This week I learned about observational and social learning as well as using technology as a tool in learning (something I discuss quite often on this blog site). I also started a new job this week and subsequently have been attending a lot of onboarding and training sessions. I wanted to challenge myself to find at least 3 connections between my onboarding process at work and what I was learning in CEP 800. This is what I found:
Reflecting on these findings and what I learned this week both at work and in my studies, I noticed that one common theme is that everyone learns differently. There are so many different factors that contribute to any given learning experience, and curating the ‘perfect’ scenario for learning is nearly impossible. This emphasizes the importance of differentiated instruction and knowing your learners beyond the surface level. Resources: Cherry, K. (2019, September 6). How observational learning affects behavior. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-observational-learning-2795402 Cherry, K. (2020, April 28). What is the zone of proximal development as defined by Vygotsky?. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-zone-of-proximal-development-2796034 Salomon, G., & Perkins, D. (2005). Do technologies make us smarter? Intellectual amplification with, of and through technology. In R. J. Sternberg & D. D. Preiss (Eds.), Intelligence and technology: The impact of tools on the nature and development of human abilities (pp. 71-86). Erlbaum.
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When you think of the word “geometry”, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Is it colorful shapes and fun pictures like the one above? Or is it a cold, stiff classroom and teacher lecturing about dreaded proofs? I have been a member of the “I hate geometry” club, because my relationship with the subject fell mostly into the second category. Ironically though, when asked what my favorite aspect of math is, my response involves the ways that math appears in our everyday lives- from the shapes that make up houses, to how the sun rises and sets each day. Although I wasn’t conscious of it, THIS is geometry. This week in my CEP 805 course, I looked at geometry from a new perspective, setting aside my dislike for the subject and focusing on what it actually is.
After spending time with the Common Core State Standards for geometry and looking at the standards for each grade, I realized that my Common Content Knowledge, as described by Hill & Ball (2009), of this subject actually spans more content than I initially thought it did. As stated above, my initial thoughts about what geometry content is jump to proofs, postulates, and theorems. But geometry content includes correctly identifying and naming shapes at the kindergarten level, describing the partitioning of shapes using the correct language at the first grade level, finding rows and columns at the second grade level, and so on (CCSSI, n.d.). These standards are the foundations of geometry that make mathematics so exciting for me and many other students, but somehow the excitement of the subject is lost between these young grades and later grades. The first part of my initial thoughts about geometry involved the setting in which it is taught. I thought of cold, stiff classrooms and teachers lecturing. When I imagine the standards of the younger grades as mentioned above though, I picture them being taught with bright colors, comforting settings, and involving lots of play. Hill & Ball (2009) describe this as Knowledge of Content and Teaching in relation to a teacher’s Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (or MKT). In other words, how teachers teach what their students need to learn. Lee et al. (2020) argues that there is a need to “make room for play and enjoyment in math education” (Lee et al., 2020) and not just in younger grades. A large part of why geometry in older grades is so dreaded is because once content becomes more complicated and students grow older, play disappears in the classroom and teachers turn to less interactive/ creative pedagogies in order to deliver content. There are many reasons for why teachers use particular pedagogies with older students, but the pedagogies that are implemented tend to result in rote memorization. Oldridge (2019) states that “play moves math instruction beyond rote memorization to a more expansive understanding of mathematics” (Oldridge, 2019), which could be a key factor in bringing the excitement back into geometry education for older students and giving purpose to the content. I challenge you to bring the excitement and play back into geometry in your own life with this 2-minute game: How many shapes do you think you can find? Set a timer on your phone for 2 minutes. Start the timer and count how many shapes you see in your direct line of vision. Play with a friend and compare! References: Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). (n.d.). Mathematics standards. Mathematics Standards | Common Core State Standards Initiative. http://www.corestandards.org/Math/ Hill, H., & Ball, D. L. (2009). The curious - and crucial - case of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(2), 68–71. Lee, C., Wongkamalasai, M., Thompson, N., & Jasin, L. (2020, January). Designing for playful math engagement across learning environments [Conference Paper]. International Society of Learning Sciences Conference, Nashville, TN, United States. Oldridge, M. (2019, July 24). The playful approach to math. Edutopia. Fdecomite. (April, 2011). Great dodecahemicosahedron [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/fdecomite/5580577168 This semester I am going to be spending some time looking at how I can better serve the MAET / GC community through my position as the Student Advisory Council representative for the MAET program. Currently I send out 1-2 surveys per semester to the students enrolled in this program. These surveys ask for feedback on the student experience and provide space for open responses regarding any questions or concerns learners may have in relation to the program. I have found that these surveys lack high quality responses, and oftentimes are only completed by a handful of students. My goal is to work through the design thinking process to empathize with these students, define the true problem and its’ root cause, ideate, prototype, and test a possible solution to this issue. This week I worked through the first stage- empathizing with this population of students. Due to my current role