Tag Archives: Emotion

Module 1 Weblog – Susan Beeley

I am still working towards selecting a particular area of interest for my research but two seem likely.  The first is based on my recent experience teaching in an alternative learning center.  I work with at-risk youth and a disproportionately large number of our students (45%, far greater than the % of students throughout the district) are identified by the school district as having Aboriginal ancestry.  We spend a lot of our time making social and emotional connections with the students and follow many of Dr. Martin Brokenleg’s Circle of Courage teachings.  These teachings apply to all at-risk youth as many of them, Aboriginal or otherwise, feel a great disconnect with the community around them and this has, in many ways, contributed to their educational and life struggles.  The second possible theme of interest to me is based on 16 years experience teaching science and math based on curriculum that very much views aboriginal content as an add-on (something that became very obvious to me while marking the solar system module in a grade 8 science workbook last week).  While the new BC Curriculum offers hope for improvement by allowing a more constructivist approach to teaching and learning teachers still need to reflect upon and embrace change if it is to be successful.

Journal Article: Native Wisdom on Belonging by Dr. Martin Brokenleg

  • This link will take you to a PDF file that outlines the key developmental needs of children as presented in the Circle of Courage: Mastery, Belonging, Generosity and Independence.  These needs are compared to the value system set up by Western cultures and the importance of each is outlined.  This is a great starting point for those interested in adhering to the philosophy “it takes a village to raise a child” and developing this culture in their classroom.  A beautiful poster and summary can also be found by clicking the link.

Website:  Martin Brokenleg

  • This website contains information about cultural healing and resilience.  It is a great place to start for those looking for an understanding of the issues faced by Aboriginal populations and the role that educators can play in helping to overcome some of these issues.  The website has links to articles, power points from presentation, and Dr. Brokenleg’s summarised thoughts on different topics of interest.

Journal Article: Integrating Western and Aboriginal Sciences: Cross-Cultural Science Teaching by Glen Aikenhead

  • This article discusses the power differential that exists for Aboriginal students in a science classroom.  Practical research that offers an alternative approach that moves away from “enculturation” is introduced and a new way of teaching science is presented.  In this new approach teachers “play the role of a tour-guide culture broker” making clear to students the language that they are speaking (western science or Aboriginal science) so that students can move between the two languages without one being seen as superior to the other.

Website:  Institute for Integrated Science and Health

  • This website out of Cape Breton University helps us to “view science in a broadened and culturally inclusive way”, and is guided by the principle of Two-eyed seeing.  The website has a vast array of resources to support a changing view of science education that have to be seen and explored to be believed.

Blog: Aboriginal Mathematics K-12 Network

  • This is a great website/blog out of UBC for anyone who is hoping to introduce Aboriginal ways of knowing into the Math curriculum.  There is information on symposiums, ideas and lessons, and resources to support teachers.  Though the primary contributor seems to be Cynthia Nichol, this webpage offers hope to those of us who need some guidance with authentic ways to incorporate Aboriginal ways of knowing into the math curriculum.  It offers an amazing platform for knowledgeable individuals to share ideas and resources to support educators.

My Research Findings – 2

One of my concerns for my research assignment is emotion. Coming from a scientific background and being in the industry of metrology, measuring is important to understanding. For example, how does a person know how far they will have to travel if there was no measurement of distance? This same thought process is occurring when I am attempting to associate emotion among First Nation people. One website noted some valuable information to help me better understand the direction I am wanting to take my research assignment to.

http://www.tier360.com/creativecms/pages/can-emosions-measured

There is huge economical value in the measurement of emotion in the business industry. It made me consider how indigenous people would recognize and become emotionally concerned with symbols. Example is the Thunderbird and the Whale. From one tribe to another, they could mean different things.

Another note relating to Module 2 is the aspect of how media can affect the self-recognition. I noted in the social media that the actor Adam Sandler had some dispute with fellow Native actors. It appears that Adam did not intend to upset his fellow Native actors by the script. My question is, why did it affect those actors enough for them to walk off the stage during mid-production?

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/04/23/native-actors-walk-set-adam-sandler-movie-after-insults-women-elders-160110

Our class module did note that emotion could be considered to be deeply embedded into Aboriginal culture, so how can we associate that emotional aftermath from the actor and the script that was meant to be humorous. There a few releases from Adam noting that “the movie has ridiculous in the title for a reason: because it is ridiculous. It is a broad satire of Western movies and the stereotypes they popularized, featuring a diverse cast that is not only part of — but in on — the joke.” So is it ok since he makes fun of other cultures and beliefs? How does this satire affect the view of each culture represented?

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Netflix-Defends-Adam-Sandler-Native-Americans-Walk-Off-His-Movie-71059.html

Another notice during my research is the suicide rates among first nation people. Could this be related to emotion or lack of understanding on emotion. The Globe and Mail had an article indicating that suicide is a deep concern. There is a sense of hopelessness, which struck me after watching the video for our module. So, after reading that article my question is how can we view hope then? I agree that hope is not an action plan, but what does it provide for people and more specifically, for First Nation people. Is the term hope part of the culture of First Nations in British Columbia? Now going from different sources, I am noticing a variation of statistics. My concern at that point is how do we determine which information is correct? If we are putting the community on a state of emergency, what is the guidelines to initate? Is it when 1 in 10 people are attempting suicide? If the preventative methods are not effective, according to who?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/cowichan-chief-says-sense-of-hopelessness-leads-to-suicides/article4178628/

