Papers by Carolina Kuhn H
This paper is about one of those complex and disputed concepts that live in the educational ecosy... more This paper is about one of those complex and disputed concepts that live in the educational ecosystem: 'Personal Learning Environment' (PLE) and its application and manifestations in Mathematics Education. Although PLE is an expansive concept, that is, it is under construction and generates an ongoing discussion; there are some things we can say more definitely about it. I am going to explore different approaches to concept formation as evident in mathematics education. I will therefore describe significant features a PLE should have as being creative and experiential; open and reflective and; connective and social some important ones. I will also survey the existing PLEs in online mathematics education and expose how I intend to design a mathematics course that will use history of mathematics as a cultural context and how this will promote the use of personal learning environments as a means to learn mathematics for young students. The questions my talk will expose arise as part of my own struggle looking for theoretical anchors to define this complex and unstable construct-PLE, and its role in Mathematics Education.
The main purpose of this piece of work is to reflect upon the outcomes of a co-lead workshop I pa... more The main purpose of this piece of work is to reflect upon the outcomes of a co-lead workshop I participated in the 7 th European Summer University in Copenhagen 2014 for the History and Epistemology in Mathematics Education and reorient my pedagogical ideas in relation to the use of historical material for the teaching of the tangent line problem. The aim of the workshop was on the one hand to present the theoretical underpinnings of a digital tool E-DynamicSpace, a personal learning environment, envisioned for webbing the tangent line problem and orchestrating the learning experience and, on the other hand, to gather feedback about what kind of historical material could be suited to use in this experience. I use troublesome knowledge and webbing as my theoretical lens to explain how learners construct meaning by actions on-what I have called-'digested enough' historical sources and, relationships amongst different resources prepared for the learning experience.
This paper is the product of my reflections in regard to a workshop I co-lead in the European Sum... more This paper is the product of my reflections in regard to a workshop I co-lead in the European Summer University for the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics in the university of Aarhus, Copenhagen in July 2014. After the experience I could see the importance of the adequate degree of 'digestion' that historical sources need so they can be used as supporting knowledge when learning mathematics. I combine this idea with the notion of webbing from Noss & Hoyles and the use of a personal learning environment, E-DynamicSpace, as a tool to orchestrate the learning experience, and I ideated, with this combination, a better version of the workshop. I learned from this valuable experience that learning very often happens when we are aware of our mistakes!
Personal Learning Environment and the Learning of Mathematics – possibility or reality?
Caroline ... more Personal Learning Environment and the Learning of Mathematics – possibility or reality?
Caroline Kuhn H.
Bath Spa University, England
Personalisation in education is an innovative approach to learning; learning is mediated by tools (Vygostsky, 1978) –digital technologies and the Internet being the current trend. However, personalisation has different meanings and interpretations within the educational research community, which is what makes it difficult to define. (Fiedler and Väja 2013; Buchen et al. 2011)
Concepts are the building blocks of human cognition and an important component of our innate capacity of reasoning. In some cases new concepts both shape and lead to social innovation, which are often simple and well defined.
When it comes to the study of well-defined and stable concepts —lets say mathematical concepts— the task –although intellectually demanding is neither ambiguous nor polyvalent. When we try to conceptualize complex and organic processes that are perhaps a product of spontaneous human actions embedded in everyday activities, the task becomes more multifaceted, intricate and debated. If we are trying to conceptualize a natural phenomenon, a shared concern among humanity —let’s say global warming— the task becomes even harder. Engeström (2013) refers to the latter as “concept formation in the wild, in and between societal activities”.
I believe that is the case more in education than in other disciplines and areas of human knowledge activity; even more when, what we are trying to define, lies in the unstable intersection between education, the Internet and the digital tools given the affordances that they offer. Technology, especially due to its evolution at its present rate, is a complex space to delve into.
This paper is about one of those complex and disputed concepts that live in the educational ecosystem: ‘Personal Learning Environment’ (PLE) and its application and manifestations in Mathematics Education. Although PLE is an expansive concept (Engeström, 2013) that is, it is under construction and generates an on-going discussion, there are some things we can say more definitely about it. I am going to explore different approaches to concept formation as evident in mathematics education.
