ED 670 Unit 1.d

Teaching and learning with big ideas

 

 

ED 670 Home

ED 671 Home Moodle

Email Mark

Learning theory intro: (all required)

Social development intro: (all required)

 

Read this: (1) Constructing a science pedagogy from Dewey's aesthetics, (2) case studies of learning for aesthetic understanding, (3) view this PowerPoint presentation on art, experience, and teaching and learning for transformative, aesthetic experience; (4) take a look at this example of teaching with big ideas - using the metaphor of erosion as war, and; (5) here's another example of teaching with big ideas using the idea of creation and descruction.

Consider these questions as you read (same questions in Moodle):

  1. Describe a time when you learned something so powerful or compelling that it literally transformed who you are and how you see and act in the world. If this is difficult, think about a time when you learned something that really made you say, “A-Ha!” If you have many examples, pick one that occurred in a traditional school setting – in which you were learning school subject matter. Talk about what you learned and shared the circumstances around the experience. What led up to you learning in this way? What role did the teacher or others people play in your learning? How were you particularly primed for this experience? If you’ve never experienced learning like this – speculate as to why not? What does this say about school if you can't come up with an example from your life as a student?
  2. What kinds of things can teachers do to teach for transformative, aesthetic experiences – or for aesthetic understanding, as described in the reading? How can a teacher engage students in this kind of learning? How can teachers craft content and classroom experiences in ways that facilitate this kind of learning? Is this kind of learning really different or better than regular learning? Defend your response to this by pointing to examples from the reading.
  3. Are the kids who learned for a high level of aesthetic understanding really all that different from the one's who didn't? In what ways are they different/similar?

No additional reading! Instead, do some hard, hard thinking!