I think I am starting to make some connections about the purpose of some of our assignments and the objectives of the class. Maybe all of my peer's have understood the need to look at the articles from a theorist's perspective, but until recently I have been looking at them in a more pragmatic manner and attempted to find immediate clinical value.
This week we picked two articles from the Carrying Forward the Conversation textbook.
The first article I read was titled Participatory Simulations: Building Collaborative Understanding Through Immersive Dynamic Modeling. It was written by Vanessa Colella. In this study the student the student's participated in what is called Participatory Simulation. The Simulation was carried out and then studied to see if it met John Dewey's principles of experience. Dewey's principle stated that learning occurs through continuity and interaction.
The simulation consisted of 10th grade students wearing small computerized badges to participate in a simulation that involved scientific inquiry. The badges were used to simulate the spread of disease. The badge kept track of how many people the student came in contact with and indicated if the student had the disease or not. The simulation was carried out 6 times. The students worked together to determine how the virus was being spread.
Data was collected through video tape and was then analyzed to identify the presence of immersion in the simulation, identification and analysis of evidence, experimental design and predication, and negation about scientific vocabulary. The immersion of simulation this compared to Dewey's terms of continuity and interaction. This was met as participants felt as if they actually had or did not have the virus. The date indicated a high level of emersion and interaction.
The Second Article I read was titled Using Mobile Computing to Enhance Field Study by Gay, Rieger, and Bennington. In this study students use hand held computers to supplement field activities. This study examined the initiation of technology through Activity Theory which we studied this week during our live session and in an article titled Activity Theory as a Framework for Designing Constructivist Learning Environments by Jonassen and Ronrer-Murphy. Within activity theory you, understand the motivation of the participants, understand the context of the activity, define the subject, define the relevant community, define the object, define the activity, and then analysis and application. Activity theory has been used to explain human/computer interactions. This study looked specifically at the activity changed with the insertion of PDAs. The lines of authority changes as students did not need to rely on the expertise of the instructor which changed the activity. Participants valued the information provided from the hand held computers but in some cases felt it diminished the hands on experience.
I liked the fact that Dewey talked about how people will engage in activities that interest them. When they come across difficulties in that interest, they find ways around it. My example was like children playing video games. When they can't get past a level, they will work extra hard to level up. They may even try other options in order to level up. For instance they might go online and find out cheats or call their friends to find out how they passed it. Either way, they do what it takes in order to win the game if it is interesting enough for them.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that the readings are gradually making sense to you... Keep up the good work.
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