Art presentation

These two articles were interesting. The New York Times one was very concise and simple, I liked how it made art education so accessible and fun to think about. The other article, was also interesting, but was harder to get into and enjoy.

Art has been a big part of my education since I was really young. Music, ceramics, even welding were part of my high school curriculum. That opportunity to be creative changed how I looked at using my time as a student, there is so much we can do, and fun stuff, but . . . we get lost in the assignments and projects that are part of a grade.

I want to be creative, artistic, etc. Looking forward to this presentation.

Group Presentations

The article about the NOLS study was neat because it shows the differences in learning styles and learning theories and basically says, "it depends on . . . " I think that's fine! Sometimes the learning mechanisms are stronger in peer groups, or with an instructor and sometimes just learning from the surrounding context is an important education.
The grounded theory is what really caught my attention. The authors quote, "grounded theory is an iterative process by which the analyst becomes more and more ‘grounded’ in the data and develops increasingly richer concepts and models of how the phenomenon being studied really works” (Ryan & Bernard, 2003, p. 279). I think that studying the process of learning, rather than the effectiveness of learning, is most effective.
Way to go Outdoor Education

Expeditionary Education sounds like the culmination and practice of what my personal philosophy of education would be. I love the idea of having a season-long project where all the basic, required elementary school skills are involved in one theme. Not only do kids start to care about that one theme (because of the field trip involved and a day away from the schoolroom) but they can start to see how important writing is, the value of math, the beauty of the biology and ecology on the mountain, etc. It's all encompassing and close to home.
I really like that this article is about a service project they incorporated as well. When students can use their knowledge to serve, it becomes more concrete. Plus, everyone likes to feel useful. It's a great way to get the information to stick.
Three cheers Expeditionary Education

Social Control

Of the chapters we just read I really appreciated what Dewey had to say about Social Control.
I've had several teachers at UVU who refuse to sit at the front of the classroom because they don't want to be dictators of the educational experience. One of my philosophy professors actually taught a whole class from underneath a desk because he didn't like how everyone forced him into being the focal point of the room. It's a little extreme, but I really appreciated his decision to make the space shared instead of trying to dominate it. Dewey comments on this idea, he says that the educator needs to arrange conditions that are conducive to community activity. When I read that I immediately thought of my professor, under his desk, teaching us about Nietzsche and not following societal norms. Fitting, right?
Another part of this chapter deals with the balance between being firm and flexible in planning experiences. There has to be a time when students have to reflect and have to find purpose in what was experienced, but it can't be forced either. Balancing freedom and progress can be tricky, but when it is accomplished, real learning takes place. Those are the moments that change the perspective of the student, when they think something through in a new way, when the experience hits home.
Personally, I'm not much of a lecturer, I'm not a strong speaker, but I love getting discussions going. It's way more interesting for everyone. Now that I think of it, I don't love lectures either. It's best just to avoid being an 'external boss' and work on our 'leader of group activities' skills.

Continuity

First of all, I really like how Dewey identifies and explains the problems with traditional education. I especially relate to page 18 where he talks about education being imposed from the top down and from the outside in. He says that the students don't have enough experiences in their bags to incorporate a lot of the new ideas in meaningful ways, so they just have to accept what gets thrown at them. That is definitely what happened to me in my sixth grade pre-algebra class. Order of operations?! I remember having a hard time accepting that because I didn't get how it related to anything I had previously learned. My teacher just kept repeating "be sponges to new information" to answer our blank stares.
I think continuity is key. Two quotes I like are "Every experience is a moving force"
(38) and "experience does not happen in a vacuum"(40). Education is active, if it is progressive. Mis-educative experiences don't get reflected upon or applied in future situations. That doesn't mean that they couldn't have been highly educative experiences, but it does mean that the way the experience was presented or approached neglected the learner. All our past experiences have an effect on our present experiences and our present experiences will sort of condition our future experiences. It's a neat, almost timeless, theory.
It is important to see that Dewey does give some credit to traditional education. He says that they do provide experiences of the students. There are opportunities. But, he says that we have to know that they aren't based on a philosophy of education nor of experience. That is limiting and dry because it doesn't drive the educators to see the students for the required material.
Life should be about learning, finding, experiencing. That can be accomplished in a myriad of ways. Remembering that it is not an either/or deal helps me to see that I earn valuable education at school, at work, at home and anywhere else I might happen to be at the moment.

What I Wanna Know

I want to learn about the connections between recreation and third world countries. If Maslow is right, people in poor countries can't recreate until their basic needs are met, but maybe recreation helps fulfill certain needs overlooked by Maslow.
I'm not sure how to word the question, but maybe it is something like this:
How does recreation exist in poverty?

Fear Factors

Edgework is really fascinating. Anytime we start exploring something new we can push back the boundaries of the unknown, unpredictable, etc. I have always loved the feeling of doing something for the first time. When I started wakeboarding I was terrified. Everyone else on the boat was great at it, but I would faceplant regularly and the driver would spend more time getting me the rope again than I would on top of the water. It was frustrating!
Another example is when I started having to speak Spanish to live. That was a very anxious time and I was afraid that people would ask me questions because usually I wouldn't understand what they wanted to know. I hated feeling vulnerable and knowing that if I answered wrong or said something silly, they would laugh. Usually I'm pretty good at laughing at myself, but it is still very uncomfortable sometimes.
The part that really stuck out to me in this part is what is written about fears. I truly believe that the only way to get over something is to face it. It's hard, but when you do it, you look back and think "well, yeah, that's how it should happen!" and it doesn't remain an issue.
I can speak Spanish now. It's not that big of a deal. And learning another language doesn't scare me, because I've already been through the process and I know I can do it.
Edgework really does empower. My self-esteem is rising as I discover that I understand this theory. How's that for experiential?!

Educators, trainers, therapists and Buddha

"Nothing is more relevant to us than ourselves"

Let me narrate the experiential learning I had while I read the introduction and first part of Processing the Experience. I was reading along like normal, I had to re-read a few lines to understand. Then I got to this quote:

"In the experience lies the heartbeat and life potential" and it stood out to me. I felt that experience really has and does and will form who I am and who I become. Awesome. Then the reading went in to a description about learning. This made me flashback to a book I recently read called Siddhartha by Herman Hesse that I REALLY liked. This is the quote that really stuck with me after I finished reading it last month:

"Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal. You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose" (Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse).

So what? Clearly, I believe in constructivism. What we read made me think of a lot of past experiences that I have had as I've read, learned, discussed, listened and experimented with learning and Buddhism.

That is my philosophy on education. Learning doesn't mean you have to sit in an uncomfortable chair, take useless notes and accept that the person flipping through the powerpoint slides is smarter than you are. I've learned more on softball teams, in marching band, camping with my family, traveling through Africa and living in Chile than I have in my collective "formal education".

Now what? Let's move closer to Nirvana/experiencing and understanding and becoming more. I've got to keep absorbing. Each day brings millions of new opportunities to add to my constructivism. Seeking is not bad, but finding is much more effective. Allowing myself to experience more will make me a more whole person.