Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning
I have to admit that I needed an on line dictionary open while I was reading this and I'm still not totally sure of what I read...3 times! I only wish it was an easier read as the class discussions helped digest it all and I found the topic very compelling. I'm glad we were able to pull out the guts to shed some more light on the article.
Of particular interest to me were the examples that the authors shared with us. They were able to make a little more sense of the point they were trying to get across. One that really caught my attention was the first one regarding how many words kids are able to learn by listening, talking, and reading vs. the traditionalist way vocabulary is taught from abstract definitions without the context of normal use.
Two things I thought about, one personal and one professional. Since my children aren't too far removed from their preschool days, I always remember being fascinated by how quickly they learned new words to use when they were communicating with us. After digesting the article it makes more sense in that they were using words that they needed to know in the normal contextual everyday use of them. They probably couldn't define them but they could certainly use them in the right context when communication. My other thought is that in my classroom, I need to quit giving Math Vocabulary and find other ways (or designs) on how to communicate those words with them. And if I don't use them in everyday speak because I'm afraid they won't understand me, how can I expect them to learn/use them as well?
I didn't come into education in the traditional sense. I wasn't so much of a career switcher as I was a job switcher (one year after graduation) so I this article hit home for me (after the class discussion) with a lot of the aspects of how kids (or adults) learn. The idea that we learn through culture (situated cognition) seems to me very logical. I learned how to play golf from people who played, I learned how to run wiring for lighting from an electrician whom I worked for during the summer, I learned how to coach from other coaches, all authentic activities I would say. The idea of a cognitive apprenticeship for our students seems to make too much sense not to incorporate into our classroom.
But how? The golden triangle of activity-tool-culture is one that I think would greatly benefit our students but I teach Math for a living but I don't do math for a living. So how do I encultrate my students into the math culture or community?
Of particular interest to me were the examples that the authors shared with us. They were able to make a little more sense of the point they were trying to get across. One that really caught my attention was the first one regarding how many words kids are able to learn by listening, talking, and reading vs. the traditionalist way vocabulary is taught from abstract definitions without the context of normal use.
Two things I thought about, one personal and one professional. Since my children aren't too far removed from their preschool days, I always remember being fascinated by how quickly they learned new words to use when they were communicating with us. After digesting the article it makes more sense in that they were using words that they needed to know in the normal contextual everyday use of them. They probably couldn't define them but they could certainly use them in the right context when communication. My other thought is that in my classroom, I need to quit giving Math Vocabulary and find other ways (or designs) on how to communicate those words with them. And if I don't use them in everyday speak because I'm afraid they won't understand me, how can I expect them to learn/use them as well?
I didn't come into education in the traditional sense. I wasn't so much of a career switcher as I was a job switcher (one year after graduation) so I this article hit home for me (after the class discussion) with a lot of the aspects of how kids (or adults) learn. The idea that we learn through culture (situated cognition) seems to me very logical. I learned how to play golf from people who played, I learned how to run wiring for lighting from an electrician whom I worked for during the summer, I learned how to coach from other coaches, all authentic activities I would say. The idea of a cognitive apprenticeship for our students seems to make too much sense not to incorporate into our classroom.
But how? The golden triangle of activity-tool-culture is one that I think would greatly benefit our students but I teach Math for a living but I don't do math for a living. So how do I encultrate my students into the math culture or community?
You give great examples of authentic activities which knowledge can be obtained through cognitive apprenticeships. Personally, I have always learned best by doing. For example, I have been interested in media production since my freshman year of high school. I can still remember my video production teacher putting students into groups and sending us out into the hallway with video cameras with minimal instruction. He told us to figure it out for ourselves, and we would watch the footage when we returned to class. Although he went deeper into the functionality of the camera later that semester, I enjoyed being introduced to camerawork through a hands-on rather than textbook activity.
ReplyDeleteI feel like we teachers are all struggling with how to teach our subjects to our students in authentic ways, and we are hitting our heads against brick walls because we are thinking of our SUBJECTS, rather than the real (authentic) SITUATIONS people would be in that promote learning. The situations incorporate many facets... many topics, many SUBJECTS (!) into one overall situation. PBL (Problem-based/Project-based Learning) seems to be the answer. We ought not to think of our content area specialties as magical. We need each other to do right by our students, and collaborate across the subject areas to truly engage them in authentic experiences.
ReplyDeleteFellow mathlete, I feel your struggles on ways to enculturate students into the math culture. Not sure what level you teach, but I'm middle level Math 7. Luckily for me, a lot of our concepts are easy to integrate into real world authentic experiences. Fractions/decimals/percents for instance, I've created shopping experiences where they calculate tax, and discount. I've also done activities where they may calculate an earned run average or something for baseball or some other sport--anything I can find to hook the differing student interests! As you get on up in those higher levels of math I'm sure it becomes increasingly difficult, though. I can imagine finding real world ties to something like the unit circle would be quite a challenge! But thinking back to situated cognition, providing them chances to collaborate and discuss as experts might be a start?
ReplyDeleteEven though my content area is different and easier, I think, to find applications for outside of the classroom, I still share your opinion that finding connections between subject and real life is a tough nut to crack. When I was reading the article on situated cognition I could really see myself teaching personal pronouns (the words for I, you, they, etc.) by using a table and by ‘explaining’ what they mean. No wonder my students looked at me with quizzical expressions! It was only when I decided to try a different approach, not explaining how to use these words, but to actually ‘using’ them in context that my students started to make sense of them. Now I can say that teaching that content worked better when it was ‘situated’ as it saved us class time and it was more enjoyable both for my students and myself.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of math, I wonder if you had students use a programming language to solve problems that require operations (a tip calculator, finding out if a number is prime, calculating compound interest, etc.). You might also try researching and reaching out to other math teachers or people who use math in their everyday work. Perhaps you can invite them to show how they use math in real life to solve real problems or be a resource for activities.