Bill Braun (medprac@hlthsys.com)
Mon, 30 Nov 1998 13:07:07 -0500
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 13:07:07 -0500 From: Bill Braun <medprac@hlthsys.com> Subject: Re: [ifets] BpbLeamnson/Technology and learning
Hi Chris,
I think we are saying much the same thing. Without intending to split
hairs, I didn't say that the students received the same stimuli, only that
they were exposed to the same stimuli. For many of the reasons and
examples you cite, I continue to be of the opinion that learning is a
responsive process and not one caused (although clearly heavily influenced)
by either the teacher or the technology.
Bill Braun
At 09:20 AM 11/30/1998 -0500, you wrote:
>On Mon, 30 Nov 1998, Bill Braun wrote:
>
>> Neither the teacher nor the technology causes learning. If that were the
>> case, all students exposed to the same teacher/technology at the same time
>> in the same place would learn the same thing. Learning is the learner's
>> response to stimuli and better explains (although not completely) why
>> learning varies even though everyone (in the learning population) received
>> the same teacher/technology stimuli.
>
>I am not surprised that students respond differently to "the same
>instruction".
>
>Students have different prior knowledge. A student with a good calculus
>background will learn physics differently than a student with no prior
>knowledge of calculus. This strongly relates to constructivist theory.
>
>Being in the same room does not really mean students receive the
>same stimuli. I can't pay complete attention to an hour long lecture.
>I'm sure I miss a few minutes here and there just because I get tired.
>Different students will be fully attending different parts of a lecture
>or other kind of instruction.
>
>Morover, prior knowledge affects the true impact of any stimulus.
>Students have different vocabularies. In the extreme, I would
>understand nothing if a lecture were in Russian, while another
>listener might understand fully.
>
>In the less extreme case, a lecturer might use a couple of words or
>concepts that I don't understand and someone else does, or vice versa.
>
>Hence, I don't think it is meaningful to say that any two people
>receive "the same stimulus" and hence it is not surprising that people
>learn different things from the same instruction.
>
>This line of reasoning goes back to Heraclitus: "You can't step into
>the same river twice."
>
>-Chris Eliot
>
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