Components

The Arc of Learning

What are the Components of The Arc of Learning?

The arc of learning is a visual model teachers use for organizing themselves around the work of planning projects.

The arc serves to guide the collaborative practice we have developed at Pleasant View and is representative of the learning journey students take as they complete a project.
It begins with gathering information about the students’ interests and wonders that is then used to define the project itself. Along the arc, a variety of academic tasks and learning opportunities enable students to develop skills and language necessary to complete a culminating product called a “deliverable.” Assessments built into the arc allow teachers to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of students and guide students’ progress along the arc.

Interest Gathering

Interest gathering is a critical first step. As we know, students learn best when they are highly engaged and engagement increases when academic tasks and activities pertain to topics the students find interesting. In order to identify students’ interests, we take time to allow students to share and discuss ideas. Interest gathering sessions can be initiated and led in a variety of ways. A teacher can lead a 50-minutes interest gathering session, or 5 short sessions for one whole week. The goal is that all students have an opportunity to express their interests and thoughts.
It is important to note that identifying topics students are curious about or are interested in exploring can also be collected from the insights that teachers gain in their day-to-day interactions with students.

Teachers then have the individual and collective answers to what their students are really interested in life or want to learn, so they can then plan the class’ project proposals considering their interests as well as their content and skills development needs. It is important that teachers are flexible in order to understand potential questions and ideas from students, actively listening to what they are expressing and even to justify why an interest is included or not in a project proposal.
Below we share some suggestions for strategies to run interest gathering sessions:
Simply question students about what they would like to learn.
Look at an image and ask students to tell what they observe and what makes them wonder about it.
Conducting surveys.
Take a walk and have students make a list of objects that catch their attention.
Ask “would you rather” questions.
Work with lists, questions and answers, different types of reading materials (such as newspapers, blogs, social media entry).
Real life problems and experiences can be used as an excuse to lead group discussions.
Observing spontaneous and varied interactions in different contexts can be helpful to identify interests and needs.

“Head, Heart, Hand” – students draw a human body and write down interests that represent:

  • their thoughts (head),
  • their feelings (heart),
  • hands-on ideas for games and movement (hand).
School surroundings analysis.
In small groups or in a big circle, make open-ended questions, such as “ How can we find out…?”, “What do we know about…?”, “ What would happen if…?”.
Teacher reading, shared reading, reading the same news with different points of view, individual reading highlighting information like “who?”, “where”?.
Image reading (describing elements), etc. Science magazines and internet videos can be used, as well as printed news stories and current affairs on video or television (ensuring they are age appropriate).
Themes used in previous projects from the previous period: teachers can revisit some unexplored points so that students recall potential interests or needs that should be explored or delved into.

An example of an Interest Gathering activity that could be used with 3rd graders:

Do they know the answer?
Are they curious about Geography and maps?
What do they know about these four countries?
Where are they located etc.?

Source: https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/category/discover/science

Present the compiled information on the topics using different materials and media, such as mind maps, flowcharts and design thinking strategies. Discuss with the group via brainstorms and provocations.

Once students’ interests have been identified, teachers and students work together to shape a project proposal. Topics are considered, authentic problems to be solved are identified, real-world issues requiring solutions are investigated, potential to build something new is explored, and more. In the end, a driving question or problem can be agreed upon that will guide the development of the arc of learning.
Here are some examples:
Students want to learn how a vaccine is made.
Students want to understand why the dinosaurs disappeared.
Students want to understand where paper sheets come from and if they can produce their own paper at school.

Learning Outcomes and The Deliverable

Having settled upon a topic and a driving question or real-world problem, we skip to the end of the arc of learning and consider what learning outcomes the project lends itself to and what cognitive skills will be developed in the process. With these things in mind, teachers work with students to imagine how students can demonstrate their learning in some type of culminating product we call the Deliverable.

The deliverable can take on a variety of forms, independent of one another or in combination, including:

  • presentations,
  • videos productions,
  • written reports, posters,
  • podcasts,
  • literary productions,
  • dramatic performances, etc.

Whatever the form, the deliverable serves as a student’s opportunity to demonstrate his/her learning in a creative way; featuring the skills and competencies developed through the project, showcasing language acquired, as well as the habits of success cultivated.

The deliverable should directly address the driving question or real-world problem initially stated and reflect the students’ learning journey.

Example:

Teachers and students dive into a shared reading of a newspaper article about problematic sleeping patterns and how it relates to the brain’s functions. The students start to question the human body and how it functions. They ask questions about the reasons we yawn, why we feel certain aches, what causes hunger and how we feel certain emotions when we are happy, sad or in love. Mind maps and lists can be created and used.

The following week, teachers bring some extra information and images and, after analyzing everything, they collectively decide that it will be a great opportunity for them to understand human reactions through learning and understanding the concept of the chemical reactions that occur in the human body and inside the brain.

They then decide to start a project enabling a deep investigation of what can be done to help people often stressed have a better night’s sleep, including their own parents.

The final product in this case, defined as an artistic representation of the research, either 2D or 3D for a final exhibition event.

Activities and Tasks

With the deliverable in mind, we begin a process of backward design to develop learning opportunities and tasks that will enable students to expand their knowledge and understanding of the subject, build cognitive skills, develop language, think creatively, exchange ideas and analyze new information, work collaboratively with others, reflect on their learning, and more.

A variety of learning experiences can be utilized, including but not limited to:

  • research
  • hosting a guest speaker in the classroom
  • conducting interviews
  • teacher-led direct instruction
  • small group discussions
  • socratic seminars
  • formulating and testing a hypothesis
  • writing
It is worth noting here that the arc of learning should be seen as flexible and adaptable to the individual needs of all students. Over the course of the project, it may become apparent that a particular group of students would benefit from additional instruction or support in a specific area and steps should be taken to accommodate the identified need. On the other hand, another group of students may quickly demonstrate mastery in a particular area indicating that they are ready to move along the arc to take on the next level of learning.
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