When covering the learning materials in week 2, I personally felt there was a potential gap in the information provided. A huge assumption is being made with interpretation of "higher order thinking".
So I googled it. Reading Rockets (http://www.readingrockets.org/article/higher-order-thinking) said this:
Higher order thinking is thinking on a level that is higher than memorizing facts or telling something back to someone exactly the way it was told to you. When a person memorizes and gives back the information without having to think about it, we call that rote memory. That's because it's much like a robot; it does what it's programmed to do, but it doesn't think for itself.Higher order thinking, or "HOT" for short, takes thinking to higher levels than restating the facts. HOT requires that we do something with the facts. We must understand them, infer from them, connect them to other facts and concepts, categorize them, manipulate them, put them together in new or novel ways, and apply them as we seek new solutions to new problems. Following are some ways to access higher order thinking.
I also found this image on Wikipedia:
Right! So now I feel better about this, I can move on.
First up is the classic conversation we all had during residential school: "What is Pedagogy?". Moodle's answer is succinct and simple, but then allows depth development with the pedagogical principles.
1. Facilitating deep knowledge through higher order thinking
2. Facilitating collaborative learning in which conversations are important
3. Supporting students in knowing how they learn best
4. Planning learning that is problem-based, and situated in real life contexts
5. Is relevant to students, and connects to their background knowledge
6. Supports learning that is owned, controlled and managed by students themselves
7. Is socially supportive, engaging, and values cultural knowledges
8. Is supportive of the development of active citizenship, and strong group identity.
Translating into "common language", I get:
Taking basic memory recall and developing interpretation using Higher Order Thinking skills.
Allow the sharing of experiences to find multiple ways to say the same thing, in order to get an understanding that is personal and able to be related to.
Teaching in all learning styles
Allowing for learning that involves the discovery of the answer, not just what the book says.
The relationship between the students and the knowledge is relevant.
Let the students help guide the learning process
Does not infringe on personal or cultural processes.
Creates a generation of thinkers who are aware of how this fits into modern society, and any implications.
Is this common language? Some of this, I felt was already in common language to begin with (such as 3,5 and 6). But hopefully, by breaking it down, I make my own understanding personal and relevant... oh wait, did I just use pedagogy on myself?????
An Example of Good Pedagogy?
For 10 years, I worked with Education Queensland in the Instrumental Music Program, plus with numerous community groups. When working with kids, it was always my goal to give a why to the how as often as possible. But, with limited class time (half an hour a week makes things very hard; more so if practice becomes an issue!), delivery of any content has to be concise. The tools of my trade became mnemonics, visual references and repetition of simple definitions that never varied. this doesn't seem like good pedagogy yet, though - it's almost rote memory.
Until you see the kids grow up with it.
I got to watch a lot of my young students continue into high school bands. Higher Order Thinking comes into play now, with kids regurgitating those rhymes and mnemonics, forming their own interpretation of the music. It takes a long time to get there, but taking the knowledge from the most basic and mundane, and creatively using and interpreting it to create something artistic like music - it was watching this slow, sometimes painful process that made me love teaching.
Blooms Taxonomy and SAMR
My first encounter with Blooms was during what used to be called PP2 - my second Practical Placement when I first entered my B.Ed(Mus). A "supervising teacher" (mentor teacher in current parlance) told me I needed to incorporate it more. I'd never heard of it (I found out later I was supposed to learn in my 4th year - yet standard B.Ed students learn about it in their first year. I was behind, and not getting anywhere.
In essence this image (right) is the same as the one I posted earlier from Wikipedia. This image does two things differently:
It provides a list of key words and common activities that would be useful when looking at planning towards implementation of this taxonomy.
Being a circular shape, all pieces are equal, and are non-linear. There is no set teaching sequence for cognitive taxonomy. As the study guide says,
Good teaching does not always introduce the content, and then work in a linear way to creating a product. It is often a process of introducing student-held knowledge, analysing this knowledge, deriving and strengthening knowledge and theory from this analysis, and then moving towards evaluation of the knowledge and creating as the culmination of learning.
SAMR involves 4 levels of tech use: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition.
Substitution is used as a direct tool substitute with no fuctional change.
Augmentation is the implementation with functional improvement.
Modification is where task redesign occurs; and
Redefinition is where new, previously inconceivable tasks becomes available.
The examples used of elementary word processing replacing a typewriter (S), gaining experience with the use of templates and spellcheck (M); evolves into the use of spreadsheets (A) and online marketing tools and social media (R) is very relatable. But I can even see another, more relevant model.
Assessment in school when I attended was hand-written, sometimes moving into the realm of word-processing (S). Word processing allowed for fonts, borders and spellcheck, to create visually appealing work (M). At university at the start of the century, word processing was the standard, but the more recent evolution meant digital submission (A). Finally, this blog presents the use of the same facets and skills in a new, previously unheard of medium- the blog (R).
The links between Bloom and SAMR are probably more relatable in the first diagram. The dirgram physically demonstrates "higher" level learning on the page. SAMR does the same, with the exploration and higher level processes producing a technological embrace.
De Bono and the Mobile Phone
I participated in the DeBono Wiki in Group 3.
De Bono's thinking hats are coloured-coded thinking processes:
information known\needed
feelings and intuition
judgement
optimism
creativity
management of the thinking process.
As a group, Group 3 liked the idea, but were very much aware of how much potential there was for phones in the classroom to be negative, and the amount of technology in our lives having excessive impact. While I stay rooted in the idea that this is the way of the future, there still need to be checks and balances - I made the joke myself about my lack of physical activity impacting my weight.
Group 3's participation in the wiki demonstrates social constructivism, learning through shared experiences and feelings. Through this, there are elements of presenting the facts (behaviourism). This one activity, or the use of one mobile phone app in a classroom are neither elements of cognitivism, but if used as one of may approaches to teaching (as our lecturer has), could change this fact. The use of the wiki, and the use of a mobile phone in the class, are both examples of connectivism.
The issuses of working legally, ethically, and safely online in the class.
As a coda to the week, a list of reference sites for ethics and etiquette online are included. These are all enforced by EQ\DETE's Code of Conduct for teachers (and other bodies have something similar, I am sure). For me, the key line is:
All teachers work within policies that are developed from legislation. Whilst the ongoing consideration of safety potentially limits the freedom of online exploration, it must be adhered to and well managed.
References
Anderson,L, and Krathwohl, D. (2000). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher-order_thinking 16 March 2015
CQUniversity Australia (2015), EDED20491 ICTs for Learning Design: Study Guide. Retrieved from https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=263 16 March, 2015
De Bono Thinking Systems (2013) Six Thinking Hats Retrieved from http://www.debonothinkingsystems.com/tools/6hats.htm 16 March 2015
Thomas, Alice, and Thorne, Glenda (2009) Higher Order Thinking. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/higher-order-thinking 16 March 2015
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