The Arrow Model - Transdiciplinary Model

Share it

Reflect & Evaluate to learn

Present the results!

Move into action!

Pitch it!

Generate & choose the best proposal

Search & organise information

Understand the challenge

The Arrow Model - A learning model for transdisciplinary activities

The objective of this phase is to present and expose to students the problematic situation that they will have to solve. The teaching team will present the situation in an attractive way that activates surprise and curiosity. In this step students must identify what the challenge is about and all the aspects of the problematic situation. Teachers must ensure that all student teams have the same understanding of the situation at hand. This could be an appropriate moment to offer the students the document in which they will find all the necessary information to carry out the challenge: timing, resources, work methodology, evaluation criteria and tools, delivery of evidence, feedback moments, etc. Students must read the document and be aware of the learning objectives of the challenge and the tools and resources they have to solve it.

Step 1 - UNDERSTAND THE CHALLENGE

This should happen in 3 steps: a) Identify knowledge gaps: Determine what additional information is needed to address the problem.b) Knowledge Acquisition: Conduct a thorough literature review to explore existing research, ask the teacher for a masterclass in a topic, find out information from professional experts, etc.c) Encourage critical thinking and questioning: Promote the exchange of ideas between student teams to develop new insights.

What do you know and what do you need to know to meet this challenge? The aim of this phase is to provoke questions to guide students towards the investigation of the different areas of knowledge into which the challenge is subdivided. The purpose is to make students aware of what they know, aware of what they don’t know and have them move forward to search for information that will complete their lack of knowledge.

STEP 2: SEARCH & ORGANISE INFORMATION

Although this is a process that must be carried out throughout the challenge, this is a key moment to complete the learning process. Teachers and students gather together to get and receive feedback. The teaching team helps students to reflect on what they have learnt and what went well, but also on the areas for improvement identified during the development of the challenge, which will be recorded in the form of future commitments for next challenges. The teaching team and the students carry out the evaluation from a 360 degree perspective (self-evaluation, co-evaluation of peers and teacher evaluation), taking into account the evidence of the results of the challenge, actions and attitudes. The results of this evaluation are used as elements of reflection for students so that they can make commitments to improve and evolve for future challenges. Through feedback, students, both individually and in teams, will be able to identify their areas for improvement and define their own learning commitments. The aim is to make them aware of how far they wanted to go, where they have really got to, the reasons for it, and what commitments they have made for the future. It is also important that they reflect on their own functioning as a team.

STEP 7: REFLECT & EVALUATE TO LEARN

The team agrees on the set of actions to be developed as well as the associated resources and organises them detailing: the sequencing, timing, allocation of tasks within the team, monitoring procedure and risk analysis. The teaching team will adapt the planning tool to the capacity of the students. It is recommended to use simple, collaborative and visual planning tools, especially with younger learners. Some of these tools classify for example all the actions to be carried out in three levels: TO DO, DOING and DONE, and this makes them much easier to manage. Some useful tools are: Trello, Miro or Site.

STEP 5: MOVE INTO ACTION!

Each student team presents the results of their work, in other words, they show the rest of the class the solution they have come up with for the challenge. It is important to present not only the results or conclusions reached, but also to show the development process the team has gone through including personal discoveries, difficulties, etc. The team should experience this phase as a great opportunity to improve, especially, their communication skills in oral presentations.

STEP 6: PRESENT THE RESULTS!

3 moments: Individually, each student thinks of the best way to solve the challenge. We are all creative. Give yourself a chance. Get the typical solutions out of the way as soon as possible and try to imagine some original or unconventional solution. Each student shares their idea with the members of their team. Sell your idea to others with conviction. Listen carefully to the ideas of others without judging. Listen and take on board the different proposals put forward by the members of your team. After listening to all the team members, discuss the different proposals and decide how to solve the challenge. One of the ideas can be selected as the best solution or it could also be a nice combination/integration of different proposals.

In what different ways could we solve the challenge? Based on the knowledge built up in the previous phases, now is the time to come up with different options to solve the challenge.

STEP 3: GENERATE & CHOOSE THE BEST PROPOSAL

Each team will share their approach to the challenge with the rest of the class and they will listen to the other teams with a critical view. This should not take more than 5 minutes per team. This allows all the class to be on the same page and even get inspiration from other teams.

STEP 4: PITCH IT

The process, the challenge results and experiences during the development of the challenge are shared to the school community and on students’ or institution’s social networks, depending on the magnitude of the work.

STEP 8: SHARE IT