Useful information
Learning goals
If you go through this whole unit, you will:
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become more conscious about the factors which foster learning processes and participation
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learn to observe microstructures which you yourself build in your environment and reflect on their impact
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learn to regulate such factors consciously
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get to know Liberating Structures and experiment with them.
Liberating Structures: Including and Unleashing Everyone, Inside and Outside School.
We human beings learn more when we participate actively and we are more likely to be motivated to participate when we feel autonomous, competent and positively connected to others around us (Deci & Ryan).
How to create such settings? In this unit, special tools to organise classroom interaction, or any other group activity, in inclusive and engaging ways are going to be presented: the so-called Liberating Structures.
You don‘t know them yet (that well)? Then there is no time to lose! Let’s get started!
Imagine you both are planning a project in collaboration with a school in a city nearby. You are invited to visit it and they let you participate in two lessons on the same topic, though held by different teachers.
List in silence the differences between the two classes.
When you are done, answer these questions: which class do you think
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teachers and students are enjoying more?
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students will remember the contents more?
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students feel a higher degree of autonomy, competence, and social relatedness to the others?
You have 3 minutes to write down your personal answers to these three questions and list the arguments which explain them.
When you are done, share your thoughts with your buddy.
LS (Liberating Structures) are easy-to-learn microstructures that enhance relational coordination and trust.
Structure—a constraint imposed on participants—develops out of a clear specification of progression from solo to pairs to quartets to the whole group, and the time allocated to each cycle. The structure is liberating if it provides an equal opportunity for all kids to engage—as individuals, pairs, quartets.
So it is about choosing the right structure for the right purpose!
Get to know the 5 dimensions that all LS have and the 10 principles they follow!
Get to know this LS with your buddy and think of a concrete way you can test it in the next few days with your group of young people and maybe also with your team!
Impromptu Networking
Rapidly Share Challenges and Expectations, Build New Connections (20 min)
What is made possible? You can tap a deep well of curiosity and talent by helping a group focus attention on problems they want to solve. A productive pattern of engagement is established if used at the beginning of a working session. Loose yet powerful connections are formed in 20 minutes by asking engaging questions. Everyone contributes to shaping the work, noticing patterns together, and discovering local solutions.
Five Structural Elements
1. Structuring Invitation
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Ask a question that invites participants to shape their exchange
2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed
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Open space without obstructions so participants can stand in pairs and mill about to find partners
3. How Participation Is Distributed
- Everybody at once with the same amount of time (no limit on group size)
- Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
4. How Groups Are Configured
- Pairs
- Invite people to find strangers or colleagues in groups/functions different from their own
5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation
- In each round, 2 minutes per person to answer the questions. 4-5 min. per round
- Three rounds
Click here for an example
Tip: Taking a group outside the usual room increases the fun factor
And here follows another popular LS. Please read it and see how you could try it out…
1-2-4-All
Engage Everyone Simultaneously in Generating Questions, Ideas, and Suggestions (12 min)
What is made possible?
You can immediately include everyone regardless of how large the group is. With this method you can create a safe space for expression, diminishing power differentials. In this way you can engage every individual in searching for answers. Most importantly, participants own the ideas, so follow-up and implementation is simplified.
Five Structural Elements
1. Structuring Invitation
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Ask a question in response to the presentation of an issue, or about a problem to resolve or a proposal to put forward (e.g., What opportunities do YOU see for making progress on this challenge? How would you handle this situation? What ideas or actions do you recommend?)
2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed
- Unlimited number of groups
- Space for participants to work face-to-face in pairs and quartets
- Chairs and tables optional
- Paper for participants to record observations and insights
3. How Participation Is Distributed
- Everyone in the group is included (often not the facilitator)
- Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
4. How Groups Are Configured
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Start alone, then in pairs, then quartets, and finally as a whole group
5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation
- Silent self-reflection by individuals on a shared challenge, framed as a question (e.g., What opportunities do YOU see for making progress on this challenge? How would you handle this situation? What ideas or actions do you recommend?) 1‘
- Generate ideas in pairs, building on ideas from self-reflection. 2‘
- Share and develop ideas from your pair in quartets (notice similarities and differences). 4‘
- Ask, “What is one idea that stood out in your conversation?” Each group shares one important idea with all (repeat cycle as needed). 5‘
Tips:
- Build naturally toward consensus or shared understanding
- Invite each group to share one insight but not to repeat insights already shared
- Record graphically insights as they emerge from groups
Now it is time to think freely.
Starting with the goals you pursue with a certain group on a certain day, you can choose freely among the 33 LS and even mix them!
The two activities above have been tested in 7 different classes.
Check the feedback of the facilitators involved and of the students and discuss with your buddy, if you think you will get or you have gotten with your group similar results:
Feedback from students. Click Here