Ewan McGregor's character Renton gives the following "Choose Life" speech in Danny Boyle's film, Trainspotting: "Choose life. Choose a job Choose a career. Choose a family...Choose your future. Choose life." If we as adults have the option to choose everything in life, why shouldn't students be allowed to choose not only what they produce, but how they construct it?
In my previous post, The Science of Differentiation for Gifted and Talented Students, I referred to differentiation as the process of varying levels of individual learning response in the education of the gifted and talented. In the Twice Exceptional Newsletter, Baum, S., Dann, M., Novak, C. and Preuss, L. note the importance of differentiation, and offering choices to reach academic, social, and behavioural goals. Furthermore, they argue, differentiation provides options for all children with regard to the the following dimensions:
- What they learn (content)
- How they learn it (process)
- How they demonstrate their learning (product)
- Where they learn best (environment)
"All Part of the Process"
By Morcheeba
It's all part of the process
We all love looking down
All we want is some success
We all love looking down
All we want is some success
But the chance is never around
In his book To Understand Is to Invent, Piaget said the basic principle of active methods can be expressed as: "to understand is to discover, or reconstruct by rediscovery, and such conditions must be complied with if in the future individuals are to be formed who are capable of production and creativity and not simply repetition" (p.20). Furthermore, Piaget saw teachers as facilitators of knowledge, and there to help scaffold the learner. What are the implications of this epistemology? Teachers need to create environments where students can be active in their learning, and construct their own understanding of the world.
Keeping in mind Piaget's philosophy, technologies in the form of multimedia, hypermedia, virtual reality, and webquests are valuable tools for students constructing their knowledge in an active, and interactive way. Mulrine states that virtual learning environments can be used as a way to integrate the curriculum with information technology and create higher order learning opportunities for gifted learners. Here gifted students can interact with other people who have similar interests. Students can then process their new knowledge and then share it online (see my blog post Construct and Create (Pt. 1) for more ideas). Online learning environments also enable gifted students to work on a project at their own pace whether it is at school or at home, provided they have a computer with Internet access (2007). Furthermore, these technologies also provide the learner with an authentic audience that can provide instant feedback, and allow for further exploration of any number of topics.
It is important to remember that if you are just using technology for technology's sake, then you are not considering process, product, or environment (or the learner). It is crucial to use technology (such as one of the recommendations above) to enhance understanding for the gifted learner, and allow that student to share a new understanding with other individuals (either in a congregated setting or a virtual one).
Don't be scared of technology, teachers, embrace it! If you are not tech-savvy, learn the basics and then let your students point you to new website and software. Help the students get to where they need to go with their thinking, and they will guide you to the tools they can use to get there.
Stay tuned...
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10075.aspx tips for teachers.
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10331.aspx differentiation tips for teachers
*http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10665.aspx Differentiate or Accommodate?
http://knowledgeconnector.ca/2012/03/taking-paths-less-travelled/ (picture- "Road of Choices")
http://www.adifferentplace.org/modifying.htm
http://www.techlearning.com/article/45109
Mulrine, Christopher F. (April, 2007). CREATING A VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED LEARNERS. Gifted Child Today, 30(2), 37-40. ProQuest Education Journals database. (Document ID: 1237776671)
McDonald, Andrew. Boyle, Danny. 1996. Trainspotting. England: Miramax Films.
http://knowledgeconnector.ca/2012/03/taking-paths-less-travelled/ (picture- "Road of Choices")
http://www.adifferentplace.org/modifying.htm
http://www.techlearning.com/article/45109
Mulrine, Christopher F. (April, 2007). CREATING A VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED LEARNERS. Gifted Child Today, 30(2), 37-40. ProQuest Education Journals database. (Document ID: 1237776671)
McDonald, Andrew. Boyle, Danny. 1996. Trainspotting. England: Miramax Films.
I really liked the references in your blog - I might embed those as links to the content or researcher so your readers can go as they like.
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea, Wendy. Something I try to do, but doesn't always make it.
DeleteOne word leaped off the page at me: scaffold. I think it is one of the hidden gems and speed bumps in differentiation. Scaffolding instruction is a great idea. We try to do it, we recommend it to others, we build it into our instructional designs, we believe in it. Yup. Scaffolding is good. But how do we actually do it? What does scaffolding look like for one group as opposed to another? How does scaffolding differ in mathematics and in fine arts or physical education? I think it's really, really tricky stuff, and we don't have much guidance on how to actually construct scaffolding that doesn't fall down in a stiff breeze.
ReplyDeleteSo I agree. Let's scaffold. Then, let's figure out how. As you can probably tell, it is something I've been thinking about in my own research program and more importantly, in how we build the courses in our program.
"Scaffolding" is an under-used and under-explained word; certainly it deserves much more research, development, and implementation. Hmm...
ReplyDelete