What is learning?
It was either serendipitous or ironic that the two videos featured below popped into my digital radar this week. As you watch and compare/contrast the videos, consider a couple of educational questions that are batted hither-and-yon in the edublogosphere:
- What are the implicit/explicit learning objectives (stated and unstated) for the students? Standards-based or real world?
- How are the students (and teachers) using technology?
- To what extent is learning different in the two examples?
- How would you go about molding and helping the type of learner(s) in each of the videos?
- Is one type of learner “better” than the other?
- (Video 1) Should we strive to scale-up a particular example because it easily fits within our ideal framework of teaching and learning?
- (Video 2) If the learner was (a) American and (b) a student in the US educational system, would you expect to see this type of original thought and creativity given top-down constraints in an equally problematic scenario?
More importantly, what constitutes learning? For what purpose? What is success?
Video 1:
Video 2:
Background: A book is the following learner’s teacher. Famine prevents the speaker, although it might not be apparent in the video, from going to school.
Follow-up Questions:
- Does exemplary teaching (video 1) reflect a sugar-coated understanding of what should be taught?
- Do the realities of American public school teaching (standards) make the first video the best example of what teachers should strive to create?
- What would standards-based education look like in William’s community?
Laura
You’ve asked a lot of questions–a lot of big ones at that. However, a couple of thoughts rambling around in my mind:
1. I’ve wanted to go down and visit Ron Clark’s Academy, but I haven’t made time to do it. I’m going to if for nothing else than this: I want to assess for myself if indeed real learning is going on. It’s one thing to say these kids are performing that much better on standardized tests. (Not in and of themselves an indicator of intelligence or learning IMHO.) I’m also really curious about what may be an “entertainment” model. It’s not passive, I’m with that, but it still seems to be very teacher-driven and I worry about the stickiness of the learning when it requires such external energy and “push.”
2. I’ve been really hung up on Christensen’s notion in Disrupted Class (started earlier this summer and picked back up last weekend) of the reason for US students’ lack of engagement, dropping test scores, comparatively poor results vis a vis China, India, etc. He says one of the reasons is this issue of motivation-both intrinsic and extrinsic. He notes that our affluent culture as a whole (or in the case of lower classes the lack of relevancy or real opportunity) erases the motivating factors for student achievement. I agree with this. When Randall and I had lunch this summer we were talking about what makes us both so motivated. And, he nailed it: We’re curious. And we talked about why we are so curious, and I suggested that we weren’t given everything, we had to work for things, and our curiosity was encouraged. We were given time to imagine and create, and our families and lifestyles supported it. He wondered what he and Amy could best do for Miles and Callie to encourage this curiosity, and I suggested a) don’t fall into the overscheduling trap and b) don’t give them everything.
I think the young man in the second video exemplifies what Christensen writes and what I experienced in growing up. We can’t have everything, and “where there is a will, there is a way.” He saw a need, he had intrinsic motivation to meet that need, and he used whatever resources were available to him to tackle the problem.
What is learning? Do we need technology in order to learn most effectively? Not at first. We need to have teachers who understand the art and science of learning–with or without the technology. If we can build from there and leverage the technology then we’ve got a great model that is the most effective for the 21st century.
Aside: I loved William’s comment in the other video (The Daily Show) about Google. In response to a typical Jon Stewart comment, he said “Once I found out the internet and such a thing as Google existed, I thought to myself: Agh! This would have been so much easier. I could have just “googled” windmill and had so much more to work with!”
Willy
What really struck me about Ron Clark was the edutainment that you described. When I viewed the video above as well as some of the other promotional pieces on his website, I could not help but think that it was a fancy, jazzed up rendition of traditional teaching. Mix a little song and dance into the instruction, make the same old content more accessible with modern hooks, and that is what I believe that Ron Clark is doing. I also felt like the video was a bit staged. However, I don’t think that I have seen more charismatic teachers…
It would be interesting to visit the school.