Private Universe

For some reason, I was pleased that my answers I gave in regards to the seasons of the Earth and the phases of the moon were viable. I tend to think with right side of my brain more than my left, and therefore, I have setup a mental block against all things math and science a long time ago. I took only the required classes I needed for either of these two subjects, so it surprised me to see that Harvard graduates had trouble pinpointing down an accurate answer for the same questions I answered.

Although the subject that was focused on in the video was more science oriented, I wonder what the results would have been for questions from another subject that is more focused on in schools (I.e. the three R's). I've always been sad that classes like history and sciences tend to take a hit when the budget goes south. It seems to me that students now are being taught more and more towards tests than to how to use and retain the knowledge that a student learns in class.

The teacher in the video made a point about the student that she felt was one of her strongest being a kinesthetic learner and needing to actually touch the objects and maneuver them to fully understand the concept being taught. This is sometimes not always possible in a classroom. I know that most teachers try to engage all types of learning, but sometimes the kinesthetic learners might not get the opportunity to learn hands on as much. This is where new media could step in since students would be able to find out more information about a topic in a way that is comfortable for them. I am a visual learner, so I am able to learn most effectively from reading or seeing (which is why I look to the internet to help guide me as much as possible).

New media in education is something that should be thought as a supplement to classroom education (whatever form that classroom might take). But, part of new media in education is also making sure that students can be analytical thinkers and be willing to look at several sources. In terms of the video we watched and the questions posed, the students in that video could have looked for information about the seasons and phases on the internet (but judging from the hairstyles, I'm going to guess the internet hadn't gone public yet at the point of filming). A student could look at a wikipedia article to get a sense of the topic and follow it up with looking at more visuals on youtube. There are plenty of spots online that a teacher could have sheets to work on or, in the case of something like google docs, allow students to build off of and edit what other students find out.

The problem with this is being able to judge when a source is reliable. If a student were to watch a youtube video that had someone talking about how the moon went through cycles due to glowing moon rocks, he or she has to be able to follow this up with confirmation from other sources. Otherwise, it seems like the student could fall into the same trap of creating a private universe of ideas again.

As the web becomes more and more of a collaboration and conversation amongst people, it seems that ideas that are incorrect or slightly off can be corrected by others (albeit sometimes rudely). This is nice to see since I see this in the discussion boards in my online class all the time. It makes me wonder what the outcome of the questions would have been if we had responded to each other's answers to the questions and helped each other to fix any wrong conceptions we had.

This all was interesting to think about since the classroom is definitely showing that it can't stay within just four-walls as the students and the ways they gather information changes.