Actvity 3.5 Group Activity: Theories into Practice: TED Talk Analysis

Activity 3.5 - Group Activity: Theories into Practice: TED Talk Analysis

I, Jean Piaget, saw an impressive demonstration (Video:1) of pupils in a classroom, strangely sitting on the floor or on couches.  The pupils found partners and used their unique knowledge structures to cognitively classify and compare equations, and construct models of the decimal 2.4. The pupils worked to assimilate and accommodate a new partner’s knowledge structures into theirs. The pupils proved to the class how they adapted, organized and modeled their accumulated knowledge. There was much cognitive conflict and dissonance expressed during this lesson.  Because this was a fourth/fifth combination class, different stages of cognitive development, were apparent. One poor lad, Malachi, was unable to assimilate this new information. The teacher facilitated discussion rather than transmit exact answers. He respected the process of moving from disequilibrium to equilibrium as each pupil accumulated new knowledge, and achieved cognitive balance. The teaching methods were sound, while his pupils were interested, active learners.