A Sense of Place

A Sense of Belonging
An ideal learning space gives students a sense of home, of belonging.Like a nest, it offers security and orientation,it is also a place from which one can stretch one's wings...

A 'sense of place' - an identity - is something all communities need, and indeed it can be argued that a principle cause of alienation, crime and dysfunction is the loss of this sense of identity.

http://www.sustainability.murdoch.edu.au/casestudies/Pilbara/socio-cultural/Sense_of_Place.htm

Our relationship with the land is one of belonging to, caring for, being cared for and growing up with: our land is our mother. The sense of place that is embedded within the souls of all aboriginal people is the obligation to ensure the very life and survival of our Mother Earth, the bearer of all creation.
http://www.urbanecology.org.au/ecocity2/senseofplace.html

Constructivist Learning

A constructivist approach
I envisage active, engaged learners, an enthusiastic teacher and a myriad of opportunities for the children to learn with and from each other,using quality resources.
"Constructivism does not claim to have made earth-shaking inventions in the area of education; it merely claims to provide a solid conceptual basis for some of the things that, until now, inspired teachers had to do without theoretical foundation. "von Glasersfeld see: Summary: http://www.cdli.ca/~elmurphy/emurphy/cle6.html

I have chosen the image of a beehive to represent a place of interconnectedness. My ideal learning space would be home to a beehive of activity in a series of linked spaces. There would be a room with nothing at all in it besides musical instruments and a sound system. There would be a room like a conventional classroom with desks, chairs and computers. There would be smaller rooms leading off these, for group or individual work. Ideally, the space would include a kitchen and a garden, and doors wide open to community involvement. Bright colours,organic Gaudi-inspired architecture,big windows open to the world...

Education is not "teaching a fact for its own sake, but for teaching children to go on beyond what is given." It should never become "just a transmission of what we know, without a sense of what is possible." Jerome Bruner

Connectivism

Networked Learning , a Sense of Community

Creative learning brings about new and interesting ways of connecting quality content.
George Siemens can be heard here talking about Connectivism and its implications for education:
http://www.elearnspace.org/media/Connectivism_IOC/player.html

There is no one definition of a learning community; however, a common definition is:“Any one of a variety of curricular structures that link together several existing courses---or actually restructure the material entirely---so that students have opportunities for deeper understanding and integration of the material they are learning, and more interaction with one another and their teachers as fellow participants in the learning enterprise.”
http://aaweb.lsu.edu/slc/whatIs.htm
See also:http://learnweb.harvard.edu/ent/home/index.cfm

Reflective Practice

Critical reflection is the process of analysing, reconsidering and questioning experiences within a broad context of issues. I have chosen this image from Dali because of its centering quality. True critical reflection comes about when a content has been internalised and given a new, meaningful context.

This is a source of useful strategies for good reflective practice:
http://www.une.edu.au/tlc/alo/critical4.htm

Deep Learning:
More than just the accumulation of information.
The students must have been in contact with meaningful content from all facets of life.This gives the necessary framework for deep learning to occur.
Deep, as opposed to superficial learning:

Focus is on “what is signified”
Focus is on the “signs” (or on the learning as a signifier of something else)
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Relates previous knowledge to new knowledge
Focus on unrelated parts of the task
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Relates knowledge from different courses
Information for assessment is simply memorised
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Relates theoretical ideas to everyday experience
Facts and concepts are associated unreflectively
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Relates and distinguishes evidence and argument
Principles are not distinguished from examples
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Organises and structures content into coherent whole Task is treated as an external imposition Emphasis is internal, from within the student
Emphasis is external, from demands of assessment

http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/deepsurf.htm
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Learner Diversity

Diversity and Differences:
Individuality requires flexibility in teaching. a teacher needs to attune his perception so that the individual needs of every learner are met. Multiple intelligences need to be catered to.So too talents and learning challenges and cultural perpectives.

