Author: Mackenzie Neiderer

Group members: Jenna and I

Today I went to Jenna’s discussion group and was the only one who attended her discussion. The topic of our discussion was the discussion group themselves. We talked about how beneficial discussion groups were to us during the semester to better understand the writings that we used when writing our papers. It allowed us to discuss with our peers about our opinions and thoughts on multiple topics.  We talked about how beneficial it was to hear our peer’s ideas and be able to talk about ideas without the usual structure of a classroom. We also discussed how it was nice that we could talk about anything we wanted to. We could use discussion groups to ask questions and get a better understanding of the topic through our peers. We both liked that we could bounce ideas off each other in order for the topic to make sense to us. We both liked discussion groups and wished that more of our professors implemented them into their curriculum.

At West Chester University classes are lecture-based. Lecture-based learning is proven ineffective by both Percy and Freire. Both similarly state that people cannot learn by being given the information, they have to make the information has meaning to them in order to learn. Both Percy and Freire acknowledge the role of a teacher in education and caution the fault in lecture-based learning. Percy and Freire both prove that this role needs to be improved for the learner to learn. West Chester University can accomplish this goal by embracing formative assessment, inquiry-based learning, project-based projects, and discussion group-based learning into its curriculum.

One way to improve learning at West Chester University is to implement formative assessment into the classroom. In the formative assessment structure, teachers monitor students by providing ongoing feedback. The goal of formative assessment is to help students understand their strengths and weaknesses. One way to use formative assessment is to provide students with tests that they can take multiple times to show them what they need to study or not. By allowing students to be able to take tests multiple times the student decides the pace they go. This allows students that need more help with topics more time without moving ahead when they are not ready. This also allows students that have already learned the information, to pass through it quickly so they do not have to relearn information they already know. This disconnect between students and the pace of a class is something that formative assessment in a classroom can stop. In this structure, the assessment goes beyond grading by examining patterns through quizzes and using those patterns to improve their education. Percy proves this would be an effective way of learning by saying, “A student who has the desire to get a dogfish or a Shakespeare sonnet may have the greatest difficulty in salvaging the creature itself from the educational package in which is presented” (Percy 4). This shows that a student cannot learn from a direct presentation. It allows the student to follow their own path by taking assessments to learn what they need to. Freire also proves this would be an effective way of learning by saying, “It is not surprising that the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings. The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world” (Freire, 2). This shows if a student does not ignore the direct presentation they would not learn. By avoiding the direct presentation of the object, allows the student to gain sovereignty and to take the beaten path to further their education.

One form of teaching that can better improve learning for West Chester students is inquiry-based learning. This is where the student drives the class and takes over. This is done by the student who is given a problem or scenario, and the student completes this task by asking questions and figuring the problem out for themselves with no previous lecture from the teacher. This form of teaching eliminates students having to memorize topics that mean nothing to them. Instead, students learn by solving problems and building knowledge through exploration and experience. Students can only learn by making connections to the object that they are trying to learn about. Freire proves this to be an effective form of learning by saying “Problem-posing education affirms men and women as beings in the process of becoming—as unfinished, uncompleted beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality” (Freire, 6). This shows that in the beginning, people do not know the answer to the question. So, they must find the answer for themselves to learn. Percy also finds inquiry-based learning to be true. He stated that “The educator whose business it is to teach students biology or poetry is unaware of a whole ensemble of relations which exist between the student and the dogfish and between the student and the Shakespeare sonnet”(Percy, 4). This demonstrates the need for the student to learn without the professor. Since the professor cannot see the connection between the individual student and the topic they are learning, the student must learn the information for themselves. The student also needs to find their connection to the topic to understand the true answer to the problem. 

Another way to better learning at West Chester University is to invoke project-based learning into the education system. When a student uses project-based learning they are given a task to complete without getting any information on the subject beforehand similarly to inquiry-based model. The student continues doing the project and has multiple trials and errors before they come to the answer they were looking for. When the student fails, they must learn from this failure to complete the task. By the student continuing working on the project they are learning more about the object then they would in a lecture-based classroom. The students must apply their current knowledge to apply it to a new task. Percy supports this idea by stating “In truth, the biography of scientists and poets is usually the story of the discovery of the indirect approach, the circumvention of the educator’s presentation-the young man who was sent to the Technikum and on his way fell into the habit of loitering in the book stores and reading poetry; or the young man dutifully attending law school who on the way became curious about the comings and goings of ants” (Percy, 5). Percy is saying that the young man who fell into learning the subjects learned more than the students who are majoring in the topics. By saying that Percy is supporting the idea that students learn by trial and error just as project-based learning recommends. Freire also supports the idea for the need of project-based learning by stating “In problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation.” (Freire, 5). By saying this Freire is saying students can only learn when the information comes to their own reality. Project-based learning supports this idea because students must keep doing the project for themselves without any previous knowledge of the topic. The student must relate the project to themselves to learn. 

