MENTAL SCRIPTS FOR NURTURING STUDENT DISPOSITIONS OF INQUIRY

Amanda Rude

IL

DONHAM, J. (2016). Mental scripts for nurturing student dispositions of inquiry Retrieved from http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lls&AN=113222014&site=ehost-live&scope=site

This article discusses strategies for teaching inquiry specifically  for the Teacher . Donham refers to 6 dispostions of inquiry and explains each one.  Donham also provides scripts for the Teacher librarian to model to help students habitualize these dispositions.

Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve

Andrea Phillips

IL

Dweck, C. (2014, November). Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve

Summary:

In this TED Talk, Carol Dweck summarizes her research into growth and fixed mindsets. She discusses the “power of yet” : how teaching students to see difficulty not as a failure but rather an opportunity to grow and learn. She cite numerous studies that show teaching kids to embrace “yet” rather than giving up can help them achieve way beyond traditional expectations. By rewarding and praising effort and process, students will be better equipped to deal with difficulty throughout their lives. Dweck’s theories of growth and fixed mindset challenge the way we traditionally teach and create expectations for our students.

Evaluation:

Dweck’s research has great implications for the classroom and the way we approach learning as educators. She also makes the point that we need to rethink the way we give praise in the classroom. Traditionally, we praise and reward achievement (students who get the correct answer right now). In doing so, we aren't building kids up to become lifelong learners. This video is a good introduction to Dweck and her research. Educators can implement her theories into their own teaching practice, but also use it themselves to grow as professionals. After viewing her TED Talk, I am excited to learn more about Dweck’s theories by reading her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

Ideology and critical self-reflection in information literacy instruction

Nicole Katz

IL

Critten, J. (2015). Ideology and critical self-reflection in information literacy instruction. Communications in Information Literacy. 9(1), 145-156.

Overview

The author, Jennifer Critten, is (at the time of this article) a student at the University of West Georgia. This article was created a reflection of a semester-long information literacy course. Critten focuses her article on the “neo-Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser’s figurations of ideology and ideological state apparatuses as a site of critical self-reflection for students and a method by which students could become empowered to recognize themselves as not just consumers, but shapers of discourse.” Critten discusses the concept of critical consciousness and critical pedagogy as well.

Review

I found this article to very thorough and interesting. The idea that it ultimately doesn’t matter (as much) what the author’s bias are, why they thought what they did when they wrote it, but the reader’s bias. What you (the reader) bring to the text will dictate what you take away from it and being able to see that, to critically self-assess your bias is just so valid.  Readers can easily allow their personal belief system to cloud over and interfere with what they’re reading and never really “see” what is in front of them. I rather enjoyed this article.

Graduating Students Who Are Not Only Learned But Also Learners

Posted by Karen Kotchka

IL

Donham, J. (2007) Graduating Students Who Are Not Only Learned, But Learners. Teacher Librarian, 35 (1), 8-12.

Summary

This article provides a lot of statistics on the increasing pace of knowledge generation as a way of demonstrating that students must be taught how to learn rather than just taught content that will be outdated.  It also talks a lot about how dispositions and habits of mind towards inquiry and investigation are most important in developing the learner's mindset and how the ibrary media program can tie into this goal.

Evaluation

I thought the article was a good read and provided a lot of good arguments for librarians looking to advocate for a fuller instructional program as well as providing a good review of what kind of criteria should be followed for authentic, inquiry type learning.

Dweck's "Mindset" - Growing through Failure

Fluetsch, Christopher

IL

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, New York: Ballentine Books.

Carol Dweck’s Mindset is almost a decade old, but it is currently enjoying a revival of interest in education circles. A number of posts on this blog cover articles written about this book, but no post has yet covered the book itself.

Dweck’s book concerns her research into how people approach problems. Dweck maintains that people take one of two approaches to problems. They either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

At its most basic level, a fixed mindset occurs when a person believes that intelligence, ability or skill in some area is fixed, that is that it cannot be significantly changed. The person considers themselves either smart or dumb, talented or not. For a fixed mindset person, a problem is an insurmountable obstacle. A failure indicates that the person is simply not good enough.