See : Teaching with diversity checklist:
http://www.csd.uwa.edu.au/tl/99TDChecklist.htm

Power and Freedom

Power and Freedom

Today's learners are strong individuals who need to be empowered to find their own paths. They need to be anchored in a secure sense of self in order to determine their optimal ways of learning. In an atmosphere of mutual respect and support, individual power and freedom enrich the learning potential of students.

See Glasser's theories on personal choice and responsibility:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Glasser

Creativity

Creativity -
a living approach to education which can enliven every facet of learning. This is a fundamental principle of Steiner education.
"I think that it is not exaggerated to say that no other educational system in the world gives such a central role to the arts as the Waldorf School Movement. Even mathematics is presented in an artistic fashion and related via dance, movement or drawing to the child as a whole."Konrad Oberhuber, Professor of Fine Arts, Harvard University
http://www.waldorfschool.com/results_of_a_waldorf_education.htm

"Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self." -- Erich Fromm

Transformation of the Individual

Transformation of the Individual
An ideal learning process would develop the potential of each learner and lay the foundations for curious, enthusiastic life-long learning. A creative educational process should become a well-spring of inspiration for later life, full of rich memories, a sense of mystery and a seach for meaning.
In the words of Howard Gardner:
I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place. Knowledge is not the same as morality, but we need to understand if we are to avoid past mistakes and move in productive directions. An important part of that understanding is knowing who we are and what we can do...

Transformation of Society

Transformation of Society

Students should beinspired to strive to make the world a better place and share the gifts of their talents in a way that promotes social justice and sustainability. These ideals cannot be imposed upon anyone but would ideally arise from each person in an expression of freedom and responsibility


All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth: Aristotle

The Development of Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence in Children:
Implications for Education and Artistry
By Jay.A.Seitz
www.york.cuny.edu/~seitz/HolisticEd.pdf


In this article, Seitz draws attention to the potential of artistic movement, particularly dance, for nurturing intelligence in children. Jay points to the now widely acknowledged problem that traditional intelligence tests, in focusing almost exclusively on linguistic and mathematical skills, have neglected the acknowledgement of many abilities which have been regarded as not relevant for the development of higher-order cognitive skills.

Seitz traces the central role of movement in the development of speech and thinking from infancy. Recent studies have confirmed that the parts of the brain which control voluntary movement are connected by neural pathways to those parts of the brain which manipulate ideas, suggesting that we think kinesthetically.

Seitz supports Gardner’s acknowledgement of a bodily-kinesthetic intelligence as a distinct ability with two components:

1: masterful coordination of one’s bodily movements
2: the ability to manipulate objects in a skilled manner.

The three central cognitive skills in body-gestural expression are highlighted in their relevance for the artistic development of movement. These are:

1: motor logic - the clear ‘ idea ’, or syntax of movement
2: kinesthetic memory – the reconstructing of movement and the positioning in space
3: kinesthetic awareness- the appreciation of posture, balance, symmetry, resistance, tension and weight.
All three elements are important components of dance.
Important too are the abilities to imitate and to understand the expression of ideas and feelings in movement. These latter two skills are located in the special realm of ‘artistic intelligences.’

Seitz points to the ‘problem-solving’ nature of refining artistic movement, whereby the learner matches, to an ever increasing degree, his own movements with an ideal e.g. an arabesque.

Artistic movement is said to develop the learner on the physical, sensory, emotional and intellectual levels. The aesthetic, social and cultural understandings arising from artistic movement have been largely undervalued by educators in western societies, so too the relation to spatial and musical intelligences. Seitz advocates curriculum changes to address a broader profile of intellectual abilities and an earlier nurturing of artistic movement.

My teaching experience has focused largely on a form of artistic movement known as eurythmy (the movement of music and speech) and the teaching of cultural (folk) dance. I have taught all levels from pre-school to year 12.
My work with very young children focuses strongly on movement qualities taken from nature, animals and stories such as fairy tales. The movement is imaginative, free-form and not highly organised. Through the primary years the children bring more conscious awareness into their individual expression, concentration, coordination and increasingly complex spatial and group forms.
The high school years see a refinement of these skills whereby the student is increasingly challenged to become the creator and choreograph of group performances.

