A chicken and egg question

During discussion on skills and strategies required for locating information on the web, a question was raised - Must the teaching of skills always precede strategies or can it be simultaneous? It's like the chicken and egg issue of which comes first, I thought. When Dr. Towndrow mentioned that many of our scheme of work does not state explicitly the strategies required to acquire the skills, he is absolutely right. When I looked at my SOW, there isn't any explicit stated strategies. My guess is that the team of teachers who crafted the SOW want to give teachers more freeplay in executing their lessons. However, after giving it much thought, I'd have strategies stated in SOW so that teaching is uniform across the level/school. This way, all students receive the same input.

Going back to the question on which comes first, I think it really depends on what the focus of the lesson is. If it is meant to teach students the method of acquiring the skills rather than the attainment of skills solely, then the teaching of strategies is the emphasis.

Perhaps at the end of the day, there isn't a hard and fast rule when it comes to teaching because it is both science and art.

Week 2: The Great Digital Debate

The debate on the motion "Digital technologies (DT) provide beneficial means and enhancements to thinking and learning" got me thinking, especially when I was asked to be on the con side, given that I'm one who believes that technology when used effectively does promote students' learning and thinking. If I had not been asked to think of the cons, I wouldn't.

The inappropriate use of DT in lessons results in ineffective teaching. If the use of DT means the mere use of powerpoint rather than the use of textbooks (or other more appropriate materials), or the use of tablet to annotate rather than the use of the whiteboard (which offers more space for annotation), then the potential of DT is not harnessed in the most efficient and effective manner. Very often, teachers use powerpoint in their teaching, thinking that they have used DT to enhance their students' learning. Tufte mentioned in his article that bullet outlines dilute thought. How often can students make sense of the brief phrases in the teacher-created powerpoint slides? Perhaps time can be better utilised to prepare meaningful notes for students to aid in their learning rather than devote time in 'beautifying' the slides.

[Digital] Technology is everywhere and we cannot deny the fact it has changed the way we teach. It is a tool for us to manipulate to suit our teaching needs so that we can design meaningful lessons to enhance our students' learning and thinking.

"A box of crayons and a big sheet of paper provides a more expressive medium for kids than computerized paint programs."

Clifford Stoll, Silicon Snake Oil, 1995