Due: 1/20/2017
Video: Peterson Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VLje8QRrwg&feature=player_embedded
Video: Peterson Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VLje8QRrwg&feature=player_embedded
Please create a 100-200 word response to the video. I do not expect summaries of the readings but instead reflection about how the concepts and information can be used in the classroom. You will also comment on at least one other students.
Your posts will be done in the comments section of the main posts. Please do not summarize readings, instead point out strengths and weakness or short comings of the speaker’s proposal.
Your posts will be done in the comments section of the main posts. Please do not summarize readings, instead point out strengths and weakness or short comings of the speaker’s proposal.
Those numbers are impressive and overall I like his idea. However, when, where and how to do this? In what particular situations would it be beneficial? It depends a lot on the subject. I think that for something like math or natural science, visuality and being able to manipulate things have a huge role to play. In fact, I’m sure that many teachers, even though they might not have access to such programs, try to explain things to kids by using objects, drawing stuff on the board, conducting lab experiments etc. His program is different in that no actual explanations are offered - if I understand correctly, it is all learnt through experimentation and discovery.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of things in his introduction that I didn’t agree with though. Speaking of the student population, he says that “A large proportion characterize themselves as visual learners.” This makes reference to the idea of learning style, which has been proven to be a myth. What matters the most for how you teach something is the type of content, not the student’s self-perceived “style”.
As for the other groups - even though words might not be their strong points, most of them do need to become better at them! So I think making sure that we supplement, rather than replace words with visual materials is important. This is not only to help those with difficulties, but also because everyone benefits from multi-modal input and from a way of teaching that is the most effective for that particular subject.
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DeleteI agree with Dana and have the same feeling and doubt about the student population Peterson pointed out in California. I feel the statistics shown on the pie chart is not explicit enough for me, especially when he said "A large proportion of of the remaining students characterize themselves as visual learners." I don't know how big is the entire population his study includes and neither do I know the age range of those students he studied and how accurate it is when one claims himself or herself as visual learners. Moreover, just as Dana pointed out, we also need to consider instructional design is mainly based on what. Is the content and learning objectives, or students preference and their learning styles?
DeleteAs designers, whether visual or otherwise, we have to bring both of those worlds together...content /learning objectives and how best to deliver them. All or nothing in either direction would be putting a square peg in a round hole.
DeleteI believe we live in such a visual society with so much visual information which makes more sense to use pictures then loads of words. I have noticed that this video was talking about mathematics and does not apply to everything. I have understood that the objective is not to get rid of using language but reducing our dependence on using it for everything, especially with people who have difficulties.
ReplyDelete'' Words not needed for science and math thinking and teaching'' Peterson. Through my own experience, understanding math was one of my biggest issues in high school. It was a very hard road for me; it caused serious anxiety issues. Visual is far better for the student than words because students love pictures. If these visual games were offered that time, I believe that I will do much better.
" .. we did not tell them what to do, so they did whatever they wanted'' Peterson. I think this video is worth viewing and I was fascinated with the initial experiment of the preschool worksheet. After watching the video, I did a similar short experiment with my four-years-old son. I gave him a worksheet asking the learner to connect shapes with a line. Firstly, I cut off the top instructions so that he cannot ask me to read for him what he supposed to do; then I gave him the worksheet. He tried to ask me what to do, and I did not say anything. In the beginning, I noticed that he had trouble figuring out what he supposed to be doing. Then he started coloring the shapes without connecting the shapes.
As final points, visual learning is an excellent idea. However, I have some thoughts about it:
1- I think it is hard to use this visual approach with blind learners as they must have their visualization described in words!
2- How can well deaf student learn with this method, since they do not hear directions, but follow directions throughout the written words?
That's a good point about the blind learners! I guess that, for them, a completely different approach must be used, perhaps involving physical objects that you move around? As for the deaf, I think that program would still work well because there were no verbal directions whatsoever - it seemed to me that the path to finding the solution was embedded into the images themselves.