I have witnessed the calming, ordering and enlivening effect creative movement has on children’s behavior. My work aims to support and enhance the curriculum in fully integrated way. I have seen ‘cross-pollination’ effects too: one French teacher was certain the children performed far better if her lesson came immediately after a lesson in eurythmy. In accordance with Seitz’s observations, I have become convinced of the value of eurythmy and folk dance in nurturing inter and intra personal intelligence, spatial awareness, linguistic and musical appreciation, social and cultural understanding.

Children are natural movers and it seems a crime that they are made to learn so much whilst sitting still! Adolescents are often chaotic or lethargic in their movement and benefit enormously from balancing these extremes in a soul-enriching form- not just through sport. Like Seitz, I strongly advocate curriculum reform. I am working as part of a creative arts committee to bring about change in my local public school.

Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words…… ~Friedrich Nietzsche


The Steiner education system has embraced the need for artistic movement whole-heartedly since its inception. The performing arts are seen as crucial for the appreciation of the dignity, worth and beauty of the human being. The effects of artistic movement for broader learning are highly utilized.

Focused, flexible, coordinated and agile movements awaken these qualities in thinking (as supported by Seitz: we think kinesthetically). Movement which reflects both the outer world and the inner experience nourishes emotional development, broadening the depths of feeling in students.(Seitz refers to better interaction with other people and objects in the world). In artistic movement, we see the Waldorf education principle of thinking, feeling and doing exemplified on both an individual and social level.

In addition, Steiner emphasized the spiritual qualities of artistic movement: “Through Eurythmy, man comes nearer the divine than he otherwise could”. As Friedrich Nietzsche boldly expressed: “I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.” Seitz neglects to refer to this aspect of dance -surprisingly- considering the role dance has played through the ages in religious rites. “Dancers are the athletes of God.” according to Albert Einstein. Here a clear connection can be made to the nurturing of Gardner’s existential or spiritual intelligence. This may seem a difficult avenue to explore in school curriculum, yet I have found that artistic movement to truly great works of poetry and music accesses the existential realm effortlessly…

We ought to dance with rapture that we might be alive... and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. ~D.H. Lawrence

Excel

Here's a great excel table with 258 reviews of leson plans, webquests,powerpoints, including hyperlinks! Excellent.

http://training.scottcounty.net/In-service%20January%2020_2003/Teachers%20Review%20and%20Rate%20the%20Site%2001-20-03%20Master%20File.xls

Distributed Learning Environments

“Logged Out” was the title page of today’s News Review in the Sydney Morning Herald (24 June 2006). In this article, educationalists argued for the advantages of computer-based teaching methods and pointed to the “digital divide”-those students disadvantaged by not having access to the internet. According to Barbara Stone, principal at MLC Burwood: ”If we don’t exploit this technology, which is so much part of our life, we do students a great injustice”.
There are, however, reports claiming that the use of technology in the classroom has failed to enhance learning outcomes (Evans as quoted by Carol Steketee, see: http://www.ecu.edu.au/conferences/herdsa/main/papers/ref/pdf/Steketee.pdf)

Essays such as Gideon Haigh’s “Information Idol- How Google is making us Stupid” highlight the global nature of the problems educationalists are facing:

“Education is an institution dominated by the pressures of mediocrity. Schools are places where treating the average needs with the average amounts of resources has long been the rule - a fact that, unfortunately has become extremely comfortable and therefore deeply entrenched.” Google delivers every student the same not-very-good and not-very-bad resources necessary to craft a perfectly mediocre response. It lends itself not so much to learning as to the appearance of learning - which to politicians is, frankly, of paramount concern.
http://intermaweb.net/index.php/2006/03/05/information-idol-how-google-is-making-us-stupid.

