How Students Learn from Amazing People
by Ken Loomis and Dr. Charles J Margerison
Introduction
If Christopher Columbus, the great explorer and navigator, arrived in your classroom, what would students ask him? That was the challenge that we were able to present to a group of 17 and 18 year old students at Tahoma High School, near Seattle.
We did so, through an educational innovation called a BioView® avatar. This is short for biographical interview and is presented in the form of an avatar video. The students were invited to watch the five minute Columbus interview, which was linked to images of his voyages. They were asked to follow in his ‘footsteps’ and imagine they were part of his crew.
The lesson was part of an introductory unit in an Oceanography class. The reason for this new approach was to gather the student’s responses, in terms of their interest, empathy, and overall learning. This paper outlines the process used and provides feedback from the students, as recorded on a video review of the class below. We provide some observations and conclusions that other teachers can use as a basis, if they want to adopt a similar approach.
Tahoma High School
The Oceanography course is an elective offered to students in their last two years of compulsory education (“Juniors and Seniors”). Tahoma is a public school, housing nearly 2000 students in grades 10-12, serving the community of Maple Valley, in Washington State. It is essentially a bedroom community for Microsoft and Boeing employees, located less than an hour outside of Seattle, Washington. Part rural, part suburban, the school serves a diverse socioeconomic population, but less than 20% of the students belong to an ethnic minority.
Approximately half of the students are enrolled in the course, distinctly, NOT by their choosing. They need to make up for failed courses or state-mandated exams. While the remainder claim an interest in the oceanographic sciences, based on the results of pre-testing, most have no clue what concepts the course is designed to impart.
The Teacher’s Perspective by Ken Loomis
Having taught the Oceanography course for more than 20 years, I have endeavoured to make the learning “come alive”. When studying the explorers of the world ocean, the most difficult element has always been that of empathy. Certainly one can simply focus on, and test, the rote memorization of names, dates, facts, events, but the retention is often minimal. The learning is usually shallow and short term. My observation has been that most students have gone through the minimum requirements, merely to pass the assessment. They do not seem engaged and are unable to identify with the individuals.
On pre-tests, many students admit choosing Oceanography as their elective, based simply on the notion that “the course title sounded fun,” bringing little or no previous knowledge of the material. With minimal retention from traditional methods, it isn’t surprising to see a fair number of end-of-unit assessments marked – “IDK” (I don’t know). Yet it was this traditionally-disconnected student population that responded to the Amazing People website so positively. There was not a single “IDK” on the test!
I had been searching for a method, a technique, and a tool that engaged students. Could we help them to empathize, to get a feel of what it must have been like to be sailing the seven seas as a crew member, with one of the explorers of the high seas? Over the years, I have tried a number of methods, but never saw the results for which I had been hoping.
This time, it was different. The level of interest was higher than I had ever seen. Comments from the students are reproduced below. The quality of the student talk, in the follow-up discussion, indicated an amazingly-strong engagement. For example, after the entire class finished listening to the story of James Cook, a student asked for clarification, “Was the Endeavour really that small?”
It was a nice autumn afternoon, so I suggested that we all close our laptops and walk out to the tennis courts. With a trundle wheel, we measured the dimensions of Cook’s legendary vessel. Then, we took positions across the “deck”, in our mind’s eye, seeing the vast Pacific stretched out before us. I asked the students to imagine spending months at sea, as Captain Cook and his crew did on their way to Tahiti…and beyond.
“How would you feel, searching, day after day, with no land in sight, for the elusive Great Southern Land; Terra Australia?”
“What must it have felt like to be confined, every waking moment, to this space?”
As one young lady commented, “without my iPhone!? I wouldn’t have lasted a day”. She said it jokingly, but the mere fact that she said it implied a degree of empathy never before experienced. There were many other, deeper emotional responses, but that statement, in all its simplicity, made the point.
The avatar video, provided by the Amazing People production team, had done what nothing else had ever done. It made history “real”, in a virtual way, to my students.
The Project Assessments
However, my greatest surprise was yet to be. The end-of-unit assessment, which had an open-ended essay response along the lines of “tell me what you can about (pick an explorer)”, was an eye-opener. Every student that elected to describe one of the Amazing Explorers showed a minimum of a 10% increase in retention and most, much more.
The average improvement in scores from my 93 Oceanography students was 20%!! In all my years, I had never seen a one-year improvement like that. The quality of responses, and the depth of understanding, was unprecedented.
Amazing People Worldwide – Perspective by Charles Margerison
The organization was founded in 2006, to provide educational resources about outstanding achievers and their major contributions to the world. Columbus, Michelangelo, Marie Curie, Einstein, Pasteur, Helen Keller, and Shakespeare, all learned how to develop their talents and abilities. They also learned the skills of application to become high achievers. So, the question was posed – could students of today improve their performance, if they study the lives and processes of amazing people?
That founding idea, led to the development of the life stories of about 500 amazing people, which have been researched and written via biographical interviews. Since then, these have been developed into a variety of applications for adults and students. Amazing People Schools houses a story library that supports Character Education development, through the power of Amazing People life stories. Amazing People Institute has also been established to provide the research and case studies, and support the theory behind the concepts.
Meeting Captain James Cook – Example
One of the stories that was used in the Tahoma High School case, is that of Captain James Cook. Here is a short part of the text, to give an idea of what the students encountered.
