Unit 6, Lesson 4: Collective Learning
Learning Target: I can claim test a theory about collective learning
Class Activities:
1. Students walked in and picked up the "Collective Learning" Handout. They began the do now, asking them which inventions they could have come up on their own. Most agreed that they could come up with crude or simple forms of baskets, bridges, or canoes, but couldn't make perfect or amazing versions of any of them. So how do we have things like beautiful baskets, or the Brooklyn Bridge, or huge ocean-crossing ships? Students answered that we learned from other people, or multiple people shared idea, or built upon other people's ideas. That is collective learning!
I also put up a formal definition for the students to copy:
Collective Learning: The ability to share, preserve, and build upon ideas over time.
2. I explained that many scientists think early humans collectively learned, and that's what makes us special/different from animals. But how do we know that early humans collectively learned? There are three pieces of evidence that we looked at, and for each one, students had to write if the evidence was a reliable way to explain early humans.
3. For the Yanomami tribe excerpt, we read it as a class. Some students felt that it was a reliable way to prove that early humans used collective learning because the Yanomami tribe is around today. Some students didn't feel that it was reliable because the Yanomami exist today, and so can't really tell us what like for early humans was like.
5. For the Lascaux Caves section, we asked the same question. Do the Lascaux Cave paintings show collective learning? If you look at the top left picture, notice that the bull's hooves are drawn with detail, and in the picture below it, it shows the tracks. That's a perfect example of collective learning, scientists say, because it shows that early humans were noting details like hoof tracks that others could use to hunt and track.
Some students thought that was pretty convincing, because it was from that time period and does show a lot of detail. Other students said that we have no idea why early humans were painting those things-- maybe it was just doodles, and in that case, that doesn't help much.
6. In the last one, watch the John Case video clip below.
Papers handed in today:
Symbolic Language worksheet
Homework:
Collective Learning Packet (don't forget the back!)
Class Activities:
1. Students walked in and picked up the "Collective Learning" Handout. They began the do now, asking them which inventions they could have come up on their own. Most agreed that they could come up with crude or simple forms of baskets, bridges, or canoes, but couldn't make perfect or amazing versions of any of them. So how do we have things like beautiful baskets, or the Brooklyn Bridge, or huge ocean-crossing ships? Students answered that we learned from other people, or multiple people shared idea, or built upon other people's ideas. That is collective learning!
I also put up a formal definition for the students to copy:
Collective Learning: The ability to share, preserve, and build upon ideas over time.
2. I explained that many scientists think early humans collectively learned, and that's what makes us special/different from animals. But how do we know that early humans collectively learned? There are three pieces of evidence that we looked at, and for each one, students had to write if the evidence was a reliable way to explain early humans.
3. For the Yanomami tribe excerpt, we read it as a class. Some students felt that it was a reliable way to prove that early humans used collective learning because the Yanomami tribe is around today. Some students didn't feel that it was reliable because the Yanomami exist today, and so can't really tell us what like for early humans was like.
5. For the Lascaux Caves section, we asked the same question. Do the Lascaux Cave paintings show collective learning? If you look at the top left picture, notice that the bull's hooves are drawn with detail, and in the picture below it, it shows the tracks. That's a perfect example of collective learning, scientists say, because it shows that early humans were noting details like hoof tracks that others could use to hunt and track.
Some students thought that was pretty convincing, because it was from that time period and does show a lot of detail. Other students said that we have no idea why early humans were painting those things-- maybe it was just doodles, and in that case, that doesn't help much.
6. In the last one, watch the John Case video clip below.
Papers handed in today:
Symbolic Language worksheet
Homework:
Collective Learning Packet (don't forget the back!)
9global_collective_learning_handout.pdf | |
File Size: | 3867 kb |
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