Poka-Yoke, an error-proof way of
thinking and designing our classes
By Flor de María Vila
Beginning a new school year
in Peru: We want to make the most out of it without “dying” in the attempt,
don´t we? So, why not try a Poka-Yoke mentality to design classes and
activities? Before going into the Poka-Yoke thinking, let’s explore a probable
familiar situation.
What was our experience
like last year?
Last year is gone, but
some experiences remain in our memory. Are all of them good? Bad? What did we
do that made those teaching-learning experiences successful? What did
we do that made those experiences not as successful as we wanted them to be? Has
it ever occurred to you that sometimes the “solutions” to those kinds of
“problems” are there just in front of us, but we haven´t found the way to use
or organize the information in the best way yet? Sometimes, there are
inadvertent mistakes that do not allow us to use our resources well enough and
that could be related to what we are focusing on: we might be looking at
classes from the wrong perspective.
What do we take into
account when we prepare our lessons?
We have heard a lot about
the pre-existing knowledge with which students come. In fact, it is very likely
that in our lesson plans and lessons, we have to consider eliciting students’
previous knowledge at the beginning. This is supported by the contemporary view
that learning means that people construct their new knowledge and understanding
based on what they already know and believe (1). According to Vygotsky (2),
this is extremely important. He introduced the concept of Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD)(2)(3), which is the gap between what a learner has already mastered and
what s/he can achieve when educational support is provided. Regarding this:
What do we know about our students´ ZDP? Do we really know how much knowledge,
experience, skills, beliefs, and concepts our students come with? Even more, do
we really know them? How can I prepare a lesson if I do not know who my
students are? Just think about this carefully: Would you be able to choose a
gift for, let´s say, me without knowing my likes,
preferences or anything that could give you a hint on how to select the right
one? What details did you have in mind while choosing a gift for some relative
or close friend last Christmas? I am quite sure that you knew something
important about that person in order to pick out that gift, didn’t you?
This might be one of the
issues we are not considering and is preventing us from having incredible
success? Thus, in order to use effectively this existing knowledge, experience,
and so on, we must know as much as possible about our students. If we ignore
this fact, the outcome may not be what we expect. Here´s what we must consider
about our students and know when preparing our lessons: age, sex, cognitive
level, learning style, language level, likes, preferences, social and economic
background. Furthermore we need to know students’ expectations both from the
course and from us as teachers. Then, we will be more prepared to give a
lesson. We will be even more prepared to motivate them at the beginning of the
class because our decisions will be based on facts and not just on assumptions.
Are we ready now to start
working on a POKA-YOKE (4) teaching strategy?
Until now, we have just
found out with whom we are going to work. Next step is to prepare the lesson.
In order to make sure that there won’t be any unforeseen mistakes and that we
are ready to overcome most possible problems, we need to consider the following
aspects in the plan. Do you know what a poka-yoke teaching strategy is? This
strategy is based on the poka-yoke mechanism, a mistake proofing approach that
uses visual signals to make mistakes clearly stand out or become evident. For
instance, you may have noticed that when you assemble a desktop computer, it is
simply not possible to plug in the keyboard or mouse into the wrong holes of
the CPU. That is because the designer used poka-yokes to help the user achieve
his goal without possible mistakes. Likewise, teachers can use poka-yokes in
their classes to help students achieve their learning goals without getting
lost on the way. Thus, we need to make sure of having visual signals that
let us identify the mistake, if any, easily. We also need to guarantee that all
steps are followed. Regarding any lesson, we need to clearly identify the
objective of the lesson; what we need the students to be able to do by the end
of the class. Knowing the objective of the lesson may sound obvious, but you
would be surprised to see how many teachers act in class as
if “performing the activities” were the objective and not the means to achieve
a superior learning objective.
Once we know this, we
should determine the following based on the self-assessment sheet (5):
- Activity proposed and its objective
- Resources used
- Did the activity help
you to achieve its objective? Did
it work?
- What evidence (visual
signal) do we have that it worked?
- What should I do to
improve this result for the following class?
In addition to this, we
should think of the possible problems that may arise.
The poka-yoke teaching
strategy implies having the minimum elements to work with a very high
probability that the results we expect will become true.
Definitely, there are other
factors that affect learning. Even though they are important, they are not more
important than students and teachers themselves.
If you liked this
reflection on how to make classes inevitably successful, please choose any of
the following questions and share your thoughts.
- The article gives the
example of poka-yokes used in a computer. You can also find a poka-yoke
when a computer program double checks with you if you are sure you want to
delete a file, thus helping you avoid the possibility that you delete it
accidentally. Can you give other examples from everyday life where you
find poka-yokes (a design thought to help avoid mistakes)?
- In trying to make an
activity work like a poka-yoke for students to fulfill a learning
objective, which of the following factors is in your experience the most
important? Why?
a. The
lesson plan
b. The teacher’s
motivation
c. The
classroom environment
d. The
appeal of the activity to students’ interests
e. The
objective of the activity
- Can you suggest other
factors, ideas or strategies that can contribute to an inevitable
attainment of learning goals in class (just as a poka-yoke does)?
References:
(1) How people learn (2000) edited by John D.
Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking.
(2) Lev Vygotsky- biography
(3) ZPD definition
(4) POKA-YOKE definition
Biodata
Flor de María Vila. M.A. in Cognition, Learning and Development from PUCP, B.A. in Education with a major in English Teaching. Ms. Vila is currently Pedagogic Advisor and Member of the Research Team at Centro de Idiomas de la Universidad del Pacífico. She is Academic Director of International Contacts (test training & foreign applications advisory) and Relationship Associate Manager for American universities´ MBA admissions officers with International Contacts. She is official Examiner for several University of Cambridge tests, former freelance consultant with Universidad ESAN, experienced speaker on diverse English teaching issues for prestigious institutions, and senior international examinations trainer (GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS)
Flor de María Vila. M.A. in Cognition, Learning and Development from PUCP, B.A. in Education with a major in English Teaching. Ms. Vila is currently Pedagogic Advisor and Member of the Research Team at Centro de Idiomas de la Universidad del Pacífico. She is Academic Director of International Contacts (test training & foreign applications advisory) and Relationship Associate Manager for American universities´ MBA admissions officers with International Contacts. She is official Examiner for several University of Cambridge tests, former freelance consultant with Universidad ESAN, experienced speaker on diverse English teaching issues for prestigious institutions, and senior international examinations trainer (GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS)
