Teaching Constructivism

How would I teach constructivism to my fellow instructos? Obviously, I would not be lecturing using the traditional didactic format on the topic, so I need to find other ways to help my audience to appreciate the concept practically. Here are some questions I came up with for the audience to discuss:

• Under what situations do students learn best, and why.


• What are the main problems with traditional didactic learning methods?


• What are some activities you have used in the classroom to engage students in the learning process?

The participants can then draw a one page poster, or use big post-it notes, or use a game to let other groups know about their discussion results. The MET program at UBC provides a solid foundation on the theoretical models for teaching, and tools like games and simulations from Nasaga and Thiagi can complement this program well in preparing teachers in the classroom.

Last Last Thoughts Part 3 / 3

Final Thoughts

I do believe technology is useful in helping students learn technical subjects, like math, science, and computer science. I don’t think we are anywhere close to the potential that technologies are capable of in providing the intelligence, the motivation, the scaffolding, for our students at this point in time. One of the recent advances in teaching has been the application of constructivist theory. Learning has fallen on the shoulders of the students to construct their new knowledge. But without the appropriate level of guidance or scaffolding, students can be lost in the process. The technologies that have been covered in the course seem to have produced some positive results in students’ learning, especially those that engage students with diverse background and with a common goal in their learning. Such social constructivist learning coupled with authentic learning have been demonstrated to engage students and increase their understanding much better than traditional learning. But the use of technology in these environments has been minimal. There is no significant use of new advances in computing or Artificial Intelligence built into these TELE’s. Granted that one should not simply use technologies for the sake of technology, this may be the case that educators do not have a good learning model for the advance use of computing yet. Perhaps educators have been too shy in exploring what digital technologies can be used in education for fear that they are used simply because they are available. However, I believe that given the capabilities of computer science and the availability of digital technologies, educators should look at what these technologies can do and at the same time explore how learning models can be developed in parallel to make the best use of them.

The TELE assignment has been a great experience in working through a number of mini assignments to come up with a design of a lesson plan. What has been disappointing, though not surprising, is the amount of time and effort required to put together a lesson plan for a simple topic. After a number of weeks of collaboration, our assignment is still only a skeleton of what the final lesson should look like. For a teacher with a regular load, it is almost impossible to devote such time and effort to prepare lessons like this for their teaching. There are so many educators around the world, and yet, the pool of resource seems to be very small. Indeed, there are significant amount of teaching material available on the internet, and for our TELE, we have found lots of games in the internet, even educational games, but none can be used easily in our lesson development. Frame games or game templates, which allow teachers to supply the content in a game, seem to be useful tools in developing TELE’s. But they are not readily available. SFU has been working on games and simulations for teaching (http://www.sageforlearning.ca/), but to use one of their game templates is not a trivial process.

In conclusion, much has been done in the development of digital technologies for teaching math and science. However, lot more research is needed. Our generation of students is changing fast. They have grown up with technologies and unless education keeps up with the use of modern technologies, students will be left behind. It seems that education has been just trying to catch up with the types of technologies that are available. Perhaps it is time to develop new education models which technologies need to be invented for rather than the other way around.

Final Thoughts Part 2 /3

Games and Learning

What other technologies can be used in teaching math, science, and computer science? I believe authentic learning is an excellent way to capture students’ interest and attention. Another area I believe that can be just as captivating is the use of games. Games allow players to be totally immersed in an environment such that their total attention is given to the game play. I am not sure how games can effectively be used in teaching and learning. Most of the games I have encountered “teaches” certain concepts much like traditional teaching methods except that there is a side component of game play in the process. For example, I came across a game where one has to solve a mathematical problem, and if successful, the player can try to kick a soccer ball at a goalie. The game does not help in the learning of the mathematical concept but used as a reward system so the learner gets to play if she understands the concept. Another use of games is to help student memorize mathematical concepts rather than to learn the concept. What I like to see is a more developed game play that helps in the learning of a concept rather than used as a reward or rote memorization system.

The latest issue of Communication of ACM (July 2007) contains a number of articles on the “Science of Games”. This area may be of interest to many who wants to use games in teaching and learning rather than just for entertainment value.

Female students and Technical subjects

Another area of interest to me is how to motivate more female participation in science and technical intensive courses. Research has shown that female students can excel just as well, if not better, than male students. However, I am not convinced that female students are just as interested in technical subjects and use of technology in their studies as male students. It is not clear from looking at the different TELE’s in this course such as Jasper, WISE, Geode, or new technologies such as visualization software, handheld devices, haptics systems would appeal to female students. Studies on why many teens, whether male or female, are so keen on using facebook, myspace, MSN, etc. and how these technologies can be used in teaching and learning will be an interesting topic.

Chaos in the Classroom – good or bad?

One comment that Dr. Susan Gerofsky made in one of the forums stuck with me during the course. The discussion was on the lack of order and structure that someone noticed in one of the videos we watched in the course. Susan asked whether order and structure was prerequisite or necessary in learning. I don’t usually insist on absolute silence in the classroom unless I am lecturing and especially I can’t think with all the noise around me. But for this generation of students who are used to watching TV, listening to iPods, and doing their homework all at the same time, may be the traditional order and structure in the classroom needs to be changed. How does technology help in the physical study space for students then? When are students under stimulated and when are they over stimulated? Is there a level of multi dimensional stimulation that is most effective for students to learn, and how are students differ from one another in terms of their threshold?

Scaffolding – when is it appropriate?

Designing appropriate scaffold to help students learn is also an interesting area that has been explored in this course. In many of the learning environments reviewed in this course, Jasper, WISE, etc. emphasizes appropriate scaffolding so that students will not be overwhelmed or confused by the learning process. Too much scaffolding will stymied the students’ creative exploration of the subject, and insufficient scaffolding will leave a student lost and confused.

