It's a question posed, but as I think about it and linking the question to the Scratch activity today in class, I wonder if the term learning is the right one to use. More on this in a second.
But what did I learn today? I was not joking when I said I learned that Scratch doesn't seem to like it when you import other files not originally done in Scratch. I also learned that my previous experience with audio (and some video) production tools does not translate well to Scratch. As Jeff brought up in class, when your used to a linear way of making things happen, it's hard to construct something in which the parts are working in parallel. But was that the objective? My end 'product' was less than stellar (after getting frustrated that I lost my first project---remember COMMAND+S!) and was not personally or epistemologically meaningful. So, once i lost my original project, which had personal meaning, I just disengaged from Scratch.
So that brings me back to the term learning. Learning can carry a weight that seems outcome oriented. By that I mean we or our kids are always tested on what they learn, or asked "what did you learn today?" I'm not skirting around the question, but simply suggesting that before any learning can take place, the learner(s) have to be engaged (motivated) in the process.
There are 2 ways that I have fought with this issue--2 differing theories: the social-cognitive way and the sociocultural way.
The social-cognitive way of thinking about it is through self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is basically the belief in your ability to succeed at a task (thats a very broad, sweeping definition...but just go with it). So think about it. Your asked to paint a picture, play an instrument, write a novel...what ever it is, but you just don't think you will be very good at it, so what do you do? In the case of students that are just learning musical instruments for the first time, if they do bad, or feel they will do bad, they simply disengage with the activity.
The sociocultural view would argue that motivation is not an individual construct, but that act of participating in an activity makes it motivating and hence learning can take place.
While I will not expand on this anymore , I've rambled long enough--but i do have some papers i've written on both self-efficacy and sociocultural views of motivation with regards to music learning and Rock Band. I will say that we learn in new media by engaging in it. However, if it the personal meaningfulness is lacking, the participation in an activity might decline...yes?
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Great post with a fascinating finishing question. Given that so many kids feel alienated by weird decontextualized assessment tools and feel like they don't understand why they're learning what they have to learn in order to do well on those tests, it makes sense that they would disengage when possible. When they can't disengage (i.e., when their grade or future is on the line), they do the best they can with great frustration and boredom.
ReplyDeleteJenna,
ReplyDeleteExactly...just general motivation issues at play. So, for example, kids are motivated not to fail, or motivated to get nothing but A's, or motivated just to get by. In the arts, music more specifically, it even worse cause there are performance issues (in front of people/classmates), status (1st chair vs. 4th). And since music isn't a 'core' subject, kids just simply don't play because they've either done poorly before or it's not meaningful to them (e.g. they would rather learn how to play electric guitar than violin--sorry to all you violinist out there!)
Small disclaimer before I begin. Bear in mind that I'm basing my comments on learning environments as that's the domain most salient to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree that personal motivation has a role in determining one's participation. I think the struggles with Scratch is exacerbated if we worked as individuals (barring previous knowledge). While I did not encounter data loss with Scratch, I was extremely vexed as I was unable to translate my ideas into a project. However, after I 'gave up', I took part while Charlene took her turn to design her project. By watching her, participating intermittently and later realising that I could do something else other than the original idea, I soon became interested in it again. The process of engaging and re-engaging that I underwent arguably corresponds to Csikszentmihalyi's notion of flow. Based on the dissonance or resonance between the activity and my ability, I was able to engage deeply in a particular activity - but, from an external resource i.e. Charlene.
However, from a design perspective, I think the designer has to engage participants in a meaningful context. Now what counts as meaningful obviously varies, but one way of engaging learners is by giving them a stake in the learning environment, in the form of personal avatars and/or narratives. Naturally, Scratch as a tool does not necessarily offer this context, but I believe learning it within a community or group makes a difference.
As a teacher, I always struggled with the tension of my role. Was it:
ReplyDeleteA. to make all kids love poetry?
B. to make all kids not totally hate poetry?
C. to help kids figure out whether or not poetry is their thing?
While A. would be a delightful role, and B. possibly doable, I have a feeling that the world is large and complex enough for both poetry-lovers and non-poetry lovers alike. So, disengage away. But don't forget, in great moms and dads everywhere, "Eat at least one bite before you decide you don't like it."
Mike, I like how your post underscores the importance of motivation in learning as well as how critical it is to make a project that is personally meaningful. I think that you're right that this could be a key ingredient in the success of games like Rock Band -- lowering thresholds and providing music that's meaningful to kids.
ReplyDeleteThis post also highlights the barriers that debugging can present to sustained engagement. These types of issues present very real hurdles to kids as well when they engage with new technologies, which is why debugging is such an important practice when working with technology -- as you know :) I hope you continue to detail your struggles as you re-engage with your project over time -- I'm sure we all want to know what happens next! Perhaps you'll develop some insight into how to help youth persist over time with these types of challenges -- a core issue not only with technology but also with music as well. I can personally attest to how hard and frustrating it is to learn a new instrument!