Module+3-+Representing+to+Learn

On January 12, we met to discuss the second 'essential' in Gems of Pedagogy, the notion of representing to learn. Here is what was recorded in the discussion after viewing a capture of 4 students in chemistry working to explain and 'show' what happens when sodium sulfate dissociates in water.


 * What do we see in this capture of students trying to represent dissociation of a salt in water?**

These are groping, pathetic people who are lost. Nathan and William were speaking in definitive terms, with authority, and the women were asking questions, wondering and listening. There is a lot happening that is internal in their minds that we can’t see. In spite of themselves they eventually created a model. Models have a purpose, beyond tinkertoys. Models are used to communicate and understand. Kalyn paraphrased and asked leading questions taking the students in tiny steps beyond where they were. Kalyn stayed with this group quite a long time. I wonder how this relates to her being with all the groups in the class. They really did not know how to do this when they started. They were internally putting things together to understand some unknown stuff. It was rumination, in a way. They were deep in their heads, coming back in when they had something to contribute. They were looking at the models and their drawings all the time they thought. The models served as a point of connection. It was easier to communicate emerging thoughts with something to refer to. We experienced many different forms of representation over the course of the module as well. We represented our investigations by explaining them to colleagues at the start of the module. We represented what 'co-construction of understanding' means using whiteboards during the sessions. We saw chemistry students represent concepts from chemistry in words, equations, models, and drawings. When the group was asked what 'representing to learn' means, here is what they said:

Humans and primates are symbol users even if they are not representational exactly. It is a way to think. Representation to learn is a smorgasbord of different choices. This is universal design for learning: helping them find ways to represent what they know enables learning. They share and build it bigger. Representation allows a way to express complex ideas and one’s own understanding, not only to others, but to the teacher as well. It centers the attempts to understand. If you can see something concrete to refer to, it makes a big difference. Representation is re-presentation of an idea. You re-present it to yourself or re-present to others. Thinking of it another way changes one. If I can do a parody of an idea, then I must understand it in order to do so. When we are children, we draw and represent all the time; when we are adults, we over-rely on language. We have to engage different parts of our brain when we re-present, hopefully taking us to a new level. The task of representing something requires a commitment in the messing around stage. Just do it. Do it! When they start messing around with representations, something emerges: “Oh, I think…”, so others can build upon it. I think this is actually the brain learning. You learn from representation activities, which make new connections in different parts of the brain’s record of experiences out of the habitual ways of thinking. If you are just ‘talking stuff’ it falls short. One way of representing falls short. You have to offer more kinds of opportunities for rich connections to be made. Representing opportunities, in many different ways, are pathways for each student, together with others, to create understanding step by step. That will eventually lead to the ability to show that understanding on a test. This work on co-construction and representing to learn helps us as teachers understand learning. The students come to understanding learning through how we talk and behave about learning. The more we know, the more they come to understand what we are doing together.
 * What happens inside your brain in representing?**

Participants were asked to think about places in where 'representing to learn' happens. [This could be anywhere!] Often, the challenge will be to re-think or re-view a certain assignment, activity, procedure, or interaction through the lens of 'representing to learn' to see how this makes new insights available to you.
 * There was also a new assignment.**

What can you examine in order to investigate the 'representing to learn' in your courses of the next few weeks?

In the discussion forum attached to this page, write your current idea of what you might choose to investigate. Feel free to come back and edit or revise your posts, to change your mind, and to modify your investigation as necessary. Since we will not meet again until February 9, use the discussion forum attached to this page to share with the Gems community before next time.