Parent Domain Model

The parent model comprises an instantiation of the Talent Education philosophy in an endeavour to develop home tutoring best practice within the parent. Moving from a philosophy of education to implementation as a pedagogical practice requires an act of interpretation. Consequently, a considerable amount of research was undertaken in articulating a set of tutoring tactics to denote Talent Education philosophy (Suzuki, 1978; Lahart et al., 2006). This process comprised interviews with a Suzuki expert (a teacher who had in excess of ten years experience of the Talent Education philosophy) and observation of in excess of 20 Suzuki lessons. This process proposed a set of seven tutoring tactics as is illustrated in Figure 3.3. These comprise expert demonstration, mastery learning, motivational game, positive reinforcement, repetition, review and tutoring variation. The validation of these tutoring tactics is described in Chapter 5.

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Expert Demonstration involves the provision of the very best examples from which the child may learn. Examples may be given by the parent if they have expertise in the domain or may be given by an external influence. For example, with music, this may be listening to a CD or with mathematics, it may be observing a video/computer simulation.

Mastery learning promotes the provision of learning material in small simple steps so that the child can achieve at each level. It is easier for a child to master new skills when each step is mastered before the next is encountered. For the parent this may mean asking the child to complete the first step as opposed to the entire task.

Motivational game(s) are used to increase motivation. The games may be domain dependent or independent. Domain independent games may be used to promote concentration or to motivate the young child. An example of a domain independent game is the Colours game. The so-called Colours game assists in improving the child’s concentration. The parent begins by calling out a colour the child must repeat this colour and adds their colour to the list. The game progresses with each taking their turn until someone is unable to call the list of colours. An example of a domain dependent game for music might be playing snippets from previously learnt songs. This may encourage review of previously acquired material.

Positive Reinforcement is used to recognise the child’s efforts and to encourage and motivate students to do better. Phrases such as “That was very good, now, can you do better?” are useful in encouraging students.

Repetition is necessary in acquiring new skills. Repetition should be structured, that is, a child should be asked to repeat the skill a finite number of times. Unstructured repetition may decrease motivation. It may be useful to involve the child in deciding the number of repetitions to complete.

Review is an important aspect of Suzuki’s Talent Education philosophy. Continuous review of previously acquired knowledge is necessary for mastery and can be used as a building block in learning new skills. Review should be carried out on a daily basis.

Tutoring variation involves changing the instruction in order to suit your child’s learning style. A myriad of research exists in assessing and supporting different learning styles and learning preferences (Fleming & Bonwell, 2008). For the purpose of this research, implicit reference is made to VARK’s four learning styles read/write, aural, visual and kinaesthetic (Fleming & Bonwell, 2008).

As with any adaptive educational system it was necessary to develop an array of learning content for each of the skills, (tutoring tactics) represented in the domain model.

This content comprised explanation, example and reflection resources. Explanation resources comprise an explanation of the tutoring tactic and/or suggestions of an appropriate domain specific activity. Example resources provide a specific example of how the activity can be achieved. Reflection resources are domain independent and provide an explanation of how the particular tactic can benefit the child’s learning. An example is provided in Table 3.1 where the tutoring tactic is motivational game and the domain is mathematics. In this scenario, the explanation involves a mathematics race (“Let’s have a Mathematics Race”). The example involves finding x objects of y colour, where the child suggests x the number of objects and y the colour (“Ask your child to pick a colour and then pick a number between 1 and 5. Then see who can find that many items of that colour first. For example you might have to find two blue objects.”). The reflection involves gaining a deeper understanding of the purpose of motivational games (“Motivational Games can relax your child, increase concentration and therefore promote learning.”).

Table 3.1 Learning Content (Explanation, Example & Reflection)

Explanation Example Reflection

Let’s have a Mathematics Race!

Ask your child to pick a colour and then pick a number between 1 and 5. Then see who can find that many items of that colour first. For example, you might have to find two blue objects.

Motivational Games can relax your child, increase

concentration and therefore promote learning.

The explanation and example resources are domain specific, and therefore are related to the skills represented in the child domain model. They will be discussed in section 3.3.2. The reflection resources are related to the skills represented in the parent domain model. Figures 3.4 through 3.10 provide examples of reflection resources for each of the tutoring tactics. The learning content comprises 24 reflection resources in total the breakdown of resources across tutoring tactics is illustrated in Table 3.3.

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Figure 3.4 Expert Demonstration Figure 3.5 Mastery Learning

Figure 3.6 Motivational Games Figure 3.7 Positive Reinforcement

Figure 3.8 Repetition Figure 3.9 Review