First, let's get adults active. Active Learning: What About This? Summit

Toru Oyama

#Marketing#Social issue#Insights/Research#Seminar#Education#Active Learning#Workshop

DENTSU SOKEN INC. " Active Learning: What About This? " Lab held its first event, the "What About This? Summit," at Dentsu Hall on March 5.

This event welcomed participants from all over Japan, including elementary and junior high school teachers, education-related companies, and students. We present the event highlights as a special serialized feature.

Be active where you can

This summit identified "active adults" as key to pursuing education without fixed answers. Instead of a one-way seminar format clearly separating lecturers and attendees, it adopted a class format where both teachers and students could be active participants. During breaks, ICT-related companies presented the latest ICT applications in education at exhibition booths.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 DENTSU SOKEN INC. Research Institute for Active Learning: "How About This?"

To encourage even more active participation where possible, following the example of researcher Nadezhda Kirillova's column "Seating Systems in Elementary Schools Across 5 Countries: They're Actually All Different," each teacher was asked to consider seating arrangements suited to their specific lesson.

For example, Director Hidetoshi Kuranari deliberately chose a layout where he stood in the center, surrounded by seats, to strongly emphasize from the outset that this was not a typical seminar. Nadezhda's class used the British roundtable format. By incorporating "What About This?" throughout the entire summit, we aimed to create an event unconstrained by conventional seminar formats.

Experiencing Active Learning in the Thinking Process and Decision-Making Process

First, as a "What about this?" experiment, we held two mock active learning sessions.

The first session was a lesson on creating personal catchphrases led by Professor Masashi Okuma, a collaborator on the "Advertising Elementary School" project. Using the "Advertising Elementary School" teaching material "How to Think About Thinking," students developed their own catchphrases following steps like "divergence," "convergence," and "concept creation." Through this lesson on how to approach copywriting, we had the children experience not just being told to think, but how to effectively teach the process of "thinking."

The second session featured a new lesson: a workshop by researcher Naja titled "Deciding the Destination for the School Trip." This workshop was far from simply deciding a destination and ending there. Each group drew cards from a set of decision-making process cards placed on their desks in sequence. Following the instructions on each card, they ultimately decided the destination for their school trip.

There are 12 types of cards in total. Words like "overturn the table" and "campaign speech" are written on them. For example, if someone draws the "overturn the table" card, they must make a statement that overturns any previously proposed ideas. The person with the "campaign speech" card must give a speech supporting their favorite idea from those already proposed. Drawing these cards forces the group into a chaotic decision-making process, unlike anything seen in a typical decision-making flow.

"As we grow into adults, our thought processes naturally become fixed. So having the process forcibly determined by cards is definitely awkward. But you can't see that unless you experience it all. Through this workshop, I wanted people to rediscover their own process," (Naja)

Is your cognitive style visual dominant? Verbal dominant? Auditory dominant?

When designing lessons at our institute, we consider various ideas while incorporating advice from many people. Among these, the topic of "cognitive characteristics" was particularly fascinating, so we invited Dr. Mami Honda, a pediatrician, to conduct a session at the summit.

How do you remember someone you've just met?

A. By their face or overall vibe
B. By the text on their business card
C. By the sound of their name

Cognitive characteristics refer to how we understand, remember, and express information from the outside world in our minds. Even when seeing or hearing the same thing, others don't necessarily understand it the same way you do. People are born with innate ways that are easier for them to think, understand, and express themselves. There are broadly three types of cognitive characteristics.

Those who remember new faces by their appearance or aura are "visually dominant types" who process things through images or visuals. Those who remember by the text on a business card are "verbally dominant types" who understand through words or writing. Those who remember by the sound or ring of a name are "auditory dominant types" who excel at understanding through sounds or speech.

In this lesson, we conducted an experiment to see what differences emerged when students solved problems in teams grouped by their cognitive style. School lessons and tests tend to favor children with "verbal" or "auditory" cognitive styles. However, Professor Honda points out that there are surely "visual" children in the class too.

"While active learning is gaining attention, it's crucial for teachers to understand that children with different characteristics might be in this class. I'm not an educator, but I sincerely hope teachers will consider children's characteristics when structuring their lessons," (Professor Honda)

"Concentration" and "discussion" – even these themes can be approached through active learning.

Professor Tsutomu Fuse's class, which explored active learning from a sports psychology perspective, was also highly active. A group of 30 people meeting for the first time on the summit day. First, they did "How quickly can you line up in birthdate order?" After lining up, everyone gathered to discuss how they could do it faster. From their discussion, they hypothesized that designating a leader to give instructions would allow them to line up more quickly.

Next, they tried "how quickly they could line up in alphabetical order by name." This process of discussing to set goals and form hypotheses, according to sports psychology, connects to active learning.

"In sports psychology, concentration is the ability to set a specific focus point. By clearly defining what to focus on, athletes can list several possible next actions and choose the correct one. Since this needs to be shared with the entire team, discussion becomes extremely important," (Professor Fuse)

No single answer? Or is everything an answer?

This summit featured a packed agenda, including a simulated active learning class, understanding children with diverse cognitive characteristics, and communication skills from a sports psychology perspective—all explored with the mindset of "What about this?" Finally, reflecting on the day, Professor Okuma shared his comments.

"The catchphrase for this summit was, 'No answers? Or are all answers valid?'

Traditional education often involved teachers preparing or expecting the 'correct' answer, then having students search for it through trial and error. As a teacher myself, I used to teach that way.

Regardless of the method, repeating this approach may not foster the motivation to take on new challenges when entering society. I believe that to thrive in a rapidly changing society, it is crucial for children to boldly tackle problems without clear answers and accumulate experiences overcoming them. This kind of learning is precisely the active learning that cultivates versatile abilities applicable in society.

Reflecting on the four lessons from this summit, I believe several key elements emerged.
Turning unease into a challenge: Honestly acknowledging the emotions welling up within oneself and recognizing them as a challenge.
Making challenges personal and solving them: Tackling solutions starting with what you can do now, without shifting responsibility to others.
Transforming the OS (learning process) to enable this learning: Attempting to solve problems alongside children, free from the constraints of traditional learning processes.

I felt these "What about this?" essences were scattered throughout each lesson. I look forward to encountering everyone's own "What about this?" at the second summit scheduled for autumn.

While this series has been very well-received, the nature of media inevitably makes it feel somewhat one-sided. We would greatly appreciate your opinions, inquiries, or feedback via email (dii@dentsu.co.jp). We will also share the latest updates on our Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/dentsu.active.learning/ ). Thank you for your continued support.

First, let's get adults active. Active Learning: What About This? Summit

Be active where you can

Experiencing Active Learning in the Thinking Process and Decision-Making Process

Is your cognitive style visual dominant? Verbal dominant? Auditory dominant?

"Concentration" and "discussion" – even these themes can be approached through active learning.

No single answer? Or is everything an answer?

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Author

Toru Oyama

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