Activity 6.3 William's Will

I really enjoyed the chapter on the will. I was interested by one point James brings up; he provides an insight into the idea of the teacher's will superseding the will of the student's, thus "breaking" the student's will. He says instead of breaking a child's will (I'm assuming he means corporeally), that a teacher must give the child a brief hiatus from the subject and then resume the task later (110-11). My question is, would James ever endorse the "breaking of someone's will"? (I hate that phrase - its so animalistic).

Also, a brief fun fact: the John Wesley that James quotes in this section on 'the balky will' is the same man who founded the Methodist Church (110). Since I was raised in the Methodist Church, it was an interesting connection for me. Though Wesley meant well with his fervent call to will-breaking, it does make me feel a little grateful that I survived my childhood with my will intact. My parents took an approach similar to the one James advocates: when I simply could NOT grasp a concept or task, instead of making sure that their will dominated mine, they decided to distract me with another task. When I was ready to tackle the formerly difficult task again, I was more capable because of the way my parents handled the situation. For example, when I was young, I could not understand the differences between all the various cleaning products. I would use glass cleaner to polish wood and such. Instead of punishing me for continually getting the products mixed up, they gave me a new task; I was appointed to sweeping and mopping patrol. Eventually, I got the hang of all the products but it came much easier than if I had been punished and forced to continually try to understand.

I was also interested in the passage in which James describes the "expulsive power of higher emotion" (106).

He writes, "Fear arrests appetite, maternal love annuls fear, respect checks sensuality, and the like; and in the more subtle manifestations of the moral life, whenever an ideal stirring is suddenly quickened into intensity, it is as if the whole scale of values of our motives changed its equilibrium. The force of old temperatures vanishes, and what a moment ago was impossible is now not only possible, but easy, because of their inhibition," (106). I would be interested in discussing this "power of higher emotion" in class.

I have found an example of this effect in yet another youtube clip:

Yes, I'm bring Pride and Prejudice into the conversation. In this clip, Mr. Darcy proclaims that his sudden passionate feelings for Elizabeth Bennett trumps all of his previously valid reasons for denying his emotions. Because of the gravity of his feelings, his former inhibitions fall away "and what a moment ago was impossible is not only possible, but easy".

Activity 6. 2

While I watched and was interested by the Marshmellow video, I was very interested in Dan Meyer's  video on teaching mathematics. I now know that I can blame all my mathematical deficiencies on the text book. It makes me feel better.

On a different note, I was pleased that one of Meyers "to-do's" in his classroom (#1 in fact) was multi-media teaching. I am a huge proponent of multimedia teaching and have planned many of my future units around the concept of integrating several different mediums of information into my class curriculum. I would consider multimedia teaching as the modern day exemplification of how James hopes teachers will stimulate interest in their students.

James writes in his compilation Talks to Teachers on Psychology that "one teacher's mind will fairly coruscate with points of connection between the new lesson and the circumstances of the children's other experience. Anecdotes and reminiscences will abound in her talk; and the shuttle of interest will shoot backward and forward, weaving the new with the old together in a lively and entertaining way, " (67). 

With the interest and experience of students existing more than ever in the technological realm, it seems dangerously erroneous to continue teaching in the same format as decades past. Teachers can embrace the interests of their students, and then direct their attention to the necessary curriculum based on those interests. 

As for multimedia teaching, I often choose books for my units that have film or musical counterparts. You could even analyze book covers and movie posters. Everything is fair game. This engages the students, allowing them to interact with different versions of the same story. For example, if I were to teach a unit on utopias and dystopias, I could assign The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. (There has been a big push for the use of popular literature in classrooms to stimulate interest among students. Very Jamesian of them. ) Since The Hunger Games has a movie adaptation, that allows for many more avenues of discussion and interpretation, even among formally timid readers. I would ask questions like: 

(for character analysis)
Are the characters in the books portrayed the same way in the movie? What's different? How can you tell?

(for discussions on intended audiences and tone)
Why do you think the film makers chose to make those differences? How do those differences change the tone? Do you think the film makers had the same intent as Suzanne Collins when writing the book? What can you tell about the film maker's intent by evaluating the casting choices?

And so on...

I could go further about my classroom decisions (I have A LOT of ideas on how to use art work, music, non fiction elements) but I won't write them all down.

Activity 6. 1


Why is problem solving analogous to learning? 


