Through the Learning Glass
Benny‟s Adventures in
Learningland
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Welcome to this E-book about Benny.
Benny is a relatively normal stick figure kid who
has a great adventure, meets some strange
creatures and learns about learning. To follow
Benny‟s adventure, read the story and follow
the directions. You will sometimes have to go
different places, so pay attention!
If you find that it is just too hard to figure out
what Benny is supposed to do, you can click
the „next‟ button and move onwards. You can
also move backwards to review the previous
page, or click on the “home” button if you want
to start back on this page.
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
One day, Benny Stickman
was out walking. He saw
something on the ground,
and picked it up. It looked
like someone had stepped
on a spider. He could not
figure out what it was.
“Curious”, he said. “What
is this strange thing? It
looks like someone
stepped on a spider!”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and a sound
of a far off trumpet playing “ta DAA!” and there
appreared a very strange creature! Benny was
surprised.
“Who are you?” he asked. The creature (who
looked strangely like a caterpillar) said “I‟m A
Creature Who Looks Strangely Like A Caterpillar, but
you can call me Acwlslac. I‟m here to help you figure
out the symbol you have found.”
“Oh”, said Benny, “How will you do that?”
“I‟m sending you on a journey” Acwlslac said. “In
fact, your journey has already begun. Here is your
first clue.” Acslwlac handed Benny a strange
diagram. “Study it carefully, and when you are done,
you may move to your next clue. But don‟t go forward
until you have finished exploring this diagram.”
With that, Acwlslac disappeared in a puff of
smoke, with a sound like a far off trumpet playing “ta
DAA!”
“Curious”, said Benny. He looked at the
diagram….
Click here to see the
Team 3
diagram Benny was given
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Benny: explore this diagram by looking inside the three
circles! Then move forward when you have finished.
Behaviorism
Information Processing Constructivism
Click here when you have
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim finished exploring the diagram
Behaviorist model
• the idea that by controlling the environment we
can control behavior
• Controlled environment
• Stimulus-response (Trial and error)
• Instant feedback
• Positive reinforcement
– Something you like is given as a reward for desired
behavior.
• Negative reinforcement
– something you don‟t like is taken away as a reward.
• Punishment
– Something you don‟t like is added when your
response is wrong (not the desired outcome)
Back to the Diagram
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Information Processing
– Computer as a metaphor
– Conceptual understanding
• Speed is power
– Differs from behaviorism in that it asks “Why”
– Connections represent conceptual understanding
– Developing cognitive schemes (representations)
• Accretion (Assimilation)
• Modification (Accommodation)
• Motivational sets
– Goals
• Learning goals
• Performance goals
• Task Analysis
– Determine what students know
– Move from concrete to abstract representations
Back to the Diagram
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Constructivism
• Knowledge is actively created or invented by the
person, not passively received from the environment.
• People create knowledge by reflecting on their
physical and mental actions.
• No one true reality exists, only individual
interpretations.
• Learning is a social process in which people grow into
the intellectual life of those around them. Social
– Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky)
– Scaffolding
• Equilibration Private Public
– Cognitive balance
• Disequalibration
– Occurs when we are confronted with unfamiliar ideas. Individual
Back to the Diagram
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
As soon as Benny finished exploring his diagram, Acwlslac appeared again.
“Wow” said Benny. I didn‟t know there were so many ways to look at learning. Am I smart
yet?”
Acwlslac said “I can‟t tell you that. Only you can tell me that. Look at the symbol you found
on the ground. Does it make any sense”
Benny scratched his head. “Not yet. But I know that
this is because I don‟t have enough prior experience to
build on, and that makes the meaning of this particular
artifact difficult to assimilate. And that bothers me”
“That‟s right, said Acwlslac. “You are feeling a sense
of Cognitive dissonance, and you have a desire to
resolve this information in light of what you already
understand.”
“Well, at least that‟s how a Constructivist would put
it” said Benny.
“See?” said Acwlslac. “You‟re getting smarter
already.”
Suddenly, Benny fell through a hole in the ground
that appeared at his feet…
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
..and he landed right at the feet of a very strange pair of
creatures. “This is getting curiouser and curiouser” thought
Benny.
“Who are you?” he asked the pair.
