Week 7

Learning as Language/Symbol Perception

The Learning as Language/Symbol Perception Group included Ingrid Niwranski, Kira Duncan, Scarlett Leung, Ivy Vong and Steve Prentice. Theorists include Marton, van Manen, Husserl, and Sartre.

This presentation opened our eyes to the magnitude of how language and symbols can have different meanings to different people. How we make meaning is as cultural as the very words we chose. This can include body language.

Reflection

         I found this to be a fascinating area of study. A psychologist visiting my school to assess students’ needs for Special Education support and programming related a story to me. He told me about a child who was asked to draw a picture of his home. The boy drew a small, black house with small people standing on one side and himself larger and further away. The psychologist found this disturbing. He felt that a small black house and parents represented negative feelings towards the child’s home and family. He called the mother in to discuss the child’s mental state. When the mother arrived and he showed the drawing, the mother chuckled. She reported the house trim was painted black, including the front door. She also mentioned that, from the street, the house looked rather small but that was because it was built on a slope. From the rear of the backsplit, the house appeared like any other two-story dwelling. Later, when the psychologist asked the boy to talk about his house, he described the parents as fitting in the door so the parents had to be small because they were far away from the sidewalk. This reminds me of the presentation from the Learning as Distinctions Group. The lens we use to look at things colours our attitudes towards it.

Learning as Embodied

The Learning As Embodied Group included Hannah Atkinson, Laura Wolbert, and Miranda Varricchio. Theorists like Maturana & Varlea, Thompson and Rosch are part of this group.

Embodied learning involves using the students’ body in a pedagogical approach to teaching. Repetitive actions can develop muscle memory as well as cognitive development.

Reflection

Although I was the one to add the large blue sticky on the Jamboard as a language exercise for preschoolers, I have found embodied learning to be especially effective in teaching Mathematics at the Grade 1 level but it is useful at any age. In a simple Numeration, exercise about the number ten, students can be given a like number of snap cubes and two pieces of paper. Starting with all the blocks on one paper, the students count the blocks. They have no blocks on the other paper. It is easy to see that 10+0=10. One at a time, they move a block to the next paper. They continue moving the blocks to create a counting down (shrinking) pattern and a counting up (growing) pattern. So they find 10+0=10, 9+1=10, 8+2=10, and so on until they arrive at 0+10=10. It is exciting to see their sudden understanding that if they neither add blocks or take them away from the desk, the answer is always going to be ten.

Using manipulatives in every subject is of special help to the children who have not yet gained the ability to think abstractly. Showing them that two thermometers with the same reading left under either a black t-shirt or a white t-shirt can result in a temperature variance after a period of time is a sure way to make them remember that wearing black on a hot day may be less comfortable than wearing a light-coloured garment.

When I visit mother in her long-term care placement, it is interesting to be teaching her how to use a spoon to scoop up her food. She is able to use the utensil to continue to feed herself until she is distracted. Once again, she forgets how to use the spoon so the lesson is repeated. Often, in the same meal, the lessons go progressively quicker as she remembers parts of it (picking up the spoon in the right hand, holding it level, scooping the food, bringing it to her mouth, opening and placing the spoon and food inside, removing the spoon). On the next visit, we start at the beginning again as I first model then talk her through the steps. The brain-body connection is an interesting one.