Learning Revisited

I think my belief of successful learning requiring an open mind was really expressed in our discussion on Thursday. We all came into that room with an idea in our head. Some had a few similar phrases in their deffinitions but there was a lot of variety in what people bleived to be learning. An open mind would have enabled you to be receptive to those newely presented phrases and you would then be able to process that information in your head and use it to develop your own definition even if you didn't agree with theirs.

The chapter in How Students Learn discussed a students ability to question an experiment done on frogs. They were encouraged to think of reasons as to why the data was not acurate or why they wouldn't believe it to be true. I think this hits a point very different that the one just stated. I think that part of learning is questioning. If we just believed every bit of information we were ever presented with, we wouldn't be learning. We would be agree and cooperating until we reached a point of memorization. One's willingness to question is what keeps them comming back for more suport or prof that that material is correct. It's almost as if you need to be in a state of disbieaf and have to be proven wrong.

I would add that learning is a healthy balance between pushing (questioning) and pulling (wanting to hear more) at the information presented to you. Without this balance, I don't realy feel like much, if any, learning would be accomplished.

Teaching Philosophy Revised

Steve's post had some very spefic details and I think he does a good job at explaining why he would use some of these practices. I agree with the use of providing notes but leaving students to take part in the work of note taking. The instructor is providing you with a guidline to follow. I think this corelates nicely with his use of the Jazz band metaphopor. I'd like to elaborate on that a little. Without the director, there may still be music being played but it would unorganized and messy, it would interfere with another musician's playing, or it may be absent all together. With the director, the sheet music is explained and practiced. The result is people playing music that is complete, correct, and moving. A good teaching is just like a good band director. They will result in a beautiful product, as opposed to just making it through to the end of the song.


Jody made a good point when she recognized that a student must learn the facts before he/she can be pushed to carry that knowledge on. Yes, we may want a class that every period is unique and exciting, but these new activities musn't hinder the essential task of developing a students framework of knowledge. If this means having a lecture with a lot of talking, you might just have to talk for 38 minutes out of 50 to effectively get your point across.


Alberto mentioned something that I think a lot of us have overlooked. Be dedicated and enjoy what you do. If an instructor is giving off the vibe that they don't really want to be here, then the students will amplify that feeling even more. Being excited about what your teaching will help you get them excited about what they are learning. Dedication is deffinatly another thing that will create a postitive learning envrionment. Without dedication, your surely not going to reach as many students and you could. I'd like to believe that we are dedicated to becoming good teachers and courses such as this will keep teachers motiviaded and dedicated to strive to be better. Teachers should be continually working towards a better way to teach but motivation is key.


I feel as though my teaching philosophy needed to be a little more specific. Examples of note-styles, lecture formats, and exam layouts will provide a better picture as of how I will try to have an adaptive learning environment.

What is Learning?

I believe that learning is the processes of absorbing, processing, understanding, and storing information to be used for later recall. This information can be perceived from a variety of sources and can be perceived in a variety of ways. I think you could actually differentiate learning into two different categories, direct and indirect learning. I think that direct learning is when someone sets out with the intent to learn a specific topic or task and they reach their goal when they have mastered the topic or task. When a student sits down in front of their specimen in Comp. Chordate Morph. and begins to dissect and identify, they are doing so with the intent to gain knowledge and be able to recall it later on the exam. This is direct learning. I think that indirect learning occurs when an individual gains and processes information that they did not intend to. I feel like this happens a lot in a non-academic setting. For instance, let's say your walking from Stevens to the IACC on a cold winter day and you are enthralled in a conversation about last night's episode of "New Girl". While discussing Zooey Deschanel's comic ability, you see someone slip and fall out of the corner of your eye. You are now aware that it's icy out and and you begin to move in more of a shuffle than a stride because you know that your pricey winter UGGs actually have very little traction whatsoever. You learned from seeing that other person fall and you adapted your actions to adhere to the new task, walking without slipping. I would say that this is indirect learning. You gained knowledge without seeking it out and you processed it to master a task.

I think that in order successfully learn, especially in a course like BIO 705, you must also go into it with an open mind. On occasion, our previous believes can cloud our receptiveness to new information and can interfere with our understanding. I feel that this is an obstacle that has to be overcome anytime that topic or task is on the forefront of the individuals prior knowledge or experience. For instance, some people in this course may have gone their whole academic career being taught in a traditional fashion. They have reached the graduate level so this traditional teaching style worked well for them. Now, they are being presented with data and evidence that a new teaching style is a better fit for most students. Without haveing an open mind, an individual with a traditional teaching backround will not effectively learn and understand this new information that's being presented to us, they will simply be memorizing.

Teaching Philosophy

As an instructor, I hope to provide students with a learning environment that will make a positive impact on those students who are excited about science as well as those who are taking the class to simply satisfy a requirement. I want to give my students an atmosphere that will support and promote their own academic success. It is my personal experience that encouraging students to get excited about the material can result in better performance and understanding in the course. In order to achieve this atmosphere, I feel that it is important to understand who your students are and recognize their different needs in both an academic and a group setting.  It is also important that students feel comfortable asking questions and efforts should be made to recognize students on an individual level. Knowing names, majors, goals, and interests can help bridge the gap between students and instructors.

I plan to meet the learning needs of these diverse students by having a lesson plan that is both rigid and adaptive. Through the use of different activities and exercises, I plan to satisfy the different ways in which a student can best learn a topic. Too many times instructors are stuck on their traditional lecture style and are unable to reach the students who require other modes of instruction.  If a student can sit through every lecture without saying a word, there’s a good chance that they aren’t getting all they can out of the course. “Just showing up” will not be an option in my class. Getting students involved in the lecture can increase attention, understanding, accountability, and performance, especially in larger classes. The use of visual aids, technology, in-class activities, and mediated student-to-student discussions can enable an instructor to reach more students and they can have a lesson plan that is somewhat tailored to them.

 

At the undergraduate level, it’s important that students learn to hold themselves accountable and they should be encouraged to take ownership of their own learning. By enforcing deadlines and having challenging course work, I want to help bring my students to a higher level of learning. In order to achieve this, it’s equally important that these students are taught the skills and behaviors that will enable them to build solid study habits and will instill in them the importance of academic success in their own future. Laying down that framework early on in their college career will allow for an easier transition into higher level courses, graduate school, or even their ultimate profession.  I will stress the importance of these habits at the beginning of every term and give guidance throughout the semester.

The job of a teacher isn’t only to effectively convey the required material; it is also to set students up for their future success. I hope to challenge and guide my students into a mindset that will benefit them long after my course is finished.  

Cycles of Learning

I was interested how Perry was able to isolate and label different stages throughout a typical academic career. I defiantly agree with the presence of these stages in my own academic path and I feel that I can almost pinpoint the semesters where I would have developed the skills to move through to the next cycle. I very much remember my freshman year here at NDSU and I am certain that I was going through what Perry called the Dualistic cycle. I remember isolating the material that I thought was important enough to be on the test and then studying just those topics rather than trying to achieve a complete understanding of the material presented.