“We are Mindful and Mindless” they replied.
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“What is the meaning of your name?” asked Benny.
Mindless said, mindlessly, “Aw, you‟re just asking that to be polite
or something!”
Mindful thought for a second, and said “Or maybe not. It all
depends on how hard you want to think about it. To get to know us,
you need to understand about experiential and reflective cognition.
But we‟re not going to tell you about that yet.”
“Oh, great” said Benny. “More cognitive dissonance. How will I ever
figure out how to understand the symbol unless I can reach
equilibratation.”
“Cute word.” said Mindless, blowing a bubble with his bubblegum.
“Actually, that‟s a word that Jean Piaget coined.” Mindful said. “As
you learn more about us, and about experiential and reflective, you
will understand more.”
Benny thought for a second. “But to do that, I will have to think hard
about it! Otherwise, I can just not think about it and just hope that it
„clicks‟.” said Benny.
Suddenly Mindful smiled. “And that‟s just what our name means!”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“But to really understand what our names MINDFUL
mean, you should go explore these two doors.
They will help you to accommodate this new
information. But only if you do it reflectively, not
experientially. Don‟t move forward until you have
explored both doors”
“Hey there‟s those words again!” said Benny,
as he walked towards the doors.
Mindful turned to Mindless. “He‟s getting to be
a smart kid, I think.”
MINDLESS
“Yeah, I guess.” said Mindless, mindlessly.
CLICK HERE when you
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim have explored both doors.
“Well,” thought Benny. “Now I
know that, to be mindful, I need to
think about strategies, focus on what
I am doing, and not just be „reactive‟
and do things from instinct. But
sometimes, I already know how to
do something, and I act „reactive‟ to
those things, too. I wonder if that is
also mindless. Hmmm, how can I
figure this out?”
Suddenly, he saw a smile. The
smile grew and grew until it was “Very curious!” said Benny to the
connected to a head, then to a head
and neck, and finally to a cat! cat. “You just appeared!! Who are
you?”
“I am the Elusive Paradigm, and
I‟m here to help you finish learning
about experiential and cognitive”
“Yay, finally!” said Benny.
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“Experiential and Reflective are different forms of cognition” said the
Elusive Paradigm.
“Reflective cognition means you are
thinking about what you are trying to learn
or what you are doing. You can ponder
deeply, make strategies and reject them,
deliberately choose what strategies or
learning tools you will use.
Experiential cognition is when you do
something without having to think about it.
You just react to whatever you are
experiencing.”
“Ahh” said Benny, pondering deeply. “But sometimes
I can do something without thinking about it because
I‟m very familiar with it. Like I can brush my teeth
without having to pay attention. Is that the same as
just watching something without thinking about it?”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“What do you think?” said the
Elusive Paradigm. “Think about
it.”
Benny thought about it.
“Well” said Benny. “I think that
when I‟m brushing my teeth, it‟s a
different form of experiential
cognition because I‟m an expert
at brushing my teeth. So its
different than just watching
something mindlessly.”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“Ahh,” said the Elusive
Paradigm. “That could be
exactly right. Now you can
experience what you have
said by looking in this little
house.” And with that, he
grinned. And with THAT, he
started disappearing again,
starting at his tail and slowly
more and more of him was
gone until nothing was left
but his smile. Then, that
disappeared too.
“Curious”, said Benny.
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
BENNY: Explore these two items to better understand Reflective and
Experiential. When you are done with both, you can move forward.
above
Click on each of the items 3Miao Jim to move forward.
Team
Myron Terence
Benny: Answer the question on the
next page. You get ONLY ONE
chance, and if you get it wrong, you
exit the book! Choose carefully!!!
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
What is the importance of using a TV set as the symbol
for the „experiential cognition mode‟ and a notebook for
the „reflective cognition‟ mode.
a) The TV represents something that you are an expert at, so you can
watch without having to engage it. The notebook represents
something you can only engage with conscious effort.
b) The TV is a form of mindless entertainment, however the notebook
represents writing, which is something you are an expert at.
c) Neither of these; the TV is both expert and mindless experiential
engagement. The notebook, however, is both experiential and
reflective, depending on the task.
