Let's get one thing out there. This is not my first rodeo.
I did 3 years of my B.Ed before Mum had her surgery, and then came back to start a BLM but couldn't get it to fit in with my IM job. So it's no surprise that some themes pop up in this program/course/degree that I have a familiarity with. But sometimes, like a lot of times with learning, it never completely sank in, or I just didn't have the means to absorb it properly. Maybe my life experiences weren't helping (a little big of assimilation there Mr Piaget!).
For me, when I think about learning styles, I always believed in the past you had to be focused on one. As if everyone had only one way to learn, and a teacher had to teach multiple ways to cover your way. But I know, even in myself that this isn't the case! Yes, I prefer to read - but sometimes I need to experience, and get my hands dirty. Even when reading fiction, my wife comments that sometimes I start making faces and moving my hand around, as if trying to physically manipulate something to understand it better.
So, it was a welcome relief to read the start of Rubinstein Brain Imagery Probes the Idea of Diverse Intelligences (http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2tQutL/www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-brain-research) to finally make that point clear to me. Maybe had been made before, but I had somehow missed it. Maybe it hadn't been taught to me in multiple learning styles???? ;)
The Gardner theory of Multiple Intelligences makes sense to me from my music teacher background. Playing an instrument is a complex process at times, and needs to be broken down for people (myself included) in multiple ways, explaining it thew RIGHT way that fits into different learning styles, as well as trying to line it up with Piaget's previous schema\experiences.
One could argue it's a big like writing an assignment. To prove you have the data to an assessor, you have write the point\argument multiple ways and times: Say what you're gonna say, say what you're saying and say what you've said! Saying the same thing multiple times allows for the data to be manipulated in ways to be best comprehended by readers.
Rubenstein also talks about brain architecture, and how "intelligence has no single address in the brain". To reinforce this, I found a second article depicting musician's brain MRIs during performance of various musical genres. Have a look at http://mic.com/articles/89655/here-s-a-surprising-look-at-what-music-does-to-your-brain! A final musical reference in Rubinstein (I admit I love how music and musicians help demonstrate these issues so profoundly!) is the reference of the area of the brain that controls the left hand in string players. I am a brass specialist, and woodwind multi - most of which have a strong right-hand dominance. However, after my wedding, I commenced on a journey to learn bass guitar. My biggest hurdle to date has been the training of my left hand. It is far from the independence level needed to play a bass as efficiently as I play, for example, a contrabass tuba.
Some of the best lessons I've had, and taught in a band environment, have come based on a surprise - where the relevance has been ambiguous at first, causing heightened alertness; as opposed to the dull routine of rote teaching, or didactic education. The use of the RAS as a filter must be the basis of learning theories - I see instant relevancy to both Gardner and Piaget. The personalisation of the lesson as it passes through here is tied with the information making it to the amygdala.
Let's bring all this home with ICTs. Using technology can allow us to achieve nearly all of this.
- Learning can be arranged to use all learning styles and intelligences
- It presents options for incorporating different experiences that students have had
- It presents surprise and advertising, stimulating the RAS and amygdala.
As I think about possible uses of ICTs that demonstrate this, I remember my recent Christmas trip north. My wife and I enjoy a hobby known as geocaching - essentially 21st century orienteering. Through the use of a GPS and the internet, or a mobile phone app that ties these two things together, a person can locate hidden treasures, or caches in locations. An advanced form of geocache is an EarthCache - where you do not get to claim the find, until you submit to a form of testing about the cache area. This is usually within the areas of history, geology and geomorphology. Over Christmas, my wife and I travelled from the Hunter Valley in NSW, to Gladstone Qld. Along the way, we stopped for some caching to break up our trip.
At the Maidenwell Falls, within the Bunya Mountains, was an EarthCache (http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4DZYT_maidenwell-granite) designed around the geology of the vicinity. The website\app gives you details about granite in general. However, to achieve the find, you have to observe the site and use the generalised information to form the SPECIFIC knowledge of the area.
The ICT (GPS\app\internet) presented a hands on method of accessing data. The data was interpreted by a visual experience (by being at the site - but alternatively, in a classroom, Google images would have pictures), and the learning becomes more student directed, as opposed the teacher-directed education.
Curious about geocaching, btw? Check out my pictures on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/calle138/media_set?set=a.10152247127532947.606662946&type=3), as well as some introductory videos made by the Geocaching.com website, such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YTqitVK-Ts.
How is this different to older methods of teaching? Having just sat through 4 days of 3 hour lectures at the start of my Graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching, I can easily see again how easy it is for attention to wander. Next to no variance in vocal pitch, minimal body movement and certain peer situations (we're talking teenagers here... this is always gonna come up!) leads to the imagination wandering, behaviour to slip, and sometimes a state of semi-consciousness. All of these are situations where information stops being processed, or limits the efficiency. While we are all adults, and it was only one week - the same cannot be said in a school. ICTs become a tool to help provide learning opportunities that engage the student, and their learning needs.
