Carrie Ann’s “How do I get started?” Questions
1) Think about a teaching and/or learning issue, problem, or question that you have about your students, a course, an assignment, a pedagogical strategy, your program, etc. Briefly state that issue, problem, or question as a question(s).
Are music education majors educated and trained enough to work with learning and physically disabled students in music programs?
2) What do you know about this topic and about ways to study this question from the extant literature in your discipline and in higher education more broadly?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) both state that all students regardless of what their disability is must have access to all groups and ensembles that are available to the general student population. Yet, music educators are not given any specific training in how to work with special learners and here is where the problem lies.
3) Given your question, what types of information or artifacts do you already have that will help you answer this question?
I know from personal experience how difficult it is to work with learning or physical disabled music students and have learned over time how to do modifications to make music accessible to all students, regardless of disability. I have had to look to outside sources (not my general education degree classes) to do so and I know how sensitive of a topic this is.
4) Given your question, what other types of information or artifacts will you need (and from what sources) to answer this question?
I will need interviews with both student teachers and with teachers who have been in the field for a number of years. Also, I would like to look at the curriculum of a number of universities across the country to see if this topic/area is addressed in the teaching program.
5) Given your question and the information your need, what research strategies might you use to obtain this information and answer this question?
Strategies of interviews, observations, literature reviews, and other research into specific music education programs will have to be implemented to complete this research.
6) What time frame will be most appropriate to answer your question?
This research can be done over the course of the student teaching semester, appox. 16 weeks (4 months).
7) What are some practical problems you might face in doing this study? What resources would you need and how might you obtain these?
Some practical problems would be to obtain access to the schools in which the student teachers are assigned since some schools and administration are not open to having research done on their campus.
8 What ethical issues should you consider in doing this study?
I would have to get special Human Subjects Review Board approval since I am working with special education students (a protected population).
9) In what ways and in what outlets will you be able to obtain peer feedback on this work and make this work public?
This study I would like to have published in our professional journals, such as the Journal of Research in Music Education or Music Educators Journal. Going through the study, I would look to my colleagues for feedback and to see if they have any other avenues for me to add to the research.
Teddy’s Response to Carrie Anne’s Reading Log 02.07.2010
Teddy’s Response to Carrie Anne’s Reading Log 02.07.2010
For class session 02.09.2010
Carrie Anne really drives home the need for connections between planning, delivery of data and assessment. Research about teaching and students making those deeper connections with course materials has become critical pillars of educational inquiry. I totally agree that it is not acceptable to settle for surface learning in our classrooms. By sharing research in other areas like Neuroscience, Anthropology and Workplace Studies, we can learn a great deal more about how students connect real world experiences to classroom learning. We may find ourselves asking, “How does the brain work?”“How do students learn in this particular class or situation?”
I truly believe that teaching and learning are participatory components that are in constant flux. Teachers should tweak or adjust their pedagogical techniques through-out the term of the learning experience to move students to deeper learning and greater mastery of the discipline. Issuing a flurry of assignments will not suffice, but only encourage the learners to return to the crutches of memorization and complacent rote learning. Deeper learning, I believe, requires an apprenticeship of new, but meaningful experiences and interactions within the practicum of a particular field of study. This allows students to try on a new skin of data and become comfortable with it. Without this practicum, students are limited to the scope of the classroom and may retain no new skill sets that contribute to the real world, or offer anything of value for the edification of students and the research of SoTL.
Brief Notes on Ch.2, 3_How We Learn Readings_Aracelie
Chapter 2 of How We Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (1999) is entitled “How Experts Differ from Novices”. It focuses on six key principles that differentiate experts and novices and when considered collectively, may have implications in education. The principles are listed below:
1. Experts notice features and meaningful patterns of information that are not noticed by novices.
2. Experts have acquired a great deal of content knowledge that is organized in ways that reflect a deep understanding of their subject matter.
3. Experts’ knowledge cannot be reduced to sets of isolated facts or propositions but, instead, reflects contexts of applicability: that is, the knowledge is ”conditionalized” on a set of circumstances.
4. Experts are able to flexibly retrieve important aspects of their knowledge with little attentional effort.
5. Though experts know their disciplines thoroughly, this does not guarantee that they are able to teach others.
6. Experts have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations. (p 19)
Within the chapter the authors describe examples in chess, math, history, physics, and electronics that demonstrate each of the principles.
