One of the primary recommendations of the committee that authored this book is that research should become more multidisciplinary. The essential need for increasing multidisciplinary cooperation is a means of connecting and centrally storing research.
As the trend toward increased use of technology proceeds, we will have an unprecedented ability to combine information into centralized databases that can be used to reach more statistically meaningful conclusions regarding the efficacy of the tools we have at our disposal. Whether this is done through an open source tool such as Moodle or some other proprietary system remains to be seen, but care must be taken to use open standards that ensure the various systems being used remain compatible as they continue to evolve. A centralized system would enable data to be compared along economic, social, geographic and stylistic lines. One of the central shortcomings of educational research, small sample sizes, would be easily overcome.
In order to accomplish this, it is necessary that a paradigm shift occur that takes thinking away from the broad categorical thinking currently plaguing the literature, and toward the consideration of more finely tuned control of variables. For example, rather than attempting to use a game to teach a certain topic and then broadly dismissing the concept of using games for education if such a study yields disappointing results, care should be take to define and control for the attributes of the game. Adjustments should be made to these attributes, as well as the environmental and demographic context in which they are used, and the attributes should be evaluated for themselves.
By combining the evaluation and control of smaller variables with the expansion of study sizes afforded by a centralized database, educational research would be in a position to quickly test and determine the efficacy of any given piece of technology that is suggested. The predictive value of pedagogical science where technology is concerned would be increased enormously as well.
And best of all an exorcism for the ghost of Richard Clark could finally be performed.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Thursday, November 12, 2009
9 Technology to Support Learning
Technology is sometimes used as another word for magic. The reality is that technology is just another word for tool. Research that tries to determine whether technology is useful to learning is as misguided as research into whether tools are useful to carpentry. The question is not whether tools are useful, but which tools to use under which circumstances and to what end.
Invariably, when someone uses the word "technology," they are referring to some sort of electronic system, or occasionally some sort of chemical process used in manufacturing. To paraphrase McLuhan, it wasn't a fish that discovered water; we have become so immersed in most human technology that we no longer see it as such. A chalk and chalkboard are technology, as were the wax tablets and styluses used by the ancient Romans. Our clothing, or even a simple stick used by a chimp to disrupt an anthill qualifies as technology. The question of whether tools in general are useful is absurd; but somehow using the word "technology" in place of "tools" causes the question to arise.
Just as a carpenter wouldn't try to use a screwdriver where a hammer should be used, an educator shouldn't assume that any tool is useful in any situation. As McLuhan suggested every tool augments some human function we already perform. The essential step in reviewing what tool to use, is to consider which function we want to augment, and choose accordingly. The expectation the technology is some form of wizardry that will accomplish our ends for us with no intervention on our part is the main misconception that needs to be overcome for the field of instructional technology to be successful.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
8 Teacher Learning
Teachers are in a difficult position where their knowledge is concerned. Many students view them as adversaries, and the slightest gap in the knowledge of the teacher represents an opportunity for attack. Standing up to the criticisms of peers, students, and the community requires a strong sense of self. At the same time, teachers need to be humble enough to accept new learning if they are to progress.
Traditionally, teachers were viewed as living encyclopedias expected to contain all knowledge relevant to their field. In the past, this was possible, and such polymaths actually existed, but today, we live in a different informational environment. It is no longer possible for a single individual to know everything there is to know about a given field. According to Caltech physicist, David Goodstein (1994), it's still true that 90% of the scientists who have ever lived are alive today, and in fact that statement would have been equally true at any point for the last 300 years (although the trend is probably at its peak, now). Today we have more people at the cutting edge of knowledge than ever before, and at the same time, nearly all of human knowledge is instantly available at our fingertips. Consequently, it is time for the role of teacher to change.
In my opinion, the ideal teacher today is not a breathing copy of Wikipedia, but rather a learning coach. I would prefer to be mentored by someone who didn't have all the answers, but could help me to find them for myself. A teacher should be a master learner, not a master knower, and should be an expert in sifting the accurate and relevant information from the ocean of noise we have available to us electronically. Pedagogy needs to make room for metalearning.
References
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/crunch_art.html
Traditionally, teachers were viewed as living encyclopedias expected to contain all knowledge relevant to their field. In the past, this was possible, and such polymaths actually existed, but today, we live in a different informational environment. It is no longer possible for a single individual to know everything there is to know about a given field. According to Caltech physicist, David Goodstein (1994), it's still true that 90% of the scientists who have ever lived are alive today, and in fact that statement would have been equally true at any point for the last 300 years (although the trend is probably at its peak, now). Today we have more people at the cutting edge of knowledge than ever before, and at the same time, nearly all of human knowledge is instantly available at our fingertips. Consequently, it is time for the role of teacher to change.
