Evidence of Analytical and Integrative Thinking

Graphic Explaination
What drives my thinking?

Connecting from simulation to reality, this has been the driving force of many researchers to connect practice to real, job related activities. In my expanding research, I have found my thinking is influenced by understanding that learning is situated in context, learning is experiential, one learns best by doing and the importance of role of transfer.

The combination of these ideas has comes from my own experiences in the classroom and my coursework throughout my doctoral program. My experiences as a 20 year veteran classroom teacher have given me an insightful perspective and I believe teaching is a field of doing. New teachers benefit from the advice and expertise of an established instructor, but only by being in the classroom and experiencing firsthand a classroom setting can a teacher hope to be successful. These situational settings help a teacher to gain understanding of specific contextual situations. It is the goal of all teachers to transfer difficult situations to positive teachable moments.
As I moved from my earlier portfolio to my present design, I had to separate myself from a situation which was holding back my thinking. This new graphic took on a form of its own and was constructed from my core beliefs about education. Education is experiential in nature and my learning was growing in many dimensions and I needed to portray this in my design.

The image I have chosen to represent my thinking is a bridge. The bridge component in its entirety represents the structured transfer of learning by using a virtual environment to move from a simulation to a real world experience.
The bridge construction has it foundations in 4 core areas. These pylons of stability are situated learning, as proposed by Brown et al (1989) , Zone of Proximity as stated by Vygotsky (1978), Learning by Doing, as discussed by Carl Aldrich (2005), Experiential Learning Theory as laid down by Rogers (1983) and further defined by Kold (1984), and transfer as discussed by Perkins and Salomon (1994). Theses frameworks hold steady the source for the connector of simulations and real word experiences.

On the left side of the bridge is the simulation. When using the simulation, the student through situated learning gains experiences to a concept. The goal of the learned experience is to transfer that knowledge to a real event, the right side of the bridge. This guided experience motivates the learning to make good choices when encountering similar situations in their reality.

The roadbed represents the design aspect of the careful combination of classroom, curriculum and instruction. Through the FACTS model of lesson design as detailed by Norton and Wiburg (2002), learners navigate experiences designed in situated authentic problems. These situated authentic problems motivate the learner and target learning to real world tasks. Through the Zone of Proximal development the student’s use of the virtual experiences, which are safe and guided, transfers that knowledge to new unaided learning circumstances.
For the successful transfer of experiences a virtual environment will serve as the vehicle in this educational experience. The virtual environment acts as the delivery service for moving experiences from experiential to reality. This experiential device allows for a safe learning environment to explore all possibilities without the undesired outcomes.

Bridging the gap between simulations and real life experiences, this is a phrase kept repeating to myself about my research interests. Because of this thinking, and repetitions of those ideas and phrases, I have found and area I wish to explore. I aim to explore bridging the research gap between elementary students and college student’s use of a virtual environment for learning, and bridging a gap in understanding between virtual tools and transference of knowledge.