Education
406: Learning and Learners
Spring Semester 2004 Course Syllabus
Professor: Don Bremme
Office: 201 Mendenhall
Phone: 907-4200 (Ext. 4324)
Home phone number available on request
E-mail: dbremme@whittier.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
or any time we can agree on to suit your schedule.
CENTRAL QUESTIONS.
Education 406 is a collaborative inquiry centered around the following, interdependent questions:
(1) What does it mean to learn? To know?(2) How --through what processes-- do human beings learn?
(3) What social and cultural-historical factors or conditions influence human thinking, learning, and development? How do they do so?
(4) How can we use informed, reasoned answers to these questions in our work as educators?
In Education 406, you will be consistently encouraged to develop informed, reasoned answers to these questions through participant-observation in the Fifth Dimension and analysis of your experiences there, as well as through reading, writing, and discussion.
GOALS.
The goals of the course are for you:
FLEXIBLE COURSE SCHEDULE.
Education 406 is purposefully designed so that its emphases and pace are responsive to class members, to their ways of thinking, and to the questions and issues that they introduce. For that reason, there is no course schedule with a class-by-class listing of lecture/discussion topics and assignments. Reading and other assignments will be announced with their due dates during class meetings.
CONTEXTS AND RESOURCES FOR LEARNING.
THE FIFTH DIMENSION. The Fifth Dimension is our laboratory for studying learning and learners. It meets at Monday through Thursday from 3:00-5:00 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club of Whittier. You will be engaged as a participant-observer at the Fifth Dimension one afternoon each week, helping kids with homework from 3:00-3:30, then working one-to-one alongside children on Fifth Dimension activities from 3:30 to 5:00. Fifth Dimension experiences are a major focus of the course.
READING. Books and articles focus on the theoretical perspectives and research of cultural psychology (sometimes called sociocultural psychology, activity theory, and situated learning. The viewpoints and principles of these theories are very different than those you have probably studied before, and they are very likely to challenge the ways in which you now think of thinking, learning, and development. However, you will see many of these viewpoints and principles "in action" at the Fifth Dimension. (The list of required books and articles appears at the end of the syllabus. The list is flexible; we may omit some entries and add others.)
FIELDNOTES AND OTHER WRITING. Writing fieldnotes after Fifth Dimension visits provides time for you to re-view your Fifth Dimension session and to consider what was going on during the session more deliberately and carefully than you can during the session itself. Fieldnotes also provide a context for learning and using new conceptual tools (from reading) for observing, interpreting, and analyzing. You might also be asked to do other writing in which you analyze reading or apply concepts in course texts to evaluate approaches to teaching.
CLASS MEETINGS. Class meetings provide opportunities for discussing Fifth Dimension experiences and fieldnotes and learning to use perspectives and concepts from course texts.
MID-SEMESTER AND END-SEMESTER PAPERS. These are described at the very end of this syllabus. The mid-semester paper will be a draft of the end-semester paper, providing you with experience in writing this kind of paper and with reader responses that can help you improve the end-semester draft. The paper topics are designed to situate your learning throughout the course and make your participant-observation in the Fifth Dimension relevant and meaningful.
EVALUATION AND GRADING.
FINAL COURSE GRADE. There is no grading curve. Your final grade will be based on the quality of the work described below, with assignments "weighted" as follows:
Participation: 10 % of final course grade
Fifth Dimension Fieldnotes (average of all grades): 40% of final course grade*
Mid-Semester paper draft: 0% of final course grade **
End-Semester Paper: 50% of final course grade**
* FIFTH DIMENSION FIELDNOTES. Over time, fieldnotes should demonstrate development in meaningful and appropriate use of perspectives and concepts from course texts. Each successive set of fieldnotes should show improvement in your use of these perspectives and concepts as tools for observing, interpreting, and analyzing Fifth Dimension experiences. Fieldnotes which continue to grow in this way over time will earn higher grades. In order to afford time for learning, fieldnotes written in the early weeks of the semester are usually not graded, although they do receive responses in the form of commentary and questions. Please understand, however, that any fieldnotes not turned in (or not turned in on time) receive an "F" grade, even if they would not otherwise be graded! All such "F" grades are averaged in with other fieldnote grades.
** PAPERS. The grade earned on the mid-semester paper will help you assess where you stand, but it will not "count" in your final course grade. However, failure to turn in the mid-semester paper, or an attempt to "scam" this assignment by turning in a short, incomplete, or hastily written paper, will result in a grade of "F"; and this "F" grade will be weighted as 25% of your final course grade. (In this case, the end-semester paper will also be weighted 25% of your final course grade.)
GRADING IN THIS COURSE reflects the high standards that educators should meet and also the Department of Education and Child Development's policy regarding advancement in the teacher education program. Thus, a grade of B- indicates solid work appropriate to your stage in your academic career. A grade of B or B+ indicates a greater-than-expected level of thoughtfulness, completeness, and clarity in working with the material in the context of the assignment. Grades in the A and A- range are reserved for work that greatly exceeds requirements and shows outstanding effort and special insight. Grades in the C range indicate that the work is minimally adequate but can be improved in some respect. Such a grade should direct your attention to specific comments on how the work can be improved. We should probably talk so that I can guide your future efforts. A grade of D or F reflects a judgment that you have made little effort to complete the assignment in a thoughtful fashion. If you receive such a grade, we should meet as soon as possible to assure that you are clear on how to improve.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT POLICY REGARDING GRADES IN EDUCATION CORE CLASSES AND ADVANCEMENT IN THE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM. Candidates for teaching credentials must meet the requirements stated in the Whittier College Catalog of Courses current at the time of their initial enrollment in the College. These include a GPA of 3.0, with no grade below a B-, in the Education Department's core teacher-education courses. Students who earn a grade below B- in any of these courses must petition the department and request permission to repeat the course. The petition must be approved, the course repeated, and a grade of B- or above earned for the student to continue in the teacher education program and advance to student teaching or internship! The core teacher-education courses include Education 406, Learning and Learners. For other requirements, be sure to consult the Whittier College Catalog of Courses and your program advisor in the Department of Education and Child Development.