A growth mindset individual, however, believes in limitless human potential. A problem becomes an opportunity for growth, a chance to learn a new skill or a new approach to a problem. Dweck maintains that growth mindset individuals are more likely to be successful in the long term, as they continue to learn new skills. Growth mindset people are also more likely to be happy and content, as they never feel as if a problem is unsolvable.

The recent revival of this book is directly related to the need for students to learn the 21st century skills of adaptability and life-long learning. A common phrase in modern education is “We are are teaching our students skills they will need for jobs that have not even been created.” The basic idea is that the pace of change is accelerating, and people can grow and adapt to new conditions will be more successful than people who cannot.

Unfortunately, Dweck tends to reason beyond her data. She has a potent idea with some research behind it, but she extrapolates the idea into a binary worldview, where one either is fixed or growth. Everything bad comes from having a fixed mindset, everything good from growth. She oversells her idea, ruining a bit of her credibility.

Nevertheless, Mindset has some excellent advice for helping students cope with change. It is probably not necessary to read the entire book, as a number of chapters become repetitive. However, the first three chapters and the chapter on teaching are valuable additions for anyone’s reading plan.

ET: Inquiry--Five Ways to Integrate by Julia Marshall

Sullivan, Maureen
ET

Five Ways to Integrate
Dr. Julia Marshall

Summary: This article has been a staple of mine for the last six years when thinking about shifting pedagogy to integrate across content areas, particularly spanning art and science. The five creative strategies Dr. Julia Marshall describes are used by both artists and scientists alike in the real world, and are fantastic strategies to implement in the library setting to embrace student choice, collaboration, and synthesis of their ideas. They are cognitive strategies, that are used to communicate the creators' ideas through depiction, metaphor, mimicry, formatting, and projection.

Julia Marshall is an Art Education professor at San Francisco State University and I had the pleasure of working with her closely on a science and art integration initiative in San Francisco public schools.

Evaluation: In thinking about the cognitive processes that span art and science, Julia offers some specific ways in which both artists and scientists are manipulating information to communicate their thinking. I highly recommend it!

Five Ways to Integrate

Grit Over Grades

Jack, Gordon

Smith, Tovia. (March 17, 2014). Can focus on ‘grit’ work in school cultures that reward grades? MindShift. KQED. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/03/can-focus-on-grit-work-in-school-cultures-that-reward-grades/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29.

This is a print version of a piece that ran on NPR’s Morning Edition examining the role of “grit” plays in education.  Educators increasingly see “grit”, or persistence in difficult tasks, as a key indicator for school success.  The question this story explores is whether this character trait can be taught or not.  The article profiles schools that are shifting away from focusing on achievement and towards a system that rewards effort, persistence, and even failure.  These schools are eliminating words like “gifted” and “smart” from their interactions with students in favor of language that emphasizes a growth mindset.

Not all educators are on board with this trend, however.  Alfie Kohn argues that this is another education fad that is keeping us from making the reforms we really need to make. “The benefits of failure are vastly overstated,” Kohn argues, “and the assumption that kids will pick themselves up and try even harder next time, darn it — that’s wishful thinking.” When schools begin to evaluate kids on these kinds of character traits, we run the risk of sending the message that if you don’t have grit, you’re not a good kid.

Evaluation

I found this article interesting because it presents a balanced view of this topic that I haven’t seen before.  Evaluating a student’s work is easy compared with evaluating character traits like grit.  Still, I favor the shift away from emphasizing results and focusing more on process.  By promoting growth mindsets, we help students see that being smart isn’t something one is born with, but rather something one works at.  I also like the comment by Angela Duckworth, the researcher who coined the term grit. “I don’t think people can become truly gritty and great at things they don’t love,” Duckworth says. “So when we try to develop grit in kids, we also need to find and help them cultivate their passions. That’s as much a part of the equation here as the hard work and the persistence.”  Helping students develop their passions is something teacher-librarians are well suited to do. By working with teachers, we can incorporate more choice into assignments to allow students the chance to pair an interest with the subject being learned.