See also "Google Schmoogle":
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/mediarpt/stories/s1571598.htm

The crucial step is to employ technological tools appropriately in order to facilitate optimal learning processes. The constructivist approach is being extended, the idea of collaborative group activity is now at the forefront. The Distributed Learning Environment(DLE) is a context whereby technology can be used to enrich and ultimately transform the process of learning.

The DLE brings about a significant shift away from teacher-based learning. The learner is seen to be an individual in context i.e. with access to resources, technology and social interaction.
The role of the teacher takes on more the nature of a facilitator, who provides guidance and affirmation. The teacher needs to create the basis for constructive teamwork to emerge. In the classroom this means that communication skills need to be nurtured (such as listening, acknowledging and reflecting). The teacher should be able to assess the contribution potential of the student on the basis of an understanding of the implications of multiple intelligences. Skills such as independent thinking and discernment need to be cultivated. These elements provide the crucial pre-conditions.

Ideally, technology can enhance collaborative learning with tools that are intelligently implemented (such as mind-mapping and blogging). A virtual on-line learning community can access immense resources and an abundance of ideas, so that the whole becomes much more than the sum of its parts.

If implemented wisely, judiciously and collaboratively, the use of technology in education could overcome the current problems of superficial mediocrity and move towards the empowerment of the active creative learner.

Action Research

...in other words:

a group of children decides to build a billy-cart: this is the initial idea.

They ask their dads for some advice and google some facts...lots of information available: fact finding.

They work out what they will need to buy, how much it will cost, who will buy it, who can get tools from home, when they will meet: planning.

They cut the wood and hammer together the basic structure: first action step.

"Wouldn't the structure be more stable if we used screws?" :evaluation.

They pull the nails out and replace them with screws:amended plan.

Work begins on the wheels: second step......

The creative process, alternating between action and critical reflection is ultimately just as important as the end product.

(and the good news is that there are still real children who race recklessly down real hills on real self-made billy-carts,maybe even breaking some real bones and experiencing the thrill of it all...)

http://www.infed.org/research/b-actres.htm

The Enneagram

This is an ancient Sufi way of understanding ourselves-our talents and motivations as well as our deficits.It draws relationships between the two. The idea is that our talents can do us a disservice by 'trapping' us into fixed ways of seeing the world and thereby narrowing our horizons. True development can only occur by recognising what we are and what we are not,our light and our shadow.By understanding our enneagram type we can grow more aware of why we think, feel and act as we do.

"The-Not-So-Good-Earth"

For a while there we had 25-inch Chinese peasant families

famishing in comfort on the 25-inch screen

and even Uncle Billy whose eyesight's going fast

by hunching up real close to the convex glass

could just about make them out- the riot scene

in the capital city for example

he saw that better than anything, using the contrast knob

to bring them up dark-all those screaming faces

and bodies going under the horses' hooves- he did a terrific job

on that bit....

Bruce Dawe

...In response to Bandura's ideas about media-related aggresion...

see blog: Dawns on me ,or:

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/bingschool/rsrchart/bandura.htm

It seems ludicrous that while military forces are trained to kill using computer simulation, the computer games industry still denies any adverse effects images of killing may be having on young people's minds.

I am convinced that there are untold numbers of people who are fundamentally disturbed at the core of their psyches by exposure to violent imagery. This state of inner turmoil can be masked in a myriad of ways .

Increasingly, parents and educators are asking whether the hoards of so-called ADHD children include many individuals who are simply not coping with their feelings of inner nervousness and anxiety. I personally believe films such as "Harry Potter" (all of them) , "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Lord of the Rings" contain very frightening images which would be 'indigestable' on a soul level for many children. Meanwhile, exposure and merchandising run rampant. The earlier the better.....

Jerome Bruner

Jerome Bruner 1915-


“Jerome Bruner is not merely one of the foremost educational thinkers of the era; he is also an inspired learner and teacher. His infectious curiosity inspires all who are not completely jaded….” Howard Gardner.


