Technology in Education Global Program

Week of March 8, 2010

Aviva Dorfman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:59:50 -0500

Week of 3/08/10: Data Analysis

Read: Chapter 4 AOCI: Pentimento: Strategies for Data Analysis

Attached document about Analysis and methods of analysis.

Discuss: Data Analysis Strategies

– If you have some already: post a piece of data and your strategy for analyzing it in a post to the Drop Box.

– If you are developing ideas for data analysis without any collected data, begin to think through the details and lay out an analysis plan in brief description: might be in a list or a table – and need not be fully written out in long prose (unless you want/need to process this in that way).

– Respond to Chapter 4: raise questions relevant to your projects, and post comments and responses.

In preparation for next week:

Read: I’m making a slight change to the schedule posted in the Sessionview. Attached you’ll find some articles for the Reading Research week. We will postpone for now reading and discussing Chapter 7 in AOCI, but will return to this topic -- if not by the end of this course then in Spring term, so don’t sell back your AOCI right away.

Start reading these research pieces and I’ll post the questions for discussion later. I wanted to give you more time to read.

Chapter 5 review and 2 from ROC

Amy Linton — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:20:23 -0500

Review Chapter 5 AOCI

Chapter 5 had some great ways of looking at and thinking about framing our research. I like the idea of the distant teacher. If you think about it, as new teachers we depended greatly on the distant teacher to help us become teachers. In fact today, without even thinking about it, I look for the advice of distant teachers almost daily, especially if the topic is new to me. Collecting research is new to me. I was not sure of where to begin or if I was on the right track. This chapter lays it out in terms that are understandable and adaptable to our website. I like the idea of the dinner party. It tells you to think about whose work you admire in your research area. Who has been there before? What are the issues they have faced? How have they used their research as an educational tool?

Conservation is a topic that has been studied and practiced for ages. And that at different times throughout history it has been an important issue. Today, environmental issues are in the forefront and are an everyday topic. I was researching for our site from the aspect of how we will be collecting the data and what will be the practice our participant use. Unfortunately it has not had a great affect on me. Now I am thinking from the conservation aspect. Perhaps this will lead us in a different direction all together. I will start to look at the pioneers of conservation, specifically ocean and sea-life. Hopefully the discussion at the dinner table will turn out to be a helpful one!

REVIEW OF TWO ARTICLES FROM ROC

Little Things Are Big by Jesús Colón

This story was particularly interesting to me. I hate prejudice in all forms but I am sure, subconsciously, I have been guilty of it. I am a white woman who grew up in a small town often listening to the underlying jokes and language of prejudice and racism. When I question the use of certain stories or words I get the occasional look of “why should this bother you?” It does. A lot. I was a white child growing up in a small town where the majority of my neighbors all were like me. But I was also a heavy child who grew into a heavy adult. Prejudice against those who are heavy is one of the last acceptable forms there is. I am not trying to compare what I went through to other forms of prejuidice but it's a factor in why I feel so strongly about the subject. Although I wonder, do I always know when it is happening? Is there other ways to look at prejudice?

In this article, the author is talking about the use of prejudice, racism and chauvinism from a perspective that is not often taken. He talks about how he, a Puerto Rican and African-American man judged a white woman late one evening on the platform of a subway. He is embarrassed of his actions. He wants to help the woman, who has her hands full with three children and baggage, in and out of the subway car. He struggles knowing that it is late at night and she might have a preconceived idea of what an African-American/Puerto Rican man might want with her. He just assumes that she would be frightened of him because of the late hour and his skin color. He makes judgments against helping her based on the daily slanders he hears against Puerto Rican and African-Americans.

This article is a great example of prejudice that is prevalent in our lives and can often sway the decisions we make, as it did with the author. It’s a good example for our students. Prejudice and racism can be found in many forms. More than just skin tone, height, weight and other outward appearances but our culture and lifestyles can play a factor as well. The message for our youth is to look at yourself first. Are we treating people the way we want to be treated? As with the author of this article, some decisions you must live with and some times regret.

