The Leonardo Effect

'The Leonardo Effect'; 

is another creative approach to education. It is a four stage method, which links directly to Heathcote's ideology and 'Mantle of the Expert' approach in that it's philosophy is also about putting ideas into practise. It combines both science and art in its methods of research and exploration as it aims to capture the learners imagination; develop ideas; enable creative thinking and provide the opportunity to apply own knowledge and evaluate and reflect upon ideas, instead of simply accepting them.

To experience the Leonardo approach for ourselves, our task this time was to participate in a 'learner led enquiry'. 

Stage 1: Capturing the Imagination - Each group were given a large piece of paper with one of the 4 elements written on it: Fire; Earth; Water and Air; we then had to write on the paper given, what we already knew about the word, eg. Fire - It's the element of fire zodiac signs, such as Leo the Lion or Earth - is the 3rd planet from the sun.

Once each group had completed this, they moved to another piece of paper with a different word. 

Stage 2: Development - Each group then had to further the questions that were already asked.. such as: Why is fire the sign of the Lion? 

Again, each group would swap and ask more questions or give answers to anything asked on the paper they had moved to.

3. Creation - Once this was done, the last task was to investigate out a question that we came up with, when exploring all of these different concepts. My group were interested in finding out how fish breathed under water, which was a result of a discussion about 'Water'. As a group we under took research on the topic and worked collaboratively to find information on this, as part of this we created the poster you see below.

4. Reflect and communicate - After researching this question, as a group we presented our findings to the rest of the class, with a power point show and our poster as sources.

Overall, I would say this was an excellent approach to learning and really made me think about concepts that I had never considered on a deeper level and encouraged me to explore concepts I had always wondered but never actually investigated. This approach provided me, the learner, a chance to share my ideas and expertise and learn from other people. This collaborative learning technique motivated me to find out the information for myself as my imagination and interest had been captured from Stage 1. This along with the Mantle of the Expert is an approach that I would love to take away into my teaching career.

The only negative aspect that I could imagine may arise from this approach is

specific subject matter not being learned in as much detail or perhaps even overlooked as children explore other areas of a topic, perhaps slightly going off task. Also, less assertive or quieter individuals in a group may be left behind as their ideas could be ignored, therefore lowering self esteem and discouraging a motivation to learn and children who are more disengaged may use this experience as a chance to mess around and hide behind others ideas and hard work. Although according to an article by Hepburn (2008):

'Despite the fact that sessions involved an often stressful requirement to throw out lesson plans - leading to "more noisy and messy" classes - they were remarkably successful. External evaluators found that previously uninterested children had become "fanatical" about their work and headteachers felt the project summed up "what good teaching was all about.'

Researchers state that:

"Leonardo is not just about science and art. It is about facilitating co-operative learning in classrooms; about the value of out-of-school personnel (particularly experts and enthusiasts); about empowering autonomous learners; and (above all) about making connections across the learning landscape."