrmann saw the four different learning styles as "complementary ways to understand a topic, rather than as alternative approaches that the learner can choose from" (Geoff Petty 2009).