What Would Dewey Do?
 An Exercise in Channeling

One of the things you've already learned from experience is that teaching and learning are complex processes that defy simple explanations. Your Ed Psych textbook is jammed with theories and models, but the take-home lesson is that no one view of what goes on in classrooms and heads is sufficient to capture it all. 

Learning about each model and philosophy of learning gives you different windows through which to observe this interesting scene. In this exercise you'll take on a little of the viewpoint and persona of four educational thinkers and try to picture what they would say about specific web-based lessons.

The Scenario

Years ago on public television there was a program hosted by Steve Allen called "Meeting of Minds". Each week, actors portraying a number of characters from history would sit around a table and discuss a topic from each of their points of view. On a given show, you might find Socrates, Mark Twain, Churchill and Madame Curie discussing curiosity or poverty. It was an interesting show, one that deserves to be replicated.

Tonight you'll create a small scale version of the same thing, with B. F. Skinner, Lev Vygotsky, Robert Gagne and Howard Gardner as the luminaries sitting around the table. The topic of discussion: a particular lesson that uses technology.

The Process

First, you'll be assigned to a group of four, based on your content area. Within that group, you'll each bone up on one of the guest star theoreticians. To get up to speed, you'll first do some reading from the textbook and the Psi Cafe site.

Next, each team will examine one of the following technology-based units:

 

Here the exercise branches. If time permits, download the template for creating your Ed Psych Meeting of the Minds. We'll spend most of the session creating the simulated discussion and share the results at the end.

For each of the four theorists, ask yourself...

  • What would they say they liked about this lesson?
  • What would they question about it?
  • What suggestions might they have to improve it?
  • When would they interrupt one of the other guests to agree or disagree?

 In making your simulated Meeting of Minds, you'll duplicate each slide as many times as you need it to create a cartoon-ish representation of give and take. Try to make it conversational and even argumentative rather than having each of them just take turns making speeches. Have fun with this, but remember to keep it true to the viewpoint of each speaker.

If there is less than an hour left in the session, on the other hand, you'll post your point of view to the Blackboard discussion board for the course. Each of you will post to the board as if you were in character describing your take on the specific web-based lesson.

Written by Bernie Dodge. Last updated September 17, 2002.