         Lastly, discussion groups are a better way to implement teaching at West Chester University. In this method, everybody takes part in the discussion, therefore thinking and expressing their own thoughts. The role of the teacher in this method is nonexistent, the students have full control of how the discussion will go. In this, students will present the topic and express their own thoughts then other students will chime in and express their own opinions. The students start learning by talking to other students and bouncing ideas back and forth. Freire proves this would be an effective way of learning by saying,  “In problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation.” (Freire, 5). By allowing students to create their own opinions about the topic is allowing them to connect it to their world. Which in the mind of Freire is how learning takes place. Percy also proves this to be an effective way of learning by saying, “Poetry students should find dogfishes on their desks and biology students should find Shakespearean sonnets on their direction boards.” (Percy, 4). This would allow students to be able to discuss with each other to learn about another topic. Allowing students to discuss their opinions resulting in students learning from communicating.         Percy and Freire both state in their writings that the role of a teacher is needed in the education process. The role of the teacher can be improved by implementing formative assessment, inquiry-based learning, project-based projects, and discussion groups into West Chester’s curriculum. These class structures can better the student’s overall academic experience. The student will be able to learn topics and retain the information better than they would in a lecture-based classroom.

Abigail Johnson, Nicholas Nolan, Isabella DeSario

Percy: Great use of Percy to support your ideas. You guys did a good job of relating the quote to your idea

Constructive: The second to last paragraph is awkward and refers to Percys quote which is not given

Praise: Overall good ideas and you guys did a good job explaining what you think is the benefits of each idea and how to relate that to Percy

Isabella Bedore

Constructive: Your thesis is not clear as to what changes you think need to be made

Praise: all your ideas are well thought out and you give good backup to your ideas

Percy: Strong use of Percys witing to back up what you are trying to say, just work on the flow of using the quotes in your writing

At West Chester University classes are mainly lecture based. Lecture based learning is proven ineffective by both Percy and Friere. Both similarly state that people cannot learn by being given the information, they have to make the information has meaning to them in order to learn. Both Percy and Freire acknowledge the role of a teacher in education. They caution the fault in lecture based learning. They prove this to be Both believe that this role needs to be improved in order for the learner to learn. West Chester University can accomplish this goal by embracing formative assessment, inquiry-based learning, project based projects, and discussion group based learning into its curriculum.

One way to improve learning at West Chester University is to implement formative assessment into the classroom. In the formative assessment form, teachers monitor students by providing ongoing feedback. The goal of formative assessment is to help students understand their strengths and weaknesses. One way to use formative assessment is to provide students with tests that they can take multiple times to show them what they need to study or not. By allowing students to be able to take tests multiple times allows the student to decide the pace they go. This allows students that need more help with topics more time to work on the topic without moving ahead when they are not ready. This also allows students that have already learned the information, to pass through it quickly so they do not have to relearn information they already know. This disconnect between students and the pace of a class is something that formative assessment in a classroom can stop. In this form, the assessment goes beyond grading by examining patterns through quizzes and using those patterns to improve their education. Percy proves this would be an effective way of learning by saying, “A student who has the desire to get a dogfish or a Shakespeare sonnet may have the greatest difficulty in salvaging the creature itself from the educational package in which is presented” (Percy 4). This shows that a student can not learn from a direct presentation. It allows the student to follow their own path or the least beaten path by taking assessments to learn what they need to. Friere also proves this would be an effective way of learning by saying, “It is not surprising that the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings. The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world” (Freire, 2). This shows if a student does not ignore the direct presentation they would not learn. By avoiding the direct presentation of the object, allows the student to gain sovereignty and to take the beaten path to further their education.

