Student responsibility for learning

Adolescence, Spring, 1993 by Charles S. Bacon

Interviews were conducted on school grounds, during school time, and lasted forty to forty-five minutes. Interviews were recorded using extensive field notes made while interviewing, which were then expanded upon immediately following the interview.

Three primary questions were addressed: (1) Do students perceive school as a place for learning? (2) What understanding of responsibility for learning do middle school students have? (a) Do they share an understanding of responsibility for learning? (b) Do they include the concepts of control and challenge? (3) Do middle school students see themselves as being responsible?

RESULTS

The four months as participants/observers taught us much about the day-to-day lives of these sixth- and seventh-grade students. For the most part, we did not often see these students as being actively engaged in learning. There were short periods when the teacher would assign a task and they would be involved in what was going on, but learning that required a concentrated or extended effort was typically avoided.

When compelled to engage in learning activities, the students would do only the minimum required to complete the assignment. Given a choice, they would most often prefer talking to their friends or just "hanging out." Hanging out included reading materials not required for the class (e.g., magazines, library books) and drawing (mostly "doodles"). The classes observed did not seem to promote a strong desire to learn on the part of the students; rather, the classes were merely tolerated and the activities endured. The students often did not do the assigned work, but avoided engaging in activities which might lead to confrontations with teachers. The implied message was, "We won't make trouble for you (the teacher), if you don't expect us to do too much." For example, students were given ample time to complete a research paper during study skills class, but several of the boys did not do the assignment and thus failed. In the metal shop class, several girls did not do the assigned projects by themselves, which gave them time for socializing.

The responses obtained in the 52 interviews led to the creation of the following categories as essential elements of the students' understanding of responsibility for learning: (1) Do the Work, (2) Obey the Rules, (3) Pay Attention, (4) Learn or Study, (5) Try or Make an Effort, and (6) Responsibility as Something Given or Taken. No students mentioned all six categories, but each typically mentioned two or three as being important. Table 1 summarizes the findings. Categories are listed in order of importance, based on the frequency of student responses.

Do the Work

This category was the one most often included in the students' definitions of responsibility for learning. Approximately 71% (n = 37) of the 52 students who were interviewed mentioned this as a student responsibility. On a superficial level, this figure would indicate that the school was doing a good job of motivating the students and making them responsible. However, many of these students went on to say TABULAR DATA OMITTED that they did not do the work. When asked why, they said that the work was boring. They clearly saw that a major objective of their teachers was to get them to do the work, and if they did, they would do well in school. Yet, they overwhelmingly indicated to us, in informal conversations and through our observations, that they chose not to do the work.