Design of appropriate scaffolding takes a lot of time. The inquiry maps used in WISE are well received by the student because they were designed and prepared by many experts, and much thought was put into the “next steps” of the student’s learning. For an average teacher, whether in any level, there is just not enough time to prepare the appropriate learning material on top of the lesson subject material.

I believe technology can really help in this area, but much work needs to be done. For a computer to be able to guide a student in the learning process, there needs to be enough knowledge in the computer’s database to understand at what level is the student’s understanding. Such is not easy to create and I am not sure if this should left in the domain of teachers. At the moment, there is a shortage of good, qualified teachers to provide individual help for students. As the population shrinks, I am not sure if such technology is still necessary, or whether there will always be insufficient teachers.

Final Thoughts Part 1 / 3

One of the questions that I have been asking since the beginning of this course is: What is the role of technology in teaching science and math? My interest is mainly in teaching computer science and since computer science is already deeply immersed in digital technologies, I have been curious how else computers can be used in the process of learning computer science other than using computers to learn how to program. Are computers suitable to help computer science students to learning programming? The most effective tool I have used in teaching students how to program is not using computers. I have used Karel, an imaginary robot to teach programming with much success … all without the use of computers. Other tools are merely development environments which help students debug program faster, avoid typing mistakes, or to document the program better. Surely, there are design tools that can take graphic representation of a program, like UML, ER diagrams, and convert them into code, or program verification tool to “prove” that a program is supposed to behave according to its specification (which is so complicated to even write down that no practical programmer really takes this seriously!), but they don’t really help students learn or to design software better.

Technologies such as del.ciou.us, RSS, citeulike.org, google docs, etc. are great in organizing the knowledge base of any subject or discipline, but for technical topics, technologies seem to be best used in visualization of abstract concepts. In math, calculators, visual graphical programs like Maple, and other animation software allows students to have yet another view of mathematical formulas. In science, visual representations and experiments allow students to conduct virtual labs without expensive equipment and dangerous material. Digital technologies also allow students to learn by trial and error. Computers and calculators can hide the tedium of manual computations and afford the students to “test-and-see”. Although some may see that this is not really “learning” in the sense that the basic foundations have been understood, and new theories are built on top, a “test-and-see” learning model may be suitable for the new generation of students who are more at home with digital technologies than previous generations. One question that should be investigated is whether “test-and-see” leaning in a collaborative environment is as effective as other traditional learning environment.

Blogs and Computer Science

The use of blogs to capture our thoughts has been very useful. But I wonder if such technology can be used for a technical course. In the case of computer programming, what can a student write in a blog? In the WorldWatcher program, students use a Progress Portfolio to capture their thoughts and their investigations as part of the reflective inquiry. A similar use for designing software can be applied to computing students using blog. Here are some possibilities of its use:

- given a problem, what was the thought process like?
- what were the possible solutions that turned out to be not workable?
- Reflection on the design / solution, could it be better, what went well in the design / management / development of the program?
- Have students read each other’s blogs and ask each other or try to explain to each other the thought process that has transpired? This may allow each student to learn how they learn, and how they think. This may provide insights on the students as they attempt another programming exercise.

Here are further questions for consideration of using blogs in teaching computer programming?

- can blog be used as a design tool to guide programmers in the design and development (much like a saying that says an essay writes the writer rather than the writer writes the essay!)
- blog is different than traditional program documentation which the programmer usually writes after the entire program is developed and is usually put together just to satisfy some higher up management. Blog can be a day to day, or moment by moment design history and may be more useful in capturing the development of thoughts.
- What will be the best medium for recording in the blogs? English is often used in blogs but is it the best language to capture program design? Diagrams / pseudo code / etc. or a combination of these may be more appropriate.

Haptics, VR, and Ubiquitous Learning

Haptics refer to the study of touch and human interaction with the external environment through touch (Minogue and Jones, 2006). It has been shown from previous researches that "active manipulation of both real and virtual objects and events potentially leads to a more complete understanding of them" (p 341). However, there has not been extensive research on "the efficacy of haptically augmented instruction" in education. Can one learn mathematics by touch? To further extend this line of research, can one learn mathematics by smell, feeling, art (music), etc.? These are important questions to consider as educators are well aware that students learn using different methods.

The Ambient Wood project (Rogers et al, 2005) reminds me of a similar project that was done for the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. One of the student projects at BCIT was to design and implement a mobile device which a visitor at the museum can carry around, and at certain spots, the device can be activated to show relevant information or a movie clip related to the specific spot. I am not sure how successful this project is but it seems that the Ambient Wood project provides the students with a platform where they can integrate the knowledge from the PDA’s with their reflective thinking and further discuss with other students. Ubiquitous computing is not new, but what I find interesting and innovative is the integration to social learning. Individual learning on different computing platforms have not worked because it is too isolated for us social beings. It is the same for courses I find from this program, i.e. what sets it apart from other distance ed. Programs is the social dimension that we can all interact and learn from one another.

There has already been a number of discussions on how iPhone can be used in education (E.g. http://www.learning2007.com/iphone1). Classroom Response System (CRS) that makes use of proprietary "clickers" or generic Bluetooth device (http://www.skylight.science.ubc.ca/node/25) are being used and researched in many institutions. One of the projects I envision is to use a GPS enabled multimedia cell phone that allows learning to take place anytime anywhere in different contexts, even at different parts of the city, or even any parts of the world on a larger scale – this is yet another potential use of WILD (Wireless Internet Learning Device) (Roschelle, 2003). As learners find themselves in different locations / contexts, different learning contents are “pushed” to their cell phone to reinforce their learning. Learners can also record and upload their new learning experiences in a central repository to help other learners learn in an cooperative virtual environment. I foresee that lots of research areas can come out from this area: who are the users, what level / types of learning is best achieved with this technology, what kind of infrastructure, backend / frontend, user interface, database, etc.

