Gerald Ajam

One problem, four ways of seeing it

The same situation, framed four times. Each framing makes different things visible, and different things invisible. The last one tries to hold all three strands at once.

The Atlas & Loom framework

The situationA school wants its students to become more independent learners. Its first step is to turn the library into a learning commons.

Where the question starts

What furniture and layout should the new room have?

Where it ends up

What should students be able to do on their own that they cannot do now, and what changes to the timetable, the tasks, supervision, routines and the room itself would make that more likely to develop?

The route between them

  1. Conventional framing

    What furniture and layout should the new room have?

  2. Futuring

    What patterns of study could exist when lessons, sources and help can be reached from anywhere at any hour, and what would a shared room still be for?

    Questions from this strand

  3. Complexity

    Which timetables, supervision rules, examination calendars, homework demands and student routines will decide how the room is actually used?

    Questions from this strand

  4. Ways of thinking

    Is “a new room” actually the right problem?

    Should the objective instead concern time to study, tasks worth doing alone or the trust to let students choose?

    Questions from this strand

  5. Integrated framing

    What should students be able to do on their own that they cannot do now, and what changes to the timetable, the tasks, supervision, routines and the room itself would make that more likely to develop?

    All three strands at once

    FuturingComplexityWays of thinking
The questions behind the framings
Singapore