The Modern Teacher Librarian

Greene, Shannon

IL

Valenzia, J. (2010). Manifesto for the 21st century teacher librarians. Teacher Librarian – The Journal for School Library Professionals. Retrieved from http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/2011/05/01/manifesto-for-21st-century-teacher-librarians/

Summary
An exhaustive list of what librarians should and should not be doing to be leaders of 21st century school libraries. The manifesto details different 21st century applications and considerations in "reading; the information landscape; communication and publishing and storytelling; collection development; facilities; access, equity, and advocacy; audience and collaboration; copyright and information ethics; technology tools; professional development and professionalism; teaching, learning and reference; and explores into the future (while acknowledging the best of the past)". Also noteworthy is her list of things a librarian should 'unlearn', especially her thoughts on libraries traditional focus on being quiet and tidy. An inspiring list that shows the author's commitment to constant professional development. Her criteria also demonstrates her ongoing exploration of the role of the teacher librarian and how we can advocate for the rights of students to access to technology and tools.

Evaluation
I believe this list could be a useful tool for a teacher librarian to check themselves against periodically. It is both overwhelming (so much to do!) and affirming (so much I'm already doing!) at the same time. This manifesto is useful not only for setting personal goals but also could be helpful in creating professional portfolios and substantiating discussions for technology decisions with administration.


 

The Science of Interest

Jack, Gordon

ET- Constructivism and Behaviorism

IL - Constructivism and Behaviorism

Paul, A.M. (2013, November). The science of interest. School Library Journal 59(11). 24-27. Retrieved from: http://www.slj.com/2013/11/librarians/the-science-of-interest-the-latest-cognitive-research-can-help-us-engage-students-and-foster-real-learning/

In this article, Paul synthesizes the studies of three researchers, Paul Silva, Judith Harackiewicz, and Suzanne Hidi, to discuss the significance of interest on student learning.  Focusing primarily on elementary, middle, and high school students, Paul emphasizes how student interest leads to better cognition of material.  Things that are interesting generally have three qualities.  They must be “novel, complex, and comprehensible” (p. 26).  Understandability is critically important, Paul emphasizes, and provides examples of how students interest in a challenging poem or painting was increased when given some clues to understanding its meaning.  Librarians are in an ideal position to be “interest evokers” for students, given their access and understanding of diverse material.  They can also promote interest by asking “curiosity questions” (p. 27), being friendly and approachable, and helping students see the relevance or value of the material on their own lives.

Evaluation

While this is a relatively short article, it contains interesting research on how critical interest is in the learning process.  Too often in the behaviorist teaching model, content is presented to students without trying to making it “novel, complex, and comprehensible”.  Teachers and teacher-librarians must consider both how to cultivate interest when designing their curriculum and instruction.  The article offers some strategies for how to do this, including a Big Think type activity that asks students to reflect upon the potential relevance of the content or skill in their own lives (which is different from asking students to describe the future utility of the content).  The article also discusses the value of social construction of knowledge and identifies the jigsaw procedure as one method to develop interest by making students experts in a particular component of the material.  This research reinforces the need for teacher-librarians to collaborate with teachers in order to tap into the wealth of materials for the into, through, or beyond portions of an instructional unit.

Play in the Library

Jennifer Brickey

ET—Educational Theory

Crow, S., & Robins, J. (2012). Play in the Library. Teacher Librarian, 39(5), 36-43. Retrieved from http://edition.pagesuiteprofessional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=5e332207-1bc6-4a7d-8ce1-01b678060ecf

In their article, Crow and Robins liken inquiry-based learning to playing in the library. They draw upon the Self-determination theory (SDT) which “identifies three components whose combination leads to motivation: competence, autonomy, and relatedness” (p. 37). In a library or learning commons setting, Crow and Robins believe that students have the most optimum environment—one that is both physical and virtual—to find pleasure and satisfaction by examining information and displaying it in a creative way. They go on to explain how “stories and storytelling” and “questing” allow students to role play and investigate. Navigating is both an effort of searching and evaluating. It’s not enough to find a sources; a student has to judge its credibility and authority in addition to synthesizing results in order to determine the best answer for a problem. Crow and Robins admit they lack data that supports their theory of play in the library; however they do recognize that play is in the “roots of human evolution” (p. 42) and by making play central in the library maybe students will transition into lifelong learners and seekers.

To me, Crow and Robins’ observation and argument for play directly links to the Big Think concept. The notion that students, with the help of teachers and teacher librarians, can explore any topic they want in the library in a way that is thoughtful, collaborative, and engaging only accentuates the concept of play. The possibilities for learning seem endless and attractive. 

