Transcript Document

Recognizing the Visible Evidence
of Invisible Learning
The Collaboration for the Advancement of Teaching
and Learning
Bloomington, MN Feb 16, 2008
Comments on the Readings for Thursday Novemb er 13th Current Forum: Read
23 times
Wed Nov 12 2003 8:17 pm Date:
Bastos, John Michael < > Author: [email protected]
Re: Water... Subject:
Not totally sure this is right, but I'll take a chance... My guess is that the
microbes "digest" the contami nants and
internally break them down into another substance. Although digest might not
be the best word, because it's not like
they eat them (they dont have mo uths). But I suppose they look for a chemical
or protein and bind or absorb it, and
then break it down internally with other enzymes. The enzymes take one thing
and then break it down into more
specific parts; then use some of it for food or energy to make more cells\parts and then it probably just excretes
whatever else it doesn't need.
That's my take at least.
Comments on the Readings for Thursday Novemb er 13th Current Forum: Read
24 times
Wed Nov 12 2003 8:31 pm Date:
Whitehurst, Celadon Charles < > Author: [email protected]
Re: Water... Subject:
yeah, it seems like the microbes strip the pollutants of important chemicals that
change its chemi cal makeup and make
it into a comp letely different compound all together.
Comments on the Readings for Thursday Novemb er 13th Current Forum: Read
27 times
Wed Nov 12 2003 8:34 pm Date:
Whitehurst, Celadon Charles < > Author: [email protected]
3 things... Subject:
It was really refr eshing to hear how a mi crobe mutated in a way that benefitted
us. The PCB resistant microbes that
actually eat the harmful pollutants are a welcome break from all of t he antibiotic
resistant, disease-causing microbes we
have studied so far!
One question i had was whether the Arabian Gulf w as so rich in oil-eating
microbes b/c of t he large amounts of o il
constantly being dump ed... Did the pollution actually cause the proliferation of
these mi crobes b/c they had to
constantly deal with the oil and then they were ready when Iraqi fo rces dumped
larger amounts?
I think the idea of p roducing and using the enzymes that break down the
pollutants rather than using the microbes really
does seem much safer, but I am slightly confused as to the logistics of how they
would actually imp lement the plan.
Comments on the Readings for Thursday Novemb er 13th Current Forum: Read
22 times
Wed Nov 12 2003 8:47 pm Date:
Condon, Kelly C. < > Author: condonk@ georgetown.edu
microbial cleaners Subject:
The information I read in today's selections sounds really hopeful, but the
articles also bring up a few questions and
personal reservations. It is very fortunate that the PCBs are helping to clean the
Hudson, but that should not take our
Ventures answer when
uncertain
Good detail
confirmation
Appreciation of the
range of science!
Great attemp t to answer
own question
Link out to regulation
and to peer comm ent
Randy Bass, Georgetown University
[email protected]
digitalcommons.georgetown.edu/
blogs/bassr
In Memory of James Slevin, 1945-2006
English, Georgetown University
Francis March Award
Address, December 2005
The Right to Literacy, with Andrea Lunsford (MLA, 1990).
Introducing English: Essays in the Intellectual Work of
Composition (Pittsburgh, 2001).
Shulman’s Table of Learning
Engagement and Motivation
Knowledge and Understanding
Performance and Action
Reflection and Critique
Judgment and Design
Commitment and Identity
Engagement and Motivation
Knowledge and Understanding
Performance and Action
Reflection and Critique
Judgment and Design
Commitment and Identity
Shulman’s
Table of Learning
“In a nutshell, the taxonomy makes the following
assertion: Learning begins with student
engagement, which in turn leads to knowledge and
understanding. Once someone understands, he or
she becomes capable of performance or action…
Lee Shulman, “Making Differences: A Table of Learning”
Engagement and Motivation
Knowledge and Understanding
Performance and Action
Reflection and Critique
Judgment and Design
Commitment and Identity
Shulman’s
Table of Learning
“…Critical reflection on one's practice and understanding leads
to higher-order thinking in the form of a capacity to exercise
judgment in the face of uncertainty and to create designs in
the presence of constraints and unpredictability. Ultimately,
the exercise of judgment makes possible the development
of commitment.
Lee Shulman, “Making Differences: A Table of Learning”
Engagement and Motivation
Knowledge and Understanding
Performance and Action
Reflection and Critique
Judgment and Design
Commitment and Identity
Shulman’s
Table of Learning
“… In commitment, we become capable of professing
our understandings and our values, our faith and
our love, our skepticism and our doubts,
internalizing those attributes and making them
integral to our identities. These commitments, in
turn, make new engagements possible—and even
necessary.
Lee Shulman, “Making Differences: A Table of Learning”
Table of Learning as Cycle
Lee Shulman, “Making Differences: A Table of Learning”
“Shuffling the Deck”
Lee Shulman, “Making Differences: A Table of Learning”
What Jim Learned
– Most students won’t go onto step two if not
confident of step one.
– They will spend lots of time on a non-fruitful
approach rather than try an alternative method.
– Students can solve in groups what they can’t
solve alone.
– Most surprised that virtually all students had a
lot of trouble articulating why they were trying
any particular approach.
Jim Sandefur, Mathematics, Georgetown
Teaching Problem Solving Process:
Pedagogy of “stuck places”
Terry and
Greg
Process Matters:
•Students reflect on part of
the problem overnight
•Watch the student
problem solving video and
stop at a critical spot
•Class discussion
•Write up their reflections
on possible actions
Teaching Problem Solving Process:
Pedagogy of “stuck places”
Terry and
Greg
“So, we have two
conditions to
work with. I’m
not sure how to
reconcile them.”