A B
Team 3 C
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“That was very interesting”, said
Benny. “Now I know that thinking
can be reflective or experiential, that
I can be engaged mindfully or
mindlessly, and that there are three
different learning theories that
provide a framework for how people
learn. This can be very confusing…I
wonder if there is a way I can learn
more about this?”
Benny walked around the corner
and suddenly arrived at another
strange creature, who said……
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“ARP!”
Benny asked “Who are you?”
“ARP!” said the creature, who looked like
a walrus.
“Arp?” asked Benny, deep in mindful
cognition, utilizing constructivist theory
and trying to accommodate his new
experience in terms of his prior
knowledge.
“Arp!” said the walrus.
“Oh!” said Benny. “You‟re ARP!”
“I‟m Arp!” smiled Arp.
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“But what‟s an Arp?” asked
Benny.
Arp said “I’m an Arp. But an ARP
is an Action Research Project”
Pleased at his little pun, Arp
clapped gleefully. “Arp Arp Arp
Arp!”
“Okay, okay” said Benny, “so,
what is action research project?!?”
“Well, Benny, it‟s a long story,
but basically I am compilation of
everything you have learned put
into practice. By doing this you
become better at what you do”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“Well, that sounds easy.” said
Benny.
“Oh, no. ARPs are arduous
Benny!” said the walrus harping on
the ARP.
He continued, “But the idea is to
put some of these nifty theories you
learned into practice. Ultimately, you
hope to learn more about your own
teaching practice, and discover
something that you can share with
other people. So you understand?”
“Oh, yes”, said Benny, not
understanding at all.
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“Well, I can see that you might need to learn more
about the theories and ideas behind the theories. You
should read these arp…uh, articles.” said Arp, and
handed Benny some papers. “Don‟t move forward until
you‟ve reviewed these!”
Norman Salomon Duckworth
Click here after you have reviewed all three of the arp…uh, articles above.
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Norman summary
• Technology makes us "smart in the sense of being better able to think". It
has the simultaneous capacity, however, to 'entrap', 'confuse', 'control' and
'dominate' us.
• Norman focuses on "mental tools" which he refers to as cognitive artifacts.
Artifacts allow us "to think better and more clearly" and expand our human
knowledge.
• There are tools for experiential cognition/learning and tools for reflective
cognition/learning. The experiential mode involves perceiving and reacting
"efficiently and effortlessly" the reflective mode "is that of comparison and
contrast, of thought, of decision making.
• the experiential mode involves use of artifacts that "allow us to experience
events as if we were there.
• Reflective artifacts concentrate on abstract "artificial, representing worlds" of
language and thought
Team 3
Go Back to the pile of articles you have to read.
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Saloman summary
Effect with and Effect of technology
– Effect with: what happens while you are
sitting at the computer. The things that you
can do with the technology.
– Effect of: what you take with you, how you
apply this to new situations. The changes
that take place in how you think, behave,
learn, etc.
Team 3
Go Back to the pile of articles you have to read.
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Duckworth summary
Research (big R) is something formal and
structured that people in Ivory Towers do.
Research (little r) is informal and
informative, and something that teachers
and other practicitioners can do to gather
knowledge.
Team 3
Go Back to the pile of articles you have to read.
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“Whew, I‟ve read all three”,
said Benny. That was a lot to
absorb, but now I know what
an Action Research Project
is, and a lot more about
learning theory. And more
importantly, I know that I
have to think about what
each of these authors had
contributed. But there must
be a way to remember all
this stuff. There is a lot of
information to absorb.”
Benny strolled off, deep in
reflection…..
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
…and bumped into a
very strange character in a
big hat, who looked
strangely like Tom Petty.
“Hullo!” said Benny. Who
are you?”
“Why, I‟m Cognitive
Artifact!” said Cognitive
Artifact. “But you can call
me Art. I‟m here to tell you
all about, what else, but
Cognitive Artifacts. Have
some T…er, I mean, tea?”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Benny didn‟t know what to say, but he
sat down and had some tea anyway. Art
began speaking.
“Cognitive Artifacts are tools that help
us learn. They make us able to become
smarter. Want some sugar? I can‟t get it
without this spoon. That‟s an artifact. If
the sugar was an idea, then the teaspoon
would be a cognitive artifact. Remember
this diagram that Acwlsac gave you”
“Oh, yes!” said Benny. “Those were the
Learning Theories!”
