A Tribal Chief approaches his thirteen year old son and says, "Walk with me." As the two walk and admire the beauty around them, the Chief asks the boy, "Why does the deer wave its tail, then run away?" The boy answers, "To signal the others that danger is near, then protect himself". They continue walking. The Chief pulls bark flaking off a white tree, puts some in his mouth and chews, asking, "Why do we chew the bark of the willow tree?" The boy again answers, "To get rid of a toothache, a fever, or a headache." They continue walking. The chief points to the forest of cedar and asks, why do we make our canoes from the cedar tree?" The boy answers, "The cedar tree is large and plentiful. When hollowed, it makes a strong and large canoe, able to carry supplies and people. It has arsenic in its oil so the canoe will not rot." They continue walking. The trail they follow ends at the edge of a crystal clear lake with a view of a snow-capped mountain in the distance and forest all around. The chief sits, the boy follows. They sit in silence for the same length of time it took them to reach the lake. The chief breaks the silence asking, "What is our relationship to the deer, the willow, and the cedar? What is our relationship to the lake, to the mountain, to the sky?" The boy does not answer. The Chief is pleased.
This story I wrote is a metaphor for how I have learned over the years. Much of my love for the outdoors has come from my desire to learn to live off the land. My understanding of the outdoors has come from first hand experience.
Using technology to show you a powerpoint of a deer, a willow tree, and a cedar tree would not teach you what I have experienced. Telling you a story helped us connect with my experiences, but they are still my experiences and I am the one who truly knows and understands them. Rather than using technology to teach you about the outdoors, this blog is one opportunity I have to use technology to share my understanding, my experience, my knowledge. The act of writing this post has given me one more opportunity to synthesize my experiences, to make connections to my past, and to construct my own knowledge from those first hand experiences.
Constructivism, Stories, and Technology. Experiences, Oral Tradition, Reflection. Learning, Symbols, Application.
Todd, what is interesting is that even though the PP does not teach me about your learning it can serve as a prompt for us to 'co-create' our mutual experience of those items. We can talk about what is similar and what is different about our experiences. Any discrepancies between our experiences can serve as a prompt for further learning. The trick for the leader is to create those discrepancies that led to learning, sometimes called constructive controversies rather than those shared experiences that led to destructive outcomes (fighting, competition, and more importantly, the lack of mutual learning.) One person's learning is constructivist and our mutual learning is called social construction. In small groups, both types of learning exist and leaders must foster both. Kirk
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you Kirk, and thanks for joining the conversation!
ReplyDeleteIf I am understanding this correctly, you are pointing out that technology, such as powerpoint (PP) can be used as a technological bridge used to connect experiences, begin conversation about those experiences, then each participant can re-think and contemplate, possibly constructing new meaning and knowledge from the conversation. I agree.
However, all too often what I have experienced from professors, teachers, and students as a student, and have seen from professors, teachers and students as a teacher and colleague is technology such as PP not being used to bridge experiences but rather to project ones experience on several without that experience. There is a disconnect. Whether this disconnect is because there is nothing to connect on both sides, or because the leader isn't finding the proper connection for the bridge, or because it is a top-down approach where the connection is too steep to put a bridge.
What I am arguing then, I believe, is in addition to when social construction can occur. Yes, the social-constructivist epistemology of learning can work. Cognitive Construction is valid as well. Much of my learning has come from personal cognitive construction, such as when I respond and reflect in a personal way, such as writing the story above, writing poetry, or sketching as I reflect on my experience and observations.
However, as the story depicts, the boy was learning in a social setting with his Chief. My use of this blog began with analysis and synthesis as I created the story and described my experiences. Knowledge, learning, and understanding did happen in that cognitive-construction process.
And, with your comment Kirk, I further evaluated, contemplated and grew through this social-construction process.
This blog is deeper than the path I am about to take it... but I wanted to get this out of my head: This blog has me referencing back to a fear I have about where technology is taking us. The young boy walking with the chief was having face to face contact, social engagement... my fear is that technology is taking away this intimacy and that we will lose the ability to be actively and physically engaged with people. I am sure there is a research study/question buried in what I am writing, but I am afraid that we will forget how to truly say I love you to each other! LOL-Danny
ReplyDeleteIronic Danny as you ended with LOL :-) AS Kirk pointed out, the technology used to socially construct meaning was used to enhance and connect the shared experiences. And I am saying that it can be used to personally synthesize and reflect then socially share.
ReplyDeleteMusic, art, and poetry are social and intimate by their nature. They say I love you in ways that are difficult to say face to face in the moment. They allow one to not only say I love you, but also show in what ways and to what depth.
I am also concerned. My fear is that people often abdicate their responsibility and expect technology to do the teaching. This is irresponsible and lazy. But how many times has technology been used to enhance the depth, creativity, variety, and method of communication in a social-setting? How much learning has occurred, not in spite of, but rather enhanced by the use of the technology? How many times has technology been used to enhance the thinking, problem solving, creativity, and analysis in a personal cognitive way, not in spite of, but enhanced by the use of technology?
Great to see you are taking a proactive role with this topic. The way we teach and the way our students learn has got to change. Enjoyed our talk about this when we were taking care of the piggies. Good luck, Doc.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading my friend and colleague Mark's Blog (http://www.markshishim.blogspot.com/), I was intrigued by his video on how exercise increases brain power (notice the view of Seattle in the background by the way).
ReplyDeleteOn the suggested videos to the right was another by video called Death by Powerpoint (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ5dbUCu2Ug&feature=related).
This video helps demonstrate a piece of what I am talking about and makes for a good laugh.
Todd,
ReplyDeleteYou make an important point with this statement: "My fear is that people often abdicate their responsibility and expect technology to do the teaching."
I have to admit that there have been times when I didn't want some new piece of technology that was available because I didn't want to be associated professionally with another teacher who seemed to be using the technology to teach for him/her. I hate to speak ill of other teachers, but I have seen that "Let me sit behind my desk now because you kids can go through the PowerPoint by yourselves" mentality.
Another potential pitfall is when the technology takes over due to set up time. I remember a retired math teacher who spent HOURS tinkering around with autoshapes to craft a Geometry problem that he could have constructed by hand in 20 seconds and then scanned into his worksheet or test file.
Personally I try to recognize my technological abilities and limits; I have learned over the years what technology helps me (SmartBoard, graphing calculators, document camera, etc.) and what just gets in the way by eating up too much prep time.
It's an interesting debate/discussion. Did you happen to see the YouTube video of the elementary aged kid claiming, "You can't be my teacher!" It mentions Facebook and Twitter specifically. It would be an interesting thing to add to your discussion. If you're interested and haven't seen it, I can try to find the link for you.
Using my teacher account on Facebook has been interesting this year. Late at night I find myself noticing which students are online and being tempted to message them to get to bed. There are also those parental moments where I feel obligated to tell them to clean up their language or think about what they're posting online. On one hand, I enjoy the additional view into their worlds; on the other, it comes with some responsibility to notice if they are doing inappropriate or harmful things. How has Facebook worked for you?
Sarah A. M. Barthel
Todd - Here's the link. Sorry it took me a while!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VSymMbMYHA