EDUC 6816 - Weekly Reading #6

Reading #1: Writing as an exploration: Rethinking the research paper.

"Exploration #24 in the book, called “Combinations,” calls for taking two different objects and creating as many connections between them as possible."

I picked this quote because it's a fun activity and I loved this article because of the fun activities. I've seen the book this article refers to: How to Be an Explorer of the World, by Keri Smith before and have always been curious about it. I think this does it - I'm ordering it (It's actually up on Amazon.com right now in a different tab!).

Alright, I'm going to get a bit personal here - I'm off for the next two months and my son created a schedule for the day based on his daycare center, which means I'm in charge of finding at least 3 hours a day of activities for them. Yikes! I work with adults, so the idea of finding activities for an 8  & 4 is daunting! This book, I think, could be awesome for that! And then, bonus - I'll get to use it with my adults too. I've noticed there are a lot of things that transfer between elementary kids and adults - we all just want to have fun!

Okay, so back to academia.... Encouraging curiosity is my favorite teaching method and curiosity is a great way to develop guiding questions.This book reminded me of one I read in high school called "A Whack on the Side of the Head."

It was very influential to me, although I don't think I would have ever called it that before right now. It has great ideas of how to use creativity to think about problems in different ways. Although I haven't used it in a while, I used to often open it up and find an activity when I was stuck on a problem. It was always a great resource for helping me get through.

Reading #2: Students As Authentic Researchers: A New Prescription for the High School Research Assignment

1. What is the difference between writing a report and "doing research"?

Doing research means taking an active role in data collection to find meaning in a subject. Writing a report is taking others research and writing a paper to present their findings. Unintentionally, this can also mean presenting the researcher's conclusions as the author's own. I know I've always struggled with that part of a research paper - presenting my conclusions because it always just mirrors what the researcher's is. It always felt inauthentic to me.


2. How might doing authentic research better prepare students for the 21st century work place? Give specific examples from the "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" reading.

Conducting their own research, particularly interviews with people about their subject makes them have to weigh the differences between what a person might say and what formal research might say. This is similar to what the nurses had to do in their jobs, in the reading "Between a Rock and a Hard Place."


3.Why might Constructivist type learning better prepare students for the 21st century work place than Behavioral approaches?

Constructivist learning is more helpful in the 21st Century workplace where problem solving, critical thinking and creativity are highly valued skills. The Behavioral approach emphasizes step-by-step processes, and rote memorization that devalues those skills.  I might be going out on a limb here, but I think the behavioral approach worked for the industrial age because the majority of workers were asked to show up on time, work hard, exhibit good behavior and do their part on the assembly line - creativity, critical thinking, and questioning the status quo were actively discouraged. In the 21st century workplace, workers are encouraged to challenge assumptions and ask tough questions in order to develop new creative products (or services) for customers. Teamwork and self-managed teams are also more prevalent.


4. How does authentic research support new media literacies? Make connections to the reading What Wikipedia Can Teach Us About New Media Literacies Part 1What Wikipedia Can Teach Us About New Media Literacies Part 2

According to Henry Jenkins, new media literacies "are almost all social skills which have to do with collaboration and networking" (Jenkins). Students who do authentic research - via blogs, forums, interviews, and other digital texts - are learning how to navigate these social, digital landscapes. They are also learning to analyze, dissect, critique, create meaning and draw conclusions from each source.

Sources:

Gordon, C. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume21999/vol2gordon

Herrmann, B. (2012). Writing as an exploration: Rethinking the research paper. Wisconsin English Journal, 54(2), 49-51. Retrieved from http://journals.library.wisc.edu/index.php/wej/article/viewFile/538/579

Lloyd, A. (2011). Trapped between a Rock and a Hard Place: What Counts as Information Literacy in the Workplace and How Is It Conceptualized? Library Trends,60 (2) pp. 277-296.

Jenkins , H. What wikipedia can teach us about the new media literacies (part one) [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2007/06/what_wikipedia_can_teach_us_ab.html