As an example, learning math should not be confined in the classroom devoid of any context or application. As students learn their principles of mathematics in the classroom, their learning can be continuous whether in the accountant's office, during checkout at a supermarket, or even in the skytrain as the train moves at different velocities, etc. Learners can also contribute their learning experiences as they gain insights on how their understanding of mathematics help them in new contexts which then can be uploaded for other learners. If one thinks of how different vendors want to push a coupon when one passes by a coffee shop, one can think of learning can similarly be pushed to a learner in different locations or contexts.

Extending the concept of learning in a physical world to a virtual world has been another exciting area of research especially when one thinks of cognition is the interaction between a person and its environment (Winn, 2003). Can a virtual environment provide a similar, if not better, environment for the learner? Cognition first occurs with the entire body, not just the brain. This level of interaction is called “embodiment”. The environment should be understood in two ways. The first is called “Umwelt”. The premise is that since "all knowledge is constructed by the student and that every student's understanding of the environment is idiosyncartic", it follows that "there can be no objective, fixed standard against which to access what a person knows" (p12). How a student behaves in a learning environment is completely unpredictable since each student’s experience is different. This level of interaction is called “embeddedness”. On the other hand, an artificial environment is completely predictable based on a student’s input. By viewing that the students are coupled in a learning environment rather than embedded (passively) in it allows one to see the dynamic adaptation of the student to the environment. This level of interaction is called “adaptation”. This can be powerful through the “presence” created by the artificial environment and the student’s being “confronted by compelling evidences that can neither be predicted from nor explained by their current conceptions” (p 16). Thus “cognition is embodied in physical activity, that this activity is embedded in a learning environment, and that learning is the result of adaptation of the learner to the environment and the environment to the learner. The conceptual framework assumes that embodiment, embeddedness, and adaptation are completely interdependent.”

References:

Minogue, J. & Jones, M.G. (2006). Haptics in education: Exploring an untapped sensory modality. Review of Educational Research, 76(3), 317-348.

Rogers, Y., Price, S., Randell,C., Stanton, D, Weal, M., & Fitzpatrick, G. (2005). Ubi-learning integrates indoor and outdoor experiences. Communications of the ACM, 49(1), 55-61.

Roschelle, J. (2003). Unlocking the learning value of wireless mobile devices. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19(3), pp. 260-272.

Winn, W. (2003). Learning in artificial environments: Embodiment, embeddedness, and dynamic adaptation. Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning, 1(1), 87-114.

Knowledge Diffusion and Social Construction of Knowledge

According to Bielaczyc and Collins (1999): "The defining quality of a learning community is that there is a culture of learning in which everyone is involved in a collective effort of understanding. There are four characteristics that such a culture must have: (1) diversity of expertise among its members who are valued for their contributions and given support to develop, (2) a shared objective of continually advancing the collective knowledge and skills, (3) an emphasis on learning how to learn, and (4) mechanisms for sharing what is learned." 1
In what ways do the networked communities you examined represent and depart from this characterization of learning communities? What implications does this have for your practice?

1) Diversity of expertise among the students: in Globe, students from all over the world participate in this learning environment and interact with scientists who act as mentors. In World Forum, students take on different personalities like John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher, etc. and contribute their ideas. This role playing allows the students to see other’s point of views as well as assuming the role / expertise of the personality. They also engage with teachers, explorers and mentors in their learning process. In MicroObservatory, students work with one another as well as with scientists. Teachers also pair up with others to create new projects for the students and conduct research in astronomy to promote the discipline.

2) Shared objective: through the use of online communities, the students in both Globe and World Forum work towards a common goal. In Globe, each student tries to contribute their knowledge about their environment such as soil temperature and moisture, state of local water body, characterization of the top meter of soil, etc. In World Forum, each student tries to resolve controversial statements (Flash Point), or environmental and social issues (Arctic Alerts), and reports on natural and geographical information (Explorer / Scientist Reports). The goal is to inform and to debate issues that are relevant to all participating students. In MicroObservatory, students collaborate with others who have taken images of the sky and analyse them. They collect data individually and share them to "reveal the secrets of some of nature wonders".

3) Emphasis on learning how to learn: in Globe, teachers are trained and prepared to help students to learn. Other support such as that provided by National Science Education Standards, National Geophysical Data Center, NASA, NSF, etc. contribute to a learning space that promotes learning. Students are challenged in the process when scientists are very much involved with the students as well as the teachers. In World Forum, teachers use different methods in their teaching, such as questioning (most popular for novice students), feedback, cognitive structuring. Students also learn to differentiate their own perspectives as well as other people’s perspectives, sometimes from a neutral point of view too. In NetObservatory, students are given control of the remote telescope that are often used for sophisticated astronomical research. This exposes the students to develope a sense of appreciation of the complexity of research, and problem based learning. Access to such tools provides the students the capabilities to further explore the area of astronomy.

4) Mechanisms for sharing what is learned: both Globe and World Forum use the online community to share their findings. Some students are required to log on everyday and this can become a challenge. Similarly for students and teachers participating in the NetObservatory, the internet allows them to share their findings as well as collaborate on investigative research projects.

I really like the role playing in World Forum where students get to take on the role of a well known character. Students can do research on the character and try to be consistent from this character’s point of view in the debate and discussion. It also allows the students to know that there are more than one point of view in almost any subject or topic. Online communities which are readily available to students should be incorporated into the students’ learning activities. By allowing the students to reflect, research, and then contribute their ideas through online communities, they are able to dig deeper into the subject of discussion. Also because the students can share what they learn anytime of the day, it does not restrict the student’s learning to only specific part of the day.

Having scientists, mentors, and other “non-teachers” participate makes the learning so much more relevant and “real” to the students. Teachers can also use the help to guide the student’s learning too. However, gaining access to these experts may not be easy to come by!

