Five Reasons to Learn

Life List

I was recently at the Death and Diversity Project exhibition in the Museum of Wellington City and Sea.  The project asked people from a range of communities (Jewish, Muslim, Chinese, Columbian, Hindu, Mexican, and Assyrian) in Wellington to share their experiences of death, highlighting many commonalities and differences across cultures.  One of the activities that caught my attention was an activity they had for visitors to the exhibition: to complete a list of five things they would like to achieve from life.

The responses on the lists varied, particularly in relation to age and gender.  However, many related to travelling, to having a good job, to falling in love, to learn from mistakes, to take chances, to help others in need, and to make the world a better place.  One child (aged 6) had simply stated on his life list that he would not be a farmer!

The different lists reminded me of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.  Maslow described five levels of development (psysiological, safety, love, esteem, self-actualization) through which humans' motivation can generally move through.  Maslow never actually expressed his levels in the form of a pyramid, but it is a common representation used.  There are many criticisms of this hierarchy, particularly in relation to its ordering (or that ordering them is even possible) and that it centres on individualism over collectivism.  The hierarchy can offer some indication of different types of motivation, but every individual can be drawing on different elements within the hierarchy (something I would have noted from the different life lists at the exhibition).

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

I think the life list would be a very valuable exercise for any teacher to use with their students.  A teacher could get students to do a general life list and then have them do a second one in relation to a particular subject they are doing, e.g., how does or can doing chemistry support your life list?  An articulation of such motivations could be valuable to both the student and the teacher, offering insights into commonalities and differences across students.  In turn, reflecting on such insights may illuminate issues to be discussed or may be instructive on how different material may be approached in class, e.g., what material is more appropriate to group work or what is more suitable to work with on an individual level?  Students' life lists could be dated and stuck on a classroom wall like the picture below, or, if you like your technology, pictures of the life lists could be taken and put on a Pinterest board.  A life list could be completed at certain intervals to see if and how students' motivations can change throughout their schooling.  Where would such motivations fall on Maslow's hierarchy?  Do students highlight that they want to accept facts? be creative? be problem-solvers? help others? get 'stuff'?  have respect?  An understanding of such motivations and the rationale underpinning them are important elements to effective pedagogy.

Life Lists Board

Maslow's hierarchy of needs image taken from wikipedia.

The Point of Pinterest in Education

When I first started using Pinterest I posted on some of the potential uses of it in 'Putting the Pinterest in Education'.  Pinterest has continued to increase in its use and a greater number of ways in which it is being used are emerging.  At the bottom of this post is a recent infographic that highlights 16 ways in which educators use Pinterest (taken from www.onlineuniversities.com).  The 16 ways are discussed in relation to four key areas of curating content, organising ideas, calloborating with others, and students' use of Pinterest.

Despite my original optimism for the potential use of Pinterest I have begun to find certain issues with it, all relating to the four key areas noted above.  Firstly, in terms of curating content, I have issues with finding information quickly on Pinterest.  There is a search function, but search results can still turn up a large number of pins and/or multiples of the same graphic.  Attempts to find relevant pins can be quite time-consuming, especially considering the large size of some of the graphics and then having to scroll down through them.  In certain instances search results do not show up any relevant pins at all.  Also, as an educational researcher, I would like to use Pinterest more in terms of my research work to share links to useful research articles under particular boards.  However, I feel many journal websites (and other websites too) have not aligned themselves with Pinterest, as there is no picture to pin.  Even a small graphic with the journal title and/or number would suffice.  I appreciate this is not directly an issue with Pinterest, but indirectly it is for me in using Pinterest.

Secondly, in terms of organising ideas, there is no great structure under which to organise ideas on Pinterest.  Sure enough there are boards that can be organised alphabetically, but once someone moves over a certain number of pins on a board, they may find it difficult to quickly locate what they are looking for within that board.  A visitor to such a board may also find it difficult to locate what they are looking for.  I do not think boards encompass the complexity of organisation that certain classroom ideas/content may necessitate.

Thirdly, in terms of collaborating with others, Pinterest in isolation is only useful for collaboration in finding other pins of interest and following people who linked such pins.  Such interaction would not equate with much meaningful collaboration.  However, Pinterest could certainly have its uses for greater collaboration when combined with other mediums such as Twitter, blogging, e-mail, etc.  Finally, in relation to students' use of Pinterest, I believe Pinterest could be a nice change of pace for a classroom project, but anything of critical mass may run into issues previously mentioned.

Finally, another issue of Pinterest that has been noted relates to potential copyright infringements.  I think deleting a Pinterest account can be a drastic step.  The important thing is to be aware of what you are pinning.  Plagiarism should be avoided in any use of social media.  Use Google's Advanced Search to find images that are free to use or share.

Pin image above taken from here.

Education Quotes

Here are 10 of my favourite quotes on education.  What are some of your favourites?

Albert Einstein – “One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.”

David O. McKay - “True education does not consist merely in the acquiring of a few facts of science, history, literature, or art, but in the development of character.” 

Herbert M. Shelton - “It is always a much easier task to educate uneducated people than to re-educate the mis-educated.” 

Herbert Spencer – “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.”

Mark Twain – “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

Nelson Mandela – “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” 

Richard Dawkins - “Science replaces private prejudice with public, verifiable evidence.”

Sharon Salzberg - “We need the courage to learn from our past and not live in it.” 

Thomas Jefferson – “There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.” 

William Butler Yeats – “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”