Both processes involve heavy emphasis on change in behavior and importance of integrating knowledge gained through experience. Since our class has defined learning as "a process inferred that involves a relatively permanent change in behavior or the capacity to behave that is the result of our direct or indirect experience", we recognize that it is our experiences that changes our behavior. It is unlikely that we would learn anything without experiencing anything in some way. Similarly, authors Pretz, Naples & Sternberg recognize that our experiences play a role in the problem solving process as well. 


If, when solving a problem, a person has no previous experience with the situation, her attempt to "develop a solution strategy" (Pretz, Naples & Sternberg, 4) might not successful. However, since she has gained experience from her failed solution (or successful solution - for she would remember what do if the problem arises again), she is more likely to succeed in solving the problem in a future attempt. 


So, as a heart and a pump jack (a pump jack is the horse head mechanism for pumping oil from a well into a tank - they are usually seen in the middle of fields) are analogous in that they both pump liquids throughout their systems, problem solving and learning are analogous in that they both capitalize on the importance of cleaving information from experiences. 


Is all learning problem solving or do we learn without solving problems? 


It seems that while most conscious learning is problem solving, any latent learning or subconscious learning is not problem solving. To bring in a tenet of constructivism, any attempt to correct disequilibrium would be considered problem solving (ie. there is a problem that is causing a dissonance between what you had expected and reality). Even so, spontaneous learning can still happen without the problem or dissonance motivating the process. 


Take children, for example. Once a child reaches two or three, he becomes a SPONGE. Literally, everything in his surroundings becomes a valuable tool for learning ("What's that? What's this? Why are you doing that?...". His vocabulary expands drastically and he learns many things - there is no problem solving involved, simply learning. 


Connect central concepts in the assigned readings to an important problem that you have recently solved or that you are trying to solve


For another class, I had been attempting to contact a professional in the community for an interview. Now, I've had difficulty contacting people for interviews and such before through my job at Residence Life. This time, in order to be more prepared, I initiated the interview three weeks before it was due to avoid any complications. 


However, despite the professional's initial excitement about being interviewed, two weeks went by without a response to my questions. I had sent a preliminary email to gauge her process; I decided to wait on sending another and give her the benefit of the doubt - after all, she is a hard working lady!


Still no response. Obviously, my solution of waiting for a response did not work. The Friday before assignment was due (on that next Tuesday), I began to get nervous. I had to reevaluate my options. I needed to decide whether I had time to contact another professional in the community before the due date or if I should put all hopes in my first interviewee. 


I decided to stick with the first interviewee because, not only was I very interested in her program and contribution to society, but there was no time to contact anyone else. I sent her an email on that Friday explaining when my assignment was due and followed that with another email on Saturday and Monday morning. With the assignment being due at midnight the next day, I was getting beyond anxious. Fortunately, Monday afternoon she did come through, emailing me back wonderfully crafted answers to each of my questions. The assignment was saved and my grades were out of immediate peril.


It was essential for my grade that I evaluate the information, and plan a suitable solution to my problem. When my first (slightly weak) decision to wait out the silence failed, I needed to step up, reevaluate the situation and plan accordingly. Using the past experience to bolster my new plan, which was to send prodding emails until she responded, I was successful in my endeavor. 

Activity 5.5

One point I thought was interesting about the video portion of our discussion was Kelly's video. It talked about a man known as H.M, who had sustained damage to the part of his brain that allowed him formulate memories. This led to a discussion on the biological functions of each part of the brain in accordance to memory and then to Jennifer's video on synesthesia. Having little background in psychology, it was enlightening to see biological functions described with psychological implications.

Also interesting was Karen's reaction to my description of my video. Once I described that the man featured in my video pinpointed "learning patterns" (ie. associations and habits as James might call them) as the key to learning new languages, Karen provided insight on that point: even though the man in my video seems completely ignorant of James and his grip on educational philosophy, the man is able to, from his own experiences, come to the same conclusion as James on how people learn. This seems to point to an innate understanding of how learning occurs, no?

We also decided that some subject matters do lend themselves more easily to a minimally guided lesson, such as English or literature. The article by Kirshner, Sweller, and Clark, "Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work", did seem to be too final and overreaching with its dismissal of a minimally guided curriculum. They did not research the fact that different subjects can be taught effectively in different fashions: a minimally guided class on literature might be taught successfully, while a science class may flounder. 

Activity 5.4

I watched Kelly Garringer-Maccabe's video: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/how-memory-works.html

AND

Jordan Sharpe's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bfhIuaD183I

...either you got it or you don't.

