Lego and learning

In educational theory, a distinction is made between two kinds of learning - Convergent, and Divergent.
Convergent learning is learning that converges on a set goal ( 'The one right answer") - "How to ride a bike", "List the 3 main types of communication" - acquiring knowledge that is already known.
Divergent learning is learning that leads to unknown or a variety of outcomes - "how many uses can you think of for a barometer?", " What is the future of computing? "

Obviously, both types of learning are important, but often the education industry gets hooked up on the easiest one to measure and mark - convergent thinking, which has unfortunate connotations of conformity, initiation into a particular mindset, or 'brainwashing'.

I noticed an example of this the other day. My grandson had his 4th birthday, and had been given a number of Lego kits for fire-engines, campervans, and dune buggies, etc. These sets even have instructions on how to assemble the toy from the parts provided. This is a fine example of a convergent learning task. I suggested to him that a tree from the messy pile of old lego parts our children had played with in years gone by, could fit on top of the campervan, but he was insistent that it would not, as 'it wasnt part of it'.

The divergent style of Lego play is to have a huge pile or bucket of bits and pieces, from which the child imaginatively assembles a toy, without a plan to follow...

Each approach leads to different learning outcomes at a meta-level...

Nat King Cole, -a class act

In December 1957, Nat King Cole pulled the plug on his television show on NBC. It had struggled to get high audience ratings, and had failed to attract a National Sponsor. Nat famously quipped that "Madison Avenue was afraid of the dark".
If you watch his later rendition of the classic song "It's only a Paper Moon", you can sense that it still rankled, but that as an artist, he had gotten over it...
'...without your love, its a honky tonk parade... It's a Barnum & Bailey world, just as phoney as it can be, but it wouldn't be make believe, if you believed in me..."
There is just enough winks and extra beams to his smile to believe that he was conscious of the irony of these lines..

Leaders compared -Scott & Amundsen

I tend to believe that most business books are BS, I reckon I learn more lessons of real-world significance from my general reading for interest.

For example, one of the best books on LEADERSHIP that I have read is "The Last Place on Earth" by Roland Huntsford.
This is a detailed and specific comparison and contrast of the preparations, actions and decisions of each of these two leaders.

Amundsen prepared for his assault on the South Pole by researching and learning from Inuit, about how to use sealskins for warmth, how to go faster by simple techniques for laminar-icing of sled runners, how to use DOGS in Arctic conditions. He selected a  shorter, and flatter route across an ice-shelf, and planned and executed a series of food dumps, enhanced with plans to sacrifice dogs for food on the journey, to maximise his team's speed and conservation of energy. He repacked all the bulk supplies in novel Aluminium cans with air-tight lids, in amounts, and in an unpacking sequence, that matched the actual use of the supplies, so that it was less fuss and energy to get food ready, when the teams did stop for their breaks. In short, he gave his men the best chance of making it to the Pole and back, in what was still a high-risk environment. He took into account the human, and group factors, too. During the over-wintering on the ice, he devised a competition to guess the overnight minimum temperature, with chocolate bars as prizes. Each morning, most of the men would jump out of bed, and run outside into the cold to check if they had won. The shock of cold apparently causes an automatic physiological reaction, and they would make yellow holes in the snow, before coming back into the hut. Apparently this also had the effect of  deceasing the grumpiness that is associated with higher levels of uric acid in the blood, as the kidneys got their regular wake up call!

In contrast, Scott opted for ponies and tractors as the beasts of burden. One tractor fell straight through the ice as it was being unloaded, and supplying hay for the ponies severely limited their effectiveness, despite Oates's tender care for them. Under Scott's leadership, there was a distinctly Royal Navy "officers and men" separation of castes, and a carelessly arrogant disregard for detailed planning, replaced by an apparently macho belief in manly British virtues of true grit and the right stuff. Disdain for Norwegian pragmatism and eons of Inuit technological research and knowledge accumulation, and different attitudes to dogs, in the end spelled tragic failure for Scott and his men.

Ways of Learning: Feedback

A very important method of learning is the feedback we get from others.

Feedback can be informal and unstructured, ( which can often be of low quality, and even damaging), or formal and structured, as in the method called Self and Peer Assessment, which I will cover in a later post)
Useful feedback is feedback that we actually use, by modifying our behaviour, or adding to our repertoire of possible behaviours.

Useful, high quality feedback -

- is requested

( When someone asks for feedback, they are much more likely to hear it)

- is well-timed

( Shortly AFTER, not during, a  performance)

- is specific, not general or sweeping

( at the very beginning of your presentation, as you stood up to speak, you put your hands in and out of your pockets 3 times....)

- takes into account the needs of both the

              receiver and the giver

(is not me using an opportunity to put you down, or telling you something you dont need to hear right now)

- is directed towards behaviour the receiver

              can do something about

( NOT you are too tall,... but ...'when you came to speak with me, you remained standing while I was sitting')

- is balanced

( negative and equal amount of positive)

- describes, rather than labels behaviour
(NOT 'you were very nervous' ( label), but  'you put your hands in and out of your pockets 3 times)

E-marketing -the new economy

Ifthi Idris, e-marketing consultant at SBG just ran an excellent workshop on 'How to make your website work for you' -jam-packed with immediately implementable ideas on how to make the website work as an effective marketing tool. He covered the huge range of converging and emerging tools- such as blogs, social media, video, keywords, backlinks, etc, that enhance your website's visibility, and the other range of promotional tools to build loyalty and engagement. Inspiring and exciting ways to boost the performance and reach of your business. to learn more or enrol, go here.
Grant - ask me more at grant.hodgson@sbg.ac.nz