Response to Stephen

"Were it to seem 'viable' to a student that 1+1 came out to some other figure, would a teacher be in a position to correct them under RC theory?"


You have to accept certain "truths" in order to do math. 1+1=2 means nothing unless you accept certain postulates as true. So, if a student refused to do math because he or she did not accept these postulates, then I think that would be supported by a radical constructivist. However, I am less sure about what a radical constructivist would think of a student who came to the conclusion that 1+1=3 after accepting the postulates. It seems hard to argue that that could be correct. I think there is value in the notion that "objective truths" that we take for granted (such as 1+1=2) should be challenged. However, in every area of life, we must accept certain "postulates" in order to function. I wouldn't even be writing this if I was a radical constructivist because, for all I know, nobody in this class actually exists and my blog will never be seen by anyone. For my own benefit, I have to just accept that there is a reality outside of my own perceptions.

Question: Is it valid to reject radical constructivism solely because it makes it very hard (or maybe even impossible) to function normally in society?

Response to Ed

"Should schools be concerned with the physical and emotional well-being of their students as well as the intellectual?"

Yes. Schools (at least the public schools that I attended) usually show an interest in more than just the intellectual development of students. Much time is devoted to the students' development of morals and values (we had "Character Development" sessions in middle school, which was supposed to teach us how to be good people). More obviously, most schools require physical education up to a certain age. Since people younger than 18 typically spend most of their time in school, it makes sense for schools to take responsibility for more than just mere intellectual development. Between going to school, doing homework, after-school activities, and parents' busy work schedules, it is unrealistic to assume that parents will teach their children values outside of school. Schools should probably take responsibility for the development of students in most areas, such as intellectual, emotional, character, and yes, physical education. However, the way most schools go about physical education is problematic. Most people have horror stories about "gym class" from when they were younger. Sports are supposed to be recreational, so it seems odd to force somebody to do something for fun. Since sports are just one of many ways to get physical activity, I think there should be a broad range of physical activity for students to chose from. For example, MCLA requires 2 physical education classes, but I think our school has a lot to choose from, so there is something for everybody. Of course, you need a bigger budget to have more options for physical education, which many schools probably cannot do.
Question: Should schools teach morals and values to their students?

Knowledge=Justified True Belief

Today in class, we discussed the theory that knowledge is a justified true belief. How do we know when something is true and justified? I think that most of the things students learn in school is not true or justified to them. For example, a student learns about World War II. How does the student actually know if what he or she is learning is true and justified? How do any of us know that events in history as we know them are true and justified? We believe them, because trusted authority figures tell us that these events happened a certain way. But since we have not experienced these things, we cannot know if this "knowledge" is true and justified. It seems to me that the only way for a belief to be justified is if one has experienced something in the world to confirm the belief. So, a justified belief is really only justified for the person who has experienced something that justifies the belief. Therefore, most of the things we learn in school are not justified true beliefs to the learner. So, knowledge claims are obviously beliefs, and they can be justified through experience.
Question: How can a knowledge claim be proven true?

Math and Constructivism

As I read about constructivism, I began to think about how it could be applied in the classroom, and I think that constructivism would be a good approach to learning math. Many people seem to be frustrated and confused by math because it seems "made up". As someone who loves math, I have heard this so much from people. They feel like the rules of math are completely arbitrary, random, and just do not make any sense. I believe that people may feel this way because they have been taught a set of rules to memorize. Math is something that can be discovered, and I think what you learn is a lot more valuable if you discover it on your own. Instead of just teaching kids that 1+1=2, because that's just the way it is, kids should be able to explore math on their own and come to an understanding of the concepts. I know that the first time I was shown a hands-on, concrete example of the concept of pi, I was so amazed that I had been using pi for so long without having any understanding of it. And I immediately understood it after seeing it. This may be an example of different learning styles, but I think this approach would work with most people.

Question: Do constructivist teaching methods cater to certain learning styles?

