When I was studying biology as an undergraduate, a students asked the physiology about Daltons, the unit used to measure the size of large molecules such as proteins. The professor was so used to using the term, he had to look up the definition so he could explain it to the 250 or so students Read More
Category: Theory
On #Data and the Quality of Data
As an undergraduate science major, I came to understand quantitative data; we measured what we observed in the laboratory and in the field and we summarized and evaluated it to draw conclusions about the world as we saw it. Patterns in numbers were our window into the systems we studied. As a graduate student in Read More
Vygotsky and the Zone of Proximal Development
Lev Vygotsky was a Russia psychologist who worked in the early part of the 20th century before he died at 38. Many educators who adopt methods that are commonly called constructivist ground their pedagogy in ideas he developed. One that is particularly useful in designing all curriculum is the Zone of Proximal Development. I often Read More
Why Theory Matters in Education
In many educational communities, existing practice exerts strong influence on the practices deemed acceptable, so attempts to define new goals are met with strong resistance. In this situation, many educators adopt a stance that Paulo Friere, the Brazilian educational philosopher, suggested resembled Aristotle’s concept of doxa, which is practice supported by opinion alone. Friere (1974) Read More
Cognitive Load Theory
This post complements this earlier one on The Lens of Cognitive Load Theory While technology acceptance is a theory that can explain and predict the decision to use a technology, cognitive load theory (Sweller, Ayres, & Kalyuga, 2011) (CLT) predicts and explains technology use once it has been adopted. CLT is based on the assumption Read More
Frameworks Defined
A continuum can be created with educational scholars placed at one extreme and educators at the other; educational theory is placed on the extreme with scholars and models of instruction are placed on the extreme with practitioners. Between these two extremes, there exists a gap that must be filled if instruction is to be informed Read More
Theory in Planning
In the vernacular, “theory” is associated with ideas that are incomplete or not necessarily true. Among educators, and other pragmatic professionals such as technologists, theory is often associated with unrealistic or idealistic thinking that has little connection to her or his work The interpretations of theory are unfortunate, however, as theory can inform and focus Read More
Theory and Practice in Education
Education is one of several soft technologies that share an interesting trait: The scholars who discover the science behind the natural phenomena that are the basis of the technology and the practitioners who apply that science to the human purpose are different people. Other examples of human technologies marked by this trait include agriculture (botanists, Read More
Natural Impulses of the Child
This is an initial draft… as time allows, I will continue to develop this post. John Dewey identified four natural impulses of children: to inquiry to communicate to construct to express For experiences to be educative, he reasoned, they must allow students to follow these impulses. If we hold these to be true, and there Read More
Reflexivity in Technology-Rich Teaching and Learning
Reflexivity was originally used to describe the effects of social science researchers on the situations they were studying; the presence of researchers affects the behavior of subjects, thus the observations made. More recently, the term has been used to describe the influence of ICT on how people use information and how they interact (de Vanjany, Read More