as both a full time student and MAET student representative, I identify with the group that I am looking at here and have been involved in multiple conversations surrounding this topic at a higher department level. This puts me in a unique position where I am able to empathize with both learners and faculty/staff. I put my department-level-brain aside, and stepped into the shoes of my peers. The first way I did this was by completing a Journey Map (Stanford University d.school). This journey map took me through the process of receiving, completing, and submitting one of the surveys. In order to fully immerse myself in the experience of my peers, I sent myself the exact email that was distributed to them, read through the email, and recorded all steps that I took in order to complete the survey. This inadvertently led me to complete a different type of empathy research - putting myself in the position of the user. As I went through the survey I recorded all of my thoughts and feelings. When I reached the end of the survey and the end of my journey mapping I sat with my experience before reflecting on what this empathy research taught me about my potential users. My reflection is as follows: I noticed that this survey is really only focused on asking about my identity and if my identities are represented in the program. There is a space to provide other comments or feedback as well as a feedback form in the initial email, but I felt that I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to comment or leave feedback on. As the creator of this survey, I understand why specific questions were included, but a user may think these questions are random and don’t flow sensically. Also, as someone who feels that they are represented in the program pretty well, it seemed that my response to the survey was kind of pointless, since it only centered around representation. There were no really intriguing questions or questions that align with feedback I would like to give to the program. I would have appreciated a broader range of questions that were not just focused on representation in the program. Progressing into the definition stage of the design thinking process and having placed myself in the position of my peers completing these surveys, these insights will help me define the root cause of my problem. References: Stanford University d.school (n.d.) Design Thinking Bootleg. https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/design-thinking-bootleg This week in my CEP 800 course, I dove deeper into various theories of learning and the research and history behind habits and behaviors. Throughout this semester I am going to be working on implementing the habit of reading into my daily life/ routines. Before starting this journey, I needed to understand what a habit is, how it works, and the different aspects of behaviorism that will help me implement this habit.
To start, I looked at what a habit actually is and how one is formed. According to Duhigg (2012), habits “emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort” (Duhigg, 2012). When I look at the root of my daily routines and habits with this statement in mind, I can see why so many of my ‘bad’ or unwanted habits have formed. Focusing on my goal habit of reading each day, I situated this habit to (hopefully) replace an unwanted habit within my life. Currently I am taking the hour before I go to sleep to scroll through social media. Because my days are so busy, this is usually one of the only times that I have completely to myself and naturally I am drawn to use this time on social platforms. Duhigg describes the habit loop as a cue, routine, and reward, and as this loop is repeated it “becomes more and more automatic… until a powerful sense of anticipation and craving emerges” (Duhigg, 2012). Currently my cue is getting into bed, routine is picking up my phone and scrolling social platforms, and reward is forgetting the chaos of the day and being calm and ready for bed. So how do I change this? Duhigg states that in order to change your habit into something new, “you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine” (Duhigg, 2012). In this instance the cue is getting into bed and I need to maintain the same reward of being calm and ready to sleep. What needs to change is the habit of picking up my phone and instead picking up a book to read for an hour. A challenge that I am expecting to encounter is becoming bored with reading, or continuing to crave the connection on social media that I will now be lacking. If this becomes an issue, I plan to enforce the Premack Principle. This principle takes a less valued action and pairs it with a highly valued action. The Premack Principle can be used to reinforce Operant Conditioning, where a stimulus leads to a behavior, which results in a consequence (good or bad) (Miller, 2020). This is similar to the habit loop and can be used in the same ways. Using the Premack Principle, if I am struggling to read for an hour I will break it into smaller chunks and reward myself with time on my phone. More specifically, if I finish reading two chapters I can go on my phone for 15 minutes. Reflecting on behaviorism and habits this week, I took some time to acknowledge how prevalent the theories of behaviorism are in my life currently, beyond just trying to implement this new habit change. I recently adopted a puppy and while he has been a joy to train, there has been a lot of effort that has gone into building and maintaining his habits and behaviors. As I'm sure you can imagine, teaching a dog new commands involves repetitive cue-routine-reward cycles all day, but there is a lot of behavior training that goes into a puppy as well! Using the same theories of Skinner’s (1937) Operant and Pavlov’s (1897) Classical Conditioning, my dog is learning acceptable behaviors, such as waiting at the door to go outside, and unacceptable behaviors, such as stealing socks out of the laundry. My dog has shown me how much learning truly relies on the foundations of behaviorism! References: Cherry, K. (2019, September 5). What is classical conditioning?. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/classical-conditioning-2794859 Duhigg, C. (2012). The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business. Random House. Miller, K. D. (2020, March 25). Operant conditioning theory: Examples for effective habit formation. Positive Psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/operant-conditioning-theory/ |
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