Extracting new ideas from the Learners
Posted by saicebrian on March 14, 2010
One of the biggest challenges as a teacher is to see our students after exhausting all our effort to impart to them the knowledge’s, is for the learners to come out of the classroom empty handed, this not only breaks the learners Motivation to learn but also with that of the the teachers motivation to exert effort for the students to learn.
I personally saw this many times, and in fact have experienced this during my high school and college days especially in mathematics.
It is indeed frustrating to see our students come out empty handed, and fail in the assessments given to them at the end of the session. This failure generally reflects the quality of teacher education and philosophy we have. It is therefore imperative that we must then, take control of every situation that occurs in the classroom.
The Trilogy of Education comprises of the Objectives, Pedagogy and Assessment. The heart of the Assessment in the Trilogy of Education is our ability to ask questions that invokes intellectual curiosity and exchange of ideas.
We must then understand the art of questioning, and break it into different pieces that is easily comprehensible that will help us understand better in order to create a better intellectual conduciveness in the classroom.
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
DIVERGENT (OPEN-ENDED)
- Low Level – “what actions can be taken or initiated to minimize water pollution?”
- It is very broad- it can be gov’t, people or individual.
- High Level- “how could you describe an environment free from pollution?”
- It is specific- it is asking your action or opinion.
- Expect for a varied answer because it is an open-ended (divergent).
- Give the learner the responsibility.
- It provokes classroom discussion or thinking.
Ex. “How are you going to deal with this kind of situation? Apply the principles you learned in the class.”
CONVERGENT (CLOSE ENDED)
- Enhance optimum classroom participation.
- Structured questions.
Ex. “What are the causes of water pollution?”
Convergent and Divergent Thinking Styles
Hudson (1967) studied English schoolboys, and found that conventional measures of intelligence did not always do justice to their abilities. The tests gave credit for problem-solving which produced the “right” answer, but under-estimated creativity and unconventional approaches to problems.
He concluded that there were two different forms of thinking or ability in play here:
- One he called “convergent” thinking, in which the person is good at bringing material from a variety of sources to bear on a problem, in such a way as to produce the “correct” answer. This kind of thinking is particularly appropriate in science, maths and technology.
- Because of the need for consistency and reliability, this is really the only form of thinking which standardized intelligence tests, (and even national exams) can test
- The other he termed “divergent” thinking. Here the student’s skill is in broadly creative elaboration of ideas prompted by a stimulus, and is more suited to artistic pursuits and study in the humanities.
- In order to get at this kind of thinking, he devised open-ended tests, such as the “Uses of Objects” test.
Uses of Objects Test
Below are five everyday objects. Think of as many different uses as you can for each:
- A barrel
- A paper clip
- A tin of boot polish
- A brick
- A blanket
(No time limit: usually completed in 15 minutes)
(From Hudson 1967)
Hudson’s argument has important implications. Not only does it suggest that conventional approaches to assessment may be seriously under-estimating the talent of part of the school population; but also that the very assumptions behind current curriculum and pedagogic strategies are restrictive. With divergent thinkers, for example, it is not always realistic to specify the intended outcomes of a lesson in advance. This of course leads into the traditional minefield of assessing and accrediting creativity. Fortunately, convergence and divergence are ideal types, and not mutually exclusive.
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Sources:
Article entirely lifted from:
http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/converge.htm – This site is one of the most informative/comprehensive Professional Educational resource i saw in the internet. I would encourage you to visit this site and see yourself the wealth of knowledge compiled and beautifully presented by Dr.James Atherton.
ATHERTON J S (2009) Learning and Teaching; Convergent and Divergent Learning [On-line] UK: Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/converge.htm Accessed: 13 March 2010.
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Strategies of Divergent Thinking
The goal of divergent thinking is to generate many different ideas about a topic in a short period of time. It involves breaking a topic down into its various component parts in order to gain insight about the various aspects of the topic. Divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner, such that the ideas are generated in a random, unorganized fashion. Following divergent thinking, the ideas and information will be organized using convergent thinking; i.e., putting the various ideas back together in some organized, structured way.
To begin brainstorming potential topics, it is often helpful to engage in self analysis and topic analysis.
Self Analysis
Ask the following questions to help brainstorm a list of potential topics.
- How do I spend my time? What are my activities during a normal day?
- What do I know about? What are my areas of expertise? What am I studying in school?
- What do I like? What are my hobbies? What are my interests?
- What bothers me? What would I like to change in my world or life?
- What are my strongest beliefs, values and philosophies?
Topic Analysis
Ask the following questions to help narrow and refine a broad topic into a specific, focused one. Substitute your topic for the word “something.”
- How would you describe something?
- What are the causes of something?
- What are the effects of something?
- What is important about something?
- What are the smaller parts that comprise something?
- How has something changed? Why are those changes important?
- What is known and unknown about something?
- What category of ideas or objects does something belong to?
- Is something good or bad? Why?
- What suggestions or recommendations would you make about something?
- What are the different aspects of something you can think of?
Techniques to Stimulate Divergent Thinking
1. Brainstorming. Brainstorming is a technique which involves generating a list of ideas in a creative, unstructured manner. The goal of brainstorming is to generate as many ideas as possible in a short period of time. The key tool in brainstorming is “piggybacking,” or using one idea to stimulate other ideas. During the brainstorming process, ALL ideas are recorded, and no idea is disregarded or criticized. After a long list of ideas is generated, one can go back and review the ideas to critique their value or merit.
2. Keeping a Journal. Journals are an effective way to record ideas that one thinks of spontaneously. By carrying a journal, one can create a collection of thoughts on various subjects that later become a source book of ideas. People often have insights at unusual times and places. By keeping a journal, one can capture these ideas and use them later when developing and organizing materials in the prewriting stage.
3. Freewriting. When free-writing, a person will focus on one particular topic and write non-stop about it for a short period of time. The idea is to write down whatever comes to mind about the topic, without stopping to proofread or revise the writing. This can help generate a variety of thoughts about a topic in a short period of time, which can later be restructured or organized following some pattern of arrangement.
4. Mind or Subject Mapping. Mind or subject mapping involves putting brainstormed ideas in the form of a visual map or picture that that shows the relationships among these ideas. One starts with a central idea or topic, then draws branches off the main topic which represent different parts or aspects of the main topic. This creates a visual image or “map” of the topic which the writer can use to develop the topic further.
For example, a topic may have four different branches (sub-topics), and each of those four branches may have two branches of its own (sub-topics of the sub-topic)
*Note* this includes both divergent and convergent thinking.
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Source:
Article entirely lifted from:
http://faculty.washington.edu/ezent/imdt.htm
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