One form of “teaching” that can better improve learning for West Chester students is inquiry-based learning. This is where the student drives the class and takes over. This is done by the student who is given a problem or scenario, and the student completes this task by asking questions and figuring the problem out for themselves with no previous lecture from the teacher. This type of learning would eliminate lecture-based classes which are proven ineffective. This form of teaching eliminates students having to memorize topics that mean nothing to them. Instead, students learn by doing hands-on projects and build knowledge through exploration and experience. Students can only learn by making connections to the object that they are trying to learn about. This form of education is proven effective by both Friere and Percy.  Friere proves this to be an effective form of learning by saying “Problem-posing education affirms men and women as beings in the process of becoming—as unfinished, uncompleted beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality” (Freire, 6). This shows that in the beginning, people do not know the answer to the question. So they must find the answer for themselves in order to actually learn. Percy also finds inquiry-based learning to be true. He stated that “The educator whose business it is to teach students biology or poetry is unaware of a whole ensemble of relations which exist between the student and the dogfish and between the student and the Shakespeare sonnet”(Percy, 4). This demonstrates the need for the student to learn without the professor. Since the professor can not see the connection between the individual student and the topic they are learning, the student must learn the information for themselves. The student also needs to find their connection to the topic in order to understand the true answer to the problem. 

Another way to better learning at West Chester University is to invoke project-based learning into the education system. When a student uses project-based learning they are given a task to complete without getting any information on the subject beforehand. The student must continue to do the project with no instruction on how to do it. The student continues doing the project and has multiple trials and errors before they come to the answer they were looking for. When the student fails they must learn from this failure in order to complete the task. By the student continuing on working on the project they are learning more about the object then they would in a lecture-based classroom. The students have to apply their current knowledge in order to apply it to a new task. Both Percy and Friere support this idea of learning in their writings. In Percy he supports this idea by stating “In truth, the biography of scientists and poets is usually the story of the discovery of the indirect approach, the circumvention of the educator’s presentation-the young man who was sent to the Technikum and on his way fell into the habit of loitering in the book stores and reading poetry; or the young man dutifully attending law school who on the way became curious about the comings and goings of ants” (Percy, 5). Percy is saying that the young man who fell into learning the subjects learned more than the students who are majoring in the topics. By saying that Percy is supporting the idea that students learn by trial and error just as project-based learning recommends. Friere also supports the idea for the need of project-based learning by stating “In problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation.” (Freire, 5). By saying this Freire is saying students can only learn when the information comes to their own reality. Project-based learning supports this idea because students must keep doing the project for themselves without any previous knowledge of the topic. The student must relate the project to themselves in order to actually learn. 

Another way to better implement teaching at West Chester University is to use discussion groups. In this method, everybody participates in the discussion, therefore thinking and expressing their own thoughts. The role of the teacher is this method is non existent, the students have full control on how the discussion will go. The teacher would present a topic with no direction and the students would have to discuss it between fellow students. In this, students will present the topic and express their own thoughts then other students will chime in and express their own opinions. The students start learning by talking to other students and bouncing ideas back and forth. Friere proves this would be an effective way of learning by saying,  “In problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation.” (Freire, 5). By allowing students to create their own opinions about the topic is allowing them to connect it to their world. Which in the mind of Freire is how learning takes place. Percy also proves this to be an effective way of learning by saying, “Poetry students should find dogfishes on their desks and biology students should find Shakespearean sonnets on their direction boards.” (Percy, 4). This would allow students to be able to discuss with each other to learn about another topic. Allowing students to discuss their opinions resulting in students learning from communicating.

Michael Ramirez-

Constructive- Some awkward phrasing. Try to reread it and you should catch it.

Praise- Your intro is very well written. You also give lots of support for your ideas. Overall very well written.

Percy- Great use of Percy. Your transition from your quotes to your information is very smooth.

Bella Dipasquale-

Constructive- Some wording is awkward throughout the whole paper.

Praise- Good ideas for how you are going to teach without teaching. Just add more details to support yourself.

Percy- Good use of Percy quotes to support what you are trying to say.

