{"id":12621,"date":"2012-12-28t08:00:50","date_gmt":"2012-12-28t13:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?p=12621"},"modified":"2013-01-07t11:52:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-07t16:52:01","slug":"ask-professor-pedagogy-geocaching-in-the-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/2012\/12\/ask-professor-pedagogy-geocaching-in-the-community\/","title":{"rendered":"ask professor pedagogy: geocaching in the community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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ask professor pedagogy<\/strong> is a twice monthly advice column written by 2022年世界杯中国小组赛积分 staff. one aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. if you have a question that you’d like professor p to address, please send it to us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

dear professor pedagogy,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

i am looking for new, innovative ways of engaging my students with the local history and culture of the city.\u00a0 as an instructor, i believe that using local, relevant resources for teaching makes the learning for my students more authentic and effective.\u00a0 however, getting outside the classroom in a structured way seems so daunting and difficult to manage.\u00a0 do you have any ideas on how i might get my students engaged in learning about the local history of the community in which our university is located?\u00a0 are there ways of leveraging technology, too?\u00a0 how can i assess that they have learned something if i have them moving around outside the classroom, and can\u2019t be with them at all times?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

thank you for your response,
\n<\/strong><\/span>learning on the move<\/strong><\/p>\n

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dear learning on the move,<\/p>\n

i applaud your efforts in thinking how learning could occur outside the four walls of the classroom, and wanting your students to engage with the local context in which they are both living and learning.\u00a0 moving outside the \u201cclassroom as container\u201d paradigm (leander, et al., 2010) can be scary; there seem to be so many unknowns and variables to control.\u00a0 however, other models of learning (e.g., apprenticeship models) show us that teaching and learning can happen in a variety of different ways that don\u2019t resemble the traditional classroom model (e.g., lave & wenger, 1991).\u00a0 here, learning occurs within authentic activity, at the elbow of a more knowledge other (hall & greeno, 2008), and in spaces that necessitate moving and coordinating bodies (e.g., hutchins, 1995).\u00a0 this description is a stark contrast to our traditional image of a student sitting in a chair, legs under a desk, looking at a screen.\u00a0 all this to say, move forward with your ideas of re-imagining university teaching and learning!\u00a0 feel good about yourself for problematizing the lecture-style model and engaging minds within <\/em>bodies in places bustling with activity and history!<\/p>\n

so here\u2019s my idea:\u00a0 starting with your objectives of getting your students out of the classroom, learning about the history and culture of the community, providing some structure, and perhaps introducing them to new technologies, you could do a geocache!\u00a0 yes, you heard me, a geocache<\/em>.\u00a0 if you don\u2019t know what a geocache is, you might want to first visit this website<\/a> for some very basic information.\u00a0 now, i don\u2019t know the exact content area or discipline from which you teach, but connecting your big, disciplinary ideas to the resources of the community through a geocache could be an effective structured way of teaching som \u00a0e material \u201con the move.\u201d<\/p>\n

first, think carefully about the learning objectives you have in mind.\u00a0 then, do you want your students moving around an area of the community that is walkable?\u00a0 do you want them navigating the transit system?\u00a0 what specific locations will afford your students with new information, and why is it important to actually be in that place?\u00a0 will they be in groups?\u00a0 will each group member have a particular task?\u00a0 do you want to use gps (global positioning system) technology on smart phones or on devices?\u00a0 would you prefer them to use paper maps?\u00a0 what do you want your students to produce, or bring back with them from this activity?<\/p>\n

once you have answered these questions for yourself, you might:<\/p>\n