Jerome Bruner is widely acknowledged for his influence on educational practice and his advocacy of discovery learning. His books 'The Process of Education' and 'Towards a Theory of Instruction' have become recognized as classic of educational psychology. Bruner advocated the teaching of the structure of subjects with real life processes as the point of introduction. This corresponds with his theories of intellectual development. He proposed three key stages:

1) The enactive where a person learns about the world through actions on objects;
(from birth to about age 3)
2)The iconic stage where learning occurs through using models and pictures;
(from about age 3 to about age 8)
3) The symbolic stage which describes the capacity to think in abstract terms;
(from about age 8)

Bruner’s idea of moving from the concrete to the pictorial to the abstract is compatible with the Steiner education approach where practical hands-on experience is raised to a feeling relationship through mental picturing and finally progresses to abstract thinking. For instance, geography lessons in the Steiner school (usually in class 3) give initial focus to the local area-that which can be physically explored by the child. Children learn to map (picture) their local area. They start recognizing how the parts are inter-related and understanding their place in the picture. In the later years the perspective is widened, step by step, to encompass the whole earth and its place in the solar system. This approach is consistent with Bruner:

“If earlier learning is to render later learning easier, it must do so by providing a general picture in terms of which the relations between things encountered earlier and later are made as clear as possible”
Bruner’s ‘spiral curriculum’ where ideas are revisited, expanded upon and gradually formalized is also much in keeping with Waldorf school practice. So too his approach to learning motivation. Rather than striving for outer signs of achievement, Bruner argued that the interest inspired by the learning material is the ideal stimulus to active learning.

Bruner discouraged educators from shying away from themes of importance at an early age because they are considered “too hard”. He argued that this results in time-wasting and the underestimation of children’s abilities: “any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development”. In Steiner education we embrace this concept. For example, teaching Aesop’s fables in class 2 is a perfect opportunity for fundamental conversations on morals and ethics.

Education is not "teaching a fact for its own sake, but for teaching children to go on beyond what is given." It should never become "just a transmission of what we know, without a sense of what is possible."

In relation to the use of ICT, I would suggest that, in accordance with Bruner, this sort of learning-involving a strong focus on the abstract- should begin after the age of 8. Prior to this age, discovery based learning should find its footing firmly in the real world context.

Multiple Intelligences

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner 1943-

Gardner is a psychologist based at Harvard University .He is world renowned for creating his theory of Multiple Intelligences. http://www.howardgardner.com/ Howard Gardner's work around multiple intelligences has had a profound impact on thinking and practice in education.

In his book Frames of Mind, Gardner challenged the idea that intelligence is a single entity, that it results from a single factor, and that it can be measured simply via IQ. Instead, he proposed a many-faceted approach to intelligence based on the following dimensions:

Linguistic intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically; and language as a means to remember information. Writers, poets, lawyers and speakers are among those that Howard Gardner sees as having high linguistic intelligence.

Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. In Howard Gardner's words, in entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.

Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. According to Howard Gardner musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence.
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. Howard Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related.

Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.

Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counselors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.

Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner's view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

Natural Intelligence was later included by Gardner, being the capacity to understand and value the natural world, its interconnected structures and man's place within it.

Existential Intelligence, sometimes referred to as spiritual intelligence, was another later addition, referring to the ability to find and realise adequate meaning in life.

“Gardner argues convincingly that Western society as a whole, and our schools in particular, reinforce linguistic and logical-mathematical forms of intelligence while neglecting other ways of knowing. Teachers love children who are good with words and logic. However, children who show ability in dance, art, music, social relations, intuition, drama, nature, and other areas of self-expression tend not to receive as much recognition. In my own research, I have found that many children with talents in these neglected intelligences are likely to be labeled "learning disabled" or ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) if they do not perform adequately on assigned worksheets and pop quizzes.”
http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/articles/utopian_schools.htm

Gardner’s work substantiated theories integral to Waldorf education since its inception more than 80 years ago. The ‘whole child’ approach has been vigilant in valuing and nurturing the learner in a complete and intergrated way, compatible with Gardner’s multi-dimensional

approach.

