R10: Cognitive load & Multitasking

Check out this article from MSNBC.com "Will teen multitasking give rise to ADD?"

Quotes:

“When we talk about multitasking, we are really talking about attention: the art of paying attention, the ability to shift our attention, and, more broadly, to exercise judgment about what objects are worthy of our attention. People who have achieved great things often credit for their success a finely honed skill for paying attention. When asked about his particular genius, Isaac Newton responded that if he had made any discoveries, it was ‘owing more to patient attention than to any other talent’” (Rosen, p. 109).

“For the younger generation of multitaskers, the great electronic din is an expected part of everyday life. And given what neuroscience and anecdotal evidence have shown us, this state of constant intentional self-distraction could well be of profound detriment to individual and cultural well-being. When people do their work only in the ‘interstices of their mind-wandering,’ with crumbs of attention rationed out among many competing tasks, their culture may gain in information, but it will surely weaken in wisdom” (Rosen, p. 110).

Question: 

My question this week comes from the article on minimal guidance during instruction: I have always considered constructivism more of a theory of learning versus an instructional theory or method.  This article seems to list constructivism as a method of instruction and is critical of this method.  Is constructivism a theory of learning or a theory of instruction?

I think what bothered me about this article was the generalization regarding constructivism.  The authors seemed to lump together several different approaches to instruction (discovery learning, experiential learning, scaffolding, etc.) and dismissed these approaches as inferior to directed instruction.  I definitely do not agree with the notion of completely unguided instruction as a practical approach to learning, especially with novice learners.  Taking my example from last week with sailing & experiential education; I think it is absurd to think an appropriate (constructivist) approach to learning how to sail would be to place a novice sailor in a boat and say “go for it!”  Instead, a constructivist (experiential) approach for a novice learner would be to first have guided instruction from an expert, then allow the novice learner to experience the lessons in-person.  This experience is a key part of the learning as it would not be very beneficial to only have the novice learner sit and watch the expert sail the boat while explaining the techniques, procedures, conditions, etc. to the novice learner.  The novice learner must take the helm and experience these things in-person to truly begin to learn the skill of sailing.  Anyway, I just didn’t like this article very much.  Anyone else feel the same way?  Anyone else love it and want to comment on my take of it?

Direct Connection: 

I could definitely relate to Rosen’s article on multitasking as that is something I do on a daily basis, especially on workdays.  I find myself divvying up attention between several tasks/technologies at once.  I can definitely tell as I am doing this that not one particular thing has my full attention and this lack of attention to each item is detrimental to how I am performing.  But it seems to be such a commonplace in our society today; such an expectation to get “more” done in each day.  It is overwhelming and distracting to say the least.  I wonder if perhaps this is one of the reasons I enjoy outdoor activities so much, as those are times where I can focus on one item at a time (or at least fewer items).  I don’t know and I can’t think about it too much right now (I’ve got a text to answer, dinner to finish cooking, laundry to switch over and more reading to do … haha!).

Indirect Connection:

Rosen discusses children today and how their multitasking habits will alter their lives in the long run in a detrimental way.  Virtues of patience, moments of silence and the like are uncomfortable for children who constantly multitask.  I am not around children very much so I don’t know if I can agree with this assertion or not, since I’ve not seen any examples to support it or not.  I do wonder though if this constant multitasking isn’t such a good thing, but not just with technologies.  I also consider children’s multitasking to be part of their packed schedules which include multiple extracurricular activities, heavy course loads (and heavy homework assignments), etc. as being a detrimental part of our multitasking society.

References:

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41, 75-86.

Rosen, C. (2008). The myth of multitasking. The New Atlantis, 64, 105-110.