{"id":5171,"date":"2018-02-19T05:58:28","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T12:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/?p=5171"},"modified":"2018-02-19T05:59:52","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T12:59:52","slug":"lfu-and-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/2018\/02\/19\/lfu-and-you\/","title":{"rendered":"LfU and You!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was shocked that I had not encountered the LfU framework prior to this week. It seems to pull many of the concepts and theories that resonate with me into a nice package, and one that is meant to be easily applied to design activities. Brilliant! <\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, I enjoy how it leverages some of the most powerful aspects of constructivist, cognitivist and situated learning perspectives (Edelson, 2001, p. 357) and makes them concrete by providing specific criteria that each activity must meet — <\/span>m<\/b>otivation, knowledge <\/span>c<\/b>onstruction, and knowledge <\/span>r<\/b>efinement, (I started calling it\u00a0<\/span>MCR<\/b>). The paper even provides an amazing reference table that I promptly recreated, which I\u2019ll append to my post.<\/span><\/p>\n

If I was in the classroom this term I would want to jump on this framework immediately and try it out. Even so, I can think of a number of ways I might use it. I have been trying to pick apart Desmos from all angles this term, and so in searching for neat activities I stumbled upon <\/span>Will it Hit The Hoop?<\/b><\/a> (<\/span>http:\/\/bit.ly\/2clkfWj<\/span><\/a>) <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

— For context I recommend you <\/span><\/i>quickly try out the Student Preview<\/span><\/i><\/a>, it\u2019s pretty great —<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here are my thoughts about the activity, organized using the Table 1 from Edelson’s paper:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Step<\/b><\/td>\n\n

Process<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Design Strategy<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Motivate<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nExperience<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0curiosity<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n

The activity starts by having students attempt to fit a basketball shot with a line of best-bit. Noticing this in real-life context, with help from a video, could <\/span>elicit curiosity <\/b>and cause students to address the problematic gap or limitation in their understanding of how basketballs travel.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nExperience<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0demand<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n

Students are encouraged to guess answers early in the activity, but later questions <\/span>create a demand <\/b>for the knowledge as they require students to have explored previous questions, and use what they have learned about quadratic functions and parabolic motion. The extension activities cannot be solved unless their knowledge is <\/span>applied<\/b>.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Construct<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nObserve<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nThe introductory activity paired with videos of real-life basketball shots provide <\/span>direct experience <\/b>with the novel phenomena they are exploring (considering the flight of a ball frame-by-frame), and in order to make the predictions expected of them early in the activity they must be <\/span>observant<\/b>.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nReceive<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0communication<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n

Early in the activity, students will be providing a range of answers to the prediction questions followed by small-group and whole-class discussions. This <\/span>communication<\/b> on several scales allows students to learn from one another (ZPD comes to mind), as well as start to <\/span>build<\/b> new knowledge structures based on the communications taking place.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Refine<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nApply<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nIn order to take their new knowledge structures from declarative to procedural form (Edelson, 2001, p. 359) it must be <\/span>applied<\/b>. This activity expects students to make use of their new knowledge structures, using the real-life videos and discussions as <\/span>indices<\/span><\/i>, to analyze basketball shots using mathematical equations. This direct manipulation of graphs, when overlayed on top of an image\/video of a contextually-relevant basketball shot, <\/span>reinforces<\/b> what they have learned. Follow-up questions, analysis of actual student predictions with and without mathematical help, and extension questions, meshed with ongoing discussion and teacher guidance, all help students to <\/span>reorganize <\/b>their understanding into a useful form.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nReflect<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nOpportunities for reflection are woven into the activity at key points to force students to <\/span>reflect <\/b>on what they have observed or learned up to that point. This allows them to <\/span>reorganize and reindex <\/b>their knowledge prior to having to extend their new knowledge structure when information is encountered later in the lesson.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note: The manner in which these reflection questions were incorporated reminded me of the structure of My World GIS, where investigations and discussions were spread out to allow incremental mastery of a concept. This is an excellent strategy that ensures that students are able to transfer information from short-term memory to long-term memory by rehearsal <\/span><\/i>before <\/i><\/b>they encounter new information.<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

