The mantle of the expert approach is an inquiry-based approach giving children the opportunity to learn through drama. The teacher gives out tasks and children are given freedom to set up their own groups and are supposed to responsibly use this time to learn effectively. These tasks usually relate to topics such as History, English and Maths. For this type of learning to be effective, planning must be done carefully so that they can consider the task as it was real and could then find solutions for problems that may arise.
In one of the seminars we were given the task of setting up our own construction companies which would meet the needs of the local council. The brief was that a bridge needed to be built down Swansea marina and a 6 million pound budget was given. This task included thinking of a company name, slogan, deciding who did what job, who was responsible for what etc. I grouped up with Nicole, Nickey, Mathew, Kia and Andrew and we decided that we would call our company the ''Bridge Builders'' with the slogan
''Building bridges for a living, No bridge too big or too small''.
As a group we decided that I would be the manager so was therefore in charge of deciding who did which job. By the end of this task we all agreed although it was a fun and active way of learning, it was in fact a lot of work. The question is though, why is this approach considered so important for education? This type of approach allows children to unconsciously learn from a range of different subjects whilst being able to take on the roles of different things and working within a team.References
Egan, K. (2001) The cognitive tools of children's
imagination.
Taylor, A. (2006) A Critical Evaluation of ‘‘Mantle of
the Expert’’ as a Teaching
and Learning Approach, Based on Pupil
and Practitioner Opinion.
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