Making Connections
"Learning something new brings a sense of wonder, surprise, and revelation. The world makes sense." (Reardon pg. 10)
People crave understanding. Knowing about the world around us gives us a piece of mind. Learning can be done in a formal or non formal fashion. In a formal setting the information is provided to the learner by a teacher who has already made the connections with the material and hopes to create those connections and understand in others. In my opinion, teachers are unique individuals that develop a skill in leading others to answers.
Teachers begin by assessing what the students already know so they can determine what is the best way to get them to the desired result. There needs to be set goals/objectives that are easily visible and understood by the students. Then students need "chunks" of information. From there they begin to create connections to their current knowledge. They build upon this knowledge with the new information. This is referred to as scaffolding and is based on the work of Vygotsky. Below are some ways that teachers can create scaffolding in their lessons and actions in the classroom.
I have never heard of Vygotsky before, so I looked him up. His theories are interesting and I may be able to use some of his ideas this year in cub scouts. So, you taught me something without even trying! Epic-teacher!
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