Observa tions from the Think Alouds
Goal s for Changing
Teaching Practice
O bservation 1: Stu dents are wi l l i ng to work. I had the
misconcept ion that poor quality or missing homework was
the result of studen ts not making sufficient effort. Early on,
I discover this is not always the case.
Goal 1: Help studen t s
spend their time more
product ively.
O bservation 2: Stu dents are often stuck at the ve ry
be gin ning of a problem. T he studen t s who were t rying to
determine the a and b values that resulted in 3-cycles never
even understand the quest ion being asked. In another
situat ion, one of these studen ts was videotaped working a
graph theory problem. For 40 minut es, the studen t just kept
repeat ing t he question, but never made a first st ep.
Goal 2: Help studen t s
get started on their
problems.
O bservation 3: Stu dents ke ep repe atin g the sam e steps,
e ven when the y cl early do not help. In watching my
students work, I not iced they were like a wind-up toy car
that is stuck in the corner, wheels spinning but not going
anywhere. Once studen ts decide how to approach a
problem, they have difficulty trying a new approach.
Goal 3: Help studen t s
learn how to t ry a
variety of approaches
and to develop
flexibility in their
thinking by using
mult iple approaches.
O bservation 4: Stu dents avoi d look ing at examples an d
i nste ad try to solve the gene ral problem. Studen t s are not
only reluctant to t ry examples, but when they do t ry
examples, they tend not to reflect on how the examples can
help t hem solve the problem,
Goal 4: Help studen t s
learn to use examples
to develop a bet ter
understanding of the
problem and to reflect
on examples to help
them understand the
general situat ion.
Observations>Alignment with Goals > Strategies
Strategy 1: Give prompts. I have had more
success with prompt s than with hints. A
prompt helps the studen ts organize t heir
approach. They t end to be the ques t ions that
we ask ourselves when we are solving a
problem, and they tend to be t he same,
regardless of the problem
“ What I discovered as I began teaching this
course is that prompts are the ques t ions I
ask myself, almost subconsciously. T o
develop good prompts, I have learned to
observe my own thinking as I work
problems, somewhat of an internal Think
Aloud, and focus on what I am asking
myself as I work problems.”
Strategy 2: Mu ltiple drafts: For difficult
problems, hints will clearly help the
students. The problem is that a hint may
help one studen t and be of no use to
another…Hints work bet ter if they are
somewhat studen t specific. Because of this,
I have instituted a mult iple draft system.
“This system in which each problem is
graded several times is time consuming for
me. Because of this, I assign fewer
problems, but they are generally harder and
more involved.”
Strategy 3: Mak ing conje ctures: Instead
of asking studen ts t o prove a st atement, I
now try to have more problems that cause
students to explore a situat ion and const ruct
their own conjectures. This helps combine
problem solving with construction of proofs.
Studen ts are encouraged to try to understand
why the examples work by reflect ing on
their construction.
“ One difficulty t hat often arises is that
students have so much fun looking for
pat terns, they forget to act ually stop and
prove some of t heir results. A second
problem is that the problem must be worded
carefully so that t he studen ts actually see
some pat terns. Many studen ts are so
disorganized that they may work for a long
time without making any discoveries. I
believe one of the greatest shortcomings of
post -secondary mathemat ics educa t ion is the
lack of development of our students’ ability
to look for pat terns and make conjectures.”
Going public with the difference that inquiry makes
James Sandefur, Mathematics,
Georgetown
Instead we need to explore learning
products appropriate to learning
processes
LEARNING
processes
NOVICE
processes
LEARNING
processes
EXPERT
processes
LEARNING
processes
How can we better
understand these
intermediate
processes?
Visible
Evidence?
How might we
design in
response to
them?
From the
Charea Batiste
interview
“On the relationship
of the images to her
voice”
[19:41] Because I was never involved in the civil
rights movement, as I said that was a long
time ago for me. I feel that I don’t have…
can’t in my own words describe what
happened. I was never there, I didn’t
experience any of those things, so my words
are just from an outside point of view.
But the pictures are first hand. These are people
who actually went through the pain, who
went through the torture, and their stories are
told through these still images.
My voice was used I guess to give life to those
pictures, but the pictures itself they told the
story.
And my voice, I remember listening, I would get
very angry telling the story. And I think that’s
what added to the images. Because the
anger in my voice--although still in tune with
the digital story--without being irate was
enough to make the images real, relevant, so
you could feel the anger that was, you know,
produced from those acts of violence. [20:52]
Where is Charea’s digital story as project that
begins with engagement and ends with
commitment?
Insert stills of hands, pose question
about alternative endings…be more
“critical”?
Greg Ulmer: “From Literacy to Electracy”
“For example, general education writing
courses…serve at least the following consensus
needs, listed in order of current priority—
methods for using the language to learn
specialized knowledge;
practices of rhetoric and logic required for
citizenship in a democratic society;
models of self-knowledge for living the
examined life.
We may assume that these needs continue in
electracy, but that they will be articulated
differently. But there will be an inversion of the
literate hierarchy; the first communication of an
electrate person is reflexive, self-directed” (5).
[Writing
competency]
[Critical
thinking]
[Capacity for
reflection]
http://digitalcommons.georgetown.edu/
blogs/bassr
Key References
Randy Bass: [email protected]
• Lee Shulman, “Making Differences: A Table of Learning”
http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/publications/sub.asp?key=452&subkey=612
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
• Charea Batiste, “Chocolate Innocence” (Cal State Monterey Bay,
Cecilia O’Leary--teacher)
• James Slevin, Francis March Award Address, available at:
http://english.georgetown.edu
•
James Sandefur, Department of Mathematics (Georgetown University)
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/sandefur/