Albert van der Kaap, Enschede, albert@vanderkaap.org      

'Monsieur Clark, ik heb niet alleen deze artikelen nodig... maar ook de kranten waaruit ze zijn geknipt. En wellicht alle kranten van een week voor tot een week nadat elk artikel is geplaatst...Die knipsels zijn niet afdoende, monsieur. Uit datgene wat de informatie omringt, is net zoveel af te leiden als uit de stukjes zelf....U hebt een groot deel van de kondschap in elk artikel opgeofferd door haar aan hara pagina te ontrukken.'(1)

Het belang van de context

In de rechter kolom staat een korte Engelse tekst. Bij lezing zonder de titel is het buitengewoon moeilijk betekenis te geven aan de tekst. En dat terwijl de lezer elk woord in de tkets zal begrijpen.Als aan de tekst een titel wordt toegevoegd vallen ineens alle stukjes op hun plaats. Uit een onderzoek van Bransford en Johnson (1972) bleek dan ook dat mensen die deze tekst bestudeerden inclusief de titel, bijna twee keer zoveel informatie onthielden als mensen die de titel niet te zien kregen.

Voorkennis, in dit geval over het vliegers, zo blijkt uit dit onderzoek, is weliswaar noodzakelijk, maar niet voldoende. Deze voorkennis moet worden geactiveerd door aanwijzingen over de context waarin de aangeboden informatie wordt gebruikt. In de groep die de titel niet te zien kreeg werd de voorkennis (die wel beschikbaar was) duidelijk niet geactiveerd. 

Duncan Godden en Alan Baddeley (1975)

Putting yourself back in the context where you experienced something can prime

your memory retrieval. Duncan Godden and Alan Baddeley (1975) discovered this

when they had scuba divers listen to a list of words in two different settings, either 10

feet underwater or sitting on the beach. As FIGURE 9.16 illustrates, the divers recalled

more words when they were retested in the same place.

Consider this scenario: While making notes in this book, you realize you need to

sharpen your pencil. You get up and walk downstairs. When you get there, however,

you cannot remember why you came. After trying to recall your purpose, you give up

and return to your desk. As soon as you sit down to work again, it hits you: “I wanted

to sharpen this pencil!” What happens to create this frustrating experience? In one

context (desk, reading psychology), it occurs to you that you want the pencil sharpened.

When you get up and go downstairs, you move into a different context where

you have few cues to lead you to the thought that brought you there. When you give

up and go back to your desk, you are back in the context in which you encoded the

thought (“This pencil is dull”).

Major theme of active learning.


Fish is fish story

Making Meaning
1.      Pre-existing knowledge- fish is fish
People construct new knowledge and understanding based on what they already know and believe.
        i.      They come to the classroom, lab or clinic with preconceived ideas.
If these ideas are not understood by the teacher, they may not learn fully or well. (learning that 1/8 is less than ¼ even though 8 is greater than 4)

Misconceptions of physical properties that cannot be easily observed—acid base regulation. Students at a famous east coast college persist in their beliefs that the changes in the seasons were due to the earth’s distance from the sun rather than its tilt on its axis.
In behavior, this includes stereotypes.

       ii.      For scientific understanding to replace the naïve understanding students must reveal the latter and have the opportunity to see where it falls short. This requires a safe learning environment, which must be constructed actively.

ASK THEM: GIVEN THE ROLE OF PRE-EXISTING KNOWLEDGE, WHAT DO THEY THINK THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER IS? If students’ initial ideas and beliefs are ignored, the understanding they develop can be very different from what the teacher intends.

How much time do we spend with remediation, with students who need extra work or are struggling to learn

New knowledge is constructed from existing ideas, experiences and concepts. I
Sense Making

Without knowing this history you are in the dark and risking ineffective teaching.

The role of the teacher – need to pay attention to the inconsistencies and incomplete understandings, false beliefs and naïve versions of core concepts that learners have and bring to the learning experience.
                                          
i.      And then teachers need to elicit this from learners and build on it or challenge the initial understanding.

This requires active inquiry by the teacher- not just delivering pearls and waiting for the assessments to see who got it.
Formative assessment and Feedback are two key tools here
    i.      Formative Assessment – for teacher and student both
    ii.      Feedback – labs, clinics, discussion groups

Building bridges – if students’ initial ideas and beliefs are ignored, the understanding that they develop can be very different from that intended by the teacher.
E.g. Kids who believe that the earth is flat, when told it is round, envision a pancake rather than a sphere. When told it’s a sphere they envision a pancake on top of a sphere or inside of it.
Constructivism – making sense can occur in a lecture hall while listening to a presentation, however as we saw earlier, if learners first grapple with the material and then have an organized lecture, the learning and transfer is enhanced.

This is a strong argument for Active learning. Having a case, a set of cases or problems to grapple with can create a need to know. just like in the clinic or lab when learners encounter an unknown and are motivated to learn, to seek out new information and make sense out of it in relation to the problems with which they are grappling.

There is good evidence that shows that learning is enhanced when teachers pay attention to the knowledge and beliefs that learners bring to a learning task, and use this knowledge as a starting point for their instruction.

http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/hasherlab/PDF/The%20role%20of%20context%20in%20encoding%20info%20Alba%20et%20al%201981.pdf

Noten

1. Pearl. Matthew, 2006, De schaduw van Poe, 140

Literatuur

Bransford, J.D., & Johnson, M.K. (1972). Contextual prerequisites for understanding: Some investigations of comprehension and recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 717-726.

Duncan R. Godden and Alan D. Baddeley, 'Context-dependent memory in two natural environments: On land and under water', British Journal of Psychology, 66, 1975, pp.325-331.

http://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=11&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.menninconsulting.com%2Fresources%2FhowDoPeopleLearn.ppt&ei=vHr0SdLyHIG2-Aatk42vDw&usg=AFQjCNE9MOelmH2TRD0n83zT7WJ7BgMWcw&sig2=jlFEe3g0CnH-1t58TIjsvg

  Making and flying a kite

A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is a better place than the street. At first, it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times. It takes some skills but it’s easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Once successful, complications are minimal. Birds seldom get too close. Rain, however, soaks very fast. Too many people doing the same thing can also cause problems. One needs lots of room. If there are no complications, it can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break loose from it, however, you will not get a second change.

 macht van het geld