I will therefore describe significant features a PLE should have as being creative and experiential; open and reflective and; connective and social amongst others. I will also survey the existing PLEs in online mathematics education. I will expose how I intend to design a mathematics course that will use history of mathematics as a cultural context and how this will promote the use of personal learning environments as a means to learn mathematics for young students. The questions my talk will expose arise as part of my own struggle looking for theoretical anchors to define this complex and unstable construct –PLE, and its role in Mathematics Education.
Drafts by Carolina Kuhn H
This text is part of my first reflexions regarding the conceptualisation of the space I have and ... more This text is part of my first reflexions regarding the conceptualisation of the space I have and still am envisioning for a personal learning environment
Conference Presentations by Carolina Kuhn H
We are witnessing a cultural shift -from close to open, from eventually to instantly. Digital too... more We are witnessing a cultural shift -from close to open, from eventually to instantly. Digital tools enable us to publish thoughts in number of ways changing the form that individuals collaborate, research and create. The very notion of literacy has changed. It is no longer literacy but literacies, denoting by its plural form the complexity of this new medium. Based on this, my research asks: how can students be supported to engage in an open and meaningful way with digital literacies in a research-rich academic setting so they become research digitally literate?
This research aims to provide empirical evidence on students’ process of re-designing their informal system of tools -PLE- and its implications for learning. Students’ social identity will be harnessed and together we will tinker and fix their informal PLEs using a scaffolding structure yet to be designed using data gathered in the initial phase of the project.
A first round of data about their informal PLEs has been collected; tools for academic purposes were absent in their acadmic digital space. Students called for guidance and support. What follows is the first support intervention: 4 20Min-sessions -digital bite- that will be running at the beginning of the lecture, will showcase a family of tools and its functionalities. With this knowledge in place and their learning profile, the design principles for the model will be conceptualise and students will start to pull their tools together to (re)design their PLEs fallowing a participatory design method.
There is more than one route to success; each student will reinvent their learning space, linking technological activities with transformational learning while hacking, making and sharing their experience
This study aims to answer the question of how can the history of mathematics resort to a digital ... more This study aims to answer the question of how can the history of mathematics resort to a digital tool – E-Dynamic.Space – designed by teacher-students and intended to serve as a workbench not only to create supportive knowledge from historical material, which has proved to support the understanding of mathematics but, also to orchestrate both, their actual learning of the tangent line problem and their future mathematics teaching experience. It, therefore, explores aspects of the design of the teaching activities, and it analyses the 'whys' and 'hows' of including the historical dimension into the teaching experience. It is part of a bigger research project that looks at how can teacher-students favour from a historically informed pedagogy of mathematics that uses a personalised learning environment as a means to learn
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Papers by Carolina Kuhn H
Caroline Kuhn H.
Bath Spa University, England
Personalisation in education is an innovative approach to learning; learning is mediated by tools (Vygostsky, 1978) –digital technologies and the Internet being the current trend. However, personalisation has different meanings and interpretations within the educational research community, which is what makes it difficult to define. (Fiedler and Väja 2013; Buchen et al. 2011)
Concepts are the building blocks of human cognition and an important component of our innate capacity of reasoning. In some cases new concepts both shape and lead to social innovation, which are often simple and well defined.
When it comes to the study of well-defined and stable concepts —lets say mathematical concepts— the task –although intellectually demanding is neither ambiguous nor polyvalent. When we try to conceptualize complex and organic processes that are perhaps a product of spontaneous human actions embedded in everyday activities, the task becomes more multifaceted, intricate and debated. If we are trying to conceptualize a natural phenomenon, a shared concern among humanity —let’s say global warming— the task becomes even harder. Engeström (2013) refers to the latter as “concept formation in the wild, in and between societal activities”.
I believe that is the case more in education than in other disciplines and areas of human knowledge activity; even more when, what we are trying to define, lies in the unstable intersection between education, the Internet and the digital tools given the affordances that they offer. Technology, especially due to its evolution at its present rate, is a complex space to delve into.
This paper is about one of those complex and disputed concepts that live in the educational ecosystem: ‘Personal Learning Environment’ (PLE) and its application and manifestations in Mathematics Education. Although PLE is an expansive concept (Engeström, 2013) that is, it is under construction and generates an on-going discussion, there are some things we can say more definitely about it. I am going to explore different approaches to concept formation as evident in mathematics education.
