“You can’t assume that what’s blatantly obvious to you- and has always been blatantly obvious to you- is gonna be that way to to somebody else, especially a kid. That's where you have to stop, regroup, and think ‘wait a second, is this really as self-evident as you’d like to think it is.”
The narrator states that, “sometimes, the simplest problems in science defy intuition.” This video implores us to consider a few things: a) students are not empty vessels, they are very capable of considering and making sense of the world around them and therefore don’t approach the classroom as empty vessels needing to be “filled” with information. On the contrary, their innate curiosity has led them to very concrete understandings of the world (in their terms, of course), and because these thought processes have become so ingrained in their psyches, they are not o easily convinced when presented with other theories or fact. I agree that students should be expected to participate in guided hands-on activities to think things through and reconstruct their own interpretations. I’m starting to get the sense that this is indeed the main point behind all of these Annenberg videos associated with the A Private Universe Project.
On another note- I thought it was brilliant that they used the mirror analogy as a way to debunk the idea that an absentminded hands-on-approach is magically going to help students sincerely understand the material. The fact that while we interact with out environment on a day to day basis, it does not necessarily mean that we aren’t ignorant to the intricacies behind what what we consider to be commonplace. In other words, “we hear what we expect to hear and see what we expect to see.”
I also thought the progression of this video was well thought out. I still am not too crazy about how the student are approached and portrayed in these videos- it almost seems cruel to me and is honestly uncomfortable to watch. I find myself cringing and wanting to fast forward through the portions that include student questioning and teacher monitoring. I understand their necessary implications, but find them to be seriously deterring.
“They have minds, and if those minds are supported and challenged, they will have so much potential.”
The narrator states that, “sometimes, the simplest problems in science defy intuition.” This video implores us to consider a few things: a) students are not empty vessels, they are very capable of considering and making sense of the world around them and therefore don’t approach the classroom as empty vessels needing to be “filled” with information. On the contrary, their innate curiosity has led them to very concrete understandings of the world (in their terms, of course), and because these thought processes have become so ingrained in their psyches, they are not o easily convinced when presented with other theories or fact. I agree that students should be expected to participate in guided hands-on activities to think things through and reconstruct their own interpretations. I’m starting to get the sense that this is indeed the main point behind all of these Annenberg videos associated with the A Private Universe Project.
On another note- I thought it was brilliant that they used the mirror analogy as a way to debunk the idea that an absentminded hands-on-approach is magically going to help students sincerely understand the material. The fact that while we interact with out environment on a day to day basis, it does not necessarily mean that we aren’t ignorant to the intricacies behind what what we consider to be commonplace. In other words, “we hear what we expect to hear and see what we expect to see.”
I also thought the progression of this video was well thought out. I still am not too crazy about how the student are approached and portrayed in these videos- it almost seems cruel to me and is honestly uncomfortable to watch. I find myself cringing and wanting to fast forward through the portions that include student questioning and teacher monitoring. I understand their necessary implications, but find them to be seriously deterring.
“They have minds, and if those minds are supported and challenged, they will have so much potential.”
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