Social Learning
To what extent should students be given opportunities to learn socially? In this case "socially" can refer to their peers, individuals outside the classroom, and experts but not via direct instruction from the teacher.
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"Man is by nature a social animal." - Aristotle No doubt we have the capability to observe, discern, and learn for 'ourselves,' however, we inevitably 'do' something with what we have just garnered or 'share/test' it on something or someone ultimately to confirm our new found knowledge/discovery! We do not function in a vaccum and most definitely not anymore as we are connected not only to a global audience, but for all purposes the extent of our 'social system' actually increasing via a more 'online' relationship as opposed to an 'offline' (actual facetime) relationship within our community and even neighborhood as is clearly expressed in the video 'Has the Internet Shrunk The World.' - By The Agenda with Steve Paikin. The child becomes the 'teacher' according to Nicolas Negroponte (in the same video) who advocates for the 'One Laptop per Child' program in which he points out the 'deadly cocktail' of isolation+poverty, and how "the internet ends isolation in many ways as long as you have access." So, yes the social network for which the Internet seems most popularly used for is a channel where for those who have access are a step ahead with information and connectivity for whatever purpose, business, social, politcal, or personal. Has The Internet Shrunk The World?
While you make a good case, I would challenge that just because you are plugged in and using the internet to connect to individuals does not necessarily mean that you are being social or socially learning. Reading off the internet is no different than reading off pages of a book that an author at one point in time wrote. I submit that just because the one to one laptop program is successful, it doesn't mean that students are actually collaborating more. Some may argue that they are actually collaborating less. Their eyes are stuck on a screen and distracted from the world around them - especially the people around them. Let's not forget, there are many things we learned as a child that we learned alone. While Aristotle is correct - we are social animals... this doesn't mean that learning takes place while socializing. |
