The Leonardo Effect

The leonardo effect is a new way of teaching, primarily based around synchronized integration of subjects. The leonardo effect is producing amazing results in primary schools as it allows the pupils to be creative whilst developing ideas and they become more confident as collaborators and contributors. As the leonardo effect allows children to run with their curiosity and allows teachers to be more creative and flexible in the classroom it fuels autonomous learning and permits the pupils to make their own connections across the curriculum (Interdisciplinary Education, 2011). I think that the leonardo effect fits in with what Sir Ken Robinson said in the clip ‘Changing Education Paradigms’. In the clip we saw in our seminar, he expresses his belief for the need of a change in the way that the curriculum is presented to children and the way in which children are educated.

The teaching methodology is split into four stages;

1. The first stage is capture the learner’s imaginations, this involves using the learner’s personal experiences where relvant in order to stimulate self-generated questions. I believe that this is definetly a good way of getting the learner to involve themselves as people feel more willing to share their opinions and ideas when its on a topic they are comfortable with and know something about. By drawing on the natural curiostiy of the learner discovery based learning can begin, this involves research with multimedia, books, experts, fellow pupils etc. The process leaves learners feeling empowered and teachers feeling energised to learn with them.
2. The second stage is development, for this stage learners explore in depth, they also develop ideas further and conduct experiments through visual, aural and kinesthetic means. This stage is all about allowing the children to make connections, drawing out the learning process to aid the development of all the learning capacities including skills, knowledge and understanding. What I interpreted this stage to be about was the learning process helping the children who had different capabilities.
3. Stage three is creation. In this stage the learners are tested to apply their skills and knowledge in an original and creative way, which will take their learning to a higher level, beyond usual curricular requirments. I think that this is a really important stage because this isn’t something that children are often required to do when following the curriculum, and by giving the children the opportunity to try and be as creative as they can they also begin to understand what it is to be creative.
4. Stage four is reflect and communicate, in my opinion I think that this is the most important of the stages because this is the stage where the children evaluate their work and share the knowledge they have gained with others, whether this is within the school or to a wider audience. During this stage the children are also able to begin a new learning adventure based upon the new skills and knowledge they have aquired. By having the children evaluate their work to a wider audience it allows them to build confidence, to share their ideas and to understand what they have done well and what improvements they could make.