Wiseweb and Illuminations Math Applets

Wiseweb can be accessed at http://www.fi.uu.nl/wisweb/en/

I tried a number of the applets on alebra courseware on linearity. There is no documentation or help on how to use these applets. But after playing around with the applet, I was quite impressed with the visualization. Some of the applets do provide some hints, such as Shooting Balls, whose goal is to shoot all the balls in a grid with as few shots as possible. The Algebra tree allows one to create an equation using a graphical format and the final equation or value is shown as output. Students can see how paranthesis is used in the expression. The Tic Tac Go game is a easy game to review mulitplication, addition, and subtraction. Again little documentation is provided. The Fraction Times allows one to understand fraction through visualization how a circle is divided according to the portions of a fraction value. Again minimal documentation is provided and it can take some time to figure out how to use the applet. Overall, the website provides many interesting visualization of basic mathematical concepts. Students need to be given sufficient help to use the website. Otherwise, they will find it frustrating to use.

Illumination can be accessed at http://illuminations.nctm.org/

The Cube Nets activity which requires mental manipulation of folding a 3 dimension cube is interesting. Instructions are clear. There are a number of activities categorized under different grades. The animation is quite good. I tried a Fire lesson for Grade 9-12, which shows how likely a forest fire will spread based on the probablity how much the fire will spread. There are also complete lessons categorized under different grades and topics (such as number and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis and probability). Each lesson includes learning objectives, materials, and instructional plan. The website is well suited for teachers to use the material in class.

Paper Review

Finkelstein, N.D., Perkins, K.K., Adams, W., Kohl, P., & Podolefsky, N. (2005). When learning about the real world is better done virtually: A study of substituting computer simulations for laboratory equipment. Physics Education Research,1(1), 1-8.

Findings from this paper show that students made "greater conceptual gains when using computer to prepare for laboratory than those who used the textbook and solved additional problems on the topic." Using simulations that are properly designed , students tend to "mess about" more than using real equipment, and make better use of instructor time which would have otherwise used to fix up the real equipment.

Srinivasan, S., Perez, L. C., Palmer,R., Brooks,D., Wilson,K., & Fowler. D. (2006). Reality versus simulation. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 15 (2), 1-5. Available UBC E-journals.

In this paper, students compared the use of MATLAB (software simulation) and TIMS (hardware system) to create circuits. For novices studens, it is interesting to note that they regard simulations, or anything other than the real system is fake. They did not find that using simulations as "authentic experience". Thus simulations do remove some authenticity in the learning process.

Math and Visualization

Why is visualization necessary (or not) for student understanding of math or science? What are the multiple ways that students' understanding could be represented with this dynamic visualization software and what are the implications for teaching practice? What are some ways that a students' understanding could be challenged with dynamic visualization software? What are the social opportunities and potential cognitive opportunities that may emerge from interaction with this software? How are the specific features of the software connected to these opportunities?

http://www.ies.co.jp/math/java/index.html

Visualization is extremely important for students learning and trying to understand math. Math is an abstract discipline. No one can "see" math but one can see how math can be used to real life. The problem with abstract concept is that each student may understand the abstract concepts under his / her past experience, and may not be the same as what is intended. Visualization allows the students and the teacher to have a common ground for further discourse. It is similar to making thinking visible in Geode.

Visualization via applications has been one of the most popular ways for teachers to introduce different math concepts. From counting apples to calculating height of buildings via trigonometry functions, or calculating time of arrival based on moving speed of a vehicle, etc. students can "see" how math principles can be used. This can be achieved through actual participation in solving a practical real life problem, or watching a video of a problem (such as Jasper), and then solving it, whether individually or collaboratively.

Another way for students to understand math is through graphics and animation on the computers. Sine waves, exponential functions, geometry, etc. can easily be manipulated using software such as the site indicated above. Visualization on the computers also allows a student to manipulate different variables to see the effect of the changes. Students can also observe "patterns" in such manipulations to deduce what changes and what stays the same, and come up with reasons for the behavior. An example of this is the Sum of Three Angles lesson under Angle and Parallel Lines in the Middle School (Geometry) section. As the student moves the triangle to the right or left, it is shown that the bottom left and right angles don’t change. Not only the “bigger” triangle doesn’t change, the “smaller” triangle preserves the same angles. The lesson Problem about Angles (1) in the same section introduces a problem to the student, and also provides a hint button to provide additional information. No description is provided but by manipulating the graphics, the student can see how the angles remain the same as one moves the red dot. The creative use of animation reduces significantly the amount of explanation that is required and this can be positive to a lot of students.

For students who are confident in deducing math principles, having the abilities to manipulate graphical representations and to see the effect of these changes instantaneously on the screen will be useful to them. However for students who may require extra help, such tools may seem cold and unfriendly. The hints provided in some lessons are useful, but in cases where the students still do not grasp the principles after exhaustion of the hints, additional help from the teachers or other students should be supplemented. Learning math does require one to process the concepts individually, but there are often cases where collaborative learning helps reinforce the student understanding and comprehension of the subject. The problem with many of the software visualization systems is that the students are left on their own in the learning, and it misses out on the collective engagement and knowledge sharing with peers.

Challenges in Student Understanding of Earth Science

What are several challenges students have with understanding earth science?

- engage students in the learning process
- construct knowledge that supports subsequent re-use of the knowledge

What experiences are planned for students learning earth science with WorldWatcher? How do student activities exemplify the objectives? Did the learning environment address the issues or objectives for which it was created?

- meaningful context: real world decisions about the use of natural resources
- inquiry based: computer based and lab inquiry activities, combined with discussions, lectures, readings, written assignments, and oral presentations in an integrated approach that supports robust learning of concepts and practices
- use of technology: software tools allow sutdents to investigate scientific data and to interact with dynamic representations of science processes in the same way that environmental scientists do.

In what ways would you teach the Planetary Forecaster curriculum- differently or the same? What part of the WorldWatcher environment would you change or customize?