An example of an intergrated approach to the concepts of division and fractions would be the following: Class 4 children could bake a cake together.This cake could then be shared among the class members in even portions.The numerical aspcts of this division proces could be ilustrated in both pictures and numbers. The children could be encouraged to see how parts make up a whole in nature, such as the apple having 5 divisions. The children could explore the musical divisions and understand concepts such as crotchet, minim etc. through clapping, stamping and running to the beats. Literature studies could focus on the theme of sharing. The children could be encouraged to create a piece of art where the whole is divided into even parts, perhaps with a theme such as the seasons.....In all of these activities , elements of teamwork would be encouraged, fostering development on the interpersonal level.

Working with multiple intelligences, in my opinion, means recognizing and extending obvious talents whilst challenging the learner on all levels. There is a danger in categorizing children too early and playing to their strengths. This I became aware of in relation to webquests where it could be an easy path always to give e.g. the artist the role of illustration, the eloquent child the task of verbal presentation etc.

In my work with performing arts, I have experienced enormously positive and unexpected results by giving ‘therapeutic’ roles to children. It can be a very beneficial process for the obvious performing talents in the class to at times practice restraint and allow the otherwise shy and meek children to take centre stage. These children in turn sometimes experience a ‘great leap forward’ in their development and are fundamentally positively affirmed in their feelings of self-esteem.

“Waldorf Education embodies in a truly organic sense all of the intelligences that Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner speaks about. Steiner had the breadth of vision seventy-five years ago to see something that educators are now waking up to…and Steiner’s vision is a whole one, not just an amalgamation of the intelligences. Many schools are currently attempting to construct curricula based on Gardner’s model simply through an additive process. Steiner’s approach, however, was to begin with a deep inner vision of the child and the child’s needs and to build curricula around that vision”
Thomas Armstrong, author,” Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom.”

Childhood

Jean Piaget,(1896-1980) ,the Swiss philosopher and psychologist, spent much of his professional life listening to children, watching children and researching their development. He observed that children do not think like grownups, that they have thought processes with their own kind of order and their own special logic. Einstein called it a discovery "so simple that only a genius could have thought of it."

Childhood is universally acknowledged to be a unique and fundamental life time experience.
Understanding and appreciating the nature of a child's being is crucial for the development of meaningful content and method in educational practice. This involves far more than reciting psychologists' cognitive theories. Rather,we must learn as educators to enter into the child's developing conciousness in an almost meditative manner, deeply respectful and focused in the present moment.
When observing children at kindergarten age, we see them constantly in movement, at play, deeply involved in sensory, experiential hands-on learning, full of imagination, creativity, full of life itself. Yet how do we see educators meeting the needs of children? Increasingly, education is seen as a race, and the earlier you start, the sooner and the better you finish. What is the prize at the end of this "race"? There is a severe lack of evidence that this push for early academics produces any lasting advantage for children, or more contented, authentic adults who are able to "in and of themselves, impart meaning to their lives" (Steiner).
According to Piaget, development is caused by the accumulation of errors in understanding , an accumulation which eventually causes a state of disequilibrium , so that thought structures require reorganising. The race for the early intellectualisation of children is a tragic example of "error accumulation" and it is high time that the thoughts guiding these misplaced ambitions in education were "reorganised".

"We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it."
~George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, 1860.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) and Implications for ICT in Education

The Swiss psychologist Piaget is best known for reorganizing cognitive development into a series of stages- the levels of development corresponding roughly to infancy, pre-school, childhood, and adolescence.The four stages, are the Sensorimotor stage, which occurs from birth to age two, (children experience through their senses), the Preoperational stage, which occurs from ages two to seven (motor skills are acquired), the Concrete operational stage, which occurs from ages seven to eleven (children think logically about concrete events), and the Formal Operational stage, which occurs after age eleven (abstract reasoning is developed here).

