Phenomenon Based Learning

Phenomenon-based learning is a multidisciplinary, constructivist form of learning when learners approach a topic or complex concept (e.g. human, EU, water) in a holistic way rather than in a single professional perspective. It came about because traditional, subject-oriented learning tends to lead away from the real world by isolating details through decontextualization.

features

Phenomenon-based learning creates relationships between content and multiple subject areas within a specific focus. For example, a phenomenon or a topic in a complex context found (geographical feature, historical event, important person) can not be explored by one subject alone, but by a broader approach.

It is particularly learner-oriented, since it is not the teacher who sets the topic, but the learner chooses the perspective for himself. Your own interest in the matter should deepen the learning process. With the deeper penetration, detailed knowledge is also promoted, which allows the learner to develop their own relationship and emotion to the object.

It is constructivist because it sees the learner as an active acquirer of knowledge and information as a result of problem solving. Working in groups promotes understanding of information in a social context.

The US educator John Dewey ( The School and Society , 1899) already advocated this project- like form of learning due to the gap between children's experience and school fragmentation:

“From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in the school comes from his inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside the school in any complete and free way within the school itself; while on the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning in school. That is the isolation of the school - its isolation from life. When the child gets into the schoolroom he has to put out of his mind a large part of the ideas, interests and activities that predominate in his home and neighborhood. "

Phenomenon-based didactics first established itself in the natural sciences, for example with Lutz-Helmut Schön, a specialist in physics at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Finland

In the Finnish school system , phenomenon-based learning has been introduced alongside traditional subject-based learning since 2016-2017. In the new core curriculum , it affects all students from 7 to 16 years of age. In order to meet the challenges of the future, the focus is on general (general) skills and cross-school work. Collaborative teaching practices, where students can work with multiple teachers at the same time during phenomenon-based learning, are increasingly being used. Students should take part in at least one “multidisciplinary learning module” each year. Seven possibilities for goal setting are given: (1) to think and learn to learn; (2) cultural competence, interaction, and self-expression; (3) To take responsibility for oneself and to cope with everyday life; (4) diverse reading skills; (5) information and communication technology competence (ICT); (6) working life and entrepreneurship skills; (7) Participation, involvement and building a sustainable future. The duration of a module corresponds roughly to that of a project week in the German school system. From 2020 the method will be extended to the upper level. One of the speakers is the educational psychologist Kirsti Lonka at the University of Helsinki . The theory also shows an increase in the possibilities in a learning process.

literature

• Lutz-Helmut Schön, Susanne Lesk (ed.): Do the phenomena save us ?: Teaching and learning in the age of digitization , Logos, Berlin 2019 ISBN 9783832550127
• Kirsti Lonka : Phenomenal Learning from Finland , Helsinki 2018 ISBN 978-951-37-7308-3

Web links

• Phenomenal Education
• Is Finland getting rid of the subjects?
• Demystifying the Finnish education system
• https://learningscoop.fi/why-do-we-need-phenomenon-based-learning/
• https://scaffoldingmagic.com/phenomenon-based-learning/

Single receipts

1. ↑ Werner Stangl: phenomenon-based learning. Retrieved June 20, 2020 . 
2. ^ Phenomenon based learning. Retrieved June 20, 2020 (Finnish). 
3. ^ John Dewey: The School and Society . SIU Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0-8093-0967-2 ( google.de [accessed June 20, 2020]).
4. ↑ Not for school, but for life | Forum - the weekly magazine. Retrieved June 20, 2020 . 
5. ^ Jelmer Evers: Fake news and the Finnish curriculum. March 3, 2017, accessed June 20, 2020 . 
6. ^ Phenomenon Based Learning Rubric. (PDF; English). 
7. ↑ Edita Publishing Oy / Koulutukset: Phenomenal Learning from Finland. Retrieved June 20, 2020 (English).