Angela Wilson is forcing readers to question the authenticity and the source of our writings. I like this resource since it is ensuring that as I write my research assignment, that I want to consider the source of information that I will be obtaining it from. All of our discussion posts are asking critical questions that cause the audience to bring about their own interpretation of the information read. What drives our interpretation? As Dr. Brown noted, that any of our thoughts are started by an emotion, we feel something before we think something. Emotion takes precedent to our thoughts and actions.

http://pages.ucsd.edu/~rfrank/class_web/ES-114A/Week%203/WilsonHistoryAIQ20-1.pdf

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the source of this information but I remember awhile back someone noted to me this:

Our being can be identified as this:

Our Input determines our actions. The repeated action will define our behaviour. A collection of behaviours will develop our character, and our character is what will bring about our legacy.

Input is affected by the surroundings, environment, educators, and community.

Input–> Action –> Behaviour –> Character –> Legacy

I try to keep this in mind whenever I am analyzing myself/life and circumstance.

. . . of survivors Module 2.3

So this link is to another book (Hey I am a librarian) and the write up about this book calls it a, “must have for every school library” (see the last paragraph of the summary).

The title of the book is actually “Residential Schools: With Words and Images of Survivors.” The “of survivors” part struck me, because it is only those ones who are left to tell the tale . . . and if it is not told, then it becomes something we miss out on learning from.

From the goodreads webpage http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23841530-residential-schools  09 04 15

From the goodreads webpage http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23841530-residential-schools 09 04 15

Module 4: Post 1-Technology Enhanced Social-Emotional Activities

This website has been designed to describe technology activities that facilitate social emotional learning. The links in the menu lead to descriptions of the individual activities. They can be used within formal and informal educational settings. This resource in going to be valuable in the final section of my essay where I make recommendations to educators and instructional designers on how to utilize educational technology to enhance social-emotional learning.

http://seltechnology.weebly.com/identifying-emotions-apps.html

 

Building Emotional Capital (Module 3: Post 4)

 

This webpage serves as a guide to students and teachers alike in how to overcome challenges and adversity, to stay in control even when events go off track, to reach out for new opportunities and experiences even against all the odds. The author coins the term “emotional capital” as having the ability to develop your inner resources to charter a route through any future tough times, and examines tactics to build emotional capital. Although not directly linked to technology, the strategies outlined in the article to building emotional capital have value when designing tech-practices aimed at increasing emotional intelligence in learners.

 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/resiliency-emotional-capital-young-people-jay-baughan

 

Wearable Tech/Immersive Learning (Module 3-Post 3)

Immersing oneself in an educational experience is common theme in Indigenous education. As discussed in post 1, technology has the ability to make this a reality when the necessary “experiences” are not readily available to the educator. Emerging wearable technology is seen as the technological bridge that could bridge human experience to simulated location. My research in making technology more emotionally sound, has resulted identifying technology that not only reacts to our emotions, but keeps us more in touch with our emotions. This webpage explores various wearable technology that simulates human touch (haptics), and augmented reality to create authentic educational experiences. These experiences align with the Indigenous vision of education, with the assistance of technology for the 21st century learner.

 

http://www.edudemic.com/wearable-tech-mean-classroom/

 

Emotional Educational Gaming- Module 3 (Post 1)

The Indigenous believe of experience and emotion being keys cogs in the acquisition of wisdom/knowledge is possible when the necessary experiences are available to the educator, as was seen on the Fraser River journey. However, in classrooms or other more traditional learning environments, “gamification” makes simulating experiential learning a possibility. This webpage created through UBC provides in-depth information on gamification for emotional development, and also links to “The Things We Carry” which represents a step in game design that has the potential to give students immersive, accessible and place-based lessons in emotional intelligence.

 

http://ets.educ.ubc.ca/emotional-educational-gaming/

Module 2: Post 4

Communicate Emotions via Tech Interfaces

 

This paper examines how emotion is currently transmitted through tech interfaces, and explores how people express emotion via tech mediated communication systems. This resource also explores whether these tech systems are prepared to handle communicating emotions without corrupting them. This research will be integral in exploring whether current devices are capable of delivering emotionally rich educational experiences, as is done with traditional indigenous teaching practices.

http://www.academia.edu/300420/Communicate_Emotions_Through_Technological_Interfaces

Module 2: Post 3

Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability

This resource, created by UNESCO serves as an excellent guide to what separates Indigenous knowledge and education from formal education. It points out that sophisticated knowledge is not confined to science, but also rich experiences and emotions relating to the environment from which the knowledge hailed. Information on this website will serve as a guide to indigenous educational tactics, and provide a base for my research on how to use technology to deliver emotional education as apposed to the formal education currently being delivered via technology, which excludes the spiritual, emotional and is weak in local knowledge.

http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod11.html

 

Module 1: Post 2 (Technology’s impact on our emotion)

The video with Dr. Lee Brown highlighted the importance of an emotional component to education, particularly with Indigenous learners. Dr. Brown’s video inspired me to explore how technology influences our emotions. I stumbled upon this article from Forbes which cites a study published in Computers and Human Behaviour where Grade 6 students who attended camp were tested vs. students who spent a week playing video games. The results are quite interesting, and speaks not only to the importance of emotion in social behaviour but also the impact screen time has on our ability to read and react appropriately as “emotionally responsible” beings.