Reflection
Important role in Experimental Pedagogics.
Reflection is the integrative tool that allows students to pursue their learning with purpose and a forward drive. We interpret reflection according to the levels of XP, using learning diaries and workshops to work through those diaries. At the Cognitive Level, students work with the Kolb Cycle to identify opportunities to improve their performance and solve problems in their learning process. At the individual level, students operate a phenomenological reduction on their own learning diaries. At the group level, students draw an empathy map to understand relational aspects of reflection. At the societal level, students are introduced to the sociological imagination of C. Wright Mills.
The reflection method of Experimental Pedagogics was published by Lorenzo Duchi, Ginie Servant-Miklos, Liesbeth Noordegraaf-Eelens and Lois Kooij.
Practical pedagogical tools used in the XP framework
XP uses different experimental pedagogical tools associated with each of the five levels of the framework.
Some of these tools were designed by the XP team, and open access to teaching scaffolds and tools (like the COLLAPSE game set) is provided where possible. Some tools used in the XP framework were designed by other educators, with links to their work provided in the relevant pages.
Here is a list of the tools used in XP
this tool kit is not exhaustive
Science fiction writing
Think through environmental problems.
Science fiction writing is a tool used to think through wicked societal and environmental problems in the format of thought experiments, where certain aspects of reality can be suspended to imagine what might happen to humanity under different and varying conditions in the future. Inspired by the writings of Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler and other cli-fi, eco-feminist and science fiction writers, science fiction workshops call on students to engage with utopian and dystopian thinking to push past the bounds of life as we know and question what life could be like beyond what we know
Science fiction writing can be done in a workshop format, exploring world-building and plotlines, in a project format, such as the “history of the future” project in which student groups must assemble a portfolio of oral histories and artefacts from the future, or futurist essays, podcasts, music or videos.
Implosion
In the web of global capitalism.
Implosion introduces students to Donna Haraway’s concept of the “entanglement” of everyday objects in the web of global Capitalism. The exercise consists in taking an ordinary object, person or process, and “imploding” their component parts into the materials, labour, technology, political and economic processes, legal issues and sociological aspects involved in its production and consumption.
Students are invited to stick to the actual object under investigation (e.g. the actual physical table in front of them, as opposed to a generic abstract “table”), to reflect on the object’s journey through the world to get to where it is right in front of them. This also means reflecting on the difficulties of finding information on certain aspects of the object’s production (e.g. the labour conditions under which certain components of the object are realized).
Students are then invited to reflect on what would happen if all fossil fuels had to be cut out of the production and consumption process.
The implosion exercise is based on “writing the Implosion”, a pedagogical tool developed by Joseph Dumit in 2014.
COLLAPSE
The slightly different board game.
COLLAPSE is an open resource serious game developed by Ginie Servant-Miklos that teaches participants to think systemically about the climate crisis by introducing the notion of “cascading effects” of climate disasters. The game is played in teams of 2-5 players, with a maximum of 4 teams. Each team is assigned a number of resources and population and has to build a basic infrastructure for an imaginary community in the year 2100.
In the first phase of the game, they can use energy, transport, agriculture, security, art and culture cards of different kinds to build a resilient infrastructure system that won’t collapse in the face of climate events. In the second phase of the game, disasters strike hard and fast, disabling or destroying parts of the infrastructure, causing cascading effects on transport and food production that lead to famine, loss of population and lower wellbeing.
When the infrastructure can no longer support the population, it collapses and the team is out of the game. The team with the highest levels of wellbeing at the end of the last round win the game.
Project work (PPL)
Problem-oriented, participant-directed project learning.
PPL has three principles:
First, learning is oriented by social reality. Students start by identifying real-world issues and analyzing them through various theoretical frameworks. The second principle rejects academic disciplines, embracing interdisciplinarity to address complex social problems and challenge disciplinary authority. The third principle aims to dismantle educational hierarchies, promoting collaborative learning between students and professors as a form of research.
These principles are applied in semester-long projects co-created by students and supervisors, involving theoretical reading, fieldwork, and research. For the first two years, students engage in interdisciplinary basic education, with disciplinary specializations allowed from the third year.
Projects follow five steps: defining a topic, formulating and analyzing an initial problem, reformulating and further analyzing the problem, and writing a problem intervention plan. Themes vary, and interventions range from conceptual write-ups to practical solutions like phone apps or medical protocols.
PPL was first developed at Roskilde University and Aalborg University in the 1970s.
DS/DM
Double-skin/Double-mind
The purpose of Double-Skin/Double-mind is to help practitioners become aware of their physical presence, break free from preconceived notions, and heighten their body's sensitivity to the world before starting the creative process.
Double-Skin / Double-Mind was developed by Emio Greco and Pieter Scholten for ICK Amsterdam.
Participants engage in activities like breathing, stretching, shrinking, jumping, and moving for over an hour, allowing the body to guide the experience and quiet rigid cognitive impulses. Afterwards, they reflect silently and then as a group on how their bodies acted as agents of learning during the session.
Problem-based learning (PBL)
The dynamic classroom apporach.
PBL involves presenting small groups of learners with ill-defined problems to analyze. These problems typically consist of text and images in vignettes, though some teachers use role-play, experiments, and games. The two-hour tutorial is guided by a tutor who acts as a process facilitator. Unlike methods like the Case Method, PBL students approach problems without prior preparation.
Reading materials and lectures are provided only after the initial discussion phase. This approach leverages existing knowledge from previous schooling and experiences, creating pathways for new knowledge to integrate into or modify cognitive schemas.
PBL was first developed at McMaster University and Maastricht university in the 1970s.
Jigsaw
Make students rely on each other.
Class objectives and materials are divided into parts and assigned to ‘expert’ groups. These groups research and prepare their portion. Once ready, students form ‘jigsaw’ groups with one expert for each objective. For example, in a class of twelve with objectives A, B, C, and D, expert groups A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, etc., will form jigsaw groups A1, B1, C1, D1, A2, B2, C2, D2, and so on.
Each expert teaches their segment to their jigsaw group. Since the group’s performance is assessed collectively, all experts must prepare thoroughly. In jigsawing, students are better prepared and more responsible towards each other, allowing quieter and marginalized students to share their perspectives equally.
Eliott Aaronson developed jigsawing to combat prejudice in the desegregated South of the United States by fostering cooperation among students.