“That‟s right!” said Art. “That diagram is
a Cognitive artifact, and it helped you
remember the theories!”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“In fact, you are surrounded by
cognitive artifacts. Without them,
you could not possibly remember
as much as you do, and certainly
not learn very much!!”
“Oh,” said Benny. “So is this
strange symbol that I found on the
ground a cognitive artifact?”
“Absolutely”, said Art. “Anything
that helps you learn.”
„Hmmm‟, thought Benny. “This
thing doesn‟t really look so much
like a spider to me anymore..”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
said Art. “That means you are coming along.
“Well,”
And speaking of coming along, here‟s my old friend,
the Dornob. Hello, Dornob. Want some T?”
“Y,T would be nice”, said a little voice from out of the
teapot. “My T nice indeed!”
A most curious creature
popped his head out,
rubbed his nose, sniffled
once, and said, “Y, yes,
oh my, Art. That would be
quite nice. Y, hello there,
Benny. Do you have your
tools with you?”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Benny was so surprised that he
never even thought of asking why
Dornob was in the teapot! But he
wasn‟t too surprised to say, “Tools?
What tools? I don‟t have any tools.”
Dornob took a sip of tea and said,
“Why Bennie. You have been
gathering tools for quite a while now.
In fact, you should have a veritable
armamentarium of tools by now!
Cognitive artifacts, learning theories,
ideas of your own, friends like Art
and me with good ideas…all these
things are tools that you can use as
you learn about learning! In fact, lets Click here to
look at your toolbox now!” see Benny‟s
toolbox
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“Wow!” Said Benny. I didn‟t know I had so many tools! But these are
strange tools. They are flat, and made of pictures, and in fact, they are just
images in an electronic e-book!!”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Dornob and Art laughed and
laughed.
“Of course they are, Benny! These
aren‟t the type of tools that you can
work with physically. These tools are
REPRESENTATIONS! They are a
type of abstract cognitive artifact that
helps you recall things and keep your
knowledge organized. They only look
like real tools because we are calling
them „tools.‟ And that‟s because you
work with them, like you work with real
tools.”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“Ahh”, said Benny, thinking very deeply.
“Now I get it. These things I have been
learning about learning theory, and the
writings of Norman and Saloman and the rest,
and the diagrams that I have been given, and
the places I have visited….they are all tools
that helped me to learn! And the ARP is
another tool that will help me to restructure
the knowledge I am gaining! And when I am
gone from here, if I have been mindfully
engaging in reflective thought, the cognitive
residue that is left behind will make me even
smarter than ever!”
“Well” said Art and Dornob together, “I
think you‟re almost there!” and they looked at
each other, knowingly…..
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Suddenly, POOF! they disappeared and Benny found himself in
front of his old friend and mentor, Acwlslac!
“Hullo, Benny!” said Acwlslac.
I hear you‟ve been having
grand adventures!
“Oh My YES!” said Benny. “I
met Mindful and Mindless, the
Elusive Paradigm, Dornob,
Cognitive Artifact, Arp….my
mind is just bursting with ideas!
But how do I know if I have
really learned anything?”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
“Ahhh” said Acwlslac.
“Look at that strange
diagram you found on the
ground again. Tell me what
you see. I think, if you have
been engaging reflectively
in what our friends have
shown you, then you will be
very surprised to discover
that it makes a LOT more
sense to you now…”
Benny pulled the diagram
out of his toolbox and took a
long, hard look at it.
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
Benny‟s Diagram
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Myron Terence Miao Jim
“Oh MY!!” he exclaimed. “This isn‟t a
strange diagram at all! I can
completely see what it represents…..in
fact, it represents exactly the
wonderful adventure I just had!! This is
so great, Acwlslac! I can completely
understand this now!”
“That‟s because you have now
restructured your knowledge” said
Acwlslac. “And now, you can go
home!”
“Home!” said Benny. “Now THAT
will be nice!”
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim
And Benny faded off into the sunset, leaving nothing but
Acwlslac…..
….and a smile, that just
hung there in the air.
Team 3
Myron Terence Miao Jim