Week 1 Reflections

Week 1 Reflections:

So I apparently I had forgotten to actually publish this blog...its been sitting as a draft for a bit...my bad.


It's time to submit my first blog post for viewing. I'd like to start out by saying that some of the ways I discuss things in this blog may come off as a little cold, but that's just the way I operate. As my knowledge of ICT's, learning theories and overall knowledge of teaching grows, I'm sure I'll warm up a bit. But enough of me, lets get into our first week

The first part of our reflections for the first week are on knowing your learner and the way the brain works. This was observed through three materials, an article on the theory diverse intelligences, a recording of a lecture from Dr July Wills on overcoming the Amygdala and a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson on how schools, or rather the current method of curriculum based learning is killing the creativity of our students. So let's break these down.

The theory of diverse intelligences is a concept based in neuroplasticity in that the pathing of neurons in the brain can differ greatly individuals, with clearly defined strengths and weaknesses. It also goes on to say that the weaker parts can be trained to improvement, which appears to be cause for some contention. I am somewhat torn on this notion, for reasons which i shall describe later.

 The science supporting the theory is limited, which can be ascertained from the article with such phrases as "The new research doesn't disprove this" or "maybe in some far-off future". However the evidence presented is not easily dismissed and provides a viable alternative to conventional descriptions of the brains neural pathways and how they're formed. This information is critical to us as teachers as if we know how the connections in the brain are formed, we are better suited to manipulate this knowledge to facilitate learning.

Thus we come to Dr Wills lecture on the pathways new information takes as it is interpreted by the brain. The concept of reactive and reflective processing by the brain is truly fascinating and something I shall be looking into a bit further down the track as my own understanding of learning processes grows. The principle is that if information is new or interesting, determined by the RSA, this information then needs to be assessed as threatening or intriguing by the aymgdala. If threatening the brain reacts accordingly with the fight/flight or freeze responses designed for self preservation. If no threat is detected the information is transmitted to the frontal cortex where it can be mulled over and committed to memory, hence reactive or reflective. She then goes on to specify how this can be achieved through use of multi-sensory stimuli presented in a safe and nurturing environment in order to remove the threat aspect and thus create a more efficient work environment.

I'm trying to ascertain whether I could have made that analysis any colder despite the happy and colourful nature of the material I am describing.

This brings me to the TED talk presented by Sir Ken Robinson on whether the current schooling system stifles, strangulates and ultimately murders creativity in our students. This talk is presented as insight with supporting anecdotal evidence from the speakers own experiences but without any hard scientific backing. As such I shall analyse this material anecdotally.  I find it ironic given my deposition to objective analysis that this material moved me the most of the three presented in this section. It is my belief that creativity is heavily suppressed through the schooling system in favour of the more marketable traits of literacy and numeracy.

You wouldn't know this from my dry writing style but I was once quite adapt at writing fictional narratives. Around the age of 7-9, I would spend hours of my time, writing stories, drawing pictures to compliment them, even once writing a song with accompanying music to be played on piano. I then had to take my schooling more seriously, focusing on the mathematics and literary interpretations that made up each and every day.

I don't even remember how to read music anymore, let alone write it. My creativity was crushed rather effectively from an early age and until now it's not been an attribute I particularly miss. However it is something I never considered as a consequence of the learning experience and will be an aspect I will hopefully be mindful of when teaching my own students. And if the theory of diverse intelligences is to believed, it's not something I can not regain.

This week we were also introduced to four learning theories which can be utilised to shape the learning experience. However I believe these theories are not independent of one another and appear to form a tier system, each new level bringing a new level of knowledge and understanding to the learning experience but relying on the strong foundations of those below to hold it up. Furthermore each tier has a redefined role for us as teachers and the ways we interact with our students.

Behaviourism

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world in which to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant chief, and, yes, even beggarman and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”
―John B. Watson in his book Behaviorism (1924)

At the bottom of the pile is Behaviourism. This is a theory based in psychology whereby certain behaviours can be encouraged or discouraged through use of a system of positive or negative reinforcement. As a teaching methodology this translates to a process whereby learning is achieved by leading students through a series of clearly defined steps, each with a defined end result, and providing positive reinforcement for favourable behaviours, which through repetition the reinforcement is gradually revoked as the behaviours become automatic.

