What does "relational learning and collaboration" mean? It means creating a team culture in the classroom.

One of the official long-term goals for my school’s faculty is to improve “relational learning and collaboration”.  Great!  But the first step in attaining this goal is to, um, define exactly what this phrase means.  And, as you may expect if you’ve read this blog for a while, I have a different view than what most would come up with.

Everything I’ve read, everything our faculty has discussed, uses the term “relationship” exclusively in the context of teacher-to-student.  One-to-one.  If the teacher builds positive relationships with each student, they’ve done a good job.

To me, that view is myopic.  Building relationships in a classroom isn’t a one-to-one process, or even one-to-many.  

It’s many-to-many.

The teacher’s role is to help build relationships among classmates, to develop a team-like atmosphere such that the whole class works together to learn a challenging subject.

What do football players or band members recall at their 30th reunion?  Probably not the details of what to do when coach calls “flood-right 213 dallas”.  Probably not the count on which horns go to the box in the last bit of the closing number.  Okay, some skills (weightlifting, preparation for performance) stick all one’s life.  But that’s not what participants remember.

What’s memorable about participating in an activity are the relationships built with teammates.  Not just winning the game/competition, but the celebration with friends afterward.  Not the hard parts of practice, but the support each player got in those difficult moments from coaches and teammates.  You recall the inside jokes, the pregame chills shared, the way the group reacted to a win - and to a loss.  Teammates - even teammates with little else in common - share an everlasting bond, because they worked together positively in pursuit of a common goal.  

Why should physics class be any different?

It’s the teacher’s job to give their class the space and independence necessary for them to build those relationships with each other.  Lab time, “come-and-show-me” exercises, test corrections, and unstructured time to solve problems together can all be culture-building activities.  But if students are always sitting and listening - no matter how communicative and empathetic the teacher’s presentation - they can’t have the small-scale unstructured interactions that build into long-term bonds.  

A good football coach is conscious of building a positive team culture.  How do you react when a teammate drops a pass they should have caught?  You love them up, making sure the dropper knows they’re still loved and supported.  What happens after the drum major screws up the very first command in the show?  No one feels worse than the drum major themself.  So, the rest of the band needs to give them love, show them they are still respected and supported.  

A good teacher must be similarly dedicated to a positive class culture.  When students make fun of classmates, it’s the teacher’s job to step in right away: "We don't do that here."  It’s on the teacher to ensure that each student feels okay in making mistakes.  Not “okay” in the sense that we’re allowed to say that an object always moves in the direction of a force; but “okay” in the sense that the whole class understands that such misconceptions are natural and persistent, and that the whole class must help each other make progress toward a correct understanding of the natural world.

That’s collaboration.  That’s “relational learning”.