DeleteI agree that learning can be done purely visual. There are many cases where learners with learning difficulties could learn only through visual media. Of course, if the instruction is not written, it should be embedded inside the learning materials.
DeleteWhy do you think this is not done more? What are the draw backs? Is there still a need or place for verbal or written communication?
DeleteThe main message of the video was that all students can benefit with some opportunities to learn without any words at all. It reminds me of way back when my 18 year old daughter was 4 years old. She was not interested in learning letters or sounds until I purchased a Reader Rabbit learning CD-ROM for our computer. The game did have some visual feedback, but not to the extent of the examples in the video. When parents ask for advice on how to get their child interested in learning the letters of the alphabet at home, I often suggest learning games on the Ipad. I have a list of my favorites to use. The important part for parents to remember is to not think of the Ipad or computer as a babysitter and make sure that they are available when their child has an Aha! moment and they are eager to talk about it.
ReplyDeleteIn my preschool classroom the children have many opportunities to learn without any words at all. Not only through technology, but with hands on exploration of materials.
I most appreciate your last statement. For young children the use of hands on learning is important especially for fine motor skills. The sensory benefits of working with beads, blocks, and coloring is very much important. These tools should also be visually appealing for the kids to help reinforce interest.
DeleteThe iPad and technology are important for this age group as well. I especially see the benefits in math and speech. You even see games that can help kids improve their fine motor skills. It's truly amazing how far technology has come over the past few years.
If this technique is furthered and becomes more pervasive will there be a backlash. I often hear that technology is used as a baby sitter. Do you think this type of technology will encourage parents to further leave the teaching of their child to someone or something else?
DeleteKim, I'm really glad that someone really noticed and agreed with that last statement. I believe that young children can learn a lot from technology but it's so important that they also have authentic learning experiences with real materials.
DeleteKurt, I think that most parents don't know how to teach their own child. Most people think of worksheets when they want to help prepare their child for kindergarten. I feel that my job as an early childhood educator is to help inform the parents by giving them lists of ipad apps that are of high quality, keeping them updated on what is going on at school, and providing information and activities that are simple authentic learning experiences.
I agree Amy. Parents don't know how to help in the early years and then progressively become more and more out of the loop so when it comes to high school subjects they are of little help unfortunately. I think it is a great idea for you as a teacher to be a teacher of the parents as well by giving them materials and other helps. I think schools would do well to sponsor some in-service nights for parents to know how to help. I don't know how the attendance would be??
DeletePeterson draws an emphasis on the huge significance of using visual approach and visual games on Education, which I agree that for some learners and most kids, visual materials and games are very helpful since they made those complicated math solutions and chemical equation clearer and easier to understand. However, I do think visual approach and our traditional approaches of instruction in different subjects are not mutually excluded.
ReplyDeleteWhether using visual games is a better approach for education on every subject and field, I withhold my approval to his point of view. For instance, I am a language instructor, who teaches students a foreign language and its culture. Although visual materials are one of the most important elements in my class such as showing students videos of scenarios of language usage, visual structures for grammar patterns, cultural presentations, and even word games, verbal teaching and drill is also a crucial portion of my language class since one of the learning objectives is improve their speaking and reading skills in that target language. In other words, in a language class, I personally think traditional approaches regarding to reading and speaking are inevitable.
That's great point Lulu.However I think as instructional designer we have to push our self and try our best to integrate these new approaches and make it work. I read a book written by Marc Prensky talking about the new power of these kind of games in teaching generally. Prensky believes that kids are so attracted to these games because they are learning about important "future" things, from collaboration, to prudent risk taking, to strategy formulation and execution, to complex moral and ethical decisions.He highlighted how video games became the new trend in the 21st century teaching. I believe that learners now are very savvy in using such approach and they prefer it far more than the traditional method of teaching.
DeleteI believe you both are correct. There is not one magic solution for all subjects and disciplines. As was mentioned in a previous post. If there are not instructions then outcomes will be difficult to measure, when does mastery occur? Although many things maybe learned in this almost Montessori styled activity, will it be what is required by the curriculum or will the paradigm change where we as a culture will not be so concerned with accountability and state standards?
