I think that there are a lot of great things about connectivism, but probably my favorite part is the importance of the ability "to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts." I joke with my classmates that "I don't really want to teach math." I say it kind of jokingly, but I also say it with a bit of truth. I want to teach kids most importantly to approach problems with a critical eye. I think that the best way to do this IS to connect different concepts and ideas.
A perfect example of this for math is an idea that I got from a guest speaker we had in class one day. As an entry task she had her kids read a situation where two kids got in a fight at school. Her students had to determine who was guilty for starting the fight by reading a series of statements from friends, witnesses, faculty, etc. But how does this relate to math? Math testing is all about being able to extract important information from word problems in order to come to a solution. What is this entry task asking of students? That they can look through a bunch of information, to find the important parts and determine who a guilty party is! So it is actually really closely related to math word problems!
Also from connectivism, I find it VERY relevant to our current time that the capacity to learn new knowledge is more important than holding on to what you currently know. We talked about in our first day of class how the half-life of knowledge is now 18 months. With a stat like that, it is important for people of all professions and lifestyles to constantly be learning so that they can keep up with our ever expanding world of knowledge.
As far as ISTE standards go, I think that the student ones are really awesome. The standards are great when it comes to technology and learning (which is what they are meant for), but the thing that I found most interesting about them is how much they apply to students and the way that they should be learning even WITHOUT technology. For instance, the standard that is "creative communicator." The ability to communicate is important whether you are using technology or not, and in order to be a "creative" communicator, you have to be an effective communicator first. I would argue that teaching kids to effectively communicate is in fact one of the most important skills that you can give them, with or without technology. I don't know I just thought that it was interesting to make connections between these "tech" standards and non-tech teaching strategies.
I would have never connected the entry task with math, but it goes so well together. Thanks for sharing! Also, your title drew me in to reading this, well done :)
ReplyDeleteLike Parker, I was also surprised to see a connection from the social studies entry task with math but you made it work! I would have never connected it with the importance of scrutinizing the important information of a math word problem. I also really liked that you discussed creative communication and effective communication. I never really consider math to be a creative subject but there certainly is room for it. Furthermore I like that you suggest the importance of communicating without technology too. Especially in math I can remember back to teachers saying not to be too reliant on a calculator and now that I am out in the real world I see the point. Yes, there is a calculator on my phone, but I'm glad I don't have to utilize it every time I'm trying to figure out what 30% off is! Great post Lucas!
ReplyDeleteReally cool connection from the word problem to math skills! I agree with you in that it is important for us to stay up to date on information and technology to keep up with our students and be the most effective teachers we can be!
ReplyDeleteInteresting parallel with "effective" and "creative" communicator. I agree that communication should be happening via technology or not, but the heart should be the "effective" part. Jeff talked about how kids are locked into their phones, but that's because we (parents) made them so - they are still communicating (and they are pretty dang effective at it). And this goes along with the idea that words are only about 10% of communication. So using these technologies allows for the kids (and us) to communicate in different ways.
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