Restraint by Design: A Peer Critical Learning Environment Larry Malone ~ Hartwick College This project describes a Peer Critical Learning environment in the Introductory Economics course. An immigration policy module is designed to push learning beyond the walls of the classroom through a teaching pedagogy that emphasizes restraint on the part of the teacher and an appreciation for peer criticism among the learners. With Peer Critical Learning, students no longer expect the teacher to provide an avenue out of the dilemmas at handthey turn instead to each other. [email protected] http://users.hartwick.edu/malonel/malone/malone.html

Peer Critical Learning As the designer of a peer critical learning experience, the teacher seeks to create opportunities for student collaborations and social interactions outside of the classroom. In this kind of learning environment, the critical evaluation of ideas and content is fostered within the classroom and pushed beyond it by the necessity for students to socially engage outside the classroom. Go to the Third Class Page Go to the Second Class Page Go to the First Class Page Go to the Fourth Class Page The Challenge for Teaching in a Peer Critical Learning Environment The greatest challenge for the designer of a peer critical learning environment is to resist the urge to provide the crucial insight students need to overcome a given moment of struggle. Teaching effectiveness in this kind of educational setting is revealed by restraint, as engagement among peer critical equals is the instructional objective. In the case of the Immigration Module, much of the learning occurs outside the classroom walls, without the presence of the teacher. If the teacher does not act to solve the riddles at hand inside the classroom walls, students will come away with a stronger sense of accomplishment and ownership with respect to learning. Teachers glorify and revel in the "teaching moment.” But when taught, the teaching moment steals the insight moment from the student. In a well-designed Peer Critical Learning environment, the teacher who exercises restraint at the watershed moment of understanding gifts the ownership of learning to the learner.

Four Walls Up One Design for a Peer Critical Learning Environment: Four Ninety Minute Classes on Immigration Policy THE FIRST CLASS: SETTING THE AGENDA The essay "Why Not Let Immigrants Pay for Speedy Entry?" by Gary Becker is read and discussed. Students gather into four person teams to identify theoretical issues pertaining to immigration in the essay. Each team sets an immigration policy research agenda. THE SECOND CLASS: ISSUE FOCUSING Teams meet to discuss their findings from individual research on immigration and to outline key questions on immigration policy with relevant theory. Teams report their questions to the class, and the teacher uses the questions to design debate topics. THE THIRD CLASS: DEBATE AND CRITICAL AUDIENCE QUESTIONS Two teams--one favoring more restrictions on immigration and the other fewer--conduct a forty minute debate. Non-debating students observe, listen, and take notes. After the formal debate the non-debating students serve as a critical audience and pose questions to the debating teams. THE FOURTH CLASS: ESSAY EXAM Bluebook essays are written by each student in response to three questions based on issues considered during the immigration module.

What Do Students Say About Peer Critical Learning? * Students frequently observed that incorporating their previous or newly acquired EXPERIENCE into the learning process motivated the identification of new lines of inquiry. * Sharing PERSPECTIVES on complex issues and problems promoted diversity and creativity in thinking and nurtured independent and collaborative investigations. * SOCIAL INTERACTIONS and the forging of new relationships among peers were viewed as vital attributes of learning. * Opportunities to conduct independent and collaborative RESEARCH were seen as a means to deepen understanding of a subject. * A PEER CRITICAL LENS for inquiry fostered self-sustained abilities to examine and assess one’s own work. Read the Final Report on Peer Critical Learning Project Final Report Alan