[nabs-l] About Structured discovery in every day life

[Jewel S.]

I'll shar an example of structured discovery that I experienced, and
one I used as a nanny.

At the rehab center, my O&M instructor was very enthusiastic about my
sense of self-dependence. So, he liked to give me tasks over the
weekend to show him my learning on Monday. One Friday, he gave me the
tasks of finding out how to get from my apartment to the mall. This
was no simple task for me, because I had very little experience with
the bus system. I knew how to get to the bus...schedule a Paratransit
trip to drop you off at the curb! But he said no more "cheating" (he
used this term because I had used it to describe why I wanted to learn
how to use the buses, that I felt Paratransit was a kind of cheating
as far as O&M goes). So, I was like...where to start? He gave me a few
links, and sent me on my way for the weekend. The first link was the
webpage for Crabtree Valley Mall. This gave me the address, and it
even mentioned where the bus stop was (outside Belk's) and what buses
go there (quite a few, but I concentrated on the #16, which was a
direct route to