Day 21: Knowing and Learning

What is Science Literacy? Math Literacy? Language Literacy? What is Technology Literacy?

What notion of “literacy”? What vision of teaching/learning?

Connection to mathematics?, science?, modeling or model building

What is ICT? - ICT (information and communications technology - or technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. ICTs are often spoken of in a particular context, such as ICTs in education, health care, or libraries. The term is somewhat more common outside of the United States.According to the European Commission, the importance of ICTs lies less in the technology itself than in its ability to create greater access to information and communication in underserved populations. Many countries around the world have established organizations for the promotion of ICTs, because it is feared that unless less technologically advanced areas have a chance to catch up, the increasing technological advances in developed nations will only serve to exacerbate the already-existing economic gap between technological "have" and "have not" areas. Internationally, the United Nations actively promotes ICTs for Development (ICT4D) as a means of bridging the digital divide.ICT4Ddigital divide

Is political…

What is literacy like? skill-likeexpression-focused private/individual social/political an attitude of creation and re-creation, a self- transformation producing a stance of intervention in one's context.

Where is programming? Which is more useful in day to day work: computer-based problem solving or algebra one based problem solving? One of the great achievements of the 20th century

What happened to LOGO? skill-likeexpression-focused private/individual social/political an attitude of creation and re-creation, a self- transformation producing a stance of intervention in one's context. Logo got pushed This direction … And died.. “School” Did this (Papert)

This stuff doesn’t REALLY matter and everyone knows it (so why do we make everyone pass it) p. 66 “Teachers who have no claim to mastery are mandated to teach children something for which almost none of them will ever have a legitimate field of serious use”

Where is algebra? skill-likeexpression-focused private/individual social/political an attitude of creation and re-creation, a self- transformation producing a stance of intervention in one's context. School-ified Notion of math/science Literacy

Need to Go the Other Directions (To “matter”) (CS, Sci, Math Literacy) skill-likeexpression-focused private/individual social/political an attitude of creation and re-creation, a self- transformation producing a stance of intervention in one's context.

Freire Literacy …an attitude of creation and re-creation, a self- transformation producing a stance of intervention in one's context. (“Illiteracy” is a result of a “distortion” of becoming human)

For Freire - “ Illiteracy ” is a result of a “distortion” of becoming human Dehumanization, which marks not only those whose humanity has been stolen, but also (though in a different way) those who have stolen it, is a distortion of the vocation of becoming more fully human. This distortion occurs within history; but it is not an historical vocation. Indeed, to admit of dehumanization as an historical vocation would lead either to cynicism or total despair. The struggle for humanization, for the emancipation of labor, for the overcoming of alienation, for the affirmation of men and women as persons would be meaningless. This struggle is possible only because dehumanization, although a concrete historical fact, is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed.

Watch out for “false generosity” Any attempt to ‘soften’ the power of the oppressor in deference to the weakness of the oppressed almost always manifests itself in the form of false generosity; indeed, the attempt never goes beyond this. In order to have the continued opportunity to express their ‘generosity,’ the oppressors must perpetuate injustice as well. An unjust social order is the permanent fount of this ‘generosity’ which is nourished by death, despair, and poverty. That is why the dispensers of false generosity become desperate at the slightest threat to its source.

Some Symptoms … One of the basic elements of the relationship between oppressor and oppressed is prescription. Every prescription represents the imposition of one individual’s choice upon another, transforming the consciousness of the person prescribed to into one that conforms with the prescriber’s consciousness. Thus, the behavior of the oppressed is a prescribed behavior, following as it does the guidelines of the oppressor. But almost always, during the initial stage of the struggle, the oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors, or ‘sub-oppressors.’ The very structure of their thought has been conditioned by the contradictions of the concrete, existential situation by which they were shaped. Their ideal is to be men; but for them, to be men is to be oppressors.

The “point” of these images in interaction with generative words is that the “illiterate”, in an important sense, are knowledgeable, are cultured, and do have much to express/say. They are literate and it is about interconnecting literacies/competencies/forms of expressivity) Highlight the interaction of voice and literate forms (“literacy”) (talk at, with, in-relation with picture and community)

The point for you is even if you are programming “illiterate” your understanding and expressivity related to the generative word “beauty” can interact with the syntax of programming syntax (with you wanting to say/instantiate something) (not the syntax of fa*ve*la but of fd random 10 “Beauty”

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Literacy - Political? skill-likeexpression-focused private/individual social/political an attitude of creation and re-creation, a self- transformation producing a stance of intervention in one's context. ? Okay, literacy Should mean Learner able to Say something But political…

Programming Generative Words - Literacy Pedagogy - "Beauty" or "Interesting" Play with syntax where the goal is for you to create something beautiful/interesting Note the inter-play between syntax, exploration, and intent First with Logo (Papert) - 1 Turtle Next with NetLogo - N-turtles, N-patches and an Observer Play with syntax of existing models... "Generative Models" (?) User can change/play with the code... How important is this? Playing with syntax to create new models (analog to Freire's "word")

Examples Well-ness Stewardship of Environment Conservation Environment Development

In what ways does Papert want to see learning in "LOGO environments" as "like Samba Schools"? Papert describes the samba school setting as "real, socially cohesive, and where experts and novices are all learning." He proposes that LOGO environments are most like a samba school because "in them mathematics is a real activity that can be shared by novices and experts." He further claims that "LOGO environments also resemble samba schools in the quality of their human relationships. Although teachers are usually present, their interventions are more similar to those of the expert dancers in the samba school than those of the traditional teacher..." The LOGO environment is also like the samba school in that "the flow of ideas and even of instructions is not a one-way street."

The word, for Freire, is a praxis: a synthesis of reflection and action, `in such radical interaction that if one is sacrificed-even in part-the other immediately suffers' (Freire, 1972a, p. 60). 'Word', 'work' and 'praxis' are interchangeable terms for Freire: all imply conscious transformation of reality through relationships with others. by_Roberts.html

Freire's approach to adult literacy education relied upon a dynamic integration of oral and literate modes of communication. Learning to read the word, for the adults with whom Freire was working, emerged from purposeful discussion of generative words and codifications through the medium of the spoken word. Dialogue provided the bridge between oral and literate forms of interpreting, understanding and transforming the world. In fact, there was no rigid separation between 'speaking' and 'writing' in Freire's literacy work, at least not into clearly defined 'stages' in the literacy process. Generative words were simultaneously an object for dialogue through speech and the means through which this speech was reflected upon and modified in a 'lettered' way (see Freire, 1976). by_Roberts.html

Example.. Apprenticeship Apprenticeship is usually associated with a relationship between a master and a student. But we noticed that much of the actual learning takes places among members of a larger community that includes other apprentices and journeymen. We called these communities "communities of practice.” (Lave and Wenger)

Can we make a lesson like this? [1] Read Page, especially role of teacher and generative word idea. [2] Think based on your work in schools of some generative (math and science related) words. [3] Choose one [4] Brianstorm cultural/lived-life connections for students [5] What image (codified situation) might you project for students with the generative word? [6] Present this word/concept in abstracted form [7] Discuss how students could take this abstracted form apart and rearrange it. What things might they create. We'll use "balance" or "diet" as an example.

to twig :trunk fd :trunk End to tree :trunk :level ifelse :level<1 [twig :trunk] ~ [fd :trunk rt 30 (tree :trunk/2 :level-1) lt 60 ~ (tree :trunk/2 :level-1) rt 30 bk :trunk] end