Week+4+Journal+Entry

Week 4 Journal Entry

This week I tried to employ some of the aspects of “constuctivism” in my classroom.

I decided to give the students a situation, a flooded basement, and asked how long it would take to drain the basement if a “typical” sump pump was used and at what rate would the water level drop when the pump was being used. (two related rates __change in volume of water__ and __change in depth of water according to time__). I didn’t give them any information other than the __dimensions of the basement__ and __the initial depth of water__.

I broke the class into teams and gave each team access to the internet for help. I tried only to direct them in their quest for answers. I purposely avoided answers to student questions like yes or no and limited my comments to “that seems reasonable” or “that’s a good idea to follow”. Some resisted the process almost the whole time, but I could see they were making more progress than they thought they were. One or two students insisted that I “just show them how to do the problem” and said “it was not fair to give a problem without giving the steps for finding the answer”. I don’t think these students grasped the essence of the method of teaching I was using.

I asked each team to present their findings to the class and convince the rest of us of their findings. I then told them if and where they were correct. Then I showed them how to do the problem without using calculus. I then showed them one could use __implicit differentiation__ (calculus) to reach the same answers more efficiently. (in fewer steps).

I am not sure of the final outcome, if the students grasped how related rate problems can be solved with calculus any better than my previous classes, but maybe I bolstered their 21st century skills. I still am trying to teach calculus, too, though.

I received some comments on my work. They consisted mostly of questions I needed to answer. The optimist in me wanted to here answers instead, like "this was good because" or "this was not so good because". I guess this was because those who wrote the comments were constuctivists who wanted me to discover/learn on my own. I answered their questions, but I felt my contributions, my work and my reflections on my work were by far, the most important things discussed. I would have loved to feel that the comments made and/or questions asked were as meaningful or as important. Perhaps this is the relevance referred to in so many of the articles I have read recently.

I don't know, sometimes I feel like it is easier to ask a student why than it is to explain to a student why. Since I am the student now, I can understand the frustration with the "question as an answer". Part of me feels that my value as an instructor is the wealth of knowledge I possess. I enjoy sharing my insight with students. I feel they can gain an understanding through me. I don't think the “only” way they learn is by themselves. Group work doesn't always have to be composed of students. I think that sometimes the group working toward a goal can include a teacher. Just a thought.

Perhaps someone can explain to me, in detail, how this is wrong, in every case.