[LINK] Meaningful Learning [was Concept Model of IA Terms]

[Jan Whitaker]

At 01:56 PM 10/06/2007, you wrote:
>The idea that students can direct their own learing, to me, is a 
>fallacy. How can someone who doesn't know a subject decide what they 
>need to learn?
>
>I am very suspicious of the "cut and paste" style of assignment 
>teaching - to me there is a large difference between knowing and 
>understanding. I wonder at how today's students develop an 
>understanding of a subject, rather than where to go to get data.
>
>I didn't learn as much from books as I did from the people who 
>taught me. Teachers don't seem to be as much a part of the modern 
>education system as they were.
>
>Or have I become a grumpy old man?

naw, just old. hee hee! j/k!

Nothing in learning is cut and dried. Ausabel is right. So's Bloom. 
[look up Bloom's Taxonomy] One of the steps in good educational 
design is inclusion of a review before beginning a new concept. That 
uses Ausubel's concept brilliantly. BUT - I've also seen processes 
that centre on the student and their individual experiences -- a 
discovery method, somewhat akin to play and curiosity. Of course 
students can't 'direct' their own learning, but neither should they 
be treated like an army of cut-outs with the same experiences upon 
which to 'hook' new ideas. Backgrounds are too variable, much more so 
than in the past.

There are theories that when students are the centre, with attention 
to individual differences, asking them about their interests, which 
identifies things they are familiar with, the likelihood of them 
assimilating ideas faster and deeper is strengthened. It has to do 
with motivation as well. If you teach maths using cricket stats when 
a kid is a cricket tragic, she'll more likely see the relevance and 
spend more time on the ideas.

Cut and paste from the net isn't processing anything at all. It's 
parroting from someone else's stuff without even running it through 
the brain much at all. Even hand copying would be better. Research 
and selection can be valuable IF there are requirements for 'show 
your work'. Task: find 10 items to support your thesis, but only use 
5. After you've finished your paper, tell why you picked these five 
references and not the other five. At least that forces analysis, 
judgement, and expression of those. Goodness, if only DHS had that 
requirement, we may have gotten somewhere more reasonable with the ID CARD!!!

Jan


Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
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Writing Lesson #54:
Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for 
guests. - JW, May, 2007

'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, 
there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005
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