Subject: Answers to dilemma - learning
From: Jim Ewing (j.m.ewing@norcol.ac.uk)
Date: Fri 26 Nov 1999 - 13:23:55 MET
Date: 26 Nov 1999 12:23:55 +0000 From: "Jim Ewing" <j.m.ewing@norcol.ac.uk> Subject: Answers to dilemma - learning
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Rafael,
You raise a lot of questions here, some of which will certainly be attractive to teachers and others which might want to make them shout back at you that they are "doing that already". Let me try to pick out a few.
"learning styles that validate that young children learn quicker" I doubt very much if you can really link these two in a straightforward way. Of course a lot of work has been done on learning styles (almost any reputable text on teaching and learning will quote some of these studies) and they might indicate some proficiency in learning but hardly anybody would claim this was just due to learning style. So many other factors play a very significant part (motivation, learning environment, appropriateness of resources, learner's previous experiences and expectations to pick only a few).
"learning in a more remarkable way" might well cause lots of highly successful teachers to claim that this is just a 'gimmicky' way of expressing much of the 'remarkable' but wholly expected, successful learning which goes on in lots and lots of stimulating classroom and other out-of-classroom learning environments.
"playing rather than the traditional concept of learning' might well invoke most of the shouting back. Teachers at all levels from Nursery through to Secondary and beyond have increasingly over the 5 - 10 years both recognised and accepted that play and learning are closely linked and not at either ends of a continuum. The notion of play as a reward for successful task completion (which might not itself involve much learning) is outmoded and is not part of a modern philosophy of learning and teaching.
"what is learning" - well, that is rather a big question!!!
There are many other questions and issues which you raise but I will not go into any more here - others I am sure will want to have their say.
Let me finish by commenting that I have indeed been involved in work using computer supported learning environments with children within the range of 7 - 12 years of age. My focus was very much on encouraging learning involving many of the features you mention but it was certainly not called 'play' and the word 'toys' was never even considered. Rather it focused on cross school interaction and co-operative learning amongst the pupils. Identification with roles was a large part, only in my examples it was the 'players' (ie, the children) who had the personalities and skills, not the models.
You can see some the outcomes of this work at either of the following sources and if you send me your postal address will send you a copy of the report of the project (called STARS - Superhighway Teams Across Rural Schools).
Ewing J, Dowling J & Coutts N. (1998). Teaching thinking IS possible through Information and Communications Technology. Virtual University Journal, Issue 3. Available,
http://www.openhouse.org.uk/virtual-university-press/vuj/Articles/VOL1-Issue3-98/ewing.htm
Ewing J, Dowling J & Coutts N. (1999). Learning using the World Wide Web: a collaborative learning event. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 8, 1, 3 - 22
Jim Ewing
Educational Studies, Northern College, Dundee.
J.M.Ewing@norcol.ac.uk
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