In what ways would you teach an LfU-based activity to explore a concept in math or science? Draw on LfU and My World scholarship to support your pedagogical directions. Given its social and cognitive affordances, extend the discussion by describing how the activity and roles of the teacher and students are aligned with LfU principles.
Learning-for-use model is a pedagogical framework that was developed to “support the design of learning activities that achieve both content and process learning” (Edelson, 2001). There are four main principles that were developed by Edelson with the aim “of foster[ing] useful conceptual understanding [that] achieve[ed] both content and process learning” (Edelson, 2001).
I was working with a group of learners this past week; after they had completed their reading intervention, we played a game called ATLAS in which students have to come up with countries, capitals, and cities (I have added provinces and Territories as well). For example, I would start with naming a country, let’s say Hawaii, the next person would have to come up with a country, city, capital, or province that started with an I. That student may choose Iceland (anything that started with the letter ‘I’) and the next person would have to begin their capital or country with a ‘d’ and it would go on. I have played this with many students before as it is fun and gets them learning about geography. However, this past week I was a little surprised that some of my grade six students had no idea what province we live in. I asked what province we live in and I thought that I was starting off with an easy question but I was sadly mistaken; most of the students answered that the province we live in is Canada. As I continued to ask questions about capitals, provinces, etc. all I got was blank faces.
As I was reading this week’s articles and questions, I had these learners in mind who almost gave me a minor heart attack. In the article ‘Designing Google Earth Activities for Learning Earth and Environmental Science,’ the authors discuss how “web-based geospatial tools such as Google Earth [and GIS and GPS] […] show great potential in promoting spatial thinking with diverse learners” (Bodzin, Anastasio, and Kulo, 2014) as they allow for visualization and mapping.
Keeping Lfu in mind and the three-step process: motivation, knowledge construction, and knowledge refinement, I started go explore different GIS platforms and I discovered GeoDart which is an interactive game/quiz creator that teachers can use to educate their students. For example, a question can pop up asking ‘Find Chicago’ and then the student would have to correctly locate on an interactive map where Chicago is. The next question might ask where is Tokyo and the student would have to find Tokyo. GeoDart enables the learner to interactively learn about geography, geology, history etc. The teacher has the ability to create customized questions based on the teaching objectives and student needs. This tool is incredibly simple to use and takes about 5 minutes to learn all the functionalities. I would definitely use this with my students and start with where they live and then zoom out from there. These students need to be able to know where they are in terms of Canada as a whole.
*As a challenge (when students are ready), Earth Picker can be played by students both for general knowledge and as a geographical challenge. Earth Picker uses Google Maps to place you in random locations around the globe and then you have use landmarks, language on signs, and any other clues to figure out where you are. If you haven’t already, give this is a try, it really is quite fun to play.
These activities and the role of the teacher and students are aligned with Lfu principles because of the constructivism lens that students and teachers are looking and working through. The teacher is allowing his/her students to come to their own knowledge and the students are active participants in their learning. As educators, we can support our learners in Lfu activities by making sure that the learning activities are reasonable to all of our learners and at their own level. I would not start with Earth Picker if a student did not know where they lived to begin with. It is important that learners feel safe in their knowledge building process otherwise they will feel discouraged.
Edelson, D.C. (2001). Learning-for-use: A framework for the design of technology-supported inquiry activities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching,38(3), 355-385.
GeoDart game tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=112&v=xTmSSKx8QLI
Hi Sabrina
I like the fact that you shared many examples: ATLAS game, Google Earth and GeoDart to name a few.
I wonder why students would not know where they live. We were flying back from Hawaii (to Vancouver) a few years ago and my youngest asked why they were explaining how to use a lifejacket. I felt I failed as a parent. Parents need to be given a curriculum as well — what do you think? What should be in the curriculum?
A good next step might be to organize a field trip across Canada 🙂
Christopher
Hi Christopher,
Thank you for your comment.
I am not sure why they would not know- since I only work with these students for 30 minutes a day (I am an LST teacher), I went to talk with their classroom teacher. She was not surprised at all. She said that these students just don’t really understand geography and do not have a sense of where they are in the world. I think using hands-on activities like Google Earth and GeoDart would be a great way to get students engaged so they can have a better understanding of their environment. However, when they are with me, we focus on reading intervention and I cannot dedicate the entire block to teaching them about geography (I wish I could) but when we have a few extra minutes I show them a map of Canada and the world. A fieldtrip across Canada would be an amazing experience for students; the amount of knowledge that these students would gain by seeing through their own eyes would be a great learning opportunity.
I think giving parents a curriculum is a great idea! In this curriculum, there should be an entire section on life skills. I have had students who had no did not know how to tie their shoelaces (again, upper immediate) and they would ask other students or teachers to help them. Kids should be taught basic life skills; this is not the job of a teacher. However, I have had many parents say things like “Isn’t that part of your job”? or “I don’t have time.” Parents need to take the time to teach their children these skills and reinforce them. I do recognize that culture plays a big part in this issue; I work with quite a few East-Indian kids (I am also East-Indian) and the boys in particular scoff when I ask them about their household chores; I get responses like “Only my sister has to do that stuff” or “I’m a boy, I don’t have to do that.” Not only do these boys grow up thinking they are privileged but they also think they are entitled to act and say certain things without repercussions. I know that I have wondered off a bit on this topic but parents need to model appropriate behavior because what parents do and say is one of the biggest influences on behavior. Another section should be dedicated to social and emotional learning; parents should be teaching their kids about kindness, respect, how to play cooperatively, and how to communicate when something does not go their way. In the schools that I have been in, most teachers teach these things but it would be great if it was reinforced by parents. I feel that I could go on and on about this but I’ll stop there:)