Comments for Mosaic Curriculum Consulting http://mosaiccurriculum.com Ideas in curriculum, assessment, and faculty development Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:52:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Contact by admin http://mosaiccurriculum.com/?page_id=6&cpage=1#comment-86 admin Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:52:31 +0000 http://mosaiccurriculum.com/?page_id=6#comment-86 Hi Michael -- please contact me at my email address above so that I can have a look. Don Hi Michael — please contact me at my email address above so that I can have a look.
Don

]]> Comment on Contact by Michael http://mosaiccurriculum.com/?page_id=6&cpage=1#comment-85 Michael Sat, 10 Apr 2010 03:39:56 +0000 http://mosaiccurriculum.com/?page_id=6#comment-85 Hello our company has just been invited to submit a bid for a rather exciting education project in Trinidad & Tobago. I just came across your website and would like to discuss this opportunity further with you. I am enclosing the TOR for your review. I think that this would be an excellent opportunity to make a positive impact on the education system in a developing country. I look forward to your response. Hello our company has just been invited to submit a bid for a rather exciting education project in Trinidad & Tobago. I just came across your website and would like to discuss this opportunity further with you.

I am enclosing the TOR for your review. I think that this would be an excellent opportunity to make a positive impact on the education system in a developing country.

I look forward to your response.

]]> Comment on Discussion by admin http://mosaiccurriculum.com/?page_id=2&cpage=1#comment-40 admin Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:33:32 +0000 http:/?page_id=2#comment-40 Thanks for your thoughtful response! I like your phrase "how many different ways can you know?" Indeed, that's really at the heart of educating now. I'm very interested in the distinction you find between working from examples to find a patter, and working from a general framework then to examples. I wonder why there seems to be such an "American/European" difference? I'm an English teacher, and I see such distinctions in my own field. For example, Aristotle worked from many examples of tragedies in order to arrive at a general definition of the pattern of all tragedy. Yet, sometimes I ask my students to do the opposite -- provide them with the general conception of the tragic, then set them to reading a play to see whether and how the example fits the pattern. As you say -- how many different ways can you know? Thanks for your thoughtful response! I like your phrase “how many different ways can you know?” Indeed, that’s really at the heart of educating now. I’m very interested in the distinction you find between working from examples to find a patter, and working from a general framework then to examples. I wonder why there seems to be such an “American/European” difference? I’m an English teacher, and I see such distinctions in my own field. For example, Aristotle worked from many examples of tragedies in order to arrive at a general definition of the pattern of all tragedy. Yet, sometimes I ask my students to do the opposite — provide them with the general conception of the tragic, then set them to reading a play to see whether and how the example fits the pattern. As you say — how many different ways can you know?

]]> Comment on Discussion by Betsy Hansel http://mosaiccurriculum.com/?page_id=2&cpage=1#comment-39 Betsy Hansel Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:43:18 +0000 http:/?page_id=2#comment-39 You know, I think what we're trying to do is to teach students how to do their own research. And of course it's easy to find things on the web, but it's really more about how you pose the question rather than the specific technology. Your questions can sometimes lead you to confirm everything you already know because they are framed in ways that are familiar and ingrained. It's also about how flexible we are in our ability to organize and make sense of pieces of information. Do we need the big picture before the details? The theory before the example? American education has encouraged a more inductive and "problem solving" approach, so students here are more used to stringing together a lot of concrete examples to create their own general pattern and make sense of the connections they find. Whenever I've tried this "start with an interesting example" approach in Europe, I feel that I lose at least some of the people who need a framework before they know how to process an example. So maybe it's about "how many different ways can you know?" PS: I almost never can stick with an instructional video because I want to skim the parts I already know and just get to the crux of the matter so I can get on with my project. For me, how-to videos take way too much time! There is no one size for all. You know, I think what we’re trying to do is to teach students how to do their own research. And of course it’s easy to find things on the web, but it’s really more about how you pose the question rather than the specific technology. Your questions can sometimes lead you to confirm everything you already know because they are framed in ways that are familiar and ingrained.

It’s also about how flexible we are in our ability to organize and make sense of pieces of information. Do we need the big picture before the details? The theory before the example? American education has encouraged a more inductive and “problem solving” approach, so students here are more used to stringing together a lot of concrete examples to create their own general pattern and make sense of the connections they find. Whenever I’ve tried this “start with an interesting example” approach in Europe, I feel that I lose at least some of the people who need a framework before they know how to process an example.

So maybe it’s about “how many different ways can you know?”

PS: I almost never can stick with an instructional video because I want to skim the parts I already know and just get to the crux of the matter so I can get on with my project. For me, how-to videos take way too much time! There is no one size for all.

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