Celebrating the Joy in Daily Events by Linda Christensen

I think this article, although somewhat dated with the printing of my copy, is prevalent in our society today. It talks of the youth and their difficulty in finding the joy in their lives. This is relevant especially with the economic situation our society is in today. The article talks about how consumerism tells them that happiness can be found in drinking the right drink, using the most popular shampoo and wearing the newest shoes. Although I’m sure some of this still exists, I think that today we are trying to find the joy in the daily events even though you worry that your parents are out of job, your family is struggling to pay the bills, or you’ve been told you are moving or worse yet you are now homeless. I think we all need to find the simple joys in our everyday life. Using this idea with our students awakens them to the post consumerism society that I think many of us are living in. Gone are the days of wanting and always getting. The examples of joy the students use in this piece range from the Spanish language, the color red, to their grandfathers hat. The author talks about using the simplest things in our lives and using it as a writing tool. I love the concept and plan on using it within my art classes as well.

Wow...

Mary Spencer — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:24:31 -0500

Mind & Life Institute! Right up my alley...thanks so much Aviva!!

Empower the Congo Research Design Draft 2

Anna Stephenson — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:50:33 -0500

2 ROC/Ch 5 Responses

Emily Chapelle — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:06:41 -0500

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:46:44 -0500

Your readign of these is so careful and thoughtful. You make very insightful connections to your project and your work and your past as well as between the articles.

I think you may wish to keep these about to look back on -- you have some interesting ideas and ways of centering your aims and purposes in here that I think will be useful to revisit ("Oh yes! that's what I was thinking then -- now I know what this piece of data is for," and so forth. . .)

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:31:21 -0500

I'm really gald it redeemed itself -- yes I agree with you abotu teh authors' relationship to these electronic resources. Yet overall, it's their approach to the process of research, the investigative and inquiry attitudes that I appreciate and I think they do a good job overall in articulating those.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:27:58 -0500

These are agreat start -- who knows where they will take you. Rememebr to look at who tehy cite as well. You might also look at journals such as Educational Leadership, The Reading Teacher, Principal Magazine, Elementary School Journal, just to see fi there are introductory type articles that lead to otehr resources . . Also NetWorks, an Onlien journal, may also address soem of these topics in a newer format.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:24:35 -0500

"This kind of student inquiry is not dependant on the topic but instead the interaction between students and experts. We want to know how to design a website that is successful in facilitating student discovery that can lead to the formation of dynamic questions."

And I'm thinking: look at mentorship or literature about apprenticeship models, possibly, or possibly coaching, and/or also whoever has written about students' inquiry: investigation, the teaching of how to write a research report, that kind of literature (maybe literacy, writing; or maybe it's in social stuides or science teaching . . .) -- although not online -- may speak to underlying themes that will be useful to you.

I also think that social networking and onlien teachign dynamics may also be informative to you.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:17:36 -0500

These look great; remember to look at who they cite. Where there is a confluence -- a few of them cite the same source, and you've not read that yet, it might be time to seek that out . . .

Moving right along!

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:10:24 -0500

Article 1: I think it comes down to the teacher's sensibilities and tolerances within the context of their school and community. I do think that it is good to be cognizant of the fact that playing with food is controversial -- no matter which side of teh argument you yourself fall on. Then to make the deliberate choice to use a food substance may be an issue of familiarizing children with that food substance, as you describe -- but it will be a deliberate, purposeful curricular choice, not an unthinking use of materials . . .

Yes, it is amazing what children grow accustomed to and how they change tehir initial responses with engagement and familiarity. Worms are definitely one of those fertile learning points and i could see how this could be particularly inspiring to try.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:02:30 -0500

see within

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:55:20 -0500

The nature of our project (and of everyone's, I'm sure) really involves three "researchable" aspects - the content of the site (urban agriculture/environmental sustainability/food security), the educational processes (inquiry through research and dialogue, connecting learning to real world experiences, creating an action plan for change), and the usability of the interface.

-- Very insightful and useful theoretical framework you provide here.

Sometiems looking also at the puroses that wyou want teh website to serve (may be analog ideas) can lead to thoughts of how to accomplish these same purposes online.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:52:00 -0500

Very thorugh and thoughtful response.

I also suggested looking at the nurture and development of empahty and compassion --

Jacqueline Eccles, a UM psychologist/educator works with Mind & LIfe, as does Rob Roeser (Colorado, I think)I'll alsotry to rememebr when I'mback in my office to see the rpgoram and my notes fromt eh institute meetign I attended in Oct -for some references of folks for you.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:46:13 -0500

looks great!

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:45:10 -0500

These look great, and also I made connections to curricula that address students as investigators -- in early childhood, though. But you never know what might be useful:

Reggio Emilia

Selma Wasserman's Play-debrief-replay

Young Investigators or The Project Approach

Bank Street College of Education

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:41:24 -0500

You draw great connections from these articles to your work for this program and to your teaching.

