The November Question Mark
Vol 2|No 2|November|2005
This month's issue provides a single article
exploring the power of on line visual thinking
tools to support the strenghtening of student
reasoning and invention.
It is available in full on line with illustrations
and key links at http://questioning.org
A brief excerpt is reproduced below.
-------- Puzzling and Weaving toward Insight ----------
By Jamie McKenzie
© 2005 Jamie McKenzie, all rights reserved.
Because life is such a puzzle, schools should equip young ones with the
skills to weave meaning and reach insight even when confronted by
baffling situations, fragments and inconclusive evidence.
As students try to make up their minds about challenging questions,
teachers can equip them with several metaphors to illustrate the mental
processs required to manage fragments, fog and confusion.
* Puzzling
* Beading
* Weaving
Thanks to Java scripting, there are now quite a few Web sites that can
effectively support this visualization. This article explores
strategies teachers may employ with these sites to introduce students
to such metaphors in ways that will strengthen both their questioning
and synthesis skills.
------ Life is Like a Jigsaw Puzzle
Those who have wrestled with one of those mammoth 2000 piece landscape
puzzles during a rain-soaked summer week at the beach know how
frustrating it can be once the corners and straight edges have been
located and aligned.
Even if you cheat* and look at the picture on the cover of the box,
these puzzles can make a grown person cry. (*Some people think that
looking at the cover is cheating, but most people I have polled during
presentations consider this rational behavior.)
Curiosity killed the cat? Since when?
Determining the character of an historical figure or figuring out the
best treatment for a particular illness can be even more challenging.
As with the puzzle, there will be some straight edges and corners that
fit into place without much of a struggle, but there will be many gray
pieces that defy placement or understanding.
It may prove very difficult to put together an accurate picture of a
man or woman from historical times.
In the case of disease, no single treatment choice may come into clear
focus as the one right solution. The more information we gather, the
harder it may prove to focus or decide. Heaps and heaps of data do not
automatically translate into understanding.
In the case of historical figures, the picture on the box (conventional
wisdom about the hero or figure) may actually frustrate the search for
a real portrait because the man or woman has been lionized or turned
into an icon. We have a way of shining up the brass, polishing the
marble and overlooking the dark side of historical figures unless they
were viewed as traitors, in which case we may exaggerate their dark
sides.
Note: This article is continued in full at
http://questioning.org
Jamie McKenzie
Editor, From Now On - The Educational Technology Journal
http://fno.org
Editor, The Question Mark
http://questioning.org
mckenzie@fno.org
360-647-8759
500 15th Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
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