In Summary:
Stages of Development:
Sensory Motor Period(0 - 24 months) [More on this stage]
The Preoperational Period(2-7 years) [More on this stage]
Period of Concrete Operations (7-11 years) [More on this stage]
Period of Formal Operations(11-15 years) [More on this stage]
http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/piaget.shtml


The concepts of schemes, assimilation, accommodation and equilibration are important in understanding Piaget.
Schemes describe the patterns of behaviour or thinking that people use in relating to the world.
Assimilation is where an object or experience is incorporated into a new scheme.
Accommodation is the reordering of schemes taking into account new experiences.
Development from one stage to the next is caused by the accumulation of errors in the child's understanding of the environment, which brings about a state of cognitive disequilibrium,and the reorganisation of existing thought structures.

Although Piaget's thoghts have been overhauled and expanded upon, he was undoubtedly a brilliant and inspired thinker who made a huge impact on educational practice. Time magazine ranked him among one of the most important individuals of the twentieth century.Through his keen observation of human development, he sought to gain a new basis for inspired learning.

In Conversations with Jean Piaget, he says: "Education, for most people, means trying to lead the child to resemble the typical adult of his society . . . but for me and no one else, education means making creators. . . . You have to make inventors, innovators—not conformists," (Bringuier, 1980, p.132) (Wikipedia)


...is ICT education really aiming to create innovators, not conformists???
Are we fulfilling our duty of care in giving children a solid basis for ethical and moral decisions?...
....some critical reflections from:
www.allianceforchildhood.org.

Today’s children will inherit social and ecological crises that involve tough moral choices and awesome technological power, Tech Tonic warns. To confront problems like the proliferation of devastating weapons and global warming, children will need all the “wisdom, compassion, courage, and creative energy” they can muster, it adds. Blind faith in technology will not suffice.
“A new approach to technology literacy, calibrated for the 21st century, requires us to help children develop the habits of mind, heart, and action that can, over time, mature into the adult capacities for moral reflection, ethical restraint, and compassionate service”

We as educators have the task of facilitating the child's understanding of the world, to help the child find sense and meaning. Is the desperate scramble to introduce ICT to children based on sound educational philosophy? Surely an innovative, use of technology can only come about when children are brought up in conducive environments for true creativity. Are we currently on the right path? Some critical reflections:

Tech Tonic proposes seven reforms in education and family life. These will free children from a passive attachment to screen-based entertainment and teach them about their “technological heritage” in a new way, rooted in the study and practice of technology “as social ethics in action” and in a renewed respect for nature.

The seven reforms:
1: Make human relationships and a commitment to strong communities a top priority at home and school.
2: Color childhood green to refocus education on children’s relationships with the rest of the living world.
3:Foster creativity every day, with time for the arts and play.
4:Put community-based research and action at the heart of the science and technology curriculum.
5:Declare one day a week an electronic entertainment-free zone.
6:End marketing aimed at children.
7:Shift spending from unproven high-tech products in the classroom to children’s unmet basic needs.

“To expect our teachers, our schools, and our nation to strive to educate all of our children, leaving none behind, is a worthy goal,” Tech Tonic says. “To insist that they must at the same time spend huge amounts of money and time trying to integrate unproven classroom technologies into their teaching, across the curriculum with preschoolers on up, is an unwise and costly diversion from that goal. It comes at the expense of our neediest children and schools, for whom the goal is most distant.”

The Implications for Education, According to Talbot
(The Future does not Compute):
Children in today's world need to be familiar with computers, don't they?
What should we teach high-school students about computers?
Isn't the Internet irreplaceable as a source of information?
Why not use the Internet to bring world-class science into the schoolhouse?
Can't we use the Internet to help students become world citizens?
Do CD-ROMs and nature videos instill a love of nature in children?
Why not use the Internet to help children learn foreign languages?
Must we get school children onto the Net in order to prepare them for 21st century jobs?