Response to Mike

Although I have already made one post about this topic, I wanted to respond to Mike's post to emphasize a different reason that multiculturalism in classrooms is valuable. In my last post, I stressed the importance of students learning multiple points of view through a multicultural curriculum. However, that is not the only benefit. Reading books by African-American authors, female authors, etc, is important because students who are African-American, female, etc, deserve role models that are like them. If kids are only reading White male authors in school, then they may believe that only White males can write books. Furthermore, a fictional story is easier to relate to if the protagonist is like you in some way. For example, I got tired of reading books with male protagonists in school. Every book was about a man discovering something, or going on an adventure, or just generally being active in the world. I wanted to do all of those things, and I felt like I could relate to those characters in a way, but I felt like I wasn't supposed to relate to them. I'm not saying that the individual author intended for the book to be for White males. But when this kind of exclusion of women and people of color is so institutionalized, it just feels like the world is not made for outsiders to feel like they belong. When literally every book you read in school is written by a White male, I think this makes people who aren't White males subconsciously (or maybe not subconsciously in some cases) feel like an outsider. So, in addition to multicultural education providing different valuable points of view, it also gives children from marginalized groups role models and a feeling of inclusion.

Response to Jacob

Jacob asked: Is there a danger is seeking authors of different races rather than the merit of their work?
I don't see why seeking authors "of different races" and seeking authors for "the merit of their work" has to be mutually exclusive. A similar question was brought up in class and it seems like their is an assumption that if we supplement students' reading material with books written by people of different cultures, that the quality of their education will necessarily decrease. There are many good authors from different cultures, so I don't see why a school would choose a bad book to teach just because it was written from a different perspective. However, I think the question of what makes a book worthy of teaching needs to be addressed. Because I think that, if a book offers a unique perspective that is rarely discussed in classrooms, then that alone is valuable. Obviously, though, there are other things that make a book appropriate to teach in classrooms. If we are talking about nonfiction (such as first hand accounts of historical events) then I think a perspective from a different culture is always very worthy of being taught. However, if we are talking about fiction, then you would have to hold "multicultural" books up to the same standards as the usual books are. I think most people would agree on that.
You said that choosing books based on the author's culture is "dangerously close to perpetuating very false distinctions between races". Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but I disagree with your suggestion that there aren't distinctions between races. Of course I believe that there are no relevant innate distinctions between races, but it is undeniable that the world treats the races very differently, and to try and erase that is what's dangerous. The reason for offering students different cultural perspectives in school is partially to help them understand that we live in a world where races unfortunately haven't been treated the same, and because of that, different cultural groups may see the world very differently. Also, I can only speak for myself on this, but I know that in high school, I was really bored with books written by males after a while. I felt like I couldn't relate to their stories at all, and so I completely lost interest in reading. Because my experiences as a female in this society are different than a male's, a person of color will have different experiences that a White person's. This alone is a good reason to assign reading students at least partially based on the author's culture.
Question: Has anyone had a clearly multicultural education? What was it like?

"Black Feminist Thought"

Last semester, I read "Black Feminist Thought" by Patricia Hill Collins, and she addresses a lot of issues that we spoke about in class, especially in the chapter "Black Feminist Epistemology". She outlines two political criteria that influence knowledge validation processes:
1. Knowledge claims are evaluated by people who typically come from a heterosexual elite white male perspective.
2. Scholarly communities cannot stray from beliefs held in US culture without losing credibility.

So, because knowledge claims are influenced by our political environment, people in marginalized groups (such as Black women) may not trust them. In our reading for this week, the author claims that Black students may favor intuitive ways of learning. Collins says in her book "Knowledge without wisdom is adequate for the powerful, but wisdom is essential to the survival of the subordinate." Because subordinate groups have learned to distrust "knowledge", they may rely on intuition and lived experience for information. Collins also states that Black people develop knowledge through a dialogue with other community members, they expect people to be accountable for their knowledge claims, and they consider it essential for individuals to have definite opinions on issues. These are some more examples of how Black students may approach learning differently.
Question: Why do we favor logic, reasoning, and objectivity over intuition and lived experience?