In the Youtube video posted below, an engineer from Alabama, Destin Sandlin, does an interesting experiment. He literally challenges the cliche "it's like riding a bike." When a friend of his created a bicycle that went left when you pointed the handlebars right, he was shocked and dismayed that he could not ride the bicycle. After eight months of riding the backwards bike everyday for five minutes, he finally was able to wobble down his driveway. He continued to ride the bike until he was able to ride it smoothly and without any issue. He then challenged his son, a toddler who has successfully been riding a regular bike for three years, to ride the backwards bike. After two weeks, his son was able to ride the bike. Two weeks, when compared with Destin's eight months, is quite a difference, proving that children have far greater neuroplasticity than adults. Destin applies this experiment to education, noting that it is far easier to learn a language when you're a child rather than an adult. Destin also notes that this also speaks to the fact that adults get set in thinking about things (knowledge, skills, habits) in a particular way. We experience the world in a biased way, and the backwards bicycle proves that changing our ways is not as easy as we might imagine. His major take away from the experiment is that knowledge is not understanding. Most of us know how to ride a bike, but when a small thing is changed, no one (Destin asks several people to ride the bike -- no one is successful) is able to quickly adapt. To conclude the experiment, Destin tried riding a regular bicycle after a year or so of riding the backwards bike. After twenty minutes of false starts and minor crashes, his brain was able to shift and remember how to ride the regular bike. It is important that teachers consider what biases we are teaching our students. I don't mean biases in the sense of purporting a particular political ideology or belief system. What I mean is consider how we are teaching our students to think. If we repeatedly give multiple choice tests and quizzes, what are teaching them? Sure, those tests can measure if the student knows specific content, but it is also teaching them to regurgitate information they have been given. Do they understand the content? Or do they know it? Are they able to think critically about a problem/situation and consider different ways of approaching it? In history, for example, do your students know that they Civil War started in 1861 and why it started in 1861? Having your students passively listen to information does not allow them to grapple with it. For your next unit, consider how your students will understand the content, not just know it.
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AuthorI'm currently a teacher candidate in pursuit of my English Credential. Archives
February 2017
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Elizabeth Mauerman | Blog |