The WordWatcher requires special software to be downloaded and installed on the computer which can be complicated for students or school support staff. If this program can be made web-based and even integrated with publicly accessible application such as Google Earth, I believe the students will find even more relevance in understanding earth science.

Judge the relative value of using WorldWatcher for learning about earth science. Select one or two of the process questions that resonate with you and your ongoing critical awareness of the implications technology has for students, teaching practice, curriculum development, and schools, and include your responses as entries in your inquiry e-folio.

Process question 1: What are the pedagogical design principles that shaped the development of the Geode Initiative (previously known as WorldWatcher)?

Please see the previous post on LfU design.

Process question 2: Explain the reasons for integrating digital technology as a key part of this learning experience.

The Progress Portfolio is valuable to allow student's reflective inquiry. It allows the students to record and monitor their investigations. It is a way to allow students to make their thinking visible. One of the activities allow the students to invent their own worlds. They can create the topography of their worlds and also specify the elevation data set. This allows the students to apply what they have learned from an actual world to a new world that has never been studied before, and they need to justify their understanding of knowledge.

LfU - Learning-for-Use

Traditional approaches to teaching often results in shallow understanding because the main tools of teaching are memorization and recitation of facts. When it comes to actual application of the knowledge in a real setting, the context is usually different than that which the learner first studied, and the learner finds it difficult to see the connection.

Learning-for-use (LfU) is a model which provides a framework for education lesson design. It is based on 4 principles:

1. Constructivism - understanding is incrementally constructed from experience and communication.
2. Knowledge construction is a goal-directed process - implication: learning must be (and can only be) initiated by the learner.
3. The context where learning takes place is directly connected to how or whether the knowledge is going to be used
4. Learner must know how to distinguish declarative and procedural knowledge, and know how to transform from the former to the latter.

To design a curriculum based on the LfU model, there are 3 steps:

• Motivation - addresses principle 2
• Knowledge construction - addresses principle 1
• Knowledge refinement - addresses principle 3 and 4

These 3 steps parallel the Learning Cycle (Abraham, 1998):

• exploration
• invention (or term introduction)
• discovery

Reference:

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.

Abraham, M.R. (1998). The learning cycle approach as a strategy for instruction in science. In B.J. Fraser & K.G. Tobin (Eds). International handbook of science education (pp. 513-524). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.

WISE

Key concepts in WISE:

Inquiry practices - engaging students in the intentional process of diagnosing problems, critiquing experiments, distinguishing alternatives, planning investigations, revising views, researching conjectures, searching for information, constructing models, debating with peers, communicating to diverse audiences, and forming cohernet arguments.

Knowledge integration - learners hold multiple conflicting ideas about virtually any scientific phenomenon, and at the same time deliberately develop their repertoire of views concerning a given scientific phenomenon. What is needed is that students develop a cohesive, coherent, and thoughtful account of scientific phenomena.

Pattern - used to elicit the repertoire of student ideas, add promising normative ideas to the mix, and support the process of combining, sorting, organizing, creating, and reflecting to improve understanding. E.g. make a conjecture, review an evidence, reflect on ideas.

Inquiry map - used to communicate the pattern to the students to investigate a topic. This cannot be too detailed, otherwise the students will fail to engage in inquiry. If it is too broad, students will flounder and become distracted.

Context - the context of problems must be immediate and accessible to the students. Students do not have connections to issues outside their immediate surroundings. Designer make sure students have access to information relevant to the problems / topics they are studying.

Pivotal cases - use of natural experiment to illustrate an important comparison. E.g. compare objects in a hot car and cold room to illustrate why they feel different even their temperature are the same.

Argument representation - student understanding of scientific material can be enhanced if they have a way to represent arguments. E.g. SenseMaker in collaboration with evidence pages (e.g. web resources or pages provided by designers) allows students to represent arguments.

Modeling and simulation - E.g. Causal Modeler allows students to represent the relationships among factors influencing water quality.

Making Thinking Visible!

Other features: students work in pairs and learn from one another (Vygotsky zone of proximal development), show and tell by students to other students, branching pattern: allow students to specialize in one of several topics, use of mobile device like Palm to "beam" malaria to each other, lifelong learning instill into students, continual review with teachers and designers.

Reference:

Linn, M., Clark, D., & Slotta, J. (2003). Wise design for knowledge integration. Science Education, 87(4), 517-538.

Second Impression of Jasper Series

The Jasper Series promotes a number of concepts in teaching and learning that are worthwhile to be considered:

Anchored instruction - situate learning using a real life problem or authentic context

Complex problem - problems to be solved are not trivial but may take several classes where students collaborate in the process

Generative learning - design of subgoals to solve problems

Span multiple subjects - problem solving that requires the use of knowledge from more than one subject domain

Technology based - use of multimedia to present the problem, use of AI to allow students to teach a similar problem to help them learn even more

The videos should be updated though since they look dated. New technologies such as Flash and other multimedia special effects may allow different problems to be posed and more interactivity by the students.

First Impression of Jasper Series

The Jasper Series is a series of video that situates a problem in a real life context. Students watches the adventures and solve mathematical problems. In the process, students have to problem solve, reason, communicate with their team members and integrate what they know from different areas, such as science, social studies, literature and history. The instructional design is based on anchored instruction which situates learning in a real life context, and also generative learning where students have to generate subgoals to solve a problem.

What questions does this TELE (Technology-Enhanced Learning Experience) raise for me as an instructor or as a potential TELE designer?

When was this series made and whether it is still being used in the classroom nowadays? How can I adapt the features of this TELE in my own teaching? What is the learning curve for teachers using this TELE?

Pedagogical Design of a Technology-Enhanced Learning Experience

Kozma recommends that, "Designers should provide students with environments that restructure the discourse of …classrooms around collaborative knowledge building and the social construction of meaning" (Kozma, 2003, p.9).

