As I said in my post regarding "Connectivism", "....many of my students seek out the “more knowledgeable other” in the period prior to coming to my physics class. They seek out that “other” and copy his homework".
There is merit to the Connectivism Theory, but I believe that it should not be an instructors foremost emphasis, less we loose our entrepreneurial spirit. We need students that can analyze a problem, hypothesize a solution and only then propose that solution to his team members for constructive criticism and enhancement.
As a former engineer, I can attest to the benefits of a good team. There is often a contagious excitement that results in a product that is greater than the sum of the individual engineering ideas. But, these engineering teams are comprised of people with like abilities and similar aspirations. In a class room with students having diverse abilities and interests, there will be leaders, followers and "..I wonder what's for lunch?" students. In fact, this is becoming more of an American problem than a global problem as U.S. schools lower the educational bar to accommodate the average abilities of a very diverse class room. In contrast, European/Asian schools continue to group by abilities and as a result, the team effort succeeds because each group is comprised of equal abilities striving to excel.
I am a technologist and love my digital toys. As I have said before, when something is gained, often times, something is lost. Software tools that make our lives and work easier, will continue to enhance productivity, provided that we do not allow these tools to become a crutch. We must never loose our tenacious, good old fashioned, never say “die” hard individual effort, and must teach that a logical strategy is the first step in every solution.
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John, I also believe in a good sound team when at work or at school. I worked in the customer service field for a quite a few years and found teamwork to very important. I continue to emphasize to my students that teamwork is important not only in extracurriculars, but life in general. Sometimes I remind them that they may have to work with people they do not care for or may not care for them, but they have to keep their eye on the big picture or prize, then end result. Often times, when I give my students the choice, a few in each class chose to work by themselves. It is not that they are outcasts, they just prefer sometimes to do so.
ReplyDeleteThere are some project where I will assign students to groups, by having them draw randomly out of a hat. In this instance, there is always a group grade as well as an individual grade.
I also am a big fan of technology and enjoy using things like powerpoint, blackboard, and the internet for projects. Voicethread may become a new tool i try to incorporate as well as having student set up blogs. Seems things are always changing and we just have to try and help keep our students prepared for what may be next around the corner.
John--
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the thoughts you have shared with our group in this post. Much of what you have mentioned (the students copying work, one or two leaders followed by the rest of the group, etc.) are things that I see throughout MHS when looking at the students that create our school community. The ironic thing is, I also see some of the same characteristics among the MHS staff. You spoke of working in a collaborative group with other engineers and the excitement that accompanies breakthroughs. Often, when I suggest working with people to incorporate technology into his/her curriculum, I am met with a, “Let me think about it,” followed by silence. Someday I hope to be met with the excitement from my coworkers that you have experienced in your career as an engineer.
You also mentioned, “ability grouping,” in relationship to collaborative and cooperative groups. I have been struggling with the idea of ability grouping since I began working with Special Education students in cooperative classroom setting. Currently, in one class period, I teach students who are on a continuum of learning levels. One one part of the continuum I have students who cannot read or write are brilliant verbal and auditory learners, to students that are reading above grade level and will be pursuing post-secondary educational opportunities. In a classroom with such varying abilities, I feel as though I am not meeting the needs of ANY of the students because I am spread so thin. One of the resources from this week gave a list of recommendations to consider when creating cooperative groups in the classroom. One of the ideas suggested included, “Use a variety of criteria to group students” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, page 140). Do you think this idea of grouping students according to, “multiple criteria,” should be applied to small groups within the classroom, as well as, the students that create the class? If students are assigned to classes using the principle of multiple criteria, then would the ability grouping of the European and Asian educational institutions fall within the framework of grouping by various criteria? (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).
Thank you,
Courtney