Ruby’s Blog

I have just read “The 6 Cs of Motivation” by Shiang-Kwei Wang and Seungyeon Han. The article lists the 6 Cs of motivation as:

v     Choice

v     Challenge

v     Control

v     Collaboration

v     Constructing Meaning

v     Consequences

I think that using the 6 C’s of motivation as a strategy is fantastic! It can increase the motivation of students just by allowing them a bit more control and choice over their work. It is important for teacher and students to work together in formulating and understanding tasks because this promotes a mutual respect and a much deeper understanding of the work.

Image: ‘Oops, Oh No! Henry shows the kids+Kid+Pix‘
www.flickr.com/photos/35034355962@N01/75853330

I just read an article on a speech given by Lee Rainie entitled “Life online: Teens and technology and the world to come”. Rainie talks about 8 realities that shape the world of young people and that will affect them when they finish school. These are:

1.      Millennials (People born from 1982-2000) are a distinct age cohort, according to many measures of generational behaviour and attitude

2.      Millennials are immersed in a world of media and gadgets

3.      Their technology is mobile

4.      The internet plays a special role in their world

5.      They are multi-taskers

6.      Millennials are often unaware of and indifferent to the consequences of their use of technology

7.      Their (our) technology will change rapidly in the next decade

8.      The way they approach learning and research tasks will be shaped by their new techno-world

What does this mean for us as teachers?

Well it seems that Millennials will be much more self –directed and less dependent on top-down instruction. We need to be able to alter our teaching strategies to allow these students to be able to explore their own insights and intelligences. We can most certainly guide them and shape their path or multiple paths, but I think they need to have a number of choices when it comes to their learning methods.

Image: ‘I am Here for the Learning Revolution‘
www.flickr.com/photos/31442459@N00/2516648940

After reading “Constructionism vs. Instructionism” by Seymour Papert, I found myself agreeing with the idea that students will be more equipped for the real world if we incorporate technology into our teaching practices in the classroom.

Papert (1980) defined constructionism as giving children good things to do so that they can learn by doing much better than they could before. He also defined instructionism as the theory that states, “to get better education, we must improve instruction. And if we’re going to use computers, we’ll make the computers do the instruction”.

I don’t believe that technology should be the main and only tool used in teaching practices but I do think that because of the rapid technological changes in the real world, students do need to be educated in schools, on the use and benefits of different types of technology.

In the KLA of HSIE, especially in subjects like Business studies and Commerce, constructionism can be put into practice. I think this can be very beneficial as it allows students, exposure to the real world and a practical side of things, rather than just theoretical.