Scientists propose theories for various things all the time. Learning and especially how we process information is an especially interesting topic. Scientist use the information in a variety of ways including helping to potentially treat learning disorders, and mapping various parts of the brain. Cognitive research itself is looking for the physiological and psychological pathways that learning occurs in. If we better understand it, we can make it better. This six million dollar man approach to learning is a great concept, but it can fall flat.
Three theories were discussed this week. Two of which look at the actual learning, while the last takes a science fiction approach to how learning needs to be achieved in the future. Constructionism and Connectiveism both focus on learning specifically as it occurs today.
Constructionism starts with the basic premise that there really is not objective opinion, and that all learning is constructed on a foundation of prior knowledge. The learning itself happens as you build on that. A great teacher allows you to build and make those connections. This is really a Borg approach to learning. The cyborgs from Star Trek added races to their collective unwillingly. In this learning strategy there is a lot of knowledge that is taken and built on adding it to your own. Pre-testing students for knowledge, and looking at current misconceptions become a key aspect of this theory. There is serious merit to this approach, and the emphasis is really placed on the learner here.
Connectivism is more about connections, as the root word of the theory suggests. It works to help showcase the connections made both in the mind and in a collaborative setting. The term neural network is used quite a bit to describe the way in which Connectivists view the learning process. The focus in this theory is taken off of acquiring knowledge to acquiring skills that can be applied. The goal of this is to show the internal and external connections made through the learning process. This collaboration piece becomes more important than we currently make it. The point is also made quite often that the skills obtained from this approach are transferable while the knowledge might not be.
The final theory is Cyborg theory. This emphasizes the influx of machines into every facet of the human experience. It focuses on how things are converging. The convergence of technology and human life are moving towards a new enhanced version of humans. This theory is less about learning and more about the impact of learning when you bring technology into the fold in everything. Now in education there is a small amount of control with how much you can bring in, but how do you keep that control when technology is part of the student? The point of this really needs to be a proactive approach. Social media has become a large part of our society. I got on Facebook today and teenagers get on Instagram and twitter at least once and hour to check it. These provide social outlets above and beyond what the same age group had access to 20 years ago. The technology piece becomes a key factor, and the convergence of this and the learning process seems inevitable.
All of the readings this week had a lot of good things to say. The overarching piece here was collaboration and the need for technology to be a tool that is used to help students. This is a key factor to people understanding and using this technology effectively. It makes me wonder whether the technology lessons that I have put in place really help? Do I bring about a better understanding of the content, or just bring in the technology for the sake of technology. This is a question we all have to ask ourselves when we are in the classroom.
Three theories were discussed this week. Two of which look at the actual learning, while the last takes a science fiction approach to how learning needs to be achieved in the future. Constructionism and Connectiveism both focus on learning specifically as it occurs today.
Constructionism starts with the basic premise that there really is not objective opinion, and that all learning is constructed on a foundation of prior knowledge. The learning itself happens as you build on that. A great teacher allows you to build and make those connections. This is really a Borg approach to learning. The cyborgs from Star Trek added races to their collective unwillingly. In this learning strategy there is a lot of knowledge that is taken and built on adding it to your own. Pre-testing students for knowledge, and looking at current misconceptions become a key aspect of this theory. There is serious merit to this approach, and the emphasis is really placed on the learner here.
Connectivism is more about connections, as the root word of the theory suggests. It works to help showcase the connections made both in the mind and in a collaborative setting. The term neural network is used quite a bit to describe the way in which Connectivists view the learning process. The focus in this theory is taken off of acquiring knowledge to acquiring skills that can be applied. The goal of this is to show the internal and external connections made through the learning process. This collaboration piece becomes more important than we currently make it. The point is also made quite often that the skills obtained from this approach are transferable while the knowledge might not be.
The final theory is Cyborg theory. This emphasizes the influx of machines into every facet of the human experience. It focuses on how things are converging. The convergence of technology and human life are moving towards a new enhanced version of humans. This theory is less about learning and more about the impact of learning when you bring technology into the fold in everything. Now in education there is a small amount of control with how much you can bring in, but how do you keep that control when technology is part of the student? The point of this really needs to be a proactive approach. Social media has become a large part of our society. I got on Facebook today and teenagers get on Instagram and twitter at least once and hour to check it. These provide social outlets above and beyond what the same age group had access to 20 years ago. The technology piece becomes a key factor, and the convergence of this and the learning process seems inevitable.
All of the readings this week had a lot of good things to say. The overarching piece here was collaboration and the need for technology to be a tool that is used to help students. This is a key factor to people understanding and using this technology effectively. It makes me wonder whether the technology lessons that I have put in place really help? Do I bring about a better understanding of the content, or just bring in the technology for the sake of technology. This is a question we all have to ask ourselves when we are in the classroom.