If I were delivering this lesson I would likely incorporate an over-arching reflection session at the end which forces students to process everything they had learned. I would then, depending on the skill level (and Grade level) of students, love to have them do their own experiment where they take their own videos of throwing a ball and confirm that even their own throws can be modeled using mathematics. This would encourage even further buy-in for the students than a video of someone else.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does LfU afford students and teachers?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Well, it should be clear by its very name, learning-<\/span>for-use<\/b>. Well-designed activities would finally remove the need for students to ask \u201cwhen will we ever use this?\u201d because the activities are steeped in real-world contexts.They should, due to their constructivist\/cognitivist nature, be designed to set students up for success because they are highly student-centred. Having to consider <\/span>motivation, construction<\/b>, and <\/span>refinement<\/b> of knowledge before even delivering the activity ensures the students will walk away having been afforded far more than a one-way lecture ever could have. For teachers, LfU provides clear direction both in the design and facilitation of each activity, and allows ample opportunity for teachers to guide and facilitate. It\u2019s a win-win.<\/span><\/p>\n

But what if students <\/span>still<\/b> ask, as they often do, something like \u201cwhen will we ever use this in real life? I mean, it\u2019s not like calculating trajectories and creating parabolas will help us on a basketball court\u201d. Which is true, they probably won\u2019t. <\/span>But<\/b>, the concepts they learn, the understanding and knowledge of the processes they will have internalized, could help them to extend what they learn and apply them to future projects. The teacher could discuss with them the power of these equations – how they are one way to truly predict the future. I bet they couldn\u2019t do that before. The main point is that once they understand that all objects launched adhere to these rules (barring air friction) then the world is their oyster; they could use the concepts to create their own catapult even, or use the equations to program their own computer games. Actual, honest-to-goodness real-life skills. Neat!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

Bodzin, A. M., Anastasio, D., & Kulo, V. (2014). Designing Google Earth activities for learning Earth and environmental science. In\u00a0Teaching science and investigating environmental issues with geospatial technology<\/i>\u00a0(pp. 213-232). Springer Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Edelson, D.C. (2001). Learning-for-use: A framework for the design of technology-supported inquiry activities. <\/span>Journal of Research in Science Teaching,38<\/span><\/i>(3), 355-385. <\/span><\/p>\n

My World GIS<\/em> videos, ETEC533 Module B.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Appendix – Table 1 from Edelson (2001)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Step<\/b><\/td>\nProcess<\/b><\/td>\nDesign Strategy<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Motivate<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nExperience<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0demand<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n

Activities <\/span>create a demand<\/i><\/b> for knowledge when they require that learners <\/span>apply <\/i><\/b>that knowledge to complete them successfully.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nExperience<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0curiosity<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n

Activities can <\/span>elicit curiosity<\/i><\/b> by revealing a problematic gap or limitation in a learner\u2019s understanding.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Construct<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nObserve<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nActivities that provide learners with <\/span>direct experience<\/i><\/b> of novel phenomena can enable them to <\/span>observe<\/i><\/b> relationships that they encode in new knowledge structures.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nReceive<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0communication<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n

Activities in which learners receive direct or indirect <\/span>communication<\/i><\/b> from others allow them to <\/span>build <\/i><\/b>new knowledge structures based on that communication.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Refine<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nApply<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nActivities that enable learners to <\/span>apply<\/i><\/b> their knowledge in meaningful ways help to <\/span>reinforce <\/i><\/b>and <\/span>reorganize<\/i><\/b> understanding so that it is useful.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nReflect<\/span><\/i><\/td>\nActivities that provide opportunities for learners to <\/span>reflect<\/i><\/b> upon their knowledge and experiences retrospectively provide the opportunity to <\/span>reorganize and reindex <\/i><\/b>their knowledge.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was shocked that I had not encountered the LfU framework prior to this week. It seems to pull many of the concepts and theories that resonate with me into a nice package, and one that is meant to be easily applied to design activities. Brilliant! Specifically, I enjoy how it leverages some of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44953,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1669391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-lfu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44953"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5171"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5175,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5171\/revisions\/5175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stem2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}