The Shallows: Recommended Summer Reading

Greco, Rebecca
ET, IL

Carr, N. (2011) The Shallows:What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. Norton, 280 pages; ISBN 0393339750.
Nicholas Carr's Blog,  Rough Type: http://www.roughtype.com/

The series of short articles and infographics through which I've learned of many new tech tools and trends in education made me yearn for something longer and more fully developed, so I went old-school and read a book.  While I regret the 11th-hour nature of this posting, I think this book is a must-read for anyone working in education who thinks about technology and information literacy.  I highly recommend it to everyone as summer reading.

Carr traces brain development in human beings through varied communication forms across human history. His book is not as strident or skeptical of technology's impact on our minds as his blog is (see above address); nor is he sounding an overt alarm about technology's harm to children, as Jane Healey (1999) does in her book Failure to Connect.  However, Carr points out a key difference between reading linear, book-style text and reading online, with its links and sidebars: this second form of reading does keep us from reading one thing deeply; instead, it further develops our awareness to possible distractions and novel information.  Carr points out this this awareness to outside stimuli was crucial, for instance, for hunter-gatherers, who had to be constantly alert to new information all around them.  He describes his own experiences as a reader who came to miss the longer, deeper stretches of text immersion when he began to read--and skim-- online more, but he is careful not to privilege one form of reading over the other.  Instead, Carr points out that we are communicating in a  way that affects our brain wiring, and that the long term effects of these changes have yet to be seen.

I was surprised by Carr's measured tone in the book; I'd expected more of a rant. The brain research he cites does remind me of the changes I see in the middle school students I teach, though. Like many teachers, I see a big difference between the kids who read a lot independently and the kids who do not. In addition to having larger vocabularies and deeper background knowledge, the kids who read tend to be more patient, better able to venture a guess or prediction and see it through-- they are easier to sit next to in a movie because they're less apt to ask aloud what will happen next. In early adolescence-- a time of tremendous brain development the maxim is that "the neurons that fire together, wire together" is true.  Carr's work points out the difference between the kinds of wiring we develop through text exposure and through online "reading." While I know that I personally prefer deeper, longer reading, I can see as well that a more varied information field with multimedia availability has the potential to engage students who struggle with immersion in text.  What will it mean for their minds to be engaged in this way, rather than less engaged?  We will have to see.


 

Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

Jennifer Alfonso-Punzalan

Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

ET

IL

TED Conferences, LLC.  [TED2013]. (2013, February). Sugata Mitra: Build a school in the cloud [Video file].  Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=image__2013-02-27

Sugata Mitra is an educational researcher who spoke at a TED conference about how his goal is to build a school in the cloud.  His notion is that the educational system that was invented during the Victorian times worked for that era, but now, education needs to be reworked.  His thoughts are that children can teach themselves and their peers anything, as long as they’re interested and have the hardware and software to do so.  His research with children in poor neighborhoods in India showed that children who had access to an Internet-connected computer learned very complex ideas, not even in their native language but in English.  This so-called “Hole in the Wall” computer gave these children the ability to learn abstract science concepts.  Because they had the curiosity, the tools, and one another, the Hole in the Wall project resulted in learning on individual and collaborative scales.

This was an eye-opening TED talk on the great effects that technology can have on learning.  I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Mitra on how the current educational system in the United States is old-fashioned and needs a revolutionary change.  It would be great if all schools could differentiate learning for all their students through the use of cloud-based technologies and schools so that every child really wouldn’t be left behind.  If people would be willing to vote for and fund this type of education then I think a school in the cloud could really happen.

Bootstrapping: a possible instructional support for learners

Campbell, Margaret

Carey, S. (2011). Précis of the origin of concepts. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 34, 113-167. doi:10.1017/S0140525X10000919

Carey, S. (2009). The origin of concepts. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Summary

Carey writes that learning "requires adjusting expectations, representations, and actions to data" (p. 120) - basically hypothesis testing, but if a learner is not able to state a hypothesis to test, Carey proposes the use of "Quinian bootstrapping" as a learning process. The sections of the article explain in detail different ways that bootstrapping can be used to support learning. Model-building has been shown to be particularly effective for inspiring innovation, and in this article, Carey discusses how modeling unknown processes with variables known to a learner, no matter what domain they are from, can help learners to build understandings of material that are outside of their conceptual framework.