DeletePeterson provides great insight from his personal experience and research. I do agree with the points he has made but do wonder how it could be beneficial in some classroom settings. For younger children, there are games (Leapfrog) that can help provide visual interest when learning their letter sounds. However, at an older age, I’m not sure how that would work. I am curious to hear if Peterson has research for language arts.
ReplyDeleteChildren and adults both learn well from visual cues. Even when training employee’s the visual impact and interest is important. Some of the best training includes pictures, diagrams or video. Even in today’s classroom, virtual reality (VR) is a newer trend that helps give student’s a visual understanding by providing tours of National Parks or letting them participate in science labs. These experiences with VR can also be used as a prompt for language arts.
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DeleteI think you touched on an excellent example of using both in the visual world and language found in the VR world. Students still need to be able to read about the VR environment, add comments, and for example they have a bubble that appears when their avatar speaks? or maybe when they complete the science lab, a small feedback box pops up to help them reflect on the science experiment. These would not be as beneficial without any language use at at all.
DeleteWe have to always consider and weigh the cost as designers. Will one technique outweigh the other in such a significant way that it will warrant the cost to produce it? As a graphics instructor I am often times asked to make graphics for the school for a variety of applications, i.e. in-service material. A picture many times is worth a thousand words but at times I wonder if a graphic that takes two hours to produce is significantly superior to a two sentence verbal explanation?
DeleteThe video on teaching without words really caught my attention. Learning without words happens everyday but to make it a "set in stone method" of teaching is a little hard for me to digest. It is clear that he focuses on different types of learners but that does not mean that all learners learn the same way. Some learners are visual while others learn thru audio help for example.
ReplyDeleteAnother criticism about this visual type of learning tool is that the study suggested higher scores in several different areas but again, did these learners get any math feedback or any help from teachers, parents, or peers? They may have taken the lesson on fractions and used this app to enhance what was already instructed and taught by the teacher. My concern is that although it may be a fun approach to teaching, it may be just that, a fun alternative and not a set curriculum.
In addition to this, the program has been used across the states as a supplementary app for homework. This is a great way in my opinion to reinforce previously taught information. That would have had to of use some language to teach the concepts before introducing the app. I do not see these types of apps taking over teaching with language because it is not as practical or as simple as the author suggested.
Reading some reviews of parents and students on the app, it is clear that it is a fun way to learn, it teaches concepts thru visual media, trial and error and repetition but many users reported glitches in the system it self, such as being too slow, not clear, repetitive and boring for some learners. Others complained that the software feels outdated and takes forever to load. An Amazon review that caught my eye on this app shows some of the frustrations that can arise from an app such as this, “There are no instructions. My daughter gets very frustrated. If your child already struggles with math this defiantly does not help. I know that friends with kids that do great in math love it but my daughter struggles and this game makes it worse. Almost all sessions end in tears.”
I think that they should add a hint toolbar that may be in an audio form or a written form in order to help these types of learners with out making them frustrated if they did not know how to complete the tasks given.
Thanks for the information on the reviews Nadeyah. It's good to be able to know about the weaknesses of the system and its negative impact on some individual learners, not just about the overall positive test results. Hopefully they can improve it by addressing those problems, for instance by including optional direction, or a hint like you suggested.
DeleteSome apps was probably designed badly so that It made learning less engaging. However, some of them are well designed and quite successful. In learning language, for example, apps such as Duolingo or Memrise is preferred as an alternative for learning foreign language. In this app, users learn language through interactive visual method by memorizing words as images rather than drilling it. There are many success stories of this app. But again, some users still said that learning language through apps cannot replace the "cultural nuances" of a classroom. So, I think besides the design of the app, user's learning preference plays important role in determining the success of the course.
DeleteGreat point Nadeyah. Sometimes we need to look past what was said and look to what was not said when it comes to studies and reports of results from those studies. New products have financial windfalls and are subject to some temptation to "spin" the results.