Within the chess discussion, there is a quote from DeGroot’s 1965 book, Thought and Choice in Chess. “We know that increasing experience and knowledge in a specific field (chess, for instance) has the effect that things (properties, etc.) which, at earlier stages, had to be abstracted, or even inferred are apt to be immediately perceived at later stages. To a rather large extent, abstraction is replaced by perception, but we do not know much about how this works, nor where the borderline lies. As an effect of this replacement, a so-called ‘given’ problem situation is not really given since it is seen differently by an expert than it is perceived by an inexperienced person….” His last sentence states that even a “‘given’ problem situation” is seen differently by a novice. This captures the spirit of the chapter. As I read the pages, I knew that we would be experiencing this first hand (if we have class) because I, the novice, can read what the words on the page say and make sense of them. However, my lack of prior knowledge in education will keep me from picking up the deeper implications that are contained within the chapters and therefore, keep my thoughts and reflections at a surface level. The “experts” who would read the same chapters would have more to draw from and as a result, more refined ides to present to and discuss with others.
Chapter 3 is called “Learning and Transfer”. Though I have read it, I have not spent as much time processing the information. However, as I read I made a note regarding previous knowledge. In the chapter, there is discussion on how “all learning involves transfer from previous experiences.” How then does one leave behind previous knowledge or experience? Is it wise to do try and do so? The authors state “students may misinterpret new information because of previous knowledge they use to construct new understandings.” As a student myself, I try to relate ideas to what I have already experienced or learned in my life. True, that could be a help or a hindrance, but how would one address this issue? Is simply being aware that it exists enough?
Teddy’s Response to Jason’s Reading Log 02.07.2010
Teddy’s Response to Jason’s Reading Log 02.07.2010
For class session 02.09.2010
In particular, I enjoyed the opening point Jason stated about cross cultural studies in teaching and learning. It is fascinating that so many disciplines are focusing on one topic, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Both teaching and learning communities are steadily making this a high priority. Yet, money is always an object in funding and supporting research in such areas, but we cannot afford to wait or stall progress that’s desperately needed to make advances in critical disciplines such as education, medicine and research. We must continue to pursue pedagogical research that will help our students increase life-long learning experiences and reduce surface learning. Our helpless need to continue to promote short term learning will be a thorn in our side as long as we deny that deeper learning comes as an artifact of first-hand experience. As Jason (2010) puts it, we continue to reward and glorify memorization, obsess over test scores, frame intelligence as an inherited ability, and attempt to fuel education with cut throat competitiveness in the classroom, we will continue to produce students that learn to anxiously cram for exams, memorize lots of facts, and forget everything when the course is over.
McKinney p26-27 SoTL Project Planning Questions_Aracelie
McKinney p26-27 SoTL Project Planning Questions
Issue, problem, or question. How will veterans transitioning from a wartime military to colleges and universities learn and function in an environment that is less structured and where there is not a clearly defined chain of command?
What do you know about it and ways to study it based on existing literature. I do not know anything about the question through literature or discipline. I know of my own experiences and those of colleagues by word-of-mouth.
Types of info, artifacts you already have to help answer question. See answer to question #2.
Types of info, artifacts you will need to help answer question. Some of the factors that may shape the answers to my question follow.
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- Differences in how new non-vets view classroom environments and administrative procedures compared to how a veteran sees them
- Home lives (marriages, dependents, etc.) and support systems of individuals
- Childhood upbringings and experiences
- Work experiences and learning histories (brand new, previous classes online but none on a physical campus, etc.)
- How the type (public, private) and size of schools play into servicemembers decisions to attend in the first place and consequently, into the decisions to stay and complete the degree
- Military’s role in helping servicemembers with school plans prior to discharge
- Where VA fits into process. How members become aware of the roles and responsibilities of their parent services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines)
Research strategies you might use. The VA and higher education institutions can provide existing data. Education centers on military installations would also be a good source of information. Interviews with current and prospective students, veterans and non-veterans would provide insight. Finally, current veterans-focused programs and the staff who run them would be a source of information.
Timeframe. Four full-length semesters.
Possible problems and obstacles. Incomplete data or overwhelming amounts of data might be a problem. The sources I mentioned may not track the data I would need or in a format that is usable. There may be privacy issues when dealing with students’ information. There may be few programs in place that focus on veterans. There are many offices for counseling on higher education campuses, but how many have actual curriculum-based programs in place?
Ethical issues. I cannot think of any at this time.
Publishing opportunities, chances to receive feedback. The same sources for research strategies – VA offices, higher education institutions, education centers – would all also serve as outlets for the results of the project.