Applying Liberating Structures (LS) to Improve Teaching in Health and Sciences: Pilot Study Results
Alesia Ferguson, Robert Ulmer
2015
Journal of Health Education Research & Development
Science teachers from multiple kindergartens through twelfth grade (K-12) schools participated in a two-day environmental health training introducing them to newer methods of engagement and interaction adaptable for the classroom environment. This paper describes the use of Liberating Structures (LS) in the two day training for interaction between trainers and K-12 teachers, and the LS structures preferred by these K-12 teachers. These liberating structures are also compared to current
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... t and learning techniques or strategies commonly used by teachers in any classroom and to encourage and promote science and health education that could ultimately improve the health and well-being of individuals and families. Results: Teachers describe the selection of liberating structures they felt would be most useful in a classroom environment for teaching science and health related topics, promoting critical thinking and developing ownership of environmental and health science topics. The most popular structure that appealed to teachers was the '1-2-4-ALL' structure. In general, the teachers felt that this structure could be useful to the critical thinking process as students could use this structure to, first, independently think about a science project idea and then develop this idea in a small and then large group, progressively. "Shift and Share" and 'Impromptu Networking' were also appealing as structures for the scientific inquiry method, where students could be led through the critical thinking process to develop and test a challenging science or health related project hypothesis. Conclusion: This was a pilot study to look at the potential for use of LS in the classroom and for teaching science and health through improved engagement. Further research is recommended to determine which of these structures are better matched with the scientific method, and education and improved learning in the classroom. Sustained follow-up training for teachers on these strategies is also recommended with more intense training and practice, along with evaluation on using these structures in the classroom. The use and application of these liberating structures in community setting to promote ownership over environmental and health issue is also encouraged. JHERD, an open access journal Volume 3 • Issue 3 • 1000136 cases merge structures and tailor structures for more effective uses. Developers of these liberating structures encourage adaptations to varying situations to improve engagement and the process of learning and sharing. There has been no specific research on the setting characteristics and their influence on the outcomes from using these structures, given the early development and use of these structures. The general idea is improved strategic outcome in a learning process, a developmental process or improvement in a final product, and choosing the most suitable LS structures to ensure that improved outcome. Outside of anecdotal applications, two published applications of LS were identified. A medical school used LS structures (i.e., "1-2-4-All" and "25 will get you 10") to develop an action plan to improve student performance on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) [3] . Liberating structures (e.g., 'TRIZ' and 'Wise crowds' were used to change behavior with frontline staff and improve safety standards in the Healthcare industry by breaking silos, and improving engagement on practical solutions [4] . The field of communication has a rich history, where the nature of communication between individuals and groups considers the many fields of sociology, anthropology and psychology and is concerned typically with how people engage in rhetoric to persuade, manipulate or mobilize [5] . When we think of communication, we think of the fields of journalism, media technologies, film, public relations and political science (i.e., mass communication), when in fact, communication is applicable to our daily lives and how we engage with others to accomplish routine undertakings. What we propose here is the application of specific communication tools, i.e., LS, for K-12 classroom instruction and management, to enhance how teachers communicate with students and how students communicate with each other to improve learning outcomes related to science and improving health outcome. There are some other appealing strategies, and those include "Wise Crowd" and "15% Solution. " One teacher found 'Wise Crowd' extremely attractive in its potential to allow a disruptive child to get the chance to show what they know and answer challenging from other children and the teacher. The structure of the '15% Solution' structure was appealing to the teachers in the development of science project ideas and potential experiments towards a solution. This would allow the student to grasp the idea that in science, complete and full solutions are not immediately available, but, in fact, science is a progressive combination of steps towards discovery.
doi:10.4172/2380-5439.1000136
fatcat:2y3ewiholzfv5okelainxpcrtm