DeleteThanks for digging deeper and taking the time to look up the actual programs he was talking about and sharing some of the reviews Nadeyah. I was curious about them as I watched the video. I also agree that it would be a great way to reinforce previously taught information. Or it could be a way to help the children who didn't quite understand the previously taught information.
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ReplyDeletePeterson's video suggested that learning can be fully conducted in a visual mode without written instructions. I think it's possible and can be as effective as the conventional method as long as it is well designed and prepared. The digital game, for example, is a perfect example of how the instructions are not seen since it is embedded in the images or the story of the game. In arcade or role player game (RPG) a player can play the game instantly without the need to understand the instructions or manual of the game.
ReplyDeleteSo, what was the effect of learning visually for education? My experience found that learning visual can significantly help learners with learning disabilities. Recently, my son was assessed for attending school in Athens. He had an ADHD so he mostly learned visually through digital animation or game. Although he can read sentences, he never speaks or writes in English. However, to my surprise, he could answer most of the written assessment materials although he admitted that he did not understand the English instructions. He's just guessing from the pictures. So, based on this experience, learning without instructions is possible as long as there's enough information in the materials embedded in the images.
Nowadays, people tends to use an image is used to convey ideas. Infographics, for example, a term that refers to visual images such as a chart or diagram to represent information or data, is proven to be more effective to deliver information rather than pages full of words and sentences. Despite all of the advantages, the biggest challenge of learning without relying on text, in my opinion, is the acceptance of the society of the changing paradigm. It's not easy because it is already believed that written instruction is the proper way to educate people.
I have worked with quite a few students with ADHD, and they often have difficulties being able to follow multi-step instructions. They tend to get lost in the wording. I've also seen these same students lose interest after just a couple of minutes, if what they are doing doesn't actively engage them. I can understand why your son would feel more comfortable learning through animation or games, primarily because they're able to engage and keep his attention.
DeleteGreat point Wishnoebroto,
DeleteWhen properly constructed with instructions visually embedded visual learning can be great at conveying concepts with the added bonus of encouraging some logical problem solving.
As buyers and consumers of these types of products we have to be well informed. Just because it uses technology or visuals does not mean it is done well.
That is the purpose of this class. To become visually literate! :)
Peterson makes a compelling argument that not all students are able to learn solely using words. After teaching middle school math for almost twelve years, I’ve seen a large number of students struggle with concepts because they don’t get the wording, or they can’t process how it’s being presented. For struggling students, the idea of transforming instruction into a game style could be incredibly beneficial. I can think of a number of my current students, specifically students who have learning disabilities, who could thrive with a program like what Peterson demonstrated.
ReplyDeleteHowever, not all students would be successful with this type of instruction. The students who fall into the group of being able to learn with words, may actually struggle with visual learning. As I looked at some of the examples, multiplying with negatives or how many legs three ostriches have, those visual examples made sense. The example of factoring a quadratic, may actually confuse more students than it helps. To be honest, I can factor a quadratic in my sleep, but that visualization made no sense to me.
I don’t think there is a “one size fits all” instructional style. For educators to be successful, we have to use a wide variety of instructional styles, and learn what works best for specific students. Luckily, as technology is ever advancing, we constantly gain additional resources to update and improve what we teach and how we teach it.
I agree Lorna. It is an exciting time where technology removes many of the limits we had in previous generations.
DeleteI really like your last paragraph Lorna. I agree with every word.
DeleteI'm with Amy, your last paragraph is great! Flexibility as an educator is crucial and with all of the technology that is out there, there really isn't an excuse to not be able to get across to any students. There are so many great ways and resources to use when teaching no matter what content area.
DeleteAlthough Peterson is talking about producing learning platforms that are to a degree far beyond the scope of this class I believe we do need to consider the visual impact of all of our content deployments. We need to constantly consider first can graphics be employed or integrated into our content and to what degree to make the content easier to understand. Secondly we need to also make sure that graphics do not hinder understanding. That is our quest in this class. Thanks for exploring this topic with me.