In my opinion, the ideal teacher today is not a breathing copy of Wikipedia, but rather a learning coach. I would prefer to be mentored by someone who didn't have all the answers, but could help me to find them for myself. A teacher should be a master learner, not a master knower, and should be an expert in sifting the accurate and relevant information from the ocean of noise we have available to us electronically. Pedagogy needs to make room for metalearning.
References
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/crunch_art.html
7 Effective Teaching Examples
All of the exemplary teachers mentioned in this chapter shared the common method of discovering and considering the preexisting beliefs of their learners, as opposed to the traditional method of attempting to pour knowledge into the minds of the students with the hope that it will wash out any misconceptions lurking between the folds of the students cortexes.
The most frequent question I asked as a student was "why do we have to learn this?" I wasn't the most well behaved student, so the question often included a bit of profanity, and the answer often included a trip to the Principal's office. The answer afforded to better behaved students was little better; some variant of "because I said so" would have to suffice. The example in the chapter of the teacher who began her course by asking students what they wanted to know and who adapted her curriculum to respond to them is probably impractical for the majority of teachers, but it would have been the ideal answer to my question. I certainly would have been less of a fixture in Mr. King's office.
Human beings are naturally curious about their world and each other. The mysteries of nature have impressed us to the extent that most cultures have deified them for thousands of years. To take the curiousity that is natural to us, and the questions held us in awe since the advent of our species and hammer at their corpses until they are a burden is the product of a corruption of the most sinister kind. Without providing the relevance that is offered by these exceptional teachers we doom learners to view the educational system as minimum security prisons for thier minds. What's needed is to make what is now exceptional into the norm.
The most frequent question I asked as a student was "why do we have to learn this?" I wasn't the most well behaved student, so the question often included a bit of profanity, and the answer often included a trip to the Principal's office. The answer afforded to better behaved students was little better; some variant of "because I said so" would have to suffice. The example in the chapter of the teacher who began her course by asking students what they wanted to know and who adapted her curriculum to respond to them is probably impractical for the majority of teachers, but it would have been the ideal answer to my question. I certainly would have been less of a fixture in Mr. King's office.
Human beings are naturally curious about their world and each other. The mysteries of nature have impressed us to the extent that most cultures have deified them for thousands of years. To take the curiousity that is natural to us, and the questions held us in awe since the advent of our species and hammer at their corpses until they are a burden is the product of a corruption of the most sinister kind. Without providing the relevance that is offered by these exceptional teachers we doom learners to view the educational system as minimum security prisons for thier minds. What's needed is to make what is now exceptional into the norm.
6 Design of Learning Environments
The chapter on the design of learning environments made excellent use of the analogy that learning was a bridge that takes you from where you are to some destination on the other side. Student's preconcieved ideas about the world need to be taken into consideration as a starting point for learning. Transfer, both positive and negative, inevitably flows from prior knowledge outside the influence of the educator; consequently the educator must take care to determine what the starting point of the bridge.
I once saw a video, I don't remember where, in which an elementary school girl was convinced that light was generated in the eye and bounced off the objects that the person sees. The teacher was unable to convince her otherwise. The interviewer in the video asked her how she "knew" that light came from the eye, rather than from the environment, and she explained that she had seen her cat's eyes shining out of a completely dark room. Once her underlying assumption was understood, it was much easier for the interviewer to convince her that the cat's eye was highly reflective, and that light was produced by the sun and man made light sources.
While the book tends to focus on taking cultural assumptions into consideration for the purpose of determining underlying assumptions, I believe the same results can be obtained by treating people as individuals. It may be true that, as described in the book, Inuit children are taught not to speak out in class, but it can alsoo be true that a middle class student raised in America was subjected to some form of abuse and is therefore reluctant to speak. Treating these students as individuals would serve the same bridge-buildng purpose as considering their culture, without the added risk of stereotyping.
I once saw a video, I don't remember where, in which an elementary school girl was convinced that light was generated in the eye and bounced off the objects that the person sees. The teacher was unable to convince her otherwise. The interviewer in the video asked her how she "knew" that light came from the eye, rather than from the environment, and she explained that she had seen her cat's eyes shining out of a completely dark room. Once her underlying assumption was understood, it was much easier for the interviewer to convince her that the cat's eye was highly reflective, and that light was produced by the sun and man made light sources.
