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<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Hi Folks... The retired teacher talking here.....</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">"Discovery learning" in a properly prepared, semi-structured environment works. Look at the success of the Montessori method.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method</a></p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Intervention is helpful at times, but only as a last resort. If a child is stumped and ready to give up and go on to other things, a little "nudge" in the right direction can open up new discoveries.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Actually, I discovered "discovery learning" myself as a young teacher. Trying to apply it to math wasn't always easy. That is probably why science seemed so much more fun to teach.</p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Another thing I discovered was Project Based Learning (BPL). It started when I was teaching beginning Algebra classes of over 40 students. "Why not try letting them work on things in teams like we do in science?, I thought. When I had teams of 2, that cut my effective class size in half to 20+. Groups of 4 gave me just 10+. </p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">The kids loved it and I was able to gently "nudge" groups in the right direction when they were really stuck, praise successes, and suggest enrichment activities. Occasionally a student or parent would complain that my class was "noisy." But, it was good, productive noise. They were learning! </p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">BTW, does anyone remember the good old "new math" program called SSMCIS? (AKA the "Columbia Program", named after the university where it originated) I Beta-tested it when it was still in the pre-publication stage. Lots of discovery and PBL there. It was a lot of fun, but they did have to train us teachers first!</p>
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<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><a href="http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?forumID=304&threadID=714464&messageID=7143356">http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?forumID=304&threadID=714464&messageID=7143356</a></p>
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<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">More thoughts coming re the "Tiger Mom," kids outdoors, and the world we live in today.! The "mom" will reply!</p>
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<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Caryl</p><br><hr id="stopSpelling">Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:32:59 -0500<br>From: holt@laptop.org<br>To: support-gang@laptop.org; iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org<br>Subject: Re: [support-gang] When teaching restrains discovery<br><br>
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On 1/19/2011 1:29 PM, Christoph Derndorfer wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4D372D81.7050502@student.tuwien.ac.at">
<pre>Hi all,
I just stumbled across this fascinating article called "When teaching
restrains discovery"
(<a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/01/18/when-teaching-restrains-discovery/" target="_blank">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/01/18/when-teaching-restrains-discovery/</a>)</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
Indeed such unstructured & unsupervised play (nevermind the
outdoors!) may be "obsolete" in rich, overparented societies per
"Last Child in the Woods" (Richard Louv, 336p, 2005), "Free-Range
Kids" (Lenore Skenazy, 256p, 2009), "Play Again" (2010 film) etc.<br>
<br>
But the patient (exploratory learning) won't die without a fight --
witness the ongoing backlash against last week's "Why Chinese
Mothers Are Superior" (WSJ, Jan 8 2011), "Battle Hymn of the Tiger
Mother" (Amy Chua, 256p, 2011) etc:<br>
<br>
The Unused Playground: Kids Need to be Out in Nature, Yet We
Keep Them Caged. By Phil Primack<br>
...studies, hearings, and slogans (“Leave No Child Inside”)
won’t significantly reduce the great disconnect between kids and
nature unless parents – many raised amid “Stranger Danger” and other
media-stoked fears themselves – are willing to grant kids more
freedom...<br>
<a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/09/12/the_unused_playground/" target="_blank">http://boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/09/12/the_unused_playground/</a><br>
<br>
Nature Deficit Disorder: Kids Who Don’t Get Outside Can Pay To
Play<br>
<a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/01/18/nature-deficit" target="_blank">http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/01/18/nature-deficit</a><br>
<a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://feeds.wbur.org/~r/WBURRadioBoston/~5/6EoG_ogxORs/radioboston_0118.mp3" target="_blank">http://feeds.wbur.org/~r/WBURRadioBoston/~5/6EoG_ogxORs/radioboston_0118.mp3</a><br>
(Listen from 15m40s to 35m06s)<br>
<br>
Amy Chua Is a Wimp: “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” may
denounce soft American-style parenting, but its author shelters her
children from the truly arduous experiences necessary to achieve.<br>
<a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18brooks.html" target="_blank">http://nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18brooks.html</a><br>
<br>
--<br>
Help kids everywhere map their world, at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://olpcMAP.net" target="_blank">http://olpcMAP.net</a>
!<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D372D81.7050502@student.tuwien.ac.at">
<pre>which is based on a very recently published paper whose title really
says it all "The double-edged sword of pedagogy: Instruction limits
spontaneous exploration and discovery"
(<a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T24-51WV6VK-1&_user=10&_coverDate=01/08/2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b3319a977badfb35348871b64a9e1d4c&searchtype=a" target="_blank">http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T24-51WV6VK-1&_user=10&_coverDate=01/08/2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b3319a977badfb35348871b64a9e1d4c&searchtype=a</a>).
Definitely well worth a read in my opinion. :-)
Cheers,
Christoph
</pre>
</blockquote>
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