ReplyDeleteI have always believed in a lot of the points that Peterson touches on. I found throughout my teaching for my undergrad courses, especially with the concentration of special education, that every student learns differently which creates the need for educators to be extremely flexible and creative with their instruction. Not everyone is able to learn by hearing an explanation, so you have to be able to SHOW the students how to go about the concept that you are teaching them. I have seen so many teachers with the problem of talking way too much and not showing enough. I actually had a great undergrad instructor explain this in a way that makes more sense than most of the explanations that I have heard, he said that it is like the teacher is having a really important conversation up at the front of the classroom, and none of the students were invited. This means that the teacher is mostly just telling the students the information instead of teaching them when they should actually invite the students into the conversation. As a general rule of thumb when teaching, I have always tried to hit on 4 of the 7 learning styles that I feel are most important which are visual, aural, verbal, and physical instead of only verbal like this video touched on.
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you are mindful of learning styles and create lessons which are geared to students who learn differently. How would you achieve this if given a lecture teaching assignment with 50, 100, 200 students?
DeleteI had two main responses to this TED Talk. First, I don’t quite agree with the initial pie chart which posits that for only a small fraction of students, words are the optimal and preferred means of instruction. It is precisely the lack of vocabulary and use of words which puts English Language Learners and those with low language comprehension in the sections delineated by Mr. Peterson. Words are of the utmost importance for these groups in order to function at the same educational level as their “normal” peers. Why does Mr. Peterson posit that teaching without words is the most effective means for teaching these students? It should also be mentioned that he undermines his premise and pie chart in his presentation by explaining his concepts using words.
ReplyDeleteSecond, about midway through the talk, he demonstrated some software which provides the solution to his premise. At this point, it seemed to me that this talk had turned into an infomercial for a software package – complete with audience laughter and support. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the myriad of miracle pedagogical solutions throughout time, gobbled up by school districts for large sums of money, only in the end to be no different than the snake oil peddled on the streets as miracle cures for whatever ails you.
I agree with you. we need this program to help student beside words. Teachers can use it as supplement materials to keep the information. Also, there are several obstacles such as the cost, materials, or devices.
DeleteI agree with you Dave. It seems a bit ironic that he verbally explains his non-verbal techniques. You make a good second point as well. Vocabulary is exceptionally important as well as the fact that one technique never fits everyone. Swinging the pendulum wildly in any one direction to the exclusion of all else is rarely helpful.
DeleteFatimah.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea is very good. We need visual approach to help students to understand a lot of concepts, especially abstract symbols, but still not enough without words. This program helps teachers to teach students who have difficulties, and other students don’t forget the information because visual approach remains more in memory. Even adults prefer visual things more than words, forexample, in our CV assignment , we use Youtube to understand many things in Word because it’s easier, imagine you just read words that make it difficult.
On other hand, I think we need to combine both visual approach and words to make the idea more worth. In school we need more visual to make sure students understanding any concept and how it works in real life. This way will build knowledge in mind and stay long time. After that we need adding more words because not every concept can make it visible. When students read books related to concepts that had visualized in the past, they understand quickly and imagine ideas in their brains.
If we just use visual approach, we would ignore other students who don’t like visual or have trouble with seeing.
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ReplyDeleteI somewhat agree with what Peterson is trying to portray. It is a bit far fetched to believe that we can eliminate words in the learning process, but a combination of words and pictures can be beneficial to the learner. We all learn differently and there is nothing wrong with using pictures as the learning tool within some activities. For instance, many students within the hospitality program at Ohio University learn by reviewing pictures in a large capacity. Visual learners are attracted to such opportunities. In my experiences, when we rely too much on words, students become lost in the text and frustrated by the process.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments that not everyone is able to learn by reading and verbal explanation. As instructors, giving learners another platform can only provide a more inclusive learning environment.
ReplyDelete