While the book tends to focus on taking cultural assumptions into consideration for the purpose of determining underlying assumptions, I believe the same results can be obtained by treating people as individuals. It may be true that, as described in the book, Inuit children are taught not to speak out in class, but it can alsoo be true that a middle class student raised in America was subjected to some form of abuse and is therefore reluctant to speak. Treating these students as individuals would serve the same bridge-buildng purpose as considering their culture, without the added risk of stereotyping.
5 Mind and Brain
I largely agree with the conclusion of this chapter that the findings of neuroscience are of limited use to education at the current level of understanding. It's likely that we can safely surmise that learning has occurred when we see increased dendrites in a certain area of the brain, but a lack of a concentration of newly formed dendrites does not necessarily indicate a concomitant lack of learning.
By analogy, in an alphabetic written language such as English (as opposed to a logographic language such as Chinese), knowledge of the individual letters is not sufficient to determine the words, grammar, and meaning of written text. With only knowledge of the alphabet, it would be ridiculous to attempt to determine whether learning occurred by looking at a student's notebook. The simple act of writing shows that something happened, but was it learning or was it a love poem to a nearby student? If it was learning, was it correct? In contrast, an absence of notes does not indicate a lack of learning. Personally I find it nearly impossible to take notes and pay attention to what's happening in class. I generally only take notes when I am confused. Similarly, a lack of a high concentration of new dendrites could indicate that any learning that occurred was distributed across many areas of the brain, and connected enough to prior knowledge that little rewiring was necessary.
Neurology may one day be of more specific use to education, but at present, it appears to be dealing with a more fundamental layer of brain function and is no more useful to pedogogy than subatomic physics is to medicine. However, for the purposes of public relations, we should seize upon any opportunity to make a connection between neuroscience and pedogogy that presents itself.
By analogy, in an alphabetic written language such as English (as opposed to a logographic language such as Chinese), knowledge of the individual letters is not sufficient to determine the words, grammar, and meaning of written text. With only knowledge of the alphabet, it would be ridiculous to attempt to determine whether learning occurred by looking at a student's notebook. The simple act of writing shows that something happened, but was it learning or was it a love poem to a nearby student? If it was learning, was it correct? In contrast, an absence of notes does not indicate a lack of learning. Personally I find it nearly impossible to take notes and pay attention to what's happening in class. I generally only take notes when I am confused. Similarly, a lack of a high concentration of new dendrites could indicate that any learning that occurred was distributed across many areas of the brain, and connected enough to prior knowledge that little rewiring was necessary.
Neurology may one day be of more specific use to education, but at present, it appears to be dealing with a more fundamental layer of brain function and is no more useful to pedogogy than subatomic physics is to medicine. However, for the purposes of public relations, we should seize upon any opportunity to make a connection between neuroscience and pedogogy that presents itself.
4 How Children Learn
I am often surprised and annoyed by the absence of mention of the work of Maria Montessori in educational material. Studies are referenced that were conducted in the 1980s and 1990s that do little more than parrot some small aspect of what Montessori was saying in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I wish I understood the reason for this glaring omission, particularly in light of the growing popularity of her methods.
The ideas that children are smarter than we expect, or that there are "sensitive periods" to certain types of learning were noted by Montessori nearly a century ago. Children in Montessori classrooms are encouraged to learn from their older peers, and to teach those younger. The various senses are considered in the design of all the learning materials, and the development of a variety of problem solving strategies is encouraged.
My three year old son attends a Montessori school. I am encouraged by the fact that Montessori's methods are validated by modern research, but I don't understand the reason for the complete omission of her name from the literature. The largest problem facing the implementation of educational research today is a general lack of respect of pedagogy as a scientific discipline. This exists to the extent that even the highest educational positions in government are granted to nurses over those of us actually trained in education, and no one outside the educational community sees a problem with this. I don't think we can afford to disregard one of the earliest contributors to educational theory, particularly in light of the respect afforded her by the public at large.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method accessed 11/23/2oo9
The ideas that children are smarter than we expect, or that there are "sensitive periods" to certain types of learning were noted by Montessori nearly a century ago. Children in Montessori classrooms are encouraged to learn from their older peers, and to teach those younger. The various senses are considered in the design of all the learning materials, and the development of a variety of problem solving strategies is encouraged.
My three year old son attends a Montessori school. I am encouraged by the fact that Montessori's methods are validated by modern research, but I don't understand the reason for the complete omission of her name from the literature. The largest problem facing the implementation of educational research today is a general lack of respect of pedagogy as a scientific discipline. This exists to the extent that even the highest educational positions in government are granted to nurses over those of us actually trained in education, and no one outside the educational community sees a problem with this. I don't think we can afford to disregard one of the earliest contributors to educational theory, particularly in light of the respect afforded her by the public at large.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method accessed 11/23/2oo9
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