The Jasper series of videos this week reminded me of the three-act math tasks my staff have begun using with our students. They work especially well in my context (primary French Immersion) because they are wordless films that allow students to do more of the cognitive work in problem solving than with traditional textbooks or worksheets. Both the Jasper videos and the three-act-task videos are underpinned by a constructivist framework; students must view the films and determine what problem they are trying to solve and what information they still need to solve it. These videos, however, require a lot of teacher guidance in order to make sense of them, which I think works well in the immersion environment where students need time to also practice their language skills along with their math skills. Hobbs notes that there is a disconnect between what students find engaging and what students live in math class (p1290), which just isn’t interesting. The Jasper series demonstrated open-ended science and problems are significantly different from the “stories” students often read in text books where they are looking for numbers and question words that provide computational practice but not problem solving; instead, they provide students with complex, open-ended problems that require technology to solve and are interesting to the learners. I think anchored instruction demonstrates that learning in math, like any other subject, is situational and what is learned is related to where it is learned and who it is learned with.
The problem that I see with this is that technology does change so quickly that the videos soon appear to be out of date. Watching the Jasper series videos, I couldn’t help but think that students would be distracted from the concepts presented by the video quality. I think this can be countered in part by a solution found in the three-act-math tasks because the videos are kept extremely simple… no music, effects, titles, etc. to become dated.
The key to anchored instruction being effective for learners is the element of feedback for learners while they are working through the problems. This is why I think discussion and conferencing over problems can be an effective method of teaching mathematics. My adjustment to using video to anchor instruction might be to add an element of digital interaction where students might respond to the questions using a padlet or flipgrid.
Hobbs, L., & Davis, R. (2013). Narrative pedagogies in science, mathematics and technology. Research in Science Education, 43(3), 1289-1305.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (1992b). The Jasper series as an example of anchored instruction: Theory, program, description, and assessment data. Educational Psychologist, 27(3), 291-315.
First of all, great post – you’ve introduced me to 3-Act Lessons and they look AWESOME! What a cool idea! Believe it or not, what works well for primary French Immersion students would likely work equally well for students in my EFL context. I totally plan on showing the resource to my department.
You’ve made a keen observation about the “stories” students read in class. It’s very telling that when most students approach these “stories” – and let’s face it, these stories are the ever-dreaded “WORD PROBLEMS” – they’re often so familiar with “the process” that they start converting words to numbers and symbols before they ever finish reading the question. This begs the question… Word problems work well for helping students make connections between words and mathematical operators, but how well do they practically prepare them for any real-world problem solving scenario? (In my view… not much)
As for technology’s rapid pace of change causing videos to seem dated, I wouldn’t worry TOO much about that if the concepts presented, and the design of the activities, are pedagogically sound. I mean, yes… I did kinda rip into the Jasper videos for seeming so dated, but… I’m still thinking about them so JOKE’S ON ME. Plus, Bill Nye’s series is over twenty years old and is still engaging. So is the Magic School Bus! Also, Carl Sagan’s Cosmos never fails to grip me, even though it is so thoroughly corny in parts I can’t keep stupid grin off my face… sorry… my point is, I think that as long as the videos contain enough engaging content to get students interested, they will likely still end up learning, even if they do make fun of it to their friends!
I like your idea of incorporating feedback into Jasper’s video-based structure; it just makes good sense and reminds me of Chickering & Erhmann’s (1996) fourth principle of good practice (prompt feedback) as well as Gibbs & Simpson’s (2005) extensive coverage on the importance of feedback.
Question: Do you think EdPuzzle (https://edpuzzle.com/) would be a good fit for your proposed adjustment?
Thanks!!
Scott
References
Chickering, A. W., & Ehrmann, S., C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Retrieved from http://www.aahea.org/articles/sevenprinciples.htm
Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf