Intro:
• What are we going to do for you
• What are you supposed to get out of it
Mental Models
Look for characteristics about the community
Expectations (of what you see after viewing the clip)
–Economics
–Environmental Aspects
•Education? What does this mean to an educator
Watch:
What were some of your own
mental models about the clip?
Characteristics
low SES
Multi Cultural
Mental Models
Value for Ed?
Mental Models – What are they?
• Mental models are the images (attitudes
and assumptions) we carry in our minds
about ourselves, other people, institutions,
and every aspect of the world which guide
our interpretations and behavior.
• Like a pane of glass which restricts or
distorts our vision, our mental models
determine what we see.
– Typically exist below the level of awareness
– We tend to be attracted to, and take in, only
the information that reinforces our mental
Identify MMs of the characters:
The Ladder of Inference
• We operate on self-generating beliefs based
on conclusions inferred from what we
observe, plus our past experience. Senge
refers to this as climbing up a mental “ladder
of inference” – a common mental pathway of
increasing abstraction, often leading to
misguided beliefs.
• The only observable data is the action at the
bottom of the ladder and your decision to take
action at the top. However, traveling up the
rungs of the ladder takes place in your head –
unseen and unquestioned assumptions and
The Ladder of Inference
Leaps of abstraction based on our mental models
Traveling up the Ladder of
Inference
• José will never change. He will
always misbehave and needs to be
suspended.
• José is a bad student and he will be a
problem for me.
• José was transferred to our school
because he misbehaves a lot
• The previous school couldn’t handle
José.
• José gets in trouble and suspended a
lot.
• José has multiple referrals in his cum.
• José transferred from a neighboring
school.
The Effect of Mental Models
information
does not get
through
mental model
some info.
gets through,
but is changed
only info. that
fits “familiar
ways of thinking
& acting” gets
through unchanged
Working with Mental Models
• The discipline of mental models brings
tacit assumptions and attitudes to the
surface so that people can explore and
discuss their differences and
misunderstandings.
• 2 Types of Skills Used:
–Reflection: awareness of how we form
our mental models
–Inquiry: openly share our views & learn
about each other’s assumptions
Drawing forth our inner assumptions
about 4 critical areas:
1. What are our beliefs about how children
learn?
- Do we truly believe that all children can be
successful?
2. What content do we assume is best to
teach?
- Are we so focused on “teaching to the test” that
we produce students who can pass tests, but
fail life?
3. How is the material best delivered?
Get them to list/reveal their own
MMs
• What challenges will be faced by
educators?
• Observations about the environment in
this clip?
• Backgrounds of these schools
• Probably would be like… to teach there
List ideas
Defined
• These are ‘deeply ingrained assumptions,
generalizations, or even pictures and images that
influence how we understand the world and how we take
action’ (Senge 1990: 8). As such they resemble what
Donald A Schön talked about as a professional’s
‘repertoire’. We are often not that aware of the impact of
such assumptions etc. on our behaviour – and, thus, a
fundamental part of our task (as Schön would put it) is to
develop the ability to reflect-in- and –on-action. Peter
Senge is also influenced here by Schön’s collaborator on
a number of projects, Chris Argyris.
• The discipline of mental models starts with turning the mirror inward;
learning to unearth our internal pictures of the world, to bring them to
the surface and hold them rigorously to scrutiny. It also includes the
ability to carry on ‘learningful’ conversations that balance inquiry and
advocacy, where people expose their own thinking effectively and
make that thinking open to the influence of others. (Senge 1990: 9)
• If organizations are to develop a capacity to work with mental
models then it will be necessary for people to learn new skills and
develop new orientations, and for their to be institutional changes
that foster such change. ‘Entrenched mental models… thwart
changes that could come from systems thinking’ (ibid.: 203). Moving
the organization in the right direction entails working to transcend
the sorts of internal politics and game playing that dominate
traditional organizations. In other words it means fostering
openness (Senge 1990: 273-286).
Exercise:
• What are Escalante’s revealed in this clip?
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