3.1 Introduction
'What is the difference between the mental gymnastics of thinking up a design and the mental gymnastics of working out a design?'
The question took me by surprise. It came from a teacher on the second day of a Think Tank workshop in Friedberg, West Germany. It took me by surprise because, until then, I had never really given much thought to the difference or to how to make it clear.
The teacher who asked the question waited for an answer. I had to find it quickly. My answer was: 'In thinking up a design, the design is responding to you. In working one out, you are responding to it'.
Essentially, this would still be my answer were I asked the same question today. As you switch to the mental gymnastics of working out a design, the design begins to 'talk' to you. It begins to demand things: 'Make me an exercise for testing the students' understanding of the Tyndall effect'; 'Make me a video tape that will let the learner experience the genius of Van Gogh'; `Get hold of a water diviner who can demonstrate his skill with a hazel stick'; 'Make an overview of the course so the student knows where she or he is going'; 'Introduce the special bit of content that is going to be the student's REO at the very beginning of the course and not bit-by-bit'; 'Collect ...'; 'Copy. ...'; 'Translate ...'. When the time comes to work out the design you have thought up, it will keep you very busy!
After the Friedberg workshop incident, I decided to give more attention in the workshops to developing a thought-through design. This wasn't so easy. There was relatively little time to work out designs. Working out a design meant writing materials, making diagrams, selecting concepts, putting things together, preparing teaching aids and so on. I had a design problem myself!
After talking to myself for quite a long time about how best to handle the subject of working out a design in the workshop in a meaningful way, I drew a diagram. I had to practice what I preached about meaningful responding. The content of the diagram became the special bit of content for explaining the process of working out a design and for distinguishing this process from the process of thinking up a design. The diagram is given in Fig. 12.
Figure 12 The things involved in working out a design.
With the content of Fig. 12 as an anchor point for learning, it was possible to analyse worked-out designs and pinpoint some important facets of setting up S-R events. This was done with the help of worked-out designs for subjects as diverse as ‘picking a lock’, ‘reading a balance sheet’, ‘avoiding conflict in a ticketing situation’, ‘escaping from a car underwater ‘, ‘buying meat’, ‘baking bagels’, ‘boring a hole’, ‘treating a snake bite’ and ‘stopping nosebleeds’. We also didn’t miss the golden opportunity to analyse the workshop’s worked-out design. This was a ‘living example’, and a good teacher.
Working out a design involves the three activities shown in Fig. 12. The thought-up design is at the centre, guiding the operation while leaving room for your intuition, creativity and logical thinking. From time to time you will need to make an excursion to learning theory. This will be with a specific question, which will demand a concrete answer, eg, ‘What has learning theory to say about the role of fear when fighting a fire?’, ‘Can children of six handle this abstract notion about time?’, ‘What is the best way of dividing a class of students into work groups?’
If the thought-up design in your think tank is a good one, it will be vibrating with energy and wanting to be worked out. You will like working for it!
3.2 What does setting up the S-R events involve?
3.3. What choice is there for sequencing the S-R events?
3.4. What does ‘controlling the quality of an S-R event involve?’