The issue of using simulations, I think, is related to teh differentiation issue, in the sense that in early childhood, one of the principles of creating curriculum is making learning relevant to students. Simulations have a way of doing just that: allowing multiple entry ways, engaging learners and motivating them through relevance and meaning, and through intrinsic motivation. . . all powerful stuff.

No need to bag all the other instructional methods though -- I rather adhere to Both/And logic (in contrast to either/or logic). Many methods have their uses, in context and in relation to the learners, the specific learning and concepts to be acquired, specific purposes. etc.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:32:08 -0500

Key words, techniques for searching, orientation to the field of inquiry -- not to mention patience! -- all make a difference to the search.

Its really OK to engage a reference librarian when you feel stuck -- they love a good hunt, and this is what they do: learna nd teach how to maintain, navigate, and use information systems!

Preconceptions, foreknowledge, what we already "know" does make a difference to our engagement with any topic. Two of the questions the brain asks when confronted with a phenomenon is "Have I ever seen it before?/Have I never seen it before?" The brain, as pattern seeker, looks for similarities and differences. Knowing what we know, awareness of bias or prior knowledge, upfront makes a difference to what we take in. And of course, mistaken preconceived notions (intuitive ideas in physics, for example) can get in the way of new learning and understanding if not addressed directly.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:22:57 -0500

see attached

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:04:31 -0500

Your list of good sources had me associatign the with Mind & Life Institute. This is a group of Western scientists (cognitive scientists, neurologists, medical doctors, psychologists, educators, etc.) and contemplative practitioners: Buddhist monks and the Dalai Lama at their head; who study the connections between their two tradititions to leanr from oen another.

This connection was less intended abotu studyign them as it was to find the studies of the development of empathy and compassion. There are people on both sides of thisgroup that study this -- the Dalai Lama speaks of this in interesting ways, and also the secular researchers have studied this is cognitive and developmental psychology and education. Seemed like there might be some soruces that would connect well with your work.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:57:17 -0500

If you are in the minority, I'm in there with you. When I was a student I really appreciated having reading to do -- in the sense that I could do it almost as relaxation, enjoy it, and feel virtuous (without having to work as hard as that generating stuff part . . .)

On the other hand the process can be very hard work, and stimulating; helping you to make connections, to see underlying themes or principles in your work, connections to other topics. It is also really affirming to find studies that justify your approaches or ideas. It can also be dismaying if you have ideas that are dashed in the research field . . . The confrontation with the developing field or the 'state of the art' is a good reality check and can help you to stay honest. Yet a reader can also identify holes in the accounts -- places where the field has not caughtup yet, gaps that researchers have not yet explored and that is important to know as well.

Aviva Dorfman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:40:34 -0500

Thoughtful work -- see comments attached

Response to AOCI Chapter 5

Ben Rimes — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:21:00 -0500

I really hate to start the reflection of this chapter in such a critical manner, but Chapter 5, “The Legacy of Distant Teachers” really was the nail in the coffin for showing just how dated this book is. There have been other references, quips, and examples given in the book that let you know this was written pre-Internet era, but chapter 5 takes the cake.

Describing research as entering the “confusing universe of search engines, websites, and chatrooms” was not the best place for this chapter to start. I realize that it was originally written in 1993, but it really highlighted just how limited the word of print media has become in the academic world. It would be interesting to read a study on how graduate students are using print versus electronic media to support their studies, but that’s for another master’s.

It was nice to start thinking about looking into journals, and where might be best to seek out background information to help with our research design. I pulled out a part of a sentence on page 136, in which one of the teachers situated herself in a “community of scholars”, which got me thinking about any ICS or THEN articles. Our immediate graduate program community, especially the faculty, could very well be taped for resources. I’ve been looking a bit into the THEN journal, and found at least a couple of promising articles, so that was a good start, rather then just relying on ERIC. Which of course, was a bit disappointing as many of the links in the chapter to resource sites were either broken or dead. However, I continued on with the idea of searching communities I’m already familiar with, and am currently going through past MACUL Journals to find some articles that might apply.

I’ve always been a critical reader, but I appreciated the suggestion towards the end of the chapter about checking the bibliographies and references to see if they hold up to scrutiny. Likewise, using the bibliographies to seek out additional information was also a great tip. So although the chapter was short, and filed with a lot of references that made me cringe, it contained at least a few worthy nuggets.

