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Brock LaMeresHW #141. what did you find1.1. interesting about the article?I always think it is interesting when we talk about children managing their own learning. This seems odd to me because it assumes that childern are able and motivated to do so. I agree that the adult-run model is not optimal. But at a minimum, you're guaranteed that the adult is going to perform his/her tasks and that some learning will take place. When we place the control in the children's hand, there is the chance that they will not grasp what is going on and not engage in the assignment. 1.2. not interesting about the article?These articles never really addresses the effort involved in implementing a 'community of learners' environment. I believe that for a teacher to design an envirnoment in which the child learns the message through participation will take much more time than if the teacher just lectures the information. There is no doubt that participation is a better way to learn. However, it has to be done is a pre-designed envirnoment in which the child follows pre-defined steps and finds pre-defined results, albeit unknown the child. Just turning over the wheel to the children will never work. But the effort involved in designing these systems will be the limiting factor. 2. what do you consider the main message of the article?The main message is that a lecture-type education is not the most optimal learning environment. Students learn much more when they participlate. 3. analyze your own educational experience and3.1. provide a rough estimate in percentage points for each category andI would say that 90% of my education was an adult-run environment in which information was lectured to me and I was expected to retain and recite that information at a later date. 5% was in a "community of learners" environment, mainly through group labs. This is where the students where sent off to accomplish a task through a process of pre-defined steps. The remaining 5% would be "child-run". This is mainly my senior design and Master's thesis in which I was completely on my own to develop and implement the system. 3.2. one example for each category (in case you have encountered all three approaches)I felt that my Master's thesis was a "child-run" environment in the fact that everything was up to me. The problem definition, solution, and appropriate results where completely at my discretion. 4. which technologies are used / can be used /should be used to support4.1. adult-run educationI know this goes against the message here but nothing replacese having a student take notes during a lecture. Teachers that use slides sometimes go too fast for the information to sink it. Teachers that write on a blackboard give time for the student to process the information before moving on. 4.2. child-run educationThe internet is a key resource to ensure that any type of information that a child may want is available. 4.3. community of learners educationComputers and high-tech laboratories are needed to ensure that the students can participate without the burden of building the infrastructure. 5. analyze our course from the three dimensions:5.1. adult-run educationThe lectures at the end. 5.2. child-run educationOur independent research / research project. 5.3. community of learners educationThe discussions are an example. They are very insiteful mainly because we get a cross functional perspective. I don't think we would get as many interesting thoughts if everyone in the room were a CS major. I like hearing the perspective of people with a diverse background. 6. which possibilities do you see to effectively integrate adult- and child-run education?Continued advances in technology that allow the design of robust systems that allow children to participate but not be overwhelmed by the problems of the real world. |