Both Percy and Freire acknowledge the role of a teacher in education, in the formative assessment form, this allows teachers to have a lesser role in a student’s education. Percy and Freire both agreed that a student can’t learn from a direct presentation, but rather from an outside source. In the formative assessment form, teachers monitor students by providing ongoing feedback. One way to use formative assessment is to provide students tests to show them what they need to study or not. Also by allowing students to be able to take tests multiple times allows the student to decide the pace they go. Percy proves this would be an effective way of learning by saying, “A student who has the desire to get a dogfish or a Shakespeare sonnet may have the greatest difficulty in salvaging the creature itself from the educational package in which is presented” (Percy 4) . This shows that a student can not learn from a direct presentation. It allows the student to follow their own path or the least beaten path by learning taking assessments to learn what they need to. Friere also proves this would be an effective way of learning by saying, “It is not surprising that the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings. The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world” (Freire, 2). This shows if a student does not ignore the direct presentation they would not learn. By avoiding the direct presentation of the object, allows the student to gain sovereignty and to take the beaten path to further their education.

One form of learning is inquiry-based learning. This is where the student drives the class and takes over. This is done by the student who is given a problem or scenario, and the student completes this task by asking questions and figuring the problem out for themselves with no previous lecture from the teacher. This type of learning would eliminate lecture-based classes which are proven ineffective. Friere proves this to be an effective form of learning by saying “Problem-posing education affirms men and women as beings in the process of becoming—as unfinished, uncompleted beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality” (Freire, 6). This shows that in the beginning, people do not know the answer to the question. So they must find the answer for themselves in order to actually learn. Percy also finds inquiry-based learning to be true. He stated that “The educator whose business it is to teach students biology or poetry is unaware of a whole ensemble of relations which exist between the student and the dogfish and between the student and the Shakespeare sonnet”(Percy, 4). This demonstrates the need for the student to learn without the professor. Since the professor can not see the connection between the individual student and the topic they are learning, the student must learn the information for themselves. The student also needs to find their connection to the topic in order to understand the true answer to the problem.

Meghan Kidd & Sam Pawluczk

Praise: I like your connection to the beaten path and general education classes. This is a strong argument.

Constructive: Your thesis needs more added to how classes outside of the major are beneficial.

Percy: Your use of quotes from Percy matches the information that you want to talk about.

Haley Myers

Praise: I really like your idea! You have a very strong thesis and very strong ideas!

Constructive: You need more information on how you are you are going to use the discussion groups.

Percy: You have a good idea for how you are going to apply Percy to your idea.

Kyle Owens, Bella B, Jake D, Jenna Schreiber, Jason Gabby, Shawn, Jenna, Sabrina, Cristian Galilea, David Heffron, Joshua Rogers, Muhammad Rabi, Jake Heikkinen, Sean Redding, Tyler E, Nick, Timothy Domanowski, Sam Livorno

This discussion group was very large, and since two people had similar topics we combined into one big group. The topic was about how short cuts that we take actually hurt us in the long run. This was shown by us memorizing in school. We do this so that way we can pass the test, but in the long run this is not effective because we actually do not learn anything. We also talked about how some professors use the same powerpoints year after year to save themselves time. This is not effective because the students are not the same every year. For students this can also be shown by when taking a math test we would much rather plug everything into a calculator and let it do the work. By doing this we are not learning anything other than how to press a button. We also do not have any work shown so if we get the answer wrong we cannot receive any credit. We also would rather ask Google for the answer to our homework problems, then to actually figure it out for ourselves. This does not help us because come time for the exam we do not know how to do complex problems because we cannot ask google. All these examples prove that taking short cuts actually hurts us, rather than helps us.

During today’s discussion group I met with Sabrina Lindley, David Macmulle, and Haley Myers discussed Mikayla Medycki’s topic of what changes an experience for someone. There was a misinterpretation of where to meet due to the cold weather, so the 4 of us met separately. Our group discussed different things that can influence someone’s experience. One of those ways is by going with a tour guide. By this people cannot see things for their own. They are told all information by the guide leaving nothing for them to find out for themselves. Another thing that can affect someone’s experience is the time of day that you go. If you go at night you will not get to see the natural colors of the environment as someone who goes during the day. Lastly, we talked about how researching where you are going can affect your experience. By researching where you are going before you actually go, you have a preconceived idea of what you are going to see. Once you have this idea in your head, you will not be able to experience your trip for what it is. You will just continue to compare what you found online to what you are actually experiencing. 

Paulo Freire expounds the flaw in the current education system, and offers different perspectives on how to mediate the learning-teacher problem. After, examining “The Banking Concept of Education” we saw problems in our own education at West Chester University. Freire proposes a key concept to learning in relation to the world to their education. He presents this concept with the “Problem-Posing” education. This involves students to discuss topics relating to their world in order to understand and learn. West Chester University’s space affects how students learn and socialize. The University can be improved by changing classroom space, changing the space of campus, and changing the generational space between students and professors. 