RULES OF THE GAME.
INITIATIVE. Please take the initiative to help me make Education 406 a positive experience for you. I'm here to help, but I cannot help unless you let me know what's on your mind, how you're feeling, and what you're concerned about. Uncertain what's expected on an assignment? Concerned about how you're doing? Feel your viewpoints aren't being represented or honored in class? Experiencing a problem with class participation? Finding the reading a challenge to understand? Want to argue a point or just talk things over? Let me know immediately about these and similar concerns! I value those who speak up on their own behalf; I will never penalize you for doing so.
ATTENDANCE. In Education 406 we are all responsible for one another's learning and we are all responsible for providing young people with quality experiences in the Fifth Dimension. For those reasons, regular attendance in class and at the Fifth Dimension is a serious responsibility. Please be aware that if you are absent from more than two classes, your final course grade will automatically be lowered by one-half step (e.g., from B to B-) for each additional class missed; and your final course grade will also be lowered by one-half step for any absence from a weekly Fifth Dimension session that is not made up by attending an extra, make-up session within one week. Please be aware, too, that members of the class who repeatedly miss scheduled Fifth Dimension days may lose the right to do make-up sessions!
TIMELY PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF WORK. Keeping up with reading, thinking critically about what you read and hear in class, and completing fieldnotes and other writing on time are essential for success in Education 406. Each assignment has significance for your and our class's learning at a particular point in time. Learning opportunities are thus missed -- for both you and the class as a whole -- if you overlook assignments or complete them late. Late work is not accepted; a grade of "F" is assigned. Please be aware that problems with technology (computers, the Internet, printers, etc.) are not accepted as legitimate reasons for late work! Learn to use computers and software. Back up your work. Check it. Print early.
ACADEMIC HONESTY is essential. Present your own work; don't copy or plagiarize. Do not misrepresent your involvement in field experiences. If you're not completely clear on appropriate procedures in this area, please ask. I'll gladly guide you! A grade of "F" is assigned to all work that violates standards of academic honesty.
READING LIST
BOOKS
(Available in the Whittier College Bookstore.)
Plus selected online
and print articles and book chapters as assigned in class.
DIRECTIONS FOR FIFTH DIMENSION FIELDNOTES
"The way forward is not to look ahead but to look around."
-- John Seeley Brown and Paul Duguid, The Social Life of Information, p. 8
Each time you visit the Fifth Dimension, you will write fieldnotes afterwards. These fieldnotes are extremely important and should be done carefully and thoughtfully, in line with the guidelines presented here in both form and content.
Due dates for weekly fieldnotes:
While not all fieldnotes will be graded, fieldnotes not submitted will receive a grade of "F" to be averaged in with the other fieldnote grades you receive. Late fieldnotes are not accepted and will also be assigned an "F" grade.
Form for submitting weekly fieldnotes:
Note: In accord with recent State of California teacher-preparation standards, development of competency with computer-based technologies is threaded through teacher education courses. A goal in Education 406 is to assure that you are capable of using e-mail. You are expected to have e-mail mastered by the time that grading of fieldnotes begins.
Guidelines for Writing Fifth Dimension Fieldnotes
Five Parts In Fieldnotes:
- Basic Session Information
- General Observations: The Site and Beyond
- Narrative of Fifth Dimension Session
- Analysis
- Reflections
Basic Session Information:
FIELDNOTES FOR [day/mo/yr on which session took place]
WA: [Enter your full first and last names]
CHILD(REN): [Enter first and last names of child or children you helped]
AGE(S): [Enter age(s) of child or children]
GAME(S) PLAYED: [List name(s) of all games played during session]
WRITING: [List any letters & who child wrote to and list any other writing such as hints. If no writing, please write "NONE."]
General Observations: The Site and Beyond:
In a few sentences, describe the scene at the club before the Fifth Dimension begins: the general behavior or attitudes of the kids, number present (crowded, average, very few), and anything special going on that may have affected your Fifth Dimension session with your partner. IF there are things going on in the world beyond the club that could have affected the session (for example, things that happened to your partner at school, major news stories that affected the kids) include a few sentences on those things, too.
Narrative of Fifth Dimension Session:
Thoroughly describe interaction in your Fifth Dimension session from start to finish. (You can omit events during homework time in the Learning Resource Center, unless you feel what happened then had an important influence on your Fifth Dimension session.) Include what and how the child(ren) did with different aspects of the game and what you (and any other partners) did. Try to create a "movie" of the session with words. Strive "to show, not tell."
Analysis:
In this section, you thoughtfully analyze the activity described in your narrative. The narrative should provide evidence for these conclusions. You should explicitly refer back to specific actions, interactions, and events that you have described there, in the narrative, to support this analysis.
Your analysis should always discuss:
Reflections:
This section can be as long or as brief as you care to make it. In it, pick one significant thing and share your musings, reflections, questions about it. It could something that especially caught your attention, stood out for you, made you think, wonder, or worry: something that happened at the club or Fifth Dimension, something about the session, something about you/your feelings/your state of mind, or something about your kid partner.