Week 5

Learning with Others

The mystery tape measure

Says 1 foot but is a little more than 3

feetSays 2 feet but is somewhat more

than 6 feet

Says 3 feet but is almost

9 ½ feet

Announcements

Thank you for your proposals. Responses back in a week.

Section meetings this last week. Next section meetings:

• Wednesday, November 1 at 11:30 AM

• Thursday, November 2 at 2:00 PM

Quick questions after class

Review

& Preview

Creating learning

Pandora questions

Avoiding ‘aboutitis’

Theory One

Teaching for Understanding

Whole game learning, big field of action around the knowledge base

Teaching and learning for transfer

Preview

1. Distributed cognition

2. The Jasper series

3. Jasper in the classroom

4. Rapid review and looking ahead

Learning goals

Develop awareness of distributed cognition

Develop awareness of the ‘cognitive economy’ of classrooms

Probe the implications of both for creating learning

Distributed cognition

Goal: Review distributed cognition with a running

example

Distributed cognition in a nutshell

Person solo

Person plus

Social

Physical

Symbolic

? Fingertip (non) effect

? Deskilling

Effects “with” and “of”

The Jasper Series

Goal: Understand distributed cognition and refresh the

Pandora questions by analyzing an example

Jasper in a nutshell

Famous development initiative

Math focused: Trip planning, statistics and business plans, algebra, geometry

12 episodes (we’ll see the first, Journey to Cedar Creek)

Highly researched, impact on attitudes and performance

Anchored instruction: Anti inert knowledge, pro active knowledge and transfer

Highly distributed cognition

http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/projects/funded/jasper/Jasperhome.html

Journey to Cedar Creek

ChallengeWhen should Jasper leave for home? Can he make it without running out of fuel?

1. What’s worth learning?

2. What’s hard about learning that?

3. So how is it best learned?

4. How is the learning going?

Jasper in the Classroom

Goal: Build awareness of distributed cognition and the ‘cognitive economy’ of the classroom by analyzing classroom interactions

Analysis How do the two teachers compare

in the way they distribute cognition?

Which classroom has the hotter cognitive economy and why?

Quick design

What social groupings, physical layouts, symbolic practices, etc., could one set up in a Jasper classroom to foster distributed cognition and a hot cognitive economy?

Rapid Review and Looking

Ahead

Goal: Consolidation and mental preparation

Learning goals

Develop awareness of distributed cognition

Develop awareness of the ‘cognitive economy’ of classrooms

Probe the implications of both for creating learning

1. What’s worth learning?• What topics are worth learning?• What inside a topic is worth learning?• Beyond knowing stuff, what ‘whole games’ are learners getting better at? (Avoid

‘aboutitis’! Not just the knowledge base but lots of action around it!)• Can we have generative topics (TfU)?• What can transfer, and to where?

2. What’s hard about learning that?• Where should we watch out for fragile knowledge: missing, inert, naïve, ritual• Will the transfer we want occur? How can we ‘shepherd’ it?

3. So how is it best learned?• What’s the source’s share? / What’s the learner’s share• Can we keep all four sides of Theory One in play? – clear information, thoughtful

practice, informative feedback, strong intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. • Can we mobilize TfU: Generative topics, understanding goals, understanding

performances, ongoing assessment, mental models?• How can we teach this for transfer with the ‘low road’ and the ‘high road’?

• How can we leverage social, physical, and symbolic distribution of cognition?

• How can we encourage and reward complex cognition? (‘Hot cognitive economy’)

4. How is the learning going?• Can we arrange for truly informative feedback (from Theory one)?• How can we organize ongoing assessment (TfU)?• What transfers can we look for to track the process of learning?

• How can we use distributed cognition to track and inform progress?

Transferring distributed cognition

As you encounter various learning experiences, ask:

1. How well are they designed for the social, physical, and symbolic distribution of cognition?

2. How well are they designed for effective distribution of the executive function?

3. How ‘hot’ are the cognitive economies, how encouraging and rewarding of complex cognition?

Moving on to a new unit…

from The Challenge of New Knowledge and Ideas to

The Challenge of Better Thinkers and Learners The critical mind

The dispositional mind

The proactive mind