What do you think designers of learning experiences should do? How would you design a technology-enhanced learning experience?

When I think of design, I think mostly in terms of the artistic dimension that contrast with form and function. So in learning experience design, I think of the aesthetic effects on the learners, and how they will appreciate that experience. Kozma seems to concentrate on the collaborative social constructive type of learning in his design but I think that there may be other types of design that may be more appropriate for different sets of students. As an example, I think of design in light of a story teller. I think students may appreciate learning through a similar process of listening and interacting with characters in a story. In that case, design means constructing a well formed story rather than creating a collaborative environment for students to learn. However, I believe designs can have multiple dimensions. It is possible to combine a collaborative learning environment with a story. Students can learn to interact with a story in a collaborative setting.

In any case, to design such an experience with technology, I would think of the students starting off on a journey. That's where the story will begin. I will think of the destination or final chapter of this story where it ends, and then think of how the story unfolds to allow learners to learn with the use of technology. It will be like creating a storyboard. Within this storyboard, I would include different emotions that I like the students to experience such as identification of themselves with the characters, such as surprises, disappointments, puzzled, lost, enlightenment, etc. I will think of the lesson plan in terms of the affectives to be experienced by the learners. The lesson to be learned will be embedded in the story, and the lesson will be decorated with how these affectives will be experienced through the story telling.

Technology - what does it mean?

I like Muffoletto's (1994) definition of technology ... "Technology is commonly thought of in terms of gadgets, instruments, machines, and devices ..." but that it "[I]s not a collection of machines and devices, but a way of acting." This is similar to the definition used by Ursula Franklin's book titled "The Real World of Technology." She suggests that technology as "ways of doing someting," (p6) and technology as "practice" (p2). "Technology is a system. It entails far more than its individual material components. Technology involves organization, procedures, symbols, new words, equations, and, most of all, a mindset." (p3)

As such the way a classroom is organized, the procedure to apply for a passport, the way we communicate whether via letters, emails, phone, MSN chat, etc. are all technologies. Of course, gadgets and machines are both material technologies as well as "practice" technologies, for each material technology comes with a way of doing things. The GPS constrains us to a certain way of living, or more specifically, finding our directions. Similarly, the toaster oven or vacuum cleaner also influence how we have a breakfast or keep our house. So I like to think of technologies as more than just gadgets, but also the systems of living and doing things.

Reference:

Franklin, U. (1999). The Real World of TEchnology. House of Anansi Press.

Reflection

Ok ... time to reflect

The issue I like to consider is the following: what kind of technology appeals more for girls than boys especially in the areas of math and science?

Some guiding questions:

How is your understanding of this issue changing?

That boys and girls both like technology, but there are different aspects of technologies that appeal specifically to boys and others for girls.

What more would you like to learn or know?

The different aspects of technologies that may not be explicit in their use and features. E.g. what are the differences between playing computer games and using facebook? Does one appeal more to girls than the other? Why?

In what ways was your interview unique or similar to others?

From the interview summaries of other classmates, boys and girls both approach technology similarly. However, in reality, there are a lot fewer girls than boys who register in computing programs. I am not sure exactly the reasons and would like to explore further.

What does this say about the context/place or the issue?

The environment in which we find these technologies and the interaction with others through the use of these technologies may play a significant role.

Which issue do you want to explore further and why?

I may focus in on the relational aspect of the use of specific technologies and how this affects the adoption of these technologies by boys and girls. There is definitely a difference in playing internet games and using facebook. Both are relational in some sense, but what are the differences in their use between boys and girls. And how do our current technologies for teaching math and science can be adapted for their use?