This process is used for creating a baseline knowledge for all students, so that higher order instructional methods have something to build off. As this new knowledge is collected, it is treated with behaviourism methods to ensure retention as the learning experience progresses. This method is considered quite archaic by some as it employs the concept of "I teach, you learn" as its definition of the relationship between students and teacher and is very homogenised in its structure. As such it does little in the way of connecting with students, engaging their attention or paying attention to diverse learning requirements of different students.

Cognitivism

"Cognitive psychology tells us that the unaided human mind is vulnerable to many fallacies and illusions because of its reliance on its memory for vivid anecdotes rather than systematic statistics."  -  Steven Pinker

"We are so made, that we can only derive intense enjoyment from a contrast and only very little from a state of things."  - Sigmund Freud

In contrast to the objective approach to behaviourism, cognitivist learning seeks to take advantage of our understanding of mental processing and encourages students to develop a subjective
understanding of subject matter. This is achieved through a three stage process, whereby information is collected by the senses and assessed for relevance before being transferred to short term memory for analysis and interpretation. It should be noted that if relevance is not perceived by the brain then the information is simply discarded.
It is thus the responsibility of the cognitivist teacher to present the information with a variety of stimuli in order to cater for the diverse personalities of the class. The role of the teacher This multi layered technique encourages students to engage with the material and activate higher order reasoning as opposed to the behaviourist memory retention.

For simplicities sake this information is usually presented in small packages, to enable the student to garner a better understanding of each aspect of the subject matter. This is known as Cognitive Load Theory and is in contrast to the other popular cognitive method of Gestalt theory, whereby the information is presented as a whole in order to see the larger picture, the student then able to focus on the aspects they are lacking knowledge.

It should be noted however that this process only allows the information to be developed in the short term memory. It requires the application of behaviourism techniques to relegate the information to long term. Further, without the pre-existing  knowledge provided by behaviourism methodology, it can be quite difficult for the student to establish relevance in their brain, drawing conclusions and making connections. Also due to the subjective nature of the understanding developed by this method, it can be difficult to determine if the student truly understands the concepts correctly. The answer to this is the theory of social constructivism.

Constructivism

"As long as there were people asking each other questions, we have had constructivist classrooms. "
(Brooks, 1999)

This learning theory transcends the traditional teacher/student paradigm by encouraging a more interconnected role in the learning process.  It differs from the previous learning theories in that this does not so much instruct in new information as expand upon and solidify our understanding of pre existing concepts by providing alternative interpretations. This is achieved through a mediated form of social interaction between students and teacher, whereby the teacher controls and molds the flow of conversation but ultimately it is the students who teach one another.

Perhaps the greatest advantage of this method is its ability to tear down false misconceptions without the need to tear down the students self esteem in the process. No one likes being told they're wrong but if through their discussions students hear a better description of their understanding, they are able to correct themselves without losing face. By allowing students to interact and share their knowledge socially, it creates a self mediating process, whereby the students will check their own knowledge and mistakes and refine their understanding as they go.

Connectivism

“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” 
― Isaac Asimov

The cutting edge of learning, designed for 21st century learning interactions. Only a new concept, connectivism effectively removes the need for a teacher in the learning process, resigning them to a purely advisory role.

The concept is that learning can be an external process, gathering and deciphering information from external databases of knowledge in order to expand upon our own understanding.  This is the next logical step after constructivism as it allows the student to expand their networks and cater the learning experience to their own goals and desires.

There are associated dangers with this type of learning however.

There are limited safeguards to the knowledge being received. As such it is imperative that the student already has well developed literacy skills (In particular the Four Resources model) so they can sort out the relevant and helpful material from the mountains of toxic garbage. This sort of background is established through a combination of cognitive reasoning process and behavioural methodology.

The student thus not only builds upon the base of pre-existing knowledge, but they begin to establish network connections, revisiting sites, message boards, blogs and other resource centres where the culture and information presented is conducive to their mental development. This is a form of social constructivism, but the mediation role of the teacher is taken on by designated mediators for the individual resource.

References

Smith, T., & Lowrie, T. (2002). What is “pedagogy” anyway? Practically Primary, 7(3), 6–9.

Steven Pinker. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/stevenpink547593.html

http://cdni.wired.co.uk/1920x1280/a_c/amygdala.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSVyPhtV9yCZHrfjpixZu6mk15Fa9PQ_2JVNLydxYGrmKiU9I4P

http://www.innovativelearning.com/teaching/behaviorism.html

http:://www.learning-theories.com