Scotland has started a new initiative for their education system aka Curriculum of Excellence. It is a good step toward achieving growth.. "The 3-18 curriculum aims to ensure that all children and young people in Scotland develop the attributes, knowledge and skills they will need to flourish in life, learning and work."
Children learn through exploration. They construct their knowledge through direct experience. We must consider how to expand their space and opportunities for learning. Dewey would muse that many teachers would simply tell children, "This is what the world is like." Instead, Dewey advocated that teachers should encourage children to become actively engaged in discovering what the world is like.
Hi Kathy Sierra is one of the figures I like in this field. She is not a researcher but has solid recommendations and successful projects. She has a blog post explaining brain and learning . I think it will be beneficial for this area..
Hi I have read the story. He has just passed the Microsoft's basic technician exam. I have seen people who has no prior computer background, after several weeks of technical course, have taken upper level certificate of this kind.
Exams do not mirror the real life. You can pass them by studying and solving past questions.
I don't want to diminish what this boy has done. I try to say that It is not expertise..
I have an offer for this course. We should study Self-Determination theory (SDT) instead of flow theory. It is more fruitful than flow.
SDT states that we live with some psychological needs, namely autonomy, competence and relatedness. If these conditions are provided within social context, motivation will be affected positively. They are also needed for well-being.
It is applicable to teachers, bosses, parents.
There is a book called Drive from Daniel Pink which explains this theory
Hi Yasin I firstly agree that there are lots of motivation theories. Even some researchers say that, we should stop developing new theories and start integrating existing theories.
But SDT is contemporary, well-established and broad.
By the way, I see theories as maps of the realities. Sometimes they may have intersections. Some explains some parts f reality more detailed.
There is a problem with motivation. It directs/energizes person externally. We manipulate student for our aims. On the other hand, inspiration is giving birth to what is inside. This is helping student to become his greatness. Motivation can be usable for children. But for adults inspiration seems to be better.
Look at this: How Can Students Be Motivated: A Misplaced Question?
Hi While reading about motivation, something has come to my mind. I want to share it with you..
We will design a course named as dream course. The students will try to attain their dreams throughout the course. They will specify their goals, draw a roadmap and criteria for successful attainment. Dream can be anything.
How that sounds ?
My aim is to inspire students to find their internal voice (or passion) and give courage to attain it.
I have promised in the class that How childhood affects the human development. In this video, if you wan to get the facts fast, look at directly to 50. second..
Dreyfus & Dreyfus states 5 level of skill acqusition. Novice: Needs context-free rules. He is hopeless in case of failure. Advanced beginner: he encounters with authentic cases. Now he recognizes aspects of the cases. Competent: Now he sees lots of things to consider in situations. competency comes when he realizes that only part of the things are related with that situation. So he develops basic models. He is also emotionally involved and feels fear and happiness. Proficient: He can get benefit from others' experiences. Expert: works with maxims and intuition. "less is more" "it depends"
I think, Deliberate practice is a an effect of dedication. Being better feels better. I mean if you are good at something, you enjoy while doing it, because you feel competent (a form of motivation) . Not all people realize this deliberate practice. It requires long-term, continuous practice.
Carl Rogers: Significant learning. He states that teaching is useless or damaging. Only Learning (or personal experiences) can yield a change is behaviors and can be significant. Below is a summary of his ideas..
Roger Schank: story centered curriculum or scenario based learning. He states how current education system is disconnected from real world. We need authentic scenarios for better learning.
Below is a good explanation in the form of story !
"The 3-18 curriculum aims to ensure that all children and young people in Scotland develop the attributes, knowledge and skills they will need to flourish in life, learning and work."
More information is here:
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/thecurriculum/whatiscurriculumforexcellence/understandingthecurriculumasawhole/index.asp