The student has the trees, but no view of the forest

http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/summer2003/willingham.cfm

Numerous studies have been done to find out how people learn information presented to them. It has been discovered that we don’t necessarily remember what we are taught, but what we are thinking about when we are being taught. In the classroom, the teacher often presents organized and meaningful lessons. It is expected that the students will be able to make strong connections between the material and the conclusion. Unfortunately, that does not always happen. “Shallow learning” gets in the way of full comprehension. Meanings depend on what is being thought about when the word, equation, story, etc. is presented. For example, suppose a teacher is giving a lesson on technology and how it has affected our society both positively and negatively. Examples of different forms of technology and some of their roles/ uses in society are discussed. If the student has just entered college they may begin to think about their new laptop or Ipod and how they like it and all its features. This will lead the students thinking away from the effects of technology on society to solely thinking of their own devises, which will interrupt the learning of the actual goal of the assignment.

While reading this article I thought a lot about the meaning of things in different contexts. You can be given a phrase or term in one context and think that you completely understand it. But then if you are later asked to describe that phrase or term in your own words, you can be completely lost and have trouble trying to describe it. This is because of shallow thinking. It is not enough to just be able to recognize something. The value is in being able to recall. Recognizing doesn’t necessarily mean that you fully comprehend; it just means that you have memorized what is needed or can reiterate someone else’s definition. To recall something you have to be able to know it in different contexts and really understand it’s meaning.

Lecture classes are not a valuable way of teaching. They do not provide an enriched environment for complete comprehension of any material. As this article has described, people cannot really learn meanings from just listening. No matter how devoted to learning or concentrated you are, at times your mind will wander, its natural. When our minds wander, we attach that thinking to what we are learning even though they may not have to do with each other. So for a classroom to be successful it is necessary to have discussions, projects, or hands on activities to get students minds thinking about the meaning of something in different ways. Teachers need to work to make sure that their assignments lead students to focus on the meaning of the lesson rather than something trivially related to it.

This article was pretty interesting to read. I often connect very random things together and don’t realize how I’ve done it, and it made me feel better about that. It gives a good reminder to be active about your reading and not just read. For example taking notes or summarizing after each section of a lecture or chapter in a book is a good strategy to keep focused and remember correct meanings.

Posted

Personal Perception of Intelligence

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/february7/dweck-020707.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7406521&sc=emaf+

 

 

A person’s belief of their intelligence is closely related to how academically successful they are. The key is to believe in yourself and have confidence that you can learn and apply new information or skills. The belief that your mind is malleable and can suck up new information your entire life is called a growth mindset. The opposite, a fixed mindset is only detrimental to your learning. Fixed mindset people believe that they are born with a certain value of intelligence and it cannot be changed. Dweck has done multiple studies that demonstrate how students that are taught about growth mindsets will excel better than students who are simply taught about study skills.

After reading both articles I now really understand the personal effects of both mindsets. Having a fixed mindset doesn’t just limit you in what you will achieve over time, but limits your motivation. It’s all about personal perception. If you think you are not going to be able to learn something, either because you don’t understand or it is very challenging, then you will have little motivation to try. On the contrary, if something seems challenging but you believe in yourself, which provides motivation, then you will work hard and study to achieve your goal. 

I took note of Dweck’s idea that effort rather than intelligence should be praised.  That encourages every student to work hard because even if they are not successful at first, they feel good about themselves and will try again. This is very significant to the field of education. Every teacher should explicitly teach their students about a growth mindset and how they all equally have the capability to learn. Also every teacher should recognize effort in the classroom.  Dweck explained how her 6th grade classroom was setup to praise the “intelligent” kids, while disregarding the “dumb” kids.  As a teacher, it should be your priority to help every student achieve goals and excel in the classroom, not just the ones that do well on the prior weeks IQ test.

I really enjoyed both of these articles and I recommend others read it. An idea such as growth vs. fixed mindset almost seems like common knowledge, but is highly overlooked. I feel like I see situations way too often where certain people are discouraged from trying out a new experience or task because they don’t believe in themselves and don’t think they can do well. If everyone were to read articles like these and taught about the idea of growth mindset than we would be way more motivated and productive as a whole.

Posted