Conservation4Cozumel: Research Resources

Amy Linton — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:20:02 -0500

We have started to create a list of potential sources for the research for our site. Since it is based on conservation and we plan on using writing prompts, games and art based projects, we are trying to find sources that fall into these categories. We are continuing to search through journal articles as well as other avenues for additional information that will help us. The list is extensive and we will be weeding through it as we go.

JOURNALS (ERIC)

Developing High Quality Decision-Making Discussions about Biological Conservation in a Normal Classroom Setting

Authors: Grace, Marcus

Source:International Journal of Science Education, v31 n4 p551-570 Mar 2009

Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

Visual Art as a Vehicle for Educational Research (EJ776056)

Author(s): Hickman, Richard

Source: International Journal of Art & Design Education, v26 n3 p314-324 Oct 2007

Pub Date: 2007-10-00

Pub Type(s): Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive

ONLINE BOOKS

Arts-Based Research (online Google-books)

By Saaun McNiff

BOOKS

Children of the sun: The culture of Mexico, an arts-in-education thematic curriculum guide. By Creative Educational Systems

Creative Arts Research: Narrative of Methodolgies & Practices.

By Elizabeth Grierson, Laura Brearley and Treahna Hamm

Practice as research. Approaches to creative arts enquiry.

Edited by Estelle Barrett and Barbara Bold.

Writing as a way of knowing: Strategies for teaching and learning. Professional library.

By Lois Bridges

Arts-based Research in Education. Foundations for practice.

Edited by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor and Richard Siegesmund

Conducting Educational Research: A comparative view.

By R. Murray Thomas

Speed Bumps. A student-friendly guide to qualitative research

By Lois Weis and Michelle Fine

Acts of Inquiry in qualitative research.

Edited by B.M. Brizuela, J.P. Stewart, R.G. Carrillo and J.G. Berger

Teaching for Social Justice

By William Ayers, Jean Ann Hunt, and Therese Quinn.

Justice, Ideology, and Education

By Stevens, Woods, and Sheehan.

Pedagogy of Freedom

By Paulo Freire.

AOCI-Chapter 5 Response

Amanda Harper — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:20:31 -0500

I really like the notion of finding "distant teachers" to guide us in our research. We have not yet found anyone who stands out as a major expert in the field of online inquiry. We have just begun the search process and I am sure individuals will begin to stand out. The biggest category of research we have focused on is that of collaborative learning and online inquiry. Our project is focused on urban agriculture but we are more interested in the student experience. This kind of student inquiry is not dependant on the topic but instead the interaction between students and experts. We want to know how to design a website that is successful in facilitating student discovery that can lead to the formation of dynamic questions.

The focus on inquiry has led us to look primarily at educational research. Much of what we have found is related to science education and inquiry within that subject area. We have also amassed some articles focused on student questions. Students asking questions is a key component in our pilot. We want to determine what information seems to elicit the most meaningful questions.

I am not sure that reading has had much influence for me or my project partners at this point. I think that collaboration and questioning will be the most interesting topics of study for us. I also think that we can develop a successful pilot looking at those areas. I think that the design of our website will allow for successful data collection. We seem to be on the right track. I do plan to take the advice giving in chapter five and look outside the field of educational research. I think that social-networking might be an area to consider. As we continue to read I am sure that new ideas will continue to emerge.

Amanda Harper

Empower the Congo Sources

Anna Stephenson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:31:01 -0500

Much of our research will be the effects of staying current and if being up-to-date on global issues will make students want to be involved. Another key descriptor I started researching is global citizenship. Here are some of Empower the Congo Sources. All these were found on the ERIC and EBSCO databases.

1. Panwapa: Global Kids, Global Connections-Berson, Ilene R.; Berson Michael J.

2. Flat World" Lessons for Real-World Students-Fischer, Karin

3. Social Imperatives for Better Education: Putting Wisdom on the Agenda-Rich, Sharon: McLaughlin, John

4. Current Events as Empowering Literacy: For English and Social Studies Teachers-Pescatore, Christine

5. Exploring Action Learning: How to Use and Promote "Learning through Action" in Challenging Times: A One-Day Conference at Henley Business School--30 September, 2008-Heywood, John

6. Becoming Citizens of the World-Stewart, Vivien

EBSCO

7. Learning about Global Issues: why most educators only make things worse.Full Text Available By: Hicks, David; Bord, Andy. Environmental Education Research, Nov2001, Vol. 7 Issue 4, p413-425, 13p, 1 diagram; DOI: 10.1080/13504620120081287; (AN 5203104)