Friday, January 20, 2012

What is learning (revisited)?

Learning involves the critical confrontation of addressing preconceptions and more importantly, conceptual change.  Minstrell, a physics teacher, described that simply teaching students about abstract principles of physics provided no bridge for changing and realigning their preconceptions.  This realignment is critical, therefore, my definition of learning should include confrontation of preconceived notions and the introduction to new knowledge that can be judged to be intelligible, plausible, and fruitful.  

I firmly believe that experience can be a healthy and engaging teacher.  However, that experience should be followed by intense metacognitive development and fostering.  This perspective is backed by Lin and Lehman (1999) whose research demonstrates that periodic questions promoting reflection and explanation during a scientific experiment improves transfer of overall knowledge and concepts.  

My definition has changed in that greater emphasis and priority is placed on understanding instead of knowledge.  My assessment of a student’s understanding revolves primarily on their ability to effectively and verbally communicate and explain to me their rationale. 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Teaching Philosophy Reflections

Reviewing three of my peers teaching philosophies made me very grateful for such diverse and talented perspectives on teaching!  Well done! 
Paula, Krista, and Carrie provided very thorough, detailed and organized philosophies.  Both Krista’s and Carrie’s philosophies organized their goals, style, and assessment into headings which broke up the monotony.  I failed to consider how important and appealing structure can be when addressing multiple parameters.  Another aspect of the philosophies that I really appreciated was the emphasis on today’s challenges and the diversity of those problems.  Krista described developing ‘strong agricultural ambassadors’ throughout her goals, which inevitably resonates with mission statements at the department, college, and university levels.  Carrie encouraged a warm and welcoming environment, an important area that I seriously underestimated.  Creating a happy and healthy learning atmosphere starts with the energy stemming from the instructor.  This can be extremely important with new freshmen in their first semester and should be emphasized accordingly.  Paula emphasized one of my favorite classroom aspects, respect.  She put it very elegantly when she stated that ‘respect is fostered by the teacher and supported by the student’. 
I can already see myself revamping my philosophy immensely.  Krista, Paula, and Carrie brought to light some amazing insights that I failed to recognize.  Their insights consisting of classroom environment, current problems, and hard work ethics are core areas that deserve more emphasis throughout my teaching philosophy.  Reading philosophies that were broken down into headings was easier to process and remember.  In addition, specific and bluntly stated goals were easy to follow and understand. 

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What is learning?

This feels like a trick question.  So, in order to maximize my adaptive learning and metacognitive abilities I'm consulting Webster.  Learning can be formally defined as “the act or experience of one that learns; knowledge of skill acquired by instruction or study; modification of a behavioral tendency by experience."  

Relevant to my experience within ecology, learning is very hands-on, applied, and dirty!  You gotta get your hands a little dirty if you’re going to learn.  Watching students experience this intense form of learning reinforces my belief that students relish in it, thrive off of it, and REMEMBER it!  Learning is 110% doing and ongoing.    
But learning is also so. much. more.  It is complex, it is dynamic, and it is all around us.  From common sense to a PhD, learning encompasses intricate weaves of levels, folds, and shortcuts.  The easiest way for me to define learning is to compare it to ecology.  Patterns, processes, and theories expand and contract to form accumulative relationships, interactions, experiences, applications, and perspectives that are constantly evolving and growing into new areas to...learn about. 

Friday, January 13, 2012

Teaching Philosphy

My top priority revolves around adapting to the student’s needs and adequately addressing those needs.  I believe that to be most effective as an instructor, one must create an environment that is interactive and collaborative and also promotes problem-solving and critical thinking skills.  In my opinion, having active participation and discussion in the classroom is one of the best ways gage student knowledge of the lectures but also an important way for students to learn.  I find that when I can convey my own enthusiasm for ecology, it is often contagious enough that students become engaged and invested in their learning and future.  I encourage students to tackle problems creatively, which helps them learn to think outside conventional boundaries and to seek the deeper meaning of a concept.  These skills have facilitated the greatest advances in science and also foster personal and intellectual fulfillment.  Fulfilled learning involves teaching that extends beyond the classroom.  For many students, the most powerful lessons are learned in informal discussions, working problems during office hours, and encountering science first-hand in a lab setting. Understanding what information is essential for that student’s future success is critical.  Instructors possess unique opportunities to develop agriculture leaders of tomorrow which means that the future of agriculture relies on our ability, as teachers, to develop students into critical and independent thinkers that are conscious of the world around them. 