Interview with a Post Secondary Mathematic Instructor

Interview Except	Analysis
Can you give an example when you use technology and when you don't in your teaching? Please explain why you use or not use technology in each case. Use technology for computer demonstration of computer graphics, demonstration of calculations using Excel. Demonstration of other concepts using computers. Appropriate to use Excel to do the calculations to avoid tedium of calculation, and chart results. Computer graphics and algorithm course – demonstrate change in appearance, students can see the outcomes and effects. Don’t use Powerpoint. Used only rarely. On handouts, if you give them handouts, students believe handout is equivalent to learning. If you don’t give them handouts, they don’t make notes effectively, no matter how slow you go. Stay away from overhead projector, use white board, because it is more interactive.	The instructor uses technology judiciously. He is aware of the changing attitudes of his students and picks the appropriate technology, mainly to demonstrate the effects of mathematical concepts, rather than using technology to explain the details and derivation of these concepts. The instructor also prefers using the whiteboard to present mathematical concepts rather than using Powerpoint which is more static. By working out the mathematics on the board with the students, the students are able to follow the reasoning and the procedure behind the concepts and the derivation.
How has your teaching changed or not changed in the last X years with new technologies being introduced in the classroom? Does it reduce preparation time or increase it? Are the students more engaged? Less time on derivations and more time on demonstration. The effect can be seen on the changing characteristics of the class. Mathematic students tolerate derivation much less than before. Not big change in how to teach, but can do more demonstration better now. 20 years ago, computer graphics course emphasized on computer algorithms. Students nowadays will not benefit from that approach. They are less detail oriented, they click buttons to see what will happen. They learn less.	One of the advantages of technology is that it can easily captivate student attention through its multimedia presentation. The side effect is that the students are so used to the razzle and dazzle of these demonstrations that detailed analysis of the inner workings of the mathematical derivations, which are much more “mundane”, is not as well received.
How has the student's learning changed or not changed in the last X years with new technologies being introduced in the classroom? Do they do better? Do they ask more questions? Are their critical thinking skills improved? The students will not learn on their own. The existence of user interfaces in electronic equipment, whether telephone or computer screen, has changed. Strategy to solve problems is to put something down, and see if it gives the right answer. You may not know the answer but if it doesn’t look right, try something else. User friendliness does not promote stop and analysis learning. Strategy is to try a solution, if it doesn't work, try something else, and see if it works. Hacker mentality. It makes the trial and error. Hard to engage students in hard problem solving, with or without technology.	The result of using technologies in the classroom is that the students actually learn less with technologies, and the effect is exacerbated by the “user-friendliness” of available technologies in the classroom. Instead of promoting critical thinking and analysis, students can try different guesses to get at the solutions of their math problems, rather than logically reason out the steps to solve the problems. Instructors may also rely overly on technologies to grade student assignments, such as the use of Scantron, or simply checking the final answer rather than the steps to solve a problem, which is not available using current technology.
Imagine that your school had an unlimited budget and it offered the Mathematics Department the opportunity to completely revamp its classrooms and course contents. The Director of the Mathematics Department is looking for suggestions on how to spend that money. What would be your top three suggestions to spend those funds? (Damian) Used Maple TA to set up a testing system – enormous use of technology, took 8 months to set up the questions. Expense is not in equipment, but in developing the content, and creating the question templates. Potential use is to give every student equivalent work to do, but the questions are different. Students cannot just copy from other classmates. Good for co-op learning. Alternatives are generated by the random number generator. Used in a remedial class with high failure rate. Co-op learning does not work with one set of questions. Students will find out who the brightest student is and that student do the work and others will just copy from that student, and have little idea how to do the assignment. Students at XXXX have too much work to do. One student will do the work in one class for everyone, and another student will do the work for another class for everyone. Unique assignment will force each student to do the work. If done on the internet, the template can also generate hints for the students but these must be prepared by the instructor. Takes a lot of time to prepare.	Technologies need to be carefully evaluated before they are adopted in the classroom. The pros and cons of using technologies must be weighed upon carefully to ensure student learning is not affected negatively. Even learning methods without the explicit use of digital technologies, like co-op education, is found to be unsuitable for certain learning environments.
What kind of learning curve do your students experience with educational technology in your class? (PATRICIA) Are they pretty quick in picking up the new technologies? Not really a learning curve especially in demonstration. Students use Excel a lot. 25 years ago, they had to use calculators. Now they use Excel and they struggle with it. Not so much for computing students who probably learned from other courses. Other students take about 25% of course to learn Excel, included in course outline.	Learning to use technology in the classroom does take up extra time. This should be factored into the regular schedule without having students to learn them outside of class.
What limitations do you see with respect to using technology in your educational environment? (WANDA) Are there any support? Do you have enough preparation time? Consumes time. Support: it takes time to write programs to develop demonstration. Other instructors use Powerpoint to develop slides.	With the limited time and support for teachers, it is difficult to explore the use of technology in the classroom, and to critically evaluate their advantages and disadvantages. Powerpoint is popular and easy to use because presentations can be easily put together, and some textbooks already come with these presentations as part of the teacher’s resource kit. It also helps the teacher to organize the material to be presented.
Final comments on technologies in the classroom: Technology is not a panacea. Educational activity still takes place between people. Technology is just a tool. Technology is still very passive for the moment. Information is provided but the students have to figure it out themselves. As a tool to remove tedium of calculations, give variety and demonstration and visual in the classroom, technology is great. Not sure if the real contact between a machine and a student will ever happen. Not sure if a machine will pick up the thinking process of the students. Students still talk to the instructors because they can’t just learn from the book themselves.	Technology has not matured, and may not ever mature, to a state where learning can be tracked by a machine to effectively guide a student in the learning process. This instructor’s use of Maple TA is a step in the direction in that the templates he put together do project what the students may or may not do in the solution of the math problems. In case the student does take the wrong step, the program can question the student’s reasoning.

Video Clips

I watched the videos on Learning Environment 1 (graphing calculator) and Learning Environment 2 (high school physics).

Teacher F sees the calculator as a mini computer. He sees the potential of the calculator to be more than just a tool to ease the drudgery of manual calculation, but he uses the calculator to empower the students to attempt problems beyond those that are normally covered in class. Technology thus augments the students’ natural abilities to allow them to explore and make advances in mathematics. I think this is a good use of technology in that students are empowered to make the leap from a learner to an explorer or researcher.

Teacher F is obviously a good planner in his teaching in that he knows what the scientific calculator can do and the type of problems that are suitable for his students. He is also very resourceful in the purchase and use of calculators to motivate his students rather than depending on the limited resource of computers in the school. His continuous use of calculators from Grade 8 to 11 allows the students to become familiar with this technology and this familiarity, in turn, allows them to make use this technology with comfort and without fear. Good use of technology also involves good classroom management where Teacher F uses teams to allow students to help each other.

One area that I like to explore is how to come up with good exploratory problems for the students that are appropriate for the technology that is available in the classroom. I am not sure if this is based on intuition or whether there is any scientific methods for doing so?

Teacher A in the science classroom uses technology beyond the technical lessons that he wants to teach. He also emphasizes on the transferable skills. I think he actually organized his class such that these transferable skills can be learned because of the technology used. Thus his labs are done in teams, where they have to set goals, manage time and resources, etc. One area I like to explore further is the type of transferable skills that different technology best promotes, and to experiment how this can be incorporated in the classroom.

Teacher B realizes that good use of technology requires good support so teaching and learning can be conducted smoothly. She also sees that both computer simulation and manual, hands on lab have their advantages and disadvantages. It is not clear which method is better under what circumstances or topics to be covered. One area I like to explore further is to do a comparative study on the use of the two methods for different scientific experiments.

Good Use of Technology in the Classroom

What is a good use of technology in the math and science classroom? What would such a learning experience and environment look like? What would be some characteristics of what it is and what it isn't?

