Welcome to the first week in the birthing of the NoBoundary Book Club; we will be exploring the first 57 pages of "Learning to Think, Learning to Learn." Questions, comments, ideas, etc. are welcome and anyone can respond. Keep in mind that we are not looking for what is "right" or "wrong", but are rather sharing our thoughts and experiences related to the topics at hand.
You can find the topics and questions at: http://www.geocities.com/depeky/week1.html Anyone can introduce new related topics or questions.
To send messages to the to the NoBoundary Book Club list, just send email to the following address: [email protected]
An online copy of "Learning To Think, Learning to Learn", and resource links to related information can be found at: www.geocities.com/depeky
Most of our KCTCS colleagues will be on spring break this week.
Anyone is also welcome to introduce themselves on the list, as it reduces the distance between all of us on an online book club.
Dan Kesterson
Hi,
As we begin our discussion, let�s think about our own teaching/learning situations and think about how the ideas being discussed might play a role in our instruction.
ROLE OF DISCUSSION IN LEARNING:
Question: What constructivist approaches/strategies for social interactions, such as discussion or collaborative learning, exist for instructional programs which have students coming and going (individualized), use programmed texts or computer integrated question/answer computer drills? What do we know about coaching or scaffolding?
In readings for this weeks discussions of Learning to Think, Learning to Learn (LtoT,LtoL), Jennifer repeatedly emphasizes the role of discussion in forming thinking skills.�
DISCUSSION: LtoT,LtoL:Teaching means teaching students to think, �..thinking skills may best be formed through discussions� .�
LtoT,LtoL: �Effective teachers create real discussions among students and between students and the teacher. Students learn to think by actively thinking and engaging with the subject in asocial setting. To teach students to look at both sides of an argument in history, have a debate or ask student to write from another person's point of view.�
LtoT,LtoL: �..as soon as students can understand a passage, you can have a discussion about what it means. They do not have to become expert decoders before you can ever work on comprehension.�
LtoT,LtoL: �Always have a discussion before you read.�
Related Links at the NoBoundary Book Club Website:
Holistic Approaches in Learning Labs http://www.geocities.com/depeky/labs.html
Constructivism and Technology http://www.geocities.com/depeky/tech.html
Cognitive Apprenticeship http://www.geocities.com/depeky/cog.html
Coaching, Modeling and Scaffolding http://www.geocities.com/depeky/coaching.html
Constructivism http://www.geocities.com/depeky/construct.html
Dan Kesterson
Hi,
Story Grammar:
Below are three statements about using story grammar to teach reading comprehension, one from Jennifer Cromley, one form David Caverly and the one from Ida Renda, each with a little different slant, and all who are basically constructivists. I use story grammar to talk about the novels students are reading and to help students write their own novelettes. I do not test over the story grammar as that is not the competency I am after. I would like to hear what others are doing with story grammar.
"L to T, Lto L, Page 53 Several "sacred cows" of the teaching world have been shown to be ineffective. That is, students either do not learn from them, or learn much less than from the proven strategies above: Reading Comprehension: *Explaining to normal readers how stories are put together." (I take it that "Normal readers" is the clue here.)
Teaching Reading in a Learning Assistance Center, David Caverly, Southwest Texas State University "...teaching developmental students to recognize the story grammar or organization of narratives generally improves their comprehension (Idol, 1987; Nolte & Singer, 1985; Singer & Donlan, 1982)."
Teaching the Novel using a response workshop approach, Ina Renda
http://www.geocities.com/jccadjunct/workshop.ppt
Dan Kesterson
Hi,
Jennifer Cromley (Learning to think,..): "This book is based on the idea
that teaching means teaching students to think. It assumes that teaching is
not just avbout communitating facts or mechanical skills..., but is a
process of coming to understand the world."
Below is an idea that always rankles feathers, but not in this instance as I
am simply reporting what I read and am not sure that instructors or software
are used in isolation or with isolated skills much anymore. However, there
is much written about the need for incorporating constructivist practices
with software programs and even online learning. See "Constructivism and
Technology" at our website: http://www.geocities.com/depeky/tech.html
John Dewey: "Learning is a social activity: our learning is intimately
associated with our connection with other human beings, our teachers, our
peers, our family as well as casual acquaintances, including the people
before us or next to us at the exhibit. We are more likely to be successful
in our efforts to educate if we recognize this principle rather than try to
avoid it. Much of traditional education, as Dewey pointed out, is directed
towards isolating the learner from all social interaction, and towards
seeing education as a one-on-one relationship between the learner and the
objective material to be learned."
