cteachr's thinking space

Piaget’s style of questioning could be compared to Vygotsky’s ZPD. When an adult asks guiding questions, as Piaget would in his interviews with children, it gives the child the words with which to express his ideas, discoveries and intentions. It allows children to construct knowledge by examining what they thought they knew as they are asked to verify their knowledge through careful questioning. From there, the child might need to reach equilibration by questioning their own knowledge and reconciling it to any new information that has come in as part of the dialogue.

This is the same process as scaffolding. The experienced adult finds what the child knows and is capable of, and then suggests a path where discovery occurs and new knowledge is constructed. Eventually, the child can move on to a new level by themselves. The teacher, therefore, assumes the role of guide. The child is guided to their ZPD, which is where real learning occurs, according to Vygotzky. Piaget would probably say that the ZPD can be reached at each level of development given the right questioning.

For instance, as adults, we go through a very similar process when we discuss our ideas with other adults. Not only do we confirm our knowledge, but the conversations lead to building links and further inquiry. As adults, we are more adept at verbalizing what knowledge we need to confirm and complete our understanding.

Dialogue plays a great role in both Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories. Piaget identified three types of egocentric language, one of which is monologue, where the child speaks to himself during learning. Similarly, Vygotsky believed that language played a large role in learning and internalizing knowledge as the child first creates a learning monologue then moves on to an internal (silent) discourse as he grows older.

The webquest is too text intensive. It would require that the teacher read much of it to the student. Does this bring the student closer to Vygotsky’s ZPD? It would depend on what the teacher is trying to teach with this activity. It doesn’t seem to be reading. The focus of the webquest activities, according to the teacher page, seems to be more about categorizing information. The method of finding the information is mostly printing and copying data. How does that get the student closer to the ZPD? If it doesn’t, then wouldn’t this part of the webquest just be busy work?

The categorizing and sorting activities take place once the product of the quest has been completed. Would the students be as engaged in the sorting had they not printed and coloured the dinosaurs themselves? Would the colouring be sufficient for them to be engaged and for real learning to take place? I think it might. What I am suggesting is that the recopying exercise by removed in favour of time spent researching and discussing the findings amongst themselves.

I think the activity might have been structured differently so that the student would research the dinosaurs facts from a small database (provided by the teacher) – more like a match up activity than a recopying activity. This could be done in teams and discussion could take place among the team members – learning in a peer mentoring situation (Vygotsky’s social partners). The rest of the webquest activities seem relevant, however the teacher might replace the copying exercise with a dinosaur word search or some other activity that provides practice for writing. Perhaps each student could write a short fictitious story about their dinosaur once the presentations have been made to consolidate learning. This would be assessed as part of the rubric.

The rubric is not very well designed, but it is only an outline of what might be assessed. Again, I think the teacher needs to really think about what the students need to learn with this webquest so that learning can be assessed, not just the final product.

I used Pixton as Toondo would not let me into my account. Sheesh! I’ve used Toondo with my classes before and they enjoy the creativity too.

Here’s my toon: http://www.pixton.com/ca/comic/syqqnlas

The inspiration is my son’s visit this weekend. College kids! Humph!

Having read some of the comments in the previous discussions, especially on the role of TV in changing the way we live and learn, I cannot see technology as neutral.  Clearly our society has changed (not sure it’s evolved) in the years most of us can remember.  I might be tempted to say we have changed more especially in recent years with web 2.0, but then I think of watching the first lunar landing, or seeing a videophone prototype at Expo 67.  I could not have imagined my life would be so interconnected to the tools I use.  Did my mother define her daily life by the stainless steel oven my dad installed in the 1960s?  Was her free time improved by the latest Electrolux vacuum cleaner?  It seems silly when I put it in those terms, yet I cannot deny that my lifestyle, my learning practices, my entertainment choices and of course, my teaching practices are all affected by the technological advances that have occurred in my time.

What disturbs me is whether we are questioning the effects of technology on our society or whether we are living at the pace that technology seems to now be dictating for us.  Shades of Heidegger??

I read about Plato’s concerns regarding the use of technology (writing) in Etec 540 and thought they seemed a little ridiculous.  Of course, it is difficult to us to imagine a fully oral society as existed then.  I am now ready to reconsider, having looked at Moody’s perspective.  What I think is affected is not the role of books but how we approach education and entertainment in general.  TV, when first introduced, was used as a gathering point for families to watch a show in the evening.  Later on, parents started to use this technology to entertain their children while they attended to other tasks.  This whole evolution seems to have isolated us more and more.  So although we might continue to find ways to communicate more easily, rapidly and globally through our new technologies, we seem to be doing this in an isolated fashion where each person pursues their own interests at their own pace.

These are considerations we must look into when designing curriculum, whether it be f2f or distance.  Technology has truly changed our society in terms of roles, communication and even values.  Therefore we must respond to this shift in our educational practices.

I was very interested to read the first resources for this module.  I’ve taught computer history to my students before but it was from a business perspective.  One very interesting resources that outlines the competition between Apple and Microsoft is PBS’s Triumph of the Nerds video set.  I was also one of the many business educators that tried to reach and prepare students for the work world by teaching some of the most common applications.  I really saw computers as having that role in education, primarily.  Of course we have evolved along with the technology and now use computers in all our subjects (except English, where they seem to only see computers as word processors… a little sarcasm there).

Are major companies still trying to get a share of the education market?  Yes, but my Business teacher background tells me that more often the world outside education drives technological innovation and we just happen to stumble upon its possible uses in education.  But perhaps I am naive and old fashioned.  Let’s see what the rest of the module brings.

One final remark – I am sitting at my laptop, earphones on, looking and listening to the resources that are provided.  How different my learning experience is from when I was an undergrad student in the late 1970s.

Here is the link to my toon for Etec 511.  The inspiration is my son’s visit this weekend.  He’s just started college and seems to have all the trappings of a typical student including all the electronic gadgets the digital generation is known for.  However, he can’t seem to log in to his online course without the help of his tech savvy mother.  Unfortunately, I live in a different province now, so he’ll actually have to find the tech guys in the school to get him some answers.  Nice to know these youngsters don’t know everything. (Of course, my husband and I couldn’t figure out how to get the tv back onto cable after my son used the dvd player.  Turns out we just had to change the channel back to 3.  Sheesh!)

Here’s the link:  http://www.pixton.com/ca/comic/syqqnlas