When I began learning about metacognition in 1992, one of the "strategies" I found that helped my students learn quicker and understand in a deeper sense was identification of patterns. I decided to tell my students to look for patterns all around them. We identified patterns in sounds, clothing, architecture, and nature. Then I told my students to look for patterns in the content I was teaching. We found that there were words that had cvc patterns, numbers multiplied in patterns, communities had neighborhoods that were created in a pattern. Soon my students saw patterns within the world and noticed that identifying them helped us understand how things worked. They began to make connections across subject areas and parts of their lives. They saw the pattern in the moon phases, and patterns in their names. I know it sounds crazy but here I was in the middle of Kansas City, Kansas in a room full of first, second, and third grade students who were diagnosed as "educable mentally retarded" and I was watching them learn content that had taken me years to teach with previous students. The key had to be the intentional and explicit use of identification of patterns.
Kristin Gunckel wrote about children learning science through identification and use of patterning in her article Experiences, Patterns, and Explanations. This 2010 Science and Children article discussed finding patterns in everyday experiences as a key to learning. She discussed how scientist look for patterns when comparing the outcome of experiments to help generate new laws or generalizations about the world. Gunckel also shared that the Roman's made connections between patterns of sound moving through air and waves moving away from a pebble dropped in the water. These ideas got me thinking....what if I read a new text but viewed it only from the perspective of patterns that I see in the content provided. So, that is what I intend to do in this blog.
My goal is to look for the patterns that explain how learning works. I hope you will join in on the conversation as you read and share your ideas through the lens of a chosen concept.
Patterns are a great place to start. We use them in numerous situations and to achive many objectives.
ReplyDeleteWhen a toddler calls every four-legged animal a dog, a pattern is being employed. Its similar to an adult having difficulty distinguishing between certain dogs and a wolf. A child may recognize birds but have difficulty classifying an upright penguin as one because it doesn't appear to fit the pattern being used.
Language and culture are based on patterns. Words and interactions that don't fit a perceived pattern for logic, interpretation, or communication give us trouble.
That said, I expect patterns related to depth of prior knowledge, language, and culture to be amoing the things that play significant roles in how learning works.
I agree. Prior knowledge, language, and culture are essential parts of learning and major drivers in student success! I was looking at a new book by Rupert Wegerif that discusses teaching thinking and creativity for young people. I believe the author discusses your points when defining what his research says is thinking...
ReplyDeleteThe first definition suggests that thinking is non-algorithmic and thus "the total path is not visible (mentally speaking) from any single vantage point". I think this is so important when viewing learning and the relation to thinking. In other words we all have different prior knowledge experience, cultures, and languages. Each interaction (though patterns are definately evident) is personal and thus the paths numerous as to how one opererate within a particular realm.
Here’s where your post takes me.
DeleteMonday evening, Charlene and I had an extensive discussion about whether “See the light come on.” is becoming a mantra for teachers at all levels. Our conclusion was the phrase is extremely popular but it is highly unlikely that a teacher will ever see the light come on – for the first time. I can pinpoint the first time I heard my son say “Rocka-bye” but I have no way of knowing when he became capable of saying it or if he rehearsed it numerous times while alone in his bed.
The description of thinking suggests that it has a continuous effect on learning and modifies a learner with every experience. These modifications can occur at the conscious and sub-conscious levels. If learning is non-algorithmic, the timing of its occurrences must be somewhat difficult to predict. A teacher who expects his/her contribution of the moment to be the catalyst for the light coming on is bound to be disappointed. In our classes, the best we can rationally expect is to observe the light and conclude that it has been turned on. The moment of enlightenment is unlikely to occur in front of a teacher. If this is correct, what are teachers really observing when they talk about having “seen the light come on?” What do they really mean when they say it?
Here’s where your post takes me.
ReplyDeleteMonday evening, Charlene and I had an extensive discussion about whether “See the light come on.” is becoming a mantra for teachers at all levels. Our conclusion was the phrase is extremely popular but it is highly unlikely that a teacher will ever see the light come on – for the first time. I can pinpoint the first time I heard my son say “Rocka-bye” but I have no way of knowing when he became capable of saying it or if he rehearsed it numerous times while alone in his bed.
The description of thinking suggests that it has a continuous effect on learning and modifies a learner with every experience. These modifications can occur at the conscious and sub-conscious levels. If learning is non-algorithmic, the timing of its occurrences must be somewhat difficult to predict. A teacher who expects his/her contribution of the moment to be the catalyst for the light coming on is bound to be disappointed. In our classes, the best we can rationally expect is to observe the light and conclude that it has been turned on. The moment of enlightenment is unlikely to occur in front of a teacher. If this is correct, what are teachers really observing when they talk about having “seen the light come on?” What do they really mean when they say it?