Also see Mander: "In the Abscence of the Sacred"
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/stc-link/weblink/water/materials/mander.html
We don't really know how to assess new or existing technologies. It is apparent that we need a new, more holistic language for examining technology, one that would ignore the advertised claims, best-case visions, and glamorous imagery that inundate us and systematically judge technology from alternative perspectives: social, political, economic, spiritual, ecological, biological, military. Who gains? Who loses? Do the new technologies serve planetary destruction or stability? What are their health effects? Psychological effects? How do they affect our interaction with and appreciation of nature? How do they interlock with existing technologies? What do they make possible that could not exist before? What is being lost? Where is it all going? Do we want that?

...if we are to use technology to influence learning effectively, to lead to a creativity based on human and environmental ethics, these questions need assessing.

Albert Einstein and Rudolf Steiner:
Kindness, Beauty, Truth and the path to selflessness...
"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. ... The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. ... We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive."

"Only the individual can think, and thereby create new values for society, nay, even set up new moral standards to which the life of the community conforms. ... The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty and Truth. "(Einstein, 1954) Albert Einstein Biography

Ideals which light the way in Steiner education:
Whereas the kindergarten teacher represents to the children that “the world is good” and the primary school teacher that “the world is beautiful” - the guiding principle facing the secondary teacher is to lead the pupil through the specific nature of the curriculum to the understanding that “the world is true”.

"Geist, durchleuchte mich

Liebe, durchgluehe mich

Kraft, durchdringe mich

Dass in mir erstehe

Ein Helfer der Menschheit

Selbstlos und treu"

(May wisdom shine through me, may love glow within me, may strength permeate me,that in me may arise a helper of mankind, selfless and true" Rudolf Steiner

Life-long learning...

To this day, Piaget's works are held in high regard, yet it is widely acknowledged that his theories are more relevant when complemented with those of Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky believed that individual development could not be understood without reference to the social and cultural context in which development occurs. He did not see development as progressing in fixed stages, but more in a life-long accumulative manner.

Vygotsky introduced the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development . This can be understood as the gap between what one is wanting to teach and the state of development presenting itself in the learner in that area. A good teacher will be able to adequately meet this gap by extending the learner in a realistic yet enticing way.

Vygotsky saw play as a fundamental formative form of learning:"A child's greatest achievements are possible in play, achievements that tomorrow will become her basic level of real action." In this aspect, his ideas are highly compatible with those expressed by Steiner. The Waldorf plea to "keep the hood on childhood" is a heartfelt recognition of the value of children's play.

The importance of social interaction was strongly emphasised by Vygotsky."Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and, later on, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological)." Social interaction includes teacher interaction. An enthusiastic , dedicated mentor who affirms, guides, build bridges, as well as allowing for mistakes and experimentation is vital for inspired learning.Vygotsky's theories have had an enormous influence in the shift from isolated to socially connected learning environments.

Language was seen by Vygotsky as crucial in its function for structuring a child's thought processes and social behaviour."Words play a central part not only in the development of thought but in the historical growth of consciousness as a whole. A word is a microcosm of human consciousness."This aspect of his theories strikes a strong chord with Steiner teachers who work consistently and artistically in developing both language and speech.

Understanding constructivist theories is in some ways, for those working with Steiner education, like finding a framework to describe what one is instinctively doing anyway. Or, as von Glaserfeld said:

"Constructivism does not claim to have made earth-shaking inventions in the area of education; it merely claims to provide a solid conceptual basis for some of the things that, until now, inspired teachers had to do without theoretical foundation. "
von Glasersfeld
see: Summary: http://www.cdli.ca/~elmurphy/emurphy/cle6.html

Microcosms

Vygotsky: Microcosms

A word devoid of thought is a dead thing, and a thought unembodied in words remains a shadow.
Words play a central part not only in the development of thought but in the historical growth of consciousness as a whole. A word is a microcosm of human consciousness.

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