Let me start with an apology. I am so used to "ice breakers" in online courses that I assumed the first thing I would see was an "ice breaker". I don't think most students take the ice breaker assignment very seriously and neither do I. So, I decided to have some fun with the "ice breaker" assignment. My bad... it was not an ice breaker but a real assignment that provided insight. Please accept my sincere apology classmates.
But, how about that Private Universe video. Twenty two of twenty four Harvard grads, alumni and faculty got the basic science wrong. Well, so did I. Maybe I could be a Harvard grad? It was insightful to watch the young lady struggle with her "private universe", which I'm thinking is a euphemism for a preconceived notion or idea. I'm sure I have preconceived ideas of how the universe functions and I'm pretty sure some of those ideas are wrong. This concept has a direct impact on learning. To learn may actually be to unlearn. Or more specifically; to learn is to personally challenge our preconceived ideas with new ideas that challenge what we know, rather than reinforce what we know.
I always challenges ideas when they are first presented. I immediately start looking for holes in the logic, an error in the reasoning, a misspelled word, an inconsistency in the presentation. I'm ready to pounce at the first opportunity. This tendency must be rooted somewhere deep in my ego. Apparently I'm not the only one with an ego since 22 of 24 Harvard grads also got the answer wrong. This indicates that most people have misconceptions about simple science, and of course we wonder what other misconceptions exist that we are not yet aware of.
So, what do I do about my teaching style to accommodate this "unlearn" idea? How do I help folks "unlearn" what they know, when what they know is in error?
....And most importantly, how do I convince myself that the first assignment in an online course is NOT necessarily an ice breaker!
C-
