cycle of learning

The professional model of teaching according to Smith- Autard (1997) focuses on the teacher being in the front of the class demonstrating and instructing. The students follow and copy. Whitley S. also supports this in her article on Conceptual Framework for Creating and Analyzing dance Learning And Digital Content when she states “Dance has been largely taught through a teacher, choreographer providing direct information to the student through physical demonstration, touch or verbal instruction.” Starting at this point in learning and then moving to a place where the classroom has several teaching methods involved in a given session, encourages the teacher to reflect, deconstruct, and reconstruct their ideas before teaching another lesson and more importantly to move away from using only traditional teaching methods.

“Today’s learners are and should be more and more independent as they progress in both the practical and theoretical study of dance.” states Autard (1997). How do we encourage the students to bring their own ideas and allow that to lead their learning?

The constructivist view of learning can help us with answer this question. Moon, J (A Handbook of Reflective and Experimental Learning 2004) tell us that this type of learning can be seen as a vast but flexible network of ideas and feelings. Learning through this method can help teachers deconstruct and reconstruct their ideas as they prepare for classes. Thus there is a constant cycle that takes place where learning is concerned.

Moon. J ( 2004) says that the “cognitive structure is flexible with the potential to always change.” This remind me of what happens in the classroom. As teachers learn about their students and use different strategies to bring across the knowledge to the students, changes will take place. These changes may take place in the use of technology, group assignments and projects, use of props and other stimuli to create movement. Whatley, S. (2018) states that "rise of digital technologies opens up new opportunities for augmenting the 'live learning environment' of the dancer through the development of tools that expand teaching and learning methods.

Kolb’s learning cycle can be applied from a constructivist view of learning. Moving from the active experimentation, where the teacher learns something new which then impacts on the concrete experience of teaching the students. The teacher then reflects on what happened in the class asking important questions such as what worked, what needs improving, and how to reach students for the next session. Through the steps given: the concrete experience, active experimentation and reflective observation, the teacher can continue learning and teaching. The traditional methods now transform and teachers are able to change, enhance, and develop learning experiences for themselves as well as their students.

I can say that as a choreographer, changes to the pieces happen as we progress through the dance. The message that I would like to convey to the audience must first be understood by the students so that they can dance their piece with confidence. Therefore the constructivist learning approach applies for me in a very intense way. Even after the piece is performed there is assessing and reassessing, changes, reflection on the students' performance, and the piece as a whole. As a choreographer you always look at experimenting with different ideas as it relates to your message. The ideas that the choreographer brings to the students also has a direct impact on how they learn and view the movement.