This is the crux of complaints by constructivist about programmed texts and
software programs when they isolate skills or the student form dialogue.
From a constructivist perspective, much software falls short of promoting
critical reading. For example, rather than "prompting students to formulate
their own questions" about what they have read, many programs ask their
questions in a multiple-choice format and designate the correct answer.
The complaint is that these programs follow behaviorist's models:
The role of the instructor, text or computer program is to transmit
information to the student. Learning occurs as the result of an external
agent such as the instructor, text or computer program transmitting to
students a set of rules, then giving students practice with these rules
until mastery occurs.
In comparison, a constructivist approach to reading would have the following
guidelines:
* Applications to college reading instruction are determined by the
task demands of college courses.
* Reading materials should be authentic required texts.
* Constructivism is both guided and social in its interpretation.
* Through guided constructivism, the instructor models processes and
guides students to task awareness and eventually to task control.
* Rather than depending upon the individual to learn alone with the
text, the social constructivist approach engages the learner's unique sets
of experiences with those of others and the social context
Is anyone who uses programmed texts, software or work in learning labs using
constructivist principles to balance instruction?
Also see Holistic Approaches in Learning Labs at:
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/labs.html
Dan Kesterson
Hi,
In Learning to Think, Learning to Learn, there is much to chew on compacted in four consistent finding from research on �learning to think�, which we would to well to consider in planning our programs and instruction., (L to T, L to L, p15)
�Most thinking skills and problem-solving skills seem to be specific in different subjects. � Students need to be taught how to apply them separately in every subject area.�
�It is possible to help students transfer what they have learned in one class to another class or to the world outside of school. �
So what do the studies show? There are several consistent findings: page 16:
1) Teaching thinking skills is most effective in the context of �real problem-solving in a
particular field.�
To learn to think, you have to have something to thing about! To teach
comparing and contrasting in social studies have students learn about two wars and then compare and contrast them.
See related NoBoundary Links:
Authentic Learning:
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/authentic.html
Problem-based Learning:
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/prob.html
Contextual Learning:
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/context.html
2) Teachers need to �demonstrate� or �model� for students the �process� of solving a problem in that field.
To teach cause and effect in science, talk out loud as you solve a physics problem, such as what happens when one object hits another object.
See related NoBoundary Links:
Modeling, Coaching and Scaffolding:
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/coaching.html
Reciprocal Teaching:
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/recip.html
Cognitive Apprenticeship:
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/cog.html
3) Effective teachers create real �discussions� among students and between students and the teacher. Students learn to think by actively thinking and engaging with the subject in a social setting.
To teach students to look at both sides of an argument in history, have a
debate21 or ask student to write from another person's point of view.
See related NoBoundary Links:
For Discussion, collaboration, dialogue, social context: see constructivism:
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/construct.html
4) Effective programs identify the �kinds of problems� students must be able to solve, and teach students how to solve those problems.
To teach students how to infer meaning
from context in poetry, have them read poems and discuss them.
Dan Kesterson
Hi,
Jennifer Cromley has placed great emphasis on contextualism and problem-based learning.
LtoT,LtoL: �Skills need to be taught in the context in which they will be used.�
LtoT,LtoL: �Teaching thinking skills is most effective in the context of real problem-solving in a particular field. To learn to think, you have to have something to thing about!�
Question: Are we wasting our students time or being less effective when we teach skills in isolation, outside the context of real problem-solving?
Other notes on context from LtoT,LtoL:
LtoT,LtoL :�In the middle of the road (there may be general skills, but they need to be taught in the context of subject matter), interestingly, are both E.D. Hirsch (a conservative) and Howard Gardner (a liberal).�
LtoT,LtoL: �One approach to transfer is to teach skills in several different contexts. Another approach is to identify all of the situations where students could use the skill and teach them specifically how to use it in that context.�
LtoT,LtoL: �Students can get a better understanding of math problems by using many worked-out problems than from being lectured to. Teaching from examples is not just rote learning�theories are easier to understand in the context of a real problem than in the abstract.�
LtoT,LtoL: �Always give problems that have a context.�
Other Resources:
Problem-based Learning
Dan Kesterson
Friends--I think the story grammar posting raises several interesting points
1) In reading research, "story grammar" had been used to mean basic elements
of the kind of stories that elementary and middle school students read, not
the kind of sophisticated literary interpretation that Renda seems to be
talking about (see e.g., the National Reading Panel, reviews of strategy
instruction like Pressley, 2000 or Rosenshine & Meister, 1997 [their strategy
instruction chapter, not their reciprocal teaching review])
For teachers, I think the most important question is, Do my students seem to
have trouble following how the stories they read are put together? Can they
tell me who did what, when and where? If not, traditional story structure
instruction is called for. But if they can already answer those kinds of
questions, they probably need some different kind of instruction (e.g.,
literary devices, etc.) Also, if students *can't* tell you who did what,
when, and where, think about background knowledge or vocabulary problems that
might be contributing. If a student can orally tell you a coherent story
(with a protagonist, obstacle, and solutions, beginning, middle, and end), he
or she has story grammar already!
