Under normal circumstances I’d just throw the topic out there and let you deal with it, but there’s one specific notion that I want you to consider along with all the others. I’ve had this discussion in several classes now — including those where I was a student — and it always amazes me. The question is:
Is it the teacher’s role to create knowledge or to organize knowledge?
This is a trick question, of course, and part of what I want you to consider is what the trick actually is.
While you’re considering that question, look up Lev Vygotsky’s idea of “distant teacher” and consider whether or not Vygotsky is a distant teacher to us.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:14 am
[...] The Question of the Week. [...]
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:30 pm
I really don’t know the answer, but there is nothing new under the sun (to loosely quote Solomon of the Old Testament). Knowledge is discovered and new connections are made to use knowledge in different ways, so I guess I would have to say that teachers do not create knowledge. I looked for information on Vygotsky and found that he was a Russian psychologist with particular interests and theories on learning. He was a constructivist and was more interested in intellectual development than knowledge. I didn’t really find anything about his idea of “distant teacher” (yet), but I did find that at Massey University, he is part of a virtual learning experience that makes use of his writings. Very interesting. I wasn’t familiar with him……new knowledge for me, however, it was there all along.
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:20 am
Okay, I think I understand Vygotsky’s “zone of proximal development” enough now to comment on it. This is what relates to our distance education, I think. The zone of proximal development is the distance between the level of intellectual development attained by independent problem solving and the level of potential development when the individual is guided by an adult (teacher, possibly) and has peer collaboration available. So, basically, the communication and guidance from others bridges the “distance”. The physical distance seems to be irrelevant.
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:26 am
I think I know the trick to the question, but just in case I’m wrong I’ll wait and see what everyone else has to say.
Is it the teacher’s role to create knowledge or to organize knowledge?
Well, I think both tasks belong to the teacher. There are some things in life we just don’t know until someone teaches us and there are other things we know and just aren’t aware of it. Admit it, we’re not born knowing any of Newton’s Laws of Motion, but you can watch even a toddler play with a toy and figure out what makes it go faster and the many different ways to make it stop i.e. running it into the wall. So for this reason I believe we have an innate understanding of the world around us we just may not have the words to explain it. I think this is where the teacher ‘organizes’ knowledge.
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:03 pm
[...] Role of a Teacher phaedrus » Blog Archive » Role of Teacher Is it the teacher’s role to create knowledge or to organize knowledge? [...]
October 3rd, 2007 at 4:26 pm
I am somewhat baffled by this. Maybe, the teacher’s job is both in the sense that they don’t create information but they do decide what information the students will see which to the student is the same thing. They are also responsible for organizing the information so that the students can effectively make connections. Or, maybe the teacher’s job is neither of these. . .
October 6th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I have never considered myself as a creator of content. By virtue of having a curriculum map alone, and having to adhere to what it states, implies that the content is already there- I’m just the navigator. In the rarest of incidences (which hasn’t happened to me yet), perhaps I could bring something new to the table that would blow the minds of my colleagues and students. However, there is truth to the saying “there is nothing new under the sun”. I would even go so far as to say that my students would likely be the creators of new content before I would…