Evaluation

This article is dense and complicated, and I am sure the book is also; however, when I read slowly, underlined, and outlined the sections specifically about learners in a bootstrapping curriculum, I was able to get some solid instructional ideas for science and other subjects. Carey has many critics and these theories seem very fragile because they don't seem to be supported by large study data. But there are some unusual ideas in this article, and with the failure of so many instructional methods, especially in math and science, I am delighted when someone makes innovative recommendations.

Deep learning: interesting challenges to some cognitive theories

Campbell, Margaret

Ohlsson, S. (2011). Deep learning: How the mind overrides experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Summary

The review of this book called the information in it "breathtaking in scope and intellectual range." The review also says that the book is not mainstream, because it focuses on learning mechanisms that transcend prior knowledge and previous experience, instead of the typical learning theory approach that looks at using prior knowledge and past experience as guiding mechanisms for future action. Ohlsson's theory is that producing new insights, adapting, and belief changes involve revisions of prior knowledge instead of building upon it. The book is divided into sections that discuss those three cognitive changes: creativity, adaptation, and conversion.

Evaluation

The part of the review that attracted me to wanting to read this book, is where Ohlsson argues that the way our knowledge network is structure by prior knowledge and previous experience determines the way that we will initially define problems, and that the space of solutions that we will search is limited by our prior knowledge and previous experience. Our prior knowledge and previous experience will create an exploration space that is unlikely to produce satisfactory results, because an optimal solution usually does not appear in the first space that is explored. He calls it a general principle of unhelpful prior knowledge. He calls creativity an "accumulation of multiple insights" instead of a mysterious ability (p. 141). This leads to the observation that model-based reasoning often accompanies insights and innovation because it abstracts constraints from multiple sources in order to solve problems.

In addition, Ohlsson's theories delve into the idea of "deliberative" practice popularized by Malcolm Gladwell's discussion of the ten years of deliberative practice necessary to become an expert at anything. I also found Ohlsson's discussion of our ability to believe in or ascribe to competing theories without knowing it fascinating... and that by bringing competing theories to light and forcing recognition of their incompatibilities with multiple strategies, we are able to experience a conversion of thought...cognitive conflict alone is not enough to have us restructure our thinking.

There are many practical recommendations for teaching. One is that learners, especially in the sciences, would profit from well-timed and sequenced creative model-building over long periods of time

Why Superman Can Wait

Why Superman Can Wait: Cognitive Self-Transformation in the Delay of Gratification Paradigm

Wentworth, Michael

Karniol, R., Galili, L., Shtilerman, D., Naim, R., Stern, K., Manjoch, H., & Silverman, R. (2011). Why Superman Can Wait: Cognitive Self-Transformation in the Delay of Gratification Paradigm. Journal Of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 40(2), 307-317. doi:10.1080/15374416.2011.546040

Summary: This article examines the ability for preschool children to delay the temptation of being rewarded with treats by taking on the roll of Superhero A (Superman) who showcases the ability to be patient by waiting with casual ease and Superhero B (Dash) who showcases reactionary tendencies by being impatient.  The study begins with a history of the, "delay of gratification paradigm," by highlighting research by Walter Mischel (psychologist) and his collaborators over the years, Moore, Ebbesen, Zeiss, Yates, Baker, Metcalfe, Shoda, Peake & Rodriguez.  The general findings are that children who were exposed to and preformed self-regulating strategies, like Superhero A, during these experiments have the tendency to achieve higher academic success including SAT scores, have stronger social skills and emotional stability while also engaging civic responsibility with more frequency.

Evaluation:  The interesting aspect to this article is the 40 years of research that has been going on and the tracking taking place of students that participated in early experiments to discover the outcome of the initial experiments.  Another aspect that is also interesting is the pre-exam used, the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) created by J.C. Raven in the 1930s has been used in over 1000 studies that can be used in data analysis, which richly supports the research done in this experiment.  It may not come as a surprise that children, students, who are encouraged to take on the character of a superhero that is well respected for their honor and known to be patient assists the child in being patient.  However it is information that helps reinforce teachers to use techniques that encourage respect, honor and patience when engaging overactive children.