Captain James Cook
I opened my secret instructions
They directed me to latitude 40, to map ‘New Zealand’
From October 1769 to March 1770, I charted island coast lines
It was a major job, and to my surprise, found there were two islands
The local tribes, called Maoris, blew hot and cold towards us
We claimed the New Zealand territory for the British Crown
Continuing on we sailed westwards, as I was asked to find other lands
By April 1770, we had sailed over 3000 miles
From the main mast came a cry, ‘Land ahead’
A great sun-swept country lay before us
No Englishman had ever visited the shores
We only knew of it as New Holland
It seemed very bare except for Aborigines, who shook their spears
We only stopped once, at Stingray Bay, in April 1770.Drs Banks and Solander, our botanists, found new flora and fauna It seemed a beautiful, but desolate place.
(Extract from the published story by Dr Charles J Margerison)
The Oceanography Class by Ken Loomis
It was noticeable that the students responded well to the story being presented, as if told by Captain Cook himself. They knew it was an interpretation, but they identified with the character. They could imagine what it was like to be an explorer on the high seas. They could pose questions, as if they were a lowly sailor or a high ranking officer.
In addition, Amazing People Worldwide provided access to another one of its educational videos – that of Christopher Columbus! This provided an opportunity to see a re-creation of a different voyage. Here is an outline of the class and the processes.
An introduction, to the students in the class, was given that involved three main stages:
- Observation – A short five minute avatar video of Christopher Columbus was demonstrated. The story was presented in the first person singular, and an example of the first few lines are shown below, to give an indication of the personalization in the life story.
They said we would not return
Doomed before we started
Seeking fool’s gold beyond the known world
A voyage to nowhere other than Hell
The flat Earth believers said that we would come to the end of the ocean
Then, we would fall like a waterfall into an abyss
- Discussion – Students were invited to discuss the video in realistic terms. Questions were posed that generated debate. What would it be like to be a sailor on the boat, when most of them thought they would never return? What would Columbus have said to the sailors when the wind dropped in the Doldrums area? Students were asked to imagine, and voice concerns, about being marooned in the middle of the ocean.
These, and other topics, enabled the students to experience, in a virtual way, what it was like to be an explorer in the late 15th century. Instead of seeing the subject of oceanography from the outside, they could begin to gain a glimpse of what it was like on the inside. The emotions of fear and hope were mixed with the cold hard facts of life at that time. Through this approach, the students became engaged in the process.
- Review – In the review, the students had the opportunity to share with each other, the learning points they had gained. It was interesting to hear the comments, and a number of them have been reproduced below as examples. In addition, there was a written assignment, as part of the formal assessment on their project work.
Student A response: “As you watch that, you could write down notes while you are watching it, like you should go and look this up more. It encourages you to research this topic more in depth, so you actually understand it a lot better.”
Student B response: “Yes. I thought it was a lot better than reading from a book. I am not a big fan of reading it in a book. It doesn’t really help me comprehend it. Having a person actually tell it to you was interesting.”
Student C response: “It is better on the video, in comparison to psychology where it is almost unbearable to read it. With the videos, you can automatically have both the cases, and you can debate on it.”
Student D response: “It is quick, it is a lot quicker.”
Student E response: “Yes. It is better than reading something from a package. You’re reading for the sake of reading. The video is better when someone is trying to get your input.”
Summary
This is a case study that illustrates the value of combining audio visual methods and story-telling with project work, linked to the Amazing People approach. Aged 16 – 18, the students involved were a mix of those who needed to make up for failed courses or state-mandated exams, and while some expressed an interest in oceanography, judging from pre-test results, most students enrolled with minimal previous knowledge and almost no intrinsic interest in the course.
The results, as described in this article, were both surprising and pleasing. Improvements of a significant order were achieved. Our view is that this requires further research, but the following factors are important.
Personalization of Learning
Rather than just reading books and listening to lectures, the students got to know Captain Cook and Christopher Columbus in a virtual way through the avatar videos and storytelling. Their personal stories brought the issues to life and raised the student’s interest and motivation.
Group Discussions
The sharing and comparing of ideas, views and information, was encouraged through group discussions. That gave everyone the chance to participate. Students helped each other understand and learn.
Action and Experience Project
The opportunity for students to go onto the tennis court was important. They had the chance to assess, in a small way, the conditions in which sailors sailed the oceans in times past. By taking action, they were able to measure the size of the boats and gain a glimpse of what life at sea was like. These are key points that other teachers should include to maximize the learning.
Authors
Ken Loomis is a National Board Certified Teacher at Tahoma High School, in Washington State, USA. He teaches Oceanography and other subjects that relate to exploration and innovation.
Dr Charles Margerison, founder of Amazing People Worldwide and Amazing People Schools, is a Psychologist. As well as working in educational organisations for many years, he has consulted widely for major corporates in the fields of organizational and educational psychology. He was previously Professor of Management at Cranfield University, UK, and the University of Queensland, Australia. He founded Amazing People Worldwide in 2006 and is supported by a dedicated global team. Dr Margerison is a member of the Royal Institution, Royal Society of Literature, Historical Association, and Association of Business Psychology. He previously co-founded Emerald Publishing Ltd, and Team Management Systems, a team-building tool, which is now used in 190 countries worldwide.