Next up on the viewing schedule is Sir Ken Waterhouse. I've seen him present on TED before, and I like what he has to say. Within the first three minutes is a major "truth bomb" - No one knows what the world will look like in 5 years, yet we're educating children to live in it. He then moves on to stress the importance of creativity.
Parents often have embarrassing stories, comparing and contrasting their offspring. Mine are no different, commenting of the difference in imagination between my sister and myself. My sister had dolls, but didn't know how to play with them, especially on her own. On the other hand, I was often engaged in solo bouts of Lego wars. It's funny now to see my nephew as an imaginative, creative being, full of fun and life - and my sister learning to cope with him!
The concept of academic inflation makes sense to those of us advanced down the line of progress - but explain that to a year 10 student, insistent that he can just drop out of school and get an apprenticeship. Gone are the days that people can just fall out of school, and get this trade despite being illiterate, or have a learning disorder - such as my father in law, a dyslexic who barely attended high school. How many people are out there with a Bachelor's degree and are still unemployable? Look at the CV09 degree!!! In a few years, the Grad.Dip will evolve into a Master's degree. Schools like Rocky Grammar are still treating the Masters as if it's a gold plated ticket to academic excellence - but it's really only becoming the new Graduate Diploma.
So, what's this mean for schools of the future? Will basic education evolve into 15 years of school? Or will we be expected to cram more into those 12 years? I refer you to the above - we don't know what the future of education - the future of the world - has in store for us!
Behaviourism (Objectivism): a "just the facts, ma'am" approach to learning. Based on repetition
Cognitivism: Shaping the delivery of the content through multiple experiences. This lines up with the concept of multiple intelligences, and teaching content for each of these. It would be the hope that the information is passed from short- to long-term memory in the process. Learning occurs through each of the senses. It is hoped that the outcome is a big-picture understanding.
Social Constructivism: sharing ideas and experiences to gain better understanding. My interpretation is that this builds on Cognitivism, taking the experiences from singular, to multiple interpretations, reshaping the ideas more and more. By trying new things, students form their own knowledge.
Connectivism: Finding understanding in supplementary resources and taking this new knowledge back into the classroom. Considered a 21st century approach, as the supplementay resources include Youtube, TED, Facebook and other online media content.
Next up on the viewing schedule is Sir Ken Waterhouse. I've seen him present on TED before, and I like what he has to say. Within the first three minutes is a major "truth bomb" - No one knows what the world will look like in 5 years, yet we're educating children to live in it. He then moves on to stress the importance of creativity.
Parents often have embarrassing stories, comparing and contrasting their offspring. Mine are no different, commenting of the difference in imagination between my sister and myself. My sister had dolls, but didn't know how to play with them, especially on her own. On the other hand, I was often engaged in solo bouts of Lego wars. It's funny now to see my nephew as an imaginative, creative being, full of fun and life - and my sister learning to cope with him!
The concept of academic inflation makes sense to those of us advanced down the line of progress - but explain that to a year 10 student, insistent that he can just drop out of school and get an apprenticeship. Gone are the days that people can just fall out of school, and get this trade despite being illiterate, or have a learning disorder - such as my father in law, a dyslexic who barely attended high school. How many people are out there with a Bachelor's degree and are still unemployable? Look at the CV09 degree!!! In a few years, the Grad.Dip will evolve into a Master's degree. Schools like Rocky Grammar are still treating the Masters as if it's a gold plated ticket to academic excellence - but it's really only becoming the new Graduate Diploma.
So, what's this mean for schools of the future? Will basic education evolve into 15 years of school? Or will we be expected to cram more into those 12 years? I refer you to the above - we don't know what the future of education - the future of the world - has in store for us!
Behaviourism (Objectivism): a "just the facts, ma'am" approach to learning. Based on repetition
Cognitivism: Shaping the delivery of the content through multiple experiences. This lines up with the concept of multiple intelligences, and teaching content for each of these. It would be the hope that the information is passed from short- to long-term memory in the process. Learning occurs through each of the senses. It is hoped that the outcome is a big-picture understanding.
Social Constructivism: sharing ideas and experiences to gain better understanding. My interpretation is that this builds on Cognitivism, taking the experiences from singular, to multiple interpretations, reshaping the ideas more and more. By trying new things, students form their own knowledge.
Connectivism: Finding understanding in supplementary resources and taking this new knowledge back into the classroom. Considered a 21st century approach, as the supplementay resources include Youtube, TED, Facebook and other online media content.
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