Today each group presented one of the curriculum ideologies:
- Religious Orthodoxy
- Rational Humanism
- Progressivism
- Critical Theory
- Cognitive Pluralism
- Care (Noddings)
Our group was assinged to Cognitive Pluralism.
Our game plan:
Prompt: Distill and Convey the ideology in a convincing way
Topic: Cognitive Pluralism
Details:
- 7 minute presentation (5min + 2min Q&A)
- Include Why, What and How
- Tip from Molly → Preview Gardener
- Important to include representation (think this means how student can symbolize)
- Email Molly with presentation
Our Script
Open Role Play – modeling
- Celine (teacher) introduces the Water unit and prompts each student to come up with a project they’d like to do
- Each student gives short description of what they want to do and what drives their interest
- Lucas
- Erosion – how different water flow rates affect the course of a river
- Mohamad
- Energy – how water can be used to produce energy. I want to build a model dam that has the water flow produce electricity that can light a small light bulb, and thus explore water in that way. Might also be interested to build a small tidal energy system and see how water can be used to produce energy that way as well, and which system is better (Spacial & Bodily and a little bit Mathematical-Logical).
- Lisa
- Understand native american tribes and the symbols around water
- I’d like to re-produce a water dance
- Lucas
Presentation
- Celine introduces WHAT Cognitive Pluralism is
- Mohammad explains Gardner’s idea of multiple intelligences
- Lisa explains WHY we should teach Cognitive Pluralism
- Lucas describes HOW teachers might incorporate the ideology in practice
Q&A
Material from Readings
- Pluralism of meanings
- Multiple ways of teaching and learning the same concept
- Analogies (Dan Schwartz)
- Metaphors
- Intelligence as a verb versus a noun
- Not something you have, something you do
- Fixed versus Growth mindset
- Brain as a muscle
- Literacy
- Expanded definition – not only reading words, but symbols
- “…encoding or decoding of information in any of the forms that humans use to convey meaning” (Eisner, 1994, p.81)
- Multiple ways of teaching and learning the same concept
- Equity
- Differentiation
- Requires teacher to look at ‘internal conditions’ of student
- “By creating a wider array of curricular tasks … opportunities for success in school are expanded.” (Eisner, 1994, p.82)
- Tasks must bare equal merit – arts vs science
- Differentiation
- Null Curriculum
- Curriculum is as mind-altering device
- What goes in is as important as what is left out
- Missed opportunity to increase learner’s repertoire
- Limited success
- Teachers must have multiple forms of literacy – but most of us will latch onto one way of understanding and thus have a harder time explaining in multiple ways.
Our presentation slides