So there I am in class staring at the pages of the textbook - not at all an uncommon classroom activity and yet I am awash with a strange emotional cocktail of familiarity, perplexity, recognition, understanding, confusion, frustration and more. Stress levels are on the rise. "Why?" you might ask. In answer, I would show you both my textbook and notebook. What you would see (respectively) are clean printed pages, and lined paper with "CH6 Learning in Activity p79-96" written in my hand at the top (but nothing more). Next I would show you the same items for both the previous and following chapters. You would no doubt notice my handwritten notes, marginalia, underlined text, arrows, stars, and even the occasional exclamation mark - all done to help me connect with the ideas presented. But chapter 6 has none of this.
Student survival technique #1 activates automatically: do not make eye contact with the professor to reduce the likelihood that she will call on you. Not only does she not call on me, but - a bit later in the class - recommends to the using inquiry when faced with challenging readings. I could easily have explained away the pristine pages of chapter 6 as the result of confusion: chapter 5 was not required yet I have both read it and written notes on it. Inquiry: what is it about chapter 6 that caused me to read it yet not take notes as done with other readings? Again a cursory explanation could be applied: the chapter has no relevance to me. The truth lies in the other direction. The ideas Greeno presents seem to connect closely to a workplace project in which I am involved. This seems to have resulted in a sort of note taking paralysis - perhaps to avoid simply highlighting or underlining pretty much every word. I find Greeno's writing a challenge (perhaps it is the writing style?) and the chapters likely connections to the project seemed to have augmented this challenge.
Two key ideas that stick out for me from Greeno's (2006) chapter are: (1) the importance of studying the context in which learning occurs, so what are elements in the teaching, tasks and environment that support the learner and learning, (2) that if we want learners to develop skills in inquiry that we need to design opportunities for students to DO inquiry - i.e., design tasks and activities that require students to confront what knowledge they hold, what knowledge they lack, work with authoritative and rich resources, create new interpretations and connections, and demonstrate their new understanding through an "evocative object"
ReplyDeleteI am finding that it is only now that I am beginning to make sense of some of my readings...because now I am beginning to be able to relate them one to another...maybe part of the whole situative argument? Connecting the dots based on the context of our discussions in class? Don't worry, I have a lot of chapters like that at this stage....blank pages that are expectantly looking back at me waiting for a response.
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