Activity 5.2


There is a popular T.V show on USA right now called Suits. It features a man who "consumes knowledge like you've never seen before" (his words, not mine).I posted a link to the trailer because it introduces the title character as person of fantastic talents. My question is this, is this character more successful at "consuming knowledge" because he is capable of storing infinite amounts of information or because he possesses superior skill at retrieving information perceived from memory? What do you think? 

This character on the show reminds of the blessed group of people James refers to in Chapter 12: "And, when both memory and philosophy combine together in one person, then indeed we have the highest sort of intellectual efficiency. Your Walter Scotts, your Leibnitzes, your Gladstones, and your Goethes, all your folio copies of mankind, belong to this type," (James, 79-80).  This seems to suggest that either you've got the gift to recall information and relate it efficiently (and often times, brilliantly) to the world or you don't. It would seem that we are highly influenced, as James lists, by the people who "got it".

James does go on to mention people who can "work out results or recollect where in the books to find them" (80). I would imagine that most people, including myself, fall into this mass - people who are indeed capable,  but just not the most capable. I once had the misfortune of researching for a literature paper alongside of an individual that James would categorize as one with "the highest sort of intellectual efficiency". We had the same topic; I don't remember what it was, but I bet he would. While he was whizzing along, recalling quotes, studies, statistics, criticisms and lectures, I was anxiously flipping through crusty book pages in hopes for a measly reference. Eventually, I did find all the resources I needed (after several more trips to the library and hours on the computer) and did finally complete my paper. However, my classmate had been done for a week, spending no more than a few hours researching and crafting his essay. Both of us received high marks on our papers, but he was much more efficient and economical with his search.

Another individual with "highest sort of intellectual efficiency" is the Matt Damon's character, Will, in the movie Good Will Hunting. In a memorable scene, a pompous graduate student, after being utterly decimated by Will in an intellectual spitting match, predicts while he is successful with his costly educational degrees, Will will be "serving his kids fries". Will's reply is what interests me: "Well, at least I won't be unoriginal". (Watch the clip from 1:10 to see the interaction).

The graduate student could recall with accuracy the information being taught in his Harvard classes; he could recite whole phrases from complex text. But what he lacked was Will's ability to blend his recollection of the subject matter with his own experiences on the matter, thus creating new and original thoughts. The way I see it, the graduate student's education is not serving its full purpose. Now, as teachers, we focus on discovering new ways to make it easier for our students to recall information.  My opinion may be cheapened by the fact that I have not yet begun to teach, but it does seem that, if education stops merely at the recollection of information, we are not providing our students with the widest array of possibilities. Students should be encouraged not only to recall information from classes, but to go further, to formulate their own opinions, thoughts and discoveries based on what is learned. Originality should be prized more highly.

Activity 5.1

Does learning depend on memory? Have we learned a thing if we can't remember it? Why is it that we remember so (seemingly) little of what we have been taught? Can we conclude that we have "forgotten" something if we cannot recall information verbally? On the other hand, why do we often remember (and often so vividly) the very things we wish to forget?

I would imagine that learning does depend on memory, in the way that you have to remember an action or thought process many times before it becomes a habit. 


I think that, since we defined learning as a relatively permanent change, it would seem to say that if one can't remember a fact that it wasn't really learned. In that case, it would make more since to say that it was memorized, not learned. 


I have heard that facts, once learned, are always floating around in our brains - the problem arises when they cannot be retrieved at will. I have read countless essays over literary criticism (essentially being taught) , but I have trouble recalling any author's opinion at any given time. I think that the reason behind my failure to remember is the fact that the information never made its way to my long term memory bank; really, I just memorized their opinions long enough to reference them in my papers, and then forgot all about them. 


I'm not sure if we can count something as "forgotten" if we can still recall what it is that was forgot. I'm famous for answering questions with, "I know the answer, Professor, but I can't formulate it into words. It's like this...". The fact that I can describe the forgotten word or concept in "its like this" terms seems to point out that I do in fact remember the subject matter, if not the accurate verbal description?


I would imagine that the reason horrible things are remembered so vividly is related to the emotion that is sparked upon their conception. It seems, at least to me, that the emotions accompanied by the memory are remembered so much clearer than the actual event; horrible memories refuse to die because of the impression they made on us. For example, I have had horrible dreams since I was a little kid after watching a particular Goosebumps episode about a deranged cat/monster. Yes, really. But I have trouble recalling the actual episode itself; it is far easier for me to remember the feelings I had when watching the video.