Some things we learn early in our life journeys that often appear to be facts; once we learn them, it seams reasonable to assume they will always be true. For example, 1 plus 1 gives us 2, and the sun will rise each morning and set each evening, regardless of whether we’re able to see it or not throughout the day.
The sun does appear to rise and set every day, and we understand that to be true due to the rotation of the earth, and its orbit around our sun. There may be clouds that prohibit us from seeing it, but it does rise, nonetheless and brings with it daylight, which goes away when it sets. That is a fact. There's no need to question it, right? As long as the earth continues to rotate and orbit the sun, the sun is going to rise and set each day. But is this a Midwestern US viewpoint. Would someone living on the Arctic Circle make the same assumption? Or might they assume it will rise and set most days, but that there are times when they assume the sun will never rise, and other times it will never set—daylight never arrives, or leaves? Maybe perspective has something to do with the accuracy of assumptions.
Recently, I had an opportunity to interact with an unsophisticated chatbot program, and the conversation started out like this. (My responses to the chatbot are shown in italics.)
Recently, I had an opportunity to interact with an unsophisticated chatbot program, and the conversation started out like this. (My responses to the chatbot are shown in italics.)
Enter your name: Dave
Hi, Dave! I am Francie. I love studying about women in tech because they inspire me!
Year you were born: 1957
Did you know that Intel built the first microprocessor in 1971?
It happened -14 year(s) before you were born!
Negative 14 years before I was born?!? Did the chatbot author assume users of their program would be born after 1972? Seems like they ignored nearly half of the population. Maybe knowing our audience has something to do with the accuracy of assumptions.
A decade ago, when I started teaching at the university level, all I knew to do was lecture, so that’s what I did. That is all I had experienced in my many years of undergraduate and graduate courses, and I assumed that is what university teachers did. I assumed it must be the best way for students to learn, because if there was a better way, professors would use that approach, rather than lecture. After teaching a semester or two, I started adding some activities to my class time, and discovered that students responded well to them, and seemed to better learn the material. That started me down a path to discover active learning and the flipped learning environment, and I’ve never gone back to lecturing.
A decade ago, when I started teaching at the university level, all I knew to do was lecture, so that’s what I did. That is all I had experienced in my many years of undergraduate and graduate courses, and I assumed that is what university teachers did. I assumed it must be the best way for students to learn, because if there was a better way, professors would use that approach, rather than lecture. After teaching a semester or two, I started adding some activities to my class time, and discovered that students responded well to them, and seemed to better learn the material. That started me down a path to discover active learning and the flipped learning environment, and I’ve never gone back to lecturing.
Similarly, all grading I’d experienced had been point based, so I had assumed that was the best (and maybe only) way of tracking and establishing grades. A few years ago, a fellow faculty member introduced me to specifications grading. After trying it in a course one semester, then two courses the next, I’ve been using specifications grading in all of the courses I have taught since that time. Using points to determine grades no longer adds up for me. (Previous posts about specifications grading s are here and here.)
I recently tweeted the following, which perhaps gives some insight as to why many teachers don't change.
I was recently accused of being a boat rocker, based on the following quote from Stephen Brookfield’s "Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher". I'm taking it as a good thing."Teachers who are seen to be reinventing themselves and their practice can commit cultural suicide without even being aware that it is happening. As they speak about how they’re questioning and reevaluating their practice or how they’re doing things differently, they run a real risk that colleagues will see them as engaged in an act of betrayal. They are whistle-blowers on the culture of stasis—the collective agreement not to rock the boat by asking awkward questions or doing things differently."
Maybe past experiences help develop assumptions, but there is a real need to consider altering those assumptions based on new experiences and knowledge.
And in case you’re wondering why I’d question the assumption that 1 plus 1 will always give us 2, you made an assumption, and likely were not even aware if it. You assumed that the math being discussed was being performed in an integer base greater than 2. Obviously (at least for us computer people), the correct answer to 1 plus 1 could be 10, if we’re performing the math in base 2, rather than base 10. Both 2 and 10 are valid answers, depending on the base being used.
What assumptions have you made in the last day, week, or year that perhaps you should have questioned, or sought clarification? Did you know what “base” you were supposed to be using, or should you have confirmed that before spending time and effort, and then having a disagreement with someone who arrived at a different answer because they were using a different base? Was it you who were “off base”, or them—or both of you? Maybe context has something to do with the accuracy of assumptions.
Have I titled this blog post incorrectly? Is this a better title?
Assumed: We should always be willing to check our assumptions and seek clarification, because 1 plus 1 is not always 2.
Based on these examples, it appears that perspective, our audience, past and current experiences, and context are all helpful ways for us to check the validity of our assumptions. Or have I made a wrong assumption?
Image credit: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net
No comments:
Post a Comment