Having only taught one semester of math using no technology other than the whiteboard, and having no experience in teaching general science, I am not sure if I can really answer these questions. Anyway, here are my thoughts. I think a good use of technology in the math and science classroom is one that helps the students to construct their knowledge that closely resembles to either absolute truth (objectivist view) or a reality based on the experiences and interactions with the environment (constructivist view). For me, math is an abstract discipline. We can’t really touch and feel mathematical objects, like numbers, algebra, graphs, sets, etc. Similarly many scientific concepts are abstract in nature. Although we can do experiments in science, it is difficult really understand chemical reaction, biological growth, or physical interactions just by observation (Steele, 2002). So any tools or technologies that can help students have a better grasp of such abstract concepts are useful in the classroom.

For math, I can think of the graphing calculator or the bigger computer version, Maple program are examples of good uses of technology in the math classroom (http://www.maplesoft.com/). These technologies allow the students to visualize mathematical concepts through graphs and different ways of mathematical formula manipulations. Through interacting with the mathematical objects, and their transformations and being able to visualize the effects, e.g. in graphs, the students may come to a better understanding of the mathematical concepts.

Similarly, in science, simulations on the computer play an important role in helping students to associate abstract concepts with mental constructs. A realistic simulation provides the students the ability to experiment and manipulate an artificial world that closely resembles the reality and thus allowing her to have better understanding and predictions of the physical world.

The selection of mathematical tools and scientific simulations must be carefully made for the students so they don’t get overwhelmed. Even for scientific calculators, there is a wide range of selections out there. Some simulations can be too detailed while others are too simplistic.

What makes this a good use of technology? Is this a vision or is it possible in real classrooms? What makes this vision a challenge to implement and what might be needed to actualize it?

Simulations and mathematical tools like graphing calculators and Maple are commonly used in the science and math classrooms. Good and realistic simulations are not easy to come by though although there seems to be quite a number of them around. In my son’s high school, there are a number of scientific calculators that the students can borrow. However, such technologies can be expensive to produce and be purchased.

References

Steele, B. (2002). Why are some scientific concepts difficult to grasp? Retrieved on May 12, 2007 from http://www.pitt.edu/utimes/issues/34/020321/12.html

del.icio.us

This is amazingly delicious ... del.icio.us. I use a number of computers, at work, at home, and on the road. It is so difficult for me to keep track of my bookmarks since each computer has a different set of "favorites". When I upgrade a computer, it is so troublesome to store all the bookmarks from the old computer and reload them into the new computer. All this is history when I came across del.icio.us. It is so simple to have all the bookmarks stored somewhere in the virtual land. Now all my computers have del.icio.us installed and I can tag webpages anywhere and can access them anywhere else! Amazing!

I can't help but think how del.icio.us makes money. There is a "your network" link that allows me to connect to other people, and share my bookmarks. I suppose the more people you are connected, the network grows and as the user base increases, it has more power of influence. But I am still not sure what is the catch!

Down Memory Lane - First Encounter with Technology

My first memorable experience with digital technology in education setting, as far as I can remember, has to be the programmable scientific calculator. The year was 1975 when I was in Grade 10. (Yes, you may pause to figure out my age.) Basic function calculator that could only do simple arithmetic was pretty common back then. It had been around for a few years then and, in fact, I was quite unimpressed when my father first brought home one of these calculators. It was huge and heavy and all I could do with the calculator was add, subtract, multiply and divide. I don’t think it even had a memory function. I could do anything and everything that basic calculator could do .. although perhaps slower and I would make more mistakes. But in terms of functionality, I did not perceive the calculator as an extension to what I could do and that it could benefit me much.

But when one of my friends in Grade 10 showed me his TI SR-52 calculator (see http://www.thocp.net/hardware/ti_calculators.htm), I knew I had to get one. I was totally fascinated by the many colored keys and funny symbols, as well as the myriads of functions built into the calculator. I suddenly realized that here was a machine that was more intelligent than me. I had the idea that if I could own one of these little machines, I would be so much more intelligent. So after calling a number of stores in the lower mainland, I finally tracked down the last calculator available at the Bay and immediately went and bought it.

I then spent many hours pouring through the manual and experimenting on the calculator, and learning the different features of the calculator. I learned mathematics which I had not been taught in school before such as statistical functions, polar / rectangular coordinates, radian / degree conversions, etc. I was also fascinated by the RND key – it generated random numbers. I could not really understand why I was so fascinated by this function until recently, and that is I had always thought of the calculator as a deterministic machine and there was supposed to be a one to one correspondence between input and output. There was supposed to be no randomness in mathematical functions. The fact that this calculator seemed to violate this deterministic behavior caused me to think that this machine might have more power than I realized. (I said “seemed to” because I know now that there is really no such thing as random numbers. Random numbers are really generated by a function that generates numbers that “look” random.)

The TI SR-52, however, was more than just a scientific calculator, it was also programmable. This was my first exposure to programming. Once again, I was fascinated that by punching in a sequence of instructions, I could get the calculator to perform a series of complex calculations at the touch of one or two keys. Then as I explored further, the calculator turned out to be an amazing game machine. I started with some simple games, like high-low game, memory game, and then I learned how to program the calculator to play more sophisticated games like Blackjack, Mastermind, Lunar Lander, etc. The amazing thing was that all these games were played using one line of digital display. Others who watched me as I played these games must have wondered what I saw in those numbers. The programmability feature allowed the calculator to be transformed from one with a finite number of built in functions to one that could compute almost anything, limited only by the amount of memory inside. Again the sense of power in knowing what the calculator was capable of doing and how to program it was extremely exciting and satisfying for me then. It was an interplay between discovering the inherent power of the calculator with all the built-in functions and enhancing the calculator capability to give it additional functions that have captured my interest since then, and even now. Last year, I purchased what I believed to be the most advanced scientific programmable calculator on the market nowadays, the HP – 50G. The screen is a lot bigger now, and one can play Lunar Lander and Blackjack with much better graphics, and it boasts 2300+ built-in functions! One can hardly stop learning, discovering, and exploring with one of these marvels!