West Chester University does not utilize concepts presented by Paulo Freire with respect to the space presented by the university. The classrooms found in the university are all desks facing towards the front of the room. This does not allow for students to socialize with their classmates. This also causes students to not properly learn, because according to Paulo Freire, students learn by discussion. The University is also split between two campuses, north and south, which separates upperclassman and lowerclassman.  This only allows students to connect with people who are in their grade and not with people older or younger than them. This could be crucial to students’ understanding of other cultures and other walks of life. This also does not allow lowerclassman and upperclassman to discuss classes, which limits their learning. Lastly, the university has a large generational gap between professors and students. This affects how students socialize with their professors, making it hard for them to relate to each other, making it hard for them to learn from each other.

In problem-posing education, one learns from discussing a topic relating to their world to another student. A way to achieve students discussing with one another is to rearrange the typical desk arrangements in classrooms. Typically, desks are set up in rows facing the teacher, limiting the ability to be able to discuss easily with one another and giving full control to the teacher. A way to mediate the classroom setup is to turn the desks in a circle. ( See Figure 1.) Therefore, the teacher is only the mediator while the students have more control and can discuss with one another more freely. Freire poses this idea by saying, “It follows logically from the banking notion of consciousness that the educator’s role is to regulate the way the world “enters into” the students.” (page 3) In a deeper meaning, the teacher’s role in a students education is to “feed” the students ideas to gain a fuller understanding of the topic. Re-shaping the desks in classrooms allows students to feel more comfortable in a classroom setting, allowing them to take in more of their world. This would be the most beneficial set up in a classroom to ensure students get a more rounded education.  

The campus space of West Chester University can be drastically improved. This can be done by breaking the barrier between north and south campus. To do this the university would need to buy the land between north and south campus. On this land, the university would move all housing on this strip of land. This would allow all on-campus living students to socialize and interact with each other, no matter what year the student is. On north campus to replace where the dorms used to be the university would move the health and science building there instead of on south campus. This would allow students that attend class in the health and science center to feel more included in the university. Lastly, the university would keep the sports fields where they are located now (see figure 2). This will allow student-athletes to be able to be within a short walking distance between classes and practice. These ideas come from Freire posing the idea “Whereas banking education anesthetizes and inhibits creative power, problem-posing education involves a constant unveiling of reality”(page 4). This can be interpreted as education is meant to create creativity. This can be done when everyone comes together as one and is not separated by age or class. 

Connecting to a student’s world is vital in their learning process. In order to mediate the generational space between students and professors, the university should have a mandatory class to update the out of date professors on changes in the student’s world. This would contain a panel of juniors and seniors in the educational department discussing topics of the world as a graduation requirement. The panel would meet every year, to ensure the professor would gain the knowledge of changes a student’s world is going through. This class would meet every Monday during the summer, to ensure the professors are up to date for the following school year.  In this class, the professor and students would discuss how to effectively teach the students generation in order to make sure classes are designed to fit everyone’s “world”. This class would be designed in the same fashion as the other proposed classes in order for it to be more of a discussion than a lecture (see figure 3). Freire proposes this idea by saying, “Liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it.” Transforming the world allows the generational space between students and professors to disappear. Allowing students to feel more of an equal with their professors. This idea is necessary in order to fill students’ social and academic needs. 

By changing the space of the classrooms, campus, and generational space at West Chester University allowing all students to be more successful in completing their degree. Therefore, these changes to the university will benefit the students in order to fulfill their academic and social needs. Freire proposes the notion of problem-posing education as a way to benefit the student’s overall education. This allows the student to identify how they can use the information given in a set class later in life. This connection is important for the student, so they value their education more than someone who is taught using the banking concept of education. 

figure 1

figure 2

figure 3

Team members: Mackenzie Neiderer & Jenna Schreiber

Topic: #1 space at WCU

Thesis: West Chester University’s space affects how students learn and socialize. The University can be improved by changing classroom space, changing the space of campus, and changing the generational space between students and professors.

Quotes:

“Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferrals of information. It is a learning situation in which
the cognizable object (far from being the end of the cognitive act) intermediates the cognitive actors—teacher on the one
hand and students on the other.” Page:4

“It follows logically from the banking notion of consciousness that the educator’s role is to regulate the way the world “enters into” the students.” page 3