c/o Ridgway - assimilation & accommodation

An approach to testing and teaching

'Consider the problems of acquiring new knowledge; two ideas are particularly important. The first is that existing knowledge and conceptual structures affect the way that new materials are perceived and learned; the second is that new experiences bring about changes in our knowledge and conceptual structures. These two processes are referred to as assimilation (analogous to the way in which the stomach digests food, whose later structure cannot be recognized as being similar to its earlier structure) and accommodation (analogous to the way that the pupil of the eye adjusts itself different light levels). Biological analogies make it easier to understand these concepts but leave unresolved the question of when one accommodates and when one assimilates. In general, one accommodates (i.e. changes one's conceptual structures) when fresh knowledge provides strong challenges to what is in mind; so dramatic counter-examples to currently held beliefs, or coherent patterns in the world, which cannot be explained by existing beliefs are both likely to bring about accommodation. Assimilation (interpreting new events in terms of old ideas) can be made to work when the number of counter-examples to predictions made from old beliefs are rather low. It follows, therefore, that if misconceptions are to be remedied (i.e. the mechanism of assimilation is overcome and the mechanism of accommodation stimulated) a representative sample of questions in the domain of interest is unlikely to have the desired effect because the number of cases which violate pupils' misconceptions and which therefore  might cause accommodation, will be relatively small. To foster accommodation it is necessary to provide dramatic examples which violate current conceptions and to provide these examples in quantity. Examples which are most likely to be dramatic are those in which it is obvious to pupils that the results they are obtaining using particular misconceptions are at variance with what they 'know to be true' from everyday experience.' pp.46-47.

Jim Ridgway (1988). Assessing Mathematical Attainment. Chapter 3, Using Test Results.Windsor Berkshire. NFER-NELSON. pp.40-52. [Ack. length of quote - See also: https://www.nfer.ac.uk/ ]

Thanks to Lancaster Univ. Library.

Previously 'assimilation' : 'accommodation' : 'math'

New Drupal based Social Media Classroom

I learned of this new initiative on the Drupal for Libraries list in a post by Ari Davidow.

Using Drupal with the help of a MacArthur grant, author and educator Howard Rheingold has set up:

Social Media Classroom and Collaboratory

Welcome to the Social Media Classroom and Collaboratory. It’s all free, as in both “freedom of speech” and “almost totally free beer.” We invite you to build on what we’ve started to create more free value. The Social Media Classroom (we’ll call it SMC) includes a free and open-source (Drupal-based) web service that provides teachers and learners with an integrated set of social media that each course can use for its own purposes—integrated forum, blog, comment, wiki, chat, social bookmarking, RSS, microblogging, widgets , and video commenting are the first set of tools. The Classroom also includes curricular material: syllabi, lesson plans, resource repositories, screencasts and videos. The Collaboratory (or Colab), is what we call just the web service part of it. Educators are encouraged to use the Colab and SMC materials freely, and we host your Colab communities if you don’t want to install your own. (See this for an explanation of who “we” are).

This provides an interesting perspective on the use of open source tools with value-added service provision.

[ This link still works, but 'News' refers to 2008 ... ]