My experiences with learning and education were such that knowledge was abstract, and information and activities were delivered out of context. I believed that teachers were the expert in their respective fields and “learning” was defined as the acquisition of knowledge. I now understand there is much more to science education and teaching. I have come to appreciate the situated theory, and understand that learning is much more than the transmission of abstract and decontextualized knowledge from teacher to student.
Situated learning will influence my teaching and learning environment. I know that it is important to incorporate scientific practices in my lessons. An example of this is that of observing and recording observations during an activity. Such an activity could be watching a demonstration or video, or doing an experiment. The skill of observing changes, and knowing what information is important to record is a practice that newcomers must learn in the context of what is happening. Making meaning together by interacting as a community will be an important practice as well. I know that student interactions are just as useful as my interactions with the students.
This semester’s class has been my first exposure to learning theories. I have appreciated the near-peers and masters in my attempts to unpack and understand all this class has had to offer. I believe our community and the situated perspective of learning was the design of our classroom environment. I know that the group discussions, blog posts, readings, and so forth were all situated in the context of these theories. As I said at the start of this post, my classroom experiences have been “traditional”. I have struggled with unpacking the complexities of the research articles and am still a newcomer to this community. This leads me to the wonder how I will better help my students who have had no prior instruction within the framework of situated learning. I would like to better understand the strategies we can use to provide the guidance and support to students struggling in our classrooms when instruction is not “traditional”. I have been searching this semester for someone to just “tell me” the key points of the theories and give me examples of the teaching practices. This is how I have learned to learn. I know now that I have gone through a class which used situated learning theory and teaching strategies. The class itself was a community and I am happy I was able to be part of it. Thank you everyone, and I wish you all the best.
I don’t think I have heard what exactly your undergrad degree was but I am assuming it is a physics degree of some sort. Class communities like this one are in another ballpark compared to the “communities” I used to run with in Engineering classrooms. It took all summer and part of this semester to really feel like I wasn’t searching for the right answer rather my own answer. I think you and I (and others in our situation) got some opportunities to see behind both curtains, and hopefully we can use that positively in our teaching.