DOCUMENT RESUME ED 456 797 IR 020 546 AUTHOR Burns, Mary; Dimock, Vicki; Martinez, Danny TITLE TAP into Learning, Fall-Winter 2000. INSTITUTION Stanford Univ., CA. ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Media and Technology. SPONS AGENCY Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE 2000-00-00 NOTE 26p.; Winter 2000 is the final issue of "TAP into Learning CONTRACT RJ9600681 AVAILABLE FROM For full text: http://www.sedl.org/tap/newsletters/. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT TAP into Learning; v2 n3, v3 n1-2 Fall-Win 2000 EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Computer Assisted Instruction; Computer Software; *Computer Uses in Education; Constructivism (Learning); Educational Technology; Elementary Secondary Education; *Hypermedia; Interactive Video; Learning; Learning Activities; Multimedia Instruction; *Multimedia Materials; Visual Aids IDENTIFIERS Reflective Inquiry; Technology Role ABSTRACT This document consists of the final three issues of "TAP into Learning" (Technology Assistance Program) .The double fall issue focuses on knowledge construction and on using multimedia applications in the classroom. Contents include: "Knowledge Under Construction"; "Hegel and the Dialectic"; "Implications for Teaching and Learning"; "How Can Technology Help in the Developmental Process?"; "Type I and Type II Applications"; "Children's Ways of Learning and the Evolution of the Personal Computer"; "Classroom Example: Trial of Julius Caesar's Murderers and Court Case Website"; "Glossary of World Wide Web Terms"; "Hypermedia: What Do I Need To Use Thought Processing Software?"; and "What Do I Need To Make a Web Page in My Class?" The winter issue, "Learning as an Active and Reflective Process," focuses on the process of learning and on using video in the classroom. Contents include: "Action + Reflection = Learning"; "Paulo Freire and Education for Critical Consciousness"; "Combining Action and Reflection in the Classroom"; "Video Documentaries: Stories from the Past"; "Storytelling in a Digital Age"; "Getting Connected"; "Screenwriting Software"; "Video Editing Software"; and "Is There a Low-Tech Alternative to All of This Video Editing and Screenplay Software?" Both fall and winter issues present a framework for constructivism, highlighting six principles that were distilled from a variety of sources on constructivism, brain research, and education research as well as Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) staff members' experiences as teachers, learners, and observers in classrooms. Both issues include an annotated list of electronic resources. (AEF) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. TAP into Learning Vol 2, Issue 3, Vol 3, Issue 1 Fall 2000 & Vol 3, Issue 2 Win 2000 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Office of Educational Research and Improvement DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) Of Thisdocument has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 3.Poko.x_c\ El Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in this INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document do not necessarily represent 1 official OERI position or policy. BESTCOPYAVAILABLE Volume 2, Issue 3 Volume 3, Issue 1 Hegel and the Fall 2000 Dialectic KnowIde und Georg IN THIS ISSUE Wilhem Friedrich Using Hypermedia on Hegel Construct (1770- Knowledge under 1831) was Construction 1 Learning is a process of accommodation, assimilation, or rejection to construct a German Hegel and new conceptual structures, meaningful representations, or new mental models. idealist philosopher the Dialectic 1 whose key philosophical tenet was his proposal Implications for Learning is notan isolated or static process, nor does it that all of history, and Teaching and Learning 3 occur in a vacuum. We enter learning situationsindeed, all indeed all human thought How Can Technology and experience, could be Help in the Developmental situationswith some form of prior knowledge. As we interact Process? 4 with the world around us, and the infinite variety of images, understood through the ideas, information, and other stimuli that comprise our world, concept of the dialectic. Type I and Type II The dialectic is a tri- Applications 5 we are constantly constructing, revising, and reconstructing partite construction, Children's Ways of our knowledge and beliefs to create a new framework of consisting of the idea of Learning and the understanding. Knowledge then is constantly under construc- a thesis, antithesis, and Evolution of the synthesis. Our knowledge Personal Computer tiona dynamic, evolutionary, developmental process. Think for a moment about your knowledge of the world and the and concepts are con- Classroom Example: structed through opposi- Trial of Julius Caesar's beliefs you held as a child, as a teen, and ten years ago. tion to something else. Murderers and Court How and why have your beliefs changed? Why did you Case Website 7 We form concepts of a hold the views you did at those particular points in time? person, object or idea Glossary of World Learning is also determined by our level of biological and Wide Web terms 9 through our interaction psychological development. As the writings of the Swiss with and experience of it. Hypermedia: What Do I Need to Use Thought continued on page 2 continued on page 2 Processing Software? 10 What Do I Need to Make a Web Page in A Framework for Constructivism My Class? 11 Learners bring unique prior knowledge Learning is developmental. We make sense and beliefs to a learning situation. of our world by assimilating, accommodating, Knowledge is constructed uniquely and or rejecting new information. individually, in multiple ways, through a variety Social interaction introduces multiple of authentic tools, resources, experiences perspectives on learning. To learn more about and contexts. Learning is internally controlled and mediated SEDL's Technology Learning is both an active and a reflective process. by the learner. Assistance Program. These six principles were distilled by the staff of SEDL's Technology Assistance Program from a visit our Web site at variety of sources on constructivism, brain research, and education research as well as staff members' http://www.sedl.org/tap. experiences as teachers, learners, and observers in classrooms. 3 2 tAP into Learning Hegel and the Dialecticcontinued from page 1 For example, let's examine the way a young child forms an understanding of a dog: She can touch it, play with it, smell, see, and hear it. Her concept of "dog" is formed by these experience with this particular canine. For her, "dog" may be small, brown, long haired, with floppy ears, and a long tail. This paradigm of knowledge about "dog" is the young child's thesis. However, she will soon encounter another image of a dogdifferent from the paradigm she has con- structed. This new dog will have different characteris- tics: perhaps it is large, black in color, with short hair, ears, and tail. Though perhaps not conscious of her construction of knowledge, the young girl must make a decision: does she accept this new creature Knowledge under Constructioncontinued from pa,ge 1 as "dog" or reject this creature as "not" dog? psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) assert, children think and Hegel refers to this reason differently at different periods in their lives. The cognitive confrontation of conflicting development of a child passes through a series of stages: from the information as the sensorimotor stage, during which the child gains motor control, antithesis. By assimilating/ through the pre-operational stage, when the child acquires verbal accepting this information, the young girl's concept skills. During the concrete operational stage the child begins to of "dog" becomes more complex: the dog can have deal with abstract concepts such as numbers and relationships. many colors, be of varying heights and different Finally, in the formal operational stage, the final stage of cognitive breeds. Thus, by experiencing this contrasting notion development, the child begins to reason logically and systematically.' of dog (the antithesis) and assimilating or accommo- Learning is oftentimes fraught with tension and conflict. If new dating it into her original understanding or thesis information matches our existing understanding, we can easily of a canine, the young learner forms a synthesis assimilate it. However, if new information does not match our a fuller realization of "dog." This is a rather simplified example of a profound existing knowledge frameworkor threatens our existing corpus process in human intellectual development. This of knowledgewe must either accommodate the new information, dialecticthe constant interplay of thesis, antithesis by forming new understandings or re-evaluating our prior and synthesisis an apt metaphor for learning: as beliefs and reconstructing our prior theories, or reject that new we develop higher forms of knowledge, we constant- information.2 This continuous struggle between pieces of varying ly confront more complex and abstract pieces of and oftentimes conflicting informationthis dialectic of learning information and must decide how to reconcile often occurs constantly, sometimes consciously; more often than not, divergent pieces of information. Learning is therefore unconsciously, and contributes to our overall construction