After completing the online session five and all of the homework, please return to this post and answer the Essential Question for Session Five by posting a COMMENT to this blog entry.
After completing the online session five and all of the homework, please return to this post and answer the Essential Question for Session Five by posting a COMMENT to this blog entry.
ReplyDeleteAddressing individual needs and preferences is a component of education. Our job as educators is to also challenge our students, push them out of their comfort zones, and develop individuals who are well-rounded and able to face any challenge life throws their way. Traditional education only focuses on a portion of student development. It should focus on the whole being.
The learning cycle is a tool that enables educators to guide the whole being. It is beneficial to use the entire learning cycle. If we think about the brain and the two hemispheres it is comprised of, research has shown that “optimal problem solving is achieved through a dynamic balance of the two” (McCarthy, 2006, p.39). Choosing to focus on a portion of the learning cycle is the equivalent of only installing one tire on a bicycle because the rider does not like the color of the second tire. A bicycle needs two wheels to function properly.
Every piece of the learning cycle contributes to whole circle. If you take a piece away, the circle is incomplete. While we as educators can include the individual needs and preferences of our students, we also have the responsibility of teaching them to embrace the other components of the learning cycle. Kolb as cited in McCarthy (2012) noted that people need to travel the whole cycle for effective learning to occur. A better society can be achieved if more people learn to master the circle. As Rainer Maria Rilke so eloquently stated, “there is nothing wiser than the circle” (as cited in McCarthy, 2012, p. 176).
References
McCarthy, B. (2006). Teaching around the 4MAT cycle: Designing instruction for diverse
learners with diverse learning styles. Wauconda, IL: About Learning Inc.
McCarthy, B. (2012). The learning cycle, the 21st century and millennial learners. Wauconda,
IL: About Learning Inc.