I will therefore describe significant features a PLE should have as being creative and experiential; open and reflective and; connective and social amongst others. I will also survey the existing PLEs in online mathematics education. I will expose how I intend to design a mathematics course that will use history of mathematics as a cultural context and how this will promote the use of personal learning environments as a means to learn mathematics for young students. The questions my talk will expose arise as part of my own struggle looking for theoretical anchors to define this complex and unstable construct –PLE, and its role in Mathematics Education.
Drafts by Carolina Kuhn H
Conference Presentations by Carolina Kuhn H
This research aims to provide empirical evidence on students’ process of re-designing their informal system of tools -PLE- and its implications for learning. Students’ social identity will be harnessed and together we will tinker and fix their informal PLEs using a scaffolding structure yet to be designed using data gathered in the initial phase of the project.
A first round of data about their informal PLEs has been collected; tools for academic purposes were absent in their acadmic digital space. Students called for guidance and support. What follows is the first support intervention: 4 20Min-sessions -digital bite- that will be running at the beginning of the lecture, will showcase a family of tools and its functionalities. With this knowledge in place and their learning profile, the design principles for the model will be conceptualise and students will start to pull their tools together to (re)design their PLEs fallowing a participatory design method.
There is more than one route to success; each student will reinvent their learning space, linking technological activities with transformational learning while hacking, making and sharing their experience
Caroline Kuhn H.
Bath Spa University, England
Personalisation in education is an innovative approach to learning; learning is mediated by tools (Vygostsky, 1978) –digital technologies and the Internet being the current trend. However, personalisation has different meanings and interpretations within the educational research community, which is what makes it difficult to define. (Fiedler and Väja 2013; Buchen et al. 2011)
Concepts are the building blocks of human cognition and an important component of our innate capacity of reasoning. In some cases new concepts both shape and lead to social innovation, which are often simple and well defined.
When it comes to the study of well-defined and stable concepts —lets say mathematical concepts— the task –although intellectually demanding is neither ambiguous nor polyvalent. When we try to conceptualize complex and organic processes that are perhaps a product of spontaneous human actions embedded in everyday activities, the task becomes more multifaceted, intricate and debated. If we are trying to conceptualize a natural phenomenon, a shared concern among humanity —let’s say global warming— the task becomes even harder. Engeström (2013) refers to the latter as “concept formation in the wild, in and between societal activities”.
I believe that is the case more in education than in other disciplines and areas of human knowledge activity; even more when, what we are trying to define, lies in the unstable intersection between education, the Internet and the digital tools given the affordances that they offer. Technology, especially due to its evolution at its present rate, is a complex space to delve into.
This paper is about one of those complex and disputed concepts that live in the educational ecosystem: ‘Personal Learning Environment’ (PLE) and its application and manifestations in Mathematics Education. Although PLE is an expansive concept (Engeström, 2013) that is, it is under construction and generates an on-going discussion, there are some things we can say more definitely about it. I am going to explore different approaches to concept formation as evident in mathematics education.
I will therefore describe significant features a PLE should have as being creative and experiential; open and reflective and; connective and social amongst others. I will also survey the existing PLEs in online mathematics education. I will expose how I intend to design a mathematics course that will use history of mathematics as a cultural context and how this will promote the use of personal learning environments as a means to learn mathematics for young students. The questions my talk will expose arise as part of my own struggle looking for theoretical anchors to define this complex and unstable construct –PLE, and its role in Mathematics Education.
This research aims to provide empirical evidence on students’ process of re-designing their informal system of tools -PLE- and its implications for learning. Students’ social identity will be harnessed and together we will tinker and fix their informal PLEs using a scaffolding structure yet to be designed using data gathered in the initial phase of the project.
A first round of data about their informal PLEs has been collected; tools for academic purposes were absent in their acadmic digital space. Students called for guidance and support. What follows is the first support intervention: 4 20Min-sessions -digital bite- that will be running at the beginning of the lecture, will showcase a family of tools and its functionalities. With this knowledge in place and their learning profile, the design principles for the model will be conceptualise and students will start to pull their tools together to (re)design their PLEs fallowing a participatory design method.
There is more than one route to success; each student will reinvent their learning space, linking technological activities with transformational learning while hacking, making and sharing their experience