Another kind of "text structure" training is understanding how textbooks are
put together--textbooks use certain typical structures like cause-and-effect,
definition, etc. Students often are not familiar with these structures and
research is clear that they do benefit from textbook structure instruction.
Let's keep the dialogue going�Jennifer Cromley
Hi,
For those of you who do not know, the response below is from Jennifer
Cormley, author of Learning to Think, Learning to Learn. We are very
appreciative of her willingness to join in the discussion of her book on the
NoBoundary list.
Dan Kesterson
Hi,
Jennifer Leedy
Dear NoBoundary Book Club,
In Jennifer's response, she cited some of the National Reading Panel
research on this issue. For those not familiar with the NRP research, I
thought you might be interested in what this panel identified as six
research-based strategies that improve reading comprehension:
1) Monitoring comprehension (teach students to be aware of what they
understand and identify what they don't understand).
In LtoT, LtoL Jennifer writes that "explaining to normal readers how
stories are put together" is not effective. Isn't that the same as
"recognizing story structure," you might ask? The NRP research supports
strategies that help readers become active and purposeful. I read in
Jennifer's response that there is a difference between assessing what
students understand about story structure (monitoring comprehension) and
just giving them the answer. The latter encourages passivity, which the
research shows will not improve comprehension.
Cynthia Read
Hi,
I particularly like Cromley�s chapter 3 on Mental Models. It is chop full of information.
I especially like her pre-reading Lesson Ideas, p. 2.
Some of the Reading/Academic Success Division faculty working with prenursing students have been experimenting with a very similar idea, a text study strategy called PLAN from David Caverly�s Handbook of College reading and Study Strategy Research, p. 127: PLAN also at www.ci.swt.edu/Dev.ed/PLAN/PLAN.lesson
From Caverly�s book:
Cromley�s pre-reading ideas or Caverly�s PLAN test study strategy might be a handy addition to almost any text study strategy which you have found to be effective.
However, one thing Cromley cautions us repeatedly on is our tendency to attach ourselves to ideas which are unproven, but popular. As I have looked over examples she has presented, it became obvious that at best we often border on beliefs that are not unlike superstition. See Caverly for research results, p. 127.
Dan Kesterson
Jennifer Leedy--I think in addition to having a (cognitive) context, your students may also be benefitting from some motivational advantages. The
technical term for this is task value--we know it means more for adolescent
students than for younger children. As yet, we have no research on its role
for adult literacy students.
Dear No Boundary Book Club,
One of the ways values are reflected is in how families interact with
teachers, counselors and the school itself. For instance, children in
poverty and their families see parent teacher meetings as punishments
that they need to get through rather than something they can learn how
to help their children, and so, behavioral changes will not necessarily
result from those meetings since parents simply want to get through the
"penance" and get back to their lives.
Susan Moore
Here's the citation:
Author: Payne, Ruby K.
Hi,
Scheurman, G. (1997)* in �Using principles of constructivism to promote reflective judgment: A model lesson� in the Journal on Excellence in College Teaching� states, �Among the numerous treatments of constructivist theory that have emerged over the past several years, most have agreed on a common set of learning principles.�
I want to introduce to the NoBoundary Book Club some of the common set of constructivist learning principles synthesized by Scheurman to the discussion. There are lots of other sets to choose from (see www.geocities.com/depeky/construct.html)
I want to introduce these principles because we have more and more options for learning. Some of us who have been dipping our toes into the waters of alternative instruction (technology for example) and are at the same time trying to come to grips with a foundation of constructivist learning principles, along with the knowledge of what works, and now, what works within the framework of Cromley�s �Teaching Means Teaching Students to Think (see L to T, Introduction, p. v) want to start making connections with the principles as a guide for thinking about our thinking.� Then you just have your old dogs, like myself, whose postgraduate work in learning was based on what one could get a rat or pigeon to do with a food pellet. I know you youngsters out there cannot believe that we developed whole programs around reward and punishment, and stimulus/response based almost solely on what a rat did.
CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING PRINCIPLES (Scheurman)
Prior Knowledge:
Authentic Learning:
Social Contexts:
* Scheurman, G. (1997). Using principles of constructivism to promote reflective judgment: A model lesson. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 8 (2), 63-86
Below are some of her findings:
Contextual Learning:
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/context.html
http://www.geocities.com/depeky/prob.html
2) Nolte & Singer, 1985 and Singer & Donlan are cited as "story grammar" interventions, but the focus of both is on self-questioning, a very different
kind of intervention, and a very effective one
3) Entire books have been witten on strategy instruction, and it was not
possible to capture all the subtleties in one fact sheet in LTT, LTL!
I have found that when I relate the materials I teach to the program of
study in which my technical college students have enrolled...the results and
understanding are much better. My students want to see the purpose of what
they are learning
I read with interest Dan Kesterson's and Jennifer Cromley's comments on
using story grammar. (Note: the take-off point was on page 40 of my copy
of LtoT,LtoL.) If you read the author's list of "Strategies That Are Not
Effective Enough," you'll note that in most cases the issue is a
strategy applied without context or inappropriately--for instance,
relying on "background knowledge" when students don't have background
knowledge, or teaching vocabulary with dictionary definitions only
(instead of in the context of reading a story or having a discussion).
2) Using graphic and semantic organizers (such as story maps, webs,
graphs, Venn diagrams)
3) Answering questions.
4) Generating questions.
5) Recognizing story structure.
6) Summarizing.
A lot of reading instructors use the SQ4R text study strategy; however, �Little is known regarding the effect of background knowledge on SQ4R. � In a resent adaptation to SQ4 R, Caverly and others developed a strategy called PLAN, which specifically directs students to utilize their background knowledge during the preview step.�
Jennifer Cromley
I have been reading a book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty (see
citation below), that has some interesting information about
storytelling and children you might be interested in reading. The book
relates research-based information about how children understand and
operate based on their income level (poor, middle, and wealthy).
Storytelling is one focus area, how values vary by class and affect
information intake and decision making is another. I am partway through
a copy that someone loaned me and what I find so compelling is the
concrete ways that class values affect information intake and
communication including how stories are told. It seems related to what
the NRP is using as strategies to refocus learning. Storytelling seems
to happen in a reverse manner to what happens in a classroom where
storytelling is plot driven. Children in poverty experience poverty as
more of a character driven experience. The story is told more
anecdotally with the end told first and is told in more of a
conversational manner with listener response being an integral response
to storytelling.
Manager, Children & Young Adult Services Louisville Free Public Library
Title: A framework for understanding poverty Publisher: aha! Process, Highlands, Tex. :
Date of Publication: c2001.
�One of these principles is that people learn from new experiences by constructing personal meaning on the basis of prior knowledge and beliefs (Anderson et al., 1995).�
You might want to check �Two Dozen Reasons Why Background Knowledge is Important� By Jennifer Cromley:
www.geocities.com/depeky/back.html
�A second principle of constructivism is that knowledge is situated in
a particular context; that is, it is "inextricably linked to the situations in
which it has been acquired and used" (Anderson et al., p. 149). Thus, the more authentic and varied the situations in which students are allowed to experiment with new concepts, the more likely that they will be able to apply their understanding of these concepts to novel and everyday situations.�
See Cromley�s L to T, chapter 1 �Literature is Not Science�;
Also see: www.geocities.com/depeky/authentic.html
�A third principle of constructivism is that situational contexts are not
just abstract entities defined by domains of knowledge; they are formed
whenever divergent points of view are shared among people. This implies that ideas are "accepted as truth only insofar as they make sense to [a] community and thus rise to the level of `taken-as-shared' " (Fosnot, 1996, p. 30; Cobb, Yackel, & Wood, 1992). Because learning is constructed within social contexts, it occurs best when students are confronted with multiple perspectives through dialogue with teachers and other students (Vygotsky, 1978).�
(See Vygotsky and Social Psychology:
www.math.upatras.gr/~mboudour/articles/constr.html#Vygotsky%20and%20Social%20Psychology )
[email protected]