Utilizing facts, concepts and findings to tell a story has the power to reveal the contagious awe of natural resources.  All students have some direct connection with nature through outdoor recreation and personal experience.  Constructing relevant learning on a personal level allows me to incorporate lecture examples and metaphors of ecological significance.  Paired with an energetic style, I engage and inspire students to examine the impacts of natural resource management on their daily lives.  Hands-on learning through field trips strengthen the fabric of my educational stories and help students from different backgrounds bridge knowledge gaps and construct meaning in a personal context.  Connecting people and places offers a holistic presentation that can transform challenging content into meaningful, memorable schema.  This approach enables personalization of the learning experience with stimulated independent thought and action further promoting diverse applications of knowledge and skills that build environmental literacy and promote passion for the natural world.       

To create a safe learning environment, I encourage students to ask questions and share their views on the material we are covering.  I solicit anonymous feedback in the form of “one-minute papers” from my students about assignments as well as my teaching style. I then implement student suggestions to improve my service delivery and their learning outcomes.  At the end of the day I know I have done my job if my students ask me, “Why, how, what, when and where?”  This curiosity is what drives science, critical thinking, and me.  I encourage my students to reflect on their own beliefs and experience and try to open their minds to new views in natural resource management.  Solutions are rarely straight-forward in ecology as is in the classroom.  Breaking concepts down into milestones enable a student to embrace a multifaceted problem instilling confidence and promoting independent thinking.  I create assignments that mirror real world scenarios as closely as possible, giving students the opportunity to communicate in formats that stimulate professional conditions (e.g., presentations, posters, collaborative projects, etc.).  It is imperative to not only assess the students, but the instructor as well.  For every test I administer, I will ask my students to also evaluate my teaching ability and grade me serving as my assessment of my ability and areas to improve.  Students will be evaluated on their ability to piece together concepts, functions and processes in a combination of short answer, essay, multiple choice, and true/false questions.  Students will also be evaluated on their ability to discuss their overall knowledge of the subject matter in the form of oral tests.  This method will incorporate several concepts into one problem, thereby, necessitating the integration of information into a useful manner to convey their knowledge.  It is very important that students embrace and constantly improve upon their ability to verbally rationalize their decisions as natural resource managers. 
My ideal classroom promotes active learning where students develop and evolve into independent thinkers.  I strive to empower students on fundamental levels that increase their awareness of their own potential as students and stewards of our natural resources. 

 

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Jan. 12 ~ Markwell and Courtney (2006) and STR~

Markwell and Courtney (2006) offered a great layman's description of the undergraduate cycle of learning (e.g., dualism, multiplicity, and pluralism).  But, a nagging suspicion came to mind while reading those descriptions, student development can also boil down to..... (wait for it)....respect.  Respect to listen and respect to be heard.  I interpret this cycle of learning to be temporally scaled not only to the entirety of the 4-yr experience, but throughout the semester as well.  At the beginning of a semester, everyone is shy and a bit passive to share thoughts.  As personalities unfold and prof/student gets a feel for one another the dualism chapter closes and more multiplicity and pluralism cognitive developments are revealed.  I believe dualism involves many aspects including respect for a new professor and the initial awkwardness of a new class and environment.  Accepting what the professor says as gospel is an initial phase for all students that stems from both a level of cognitive development and a type of old school respect.  It has been my experience that displaying respect as a student first sets a strong and reliable foundation for the multiplicity and pluralism levels that are to follow.  After that, it is completely up to the prof to reciprocate that respect.  Odds are that the semester ended with candid discussions and a professional mentor relationship was formed.  Students stuck in the dualistic mode at the end of the semester are not lacking authenticy, they are lacking respect and confidence from their professor.