Individual Learning

From: Duane Cleghorn
Email: cleghorn@cats.ucsc.edu
Course: Psych 101: Informal Learning and Technology
College: UCSC
Instructor: E. Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/psych101
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 13 Dec 1996
Time: 14:46:00
Remote Name: ss1-pc05.ucsc.edu

Abstract

In this paper, I present examples from students' submissions to the internet discussion to show the diverse feelings toward working with children that some of the undergraduates displayed. For some, this was the first experience they had working with children. For others, this was the first time they had participated in a project like this. At first, some of the undergraduates showed apprehension, excitement, and nervousness about what was going to happen. During the course of the project, the apprehension and excitement turned to frustration as the students found the children were not showing up and the project wasn't as it was presented as. Through the trials of beginning a new project, the students learned that their initial ideas would lead to frustration, and by overcoming their own doubts, they could create an environment that was both stimulating and rewarding.

Paper

As I became informed of the project, I was nervous and apprehensive about working with children. These feelings stemmed from the fact that this was going to be my first experience working with children, and I wasn't prepared for having to be an advice-giver and model of adulthood. Attending class the first few sessions, I learned about the different teaching environments that are created by the adults and children together and discovered that in a collaborative learning environment which leaned heavily toward being children-run, I would be responsible for giving suggestions as to what the children could do and how to play the games. We would be interacting with the children on computer and board games and activities at the site, so there was a medium for us to be role models, but I was still feeling apprehensive.

From the internet discussion, I learned that others had previous experience working with children and teaching, "I have previously worked with a group of special education pre- kindergarteners, fourth-graders, and fifth-graders in a formal classroom setting" (S. W., 10/4/96), "I enjoy working with children and have done so for the past eight years" (M. B., 9/30/96), "I've tutored computer literacy classes at UCSC for the last couple of years, so I know I'll enjoy this class" (D. S., 9/30/96), so I would be able to watch the way they interacted to learn how I should act. I was still nervous about working with children, but now I had models that could show me techniques that would help.

One of the other things we talked and read about in the first sessions of class was the Fifth Dimension program and the collaborative learning environment of the project that we would be attending. There was an orientation at the project and I wasn't the only one who was nervous, "I was sort of nervous because this was my first time doing something like this so I just sat there kind of quietly." (V. B., 10/3/96) Before the children started arriving, the site coordinator told us how eager the children were to sign up for the project, and this helped to know that the children were doing this because they wanted to, instead of having to, which meant that they would be willing to listen to what we suggested. During the orientation, we helped the children fill out forms for their records, and through this interaction, I was able to dispell some of my apprehension. The children were easy to help and I knew that I wouldn't have any trouble interacting with them on the computers.

The first sessions of the project showed me that I was wrong to have jumped to conclusions. The children were eager to interact with the undergraduates, and the nervousness that I had felt was gone. Unfortunately, the computers weren't all working, and the maze and wizard that had directed the activities at the previous Fifth Dimension sites weren't activated. The undergraduates persisted with the materials that they could find to interact with the children, and the first few sessions went well.

As the project continued, the computers broke down and most wouldn't play the cd-rom games that excited the children, so the undergraduates suggested and played with the children on different games that were in the computers. As this early example shows, the site was becoming uninteresting to the children, and the undergraduates had to encourage the children to keep trying, "when I first joined her, she was refusing to try the game, insisting she couldn't do it. So I showed her by doing a couple of pieces myself and giving her some suggestions." (A. M., 10/5/96) Another undergraduate and I brought several games from our home computers to the project, and some of the children became interested in these. As the project continued, however, some children stopped attending regularly, and this left the undergraduates with no children to interact with, so they spent time getting familiar with the harder games at the site.

During classes, we discussed the progress and problems of the project. As the undergraduates expressed frustration for what was happening and the lack of attendance by the children, the instructor encouraged us to be persistent and not give up hope. As this was the beginning of this project, we could expect things like what were happening to happen. An article by Nicolopoulou and Cole (1993) provided a look at the Fifth Dimension as it was incorporated into two different settings, a library and a boys and girls club. Over a two-year period, the progress of children as they were involved in a game was discussed. One of the ideas that was pertinent to the project that we were involved in was the fact of progress at the two different sites. The library, with its' inherent rules, allowed for an appropriate model of how the Fifth Dimension was supposed to work. The children showed up regularly, were helped by an undergraduate student, usually one-on-one, and the progress through the game showed how successful the interactions were. At the boys and girls club, the children showed up and left when their parents deemed necessary, and the interactions with the undergraduates were sporadic and usually unsuccessful (Nicolopoulou and Cole, 1993).

The experiences we were having at the project were similar to those of the boys and girls club undergraduates. The children showed up sporadically, and the interactions weren't as successful as they could have been. The activities didn't seem to be educational, as I was led to believe was the purpose we were there, and the children we interacted with were usually not the same ones so we couldn't measure progress. Overcoming these problems took to nearly the end of our time in the class, but by the time we were ending, there were new games for the children to play, the attendance seemed to be at normal, and the idea of the wizard and the maze was being discussed.

By the end of class, the site had experienced a rebirth of sorts. There is now a connection between the class and the project that wasn't there in the beginning. The computers are mostly functioning correctly, with access to the internet in case a wizard is agreed upon. The children that attended the last day seemed to be as many as was in the first place, with most of the original participants still there. Through this experience, I have a better understanding of how to interact with children, and will have more patience while involved in the beginning of a project. I have learned that, by discussion and persistence, problems that at first seemed impassible can be overcome.

References

M. B., V. B., A. M., D. S., S. W. (1996) The Class WEB Discussion at http://www.ematusov.com/psych101, Psych 101: Informal Learning and Technology, Fall 1996 UCSC

Nicolopoulou, A. and Cole, M. (1993) Generation and Transmission or Shared Knowledge in the Culture of Collaborative Learning: The Fifth Dimension, Its Play-World, and Its Institutional Contexts In E. Forman, N. Minick, and C. Stone (Eds.) Contexts for Learning: Sociocultural Dynamics in Children's Development New York: Oxford University Press

Last modified January 12, 1997