Questions!+Questions!

= Questions! =

This section is filled with various questions pertaining to teaching and learning that have occured to me during my time at UOIT's Faculty of Education.

August 31st 2010
Recently it has become evident to me the power of a blog or wiki as a place to consolidate your thinking and ideas. To me, it appears to be a very powerful tool for organizing your thoughts. I wonder, what other powerful technology is out there that can assist us in this way? How do I learn about new technology and the different ways that it can help us out?

August 31st 2010
What role has having the appropriate tools available played in the development of scientific knowledge? Looking back into the history of science we see some examples: - The role of the telescope in promoting the work of Kepler, Brahe, and Galileo. - The role of MRI in recent advancements in neuroscience and cognitive psychology. Consider how new light is being shed on old "speculative" theories.

August 31st 2010
Consider has more thinking that was once considered in the realm of psychology now migrating to the realm of science.

September 1st 2010
As teachers, there are a lot of resources available for us online. What is the best way to:


 * 1) Find
 * 2) Record
 * 3) Organize

This information? The biggest dilemma facing us now is not finding information, but organizing it and synthesizing it. What technology can help us? What is the best way to organize it that will be most compatible with brain biology? What is the best way to organize information? In organizing information, is there an optimal method that caters to brain biology and structure?

September 22nd 2010
Today I saw this VIDEO and was struck by a statement in it "China will produce as many honors students as there are in N.A.". This got me wondering... why is this so? Many people argue that teacher's have the greatest influence of children s performance. I wonder, is this true? Because from my anecdotal knowledge of China they use rote teaching and memorization and do not use many of the "progressive" methods that are being encouraged in N.A. Yes, Chinese students still do particularly well. Could perhaps culture in fact be the biggest influence of success? Is this a counter-example to all the data that alleges teachers have the greatest influence? Where did this research come from? I think I should look up this research.

September 26th 2010
Today I was considering... can we go beyond writing? To me writing does not appear to be structured very efficiently. Is there a better way to get information across? Writing is so linear and non-visual. You can't get the general idea of a paragraph just by looking at it. Often, you have to read through an entire paragraph just to get an idea behind its message. Is there not a more visual and connected way to convey information to each other? Will its form be something similar to Popplet perhaps?

November 22, 2010
Today I was considering, how can a teacher deal with all the differences among students? It appears that students are more varied in the way that they learn than they are similar. It appears that students vary greatly on the dimensions of:


 * 1) Motivation
 * 2) Learning
 * 3) Attention
 * 4) Emotional Engagement
 * 5) And Many More...

How does a teacher deal with 25-30 students that are so different when there is only one teacher in the room? And, when there are so many things for a teacher to consider; curriculum, physical development, emotional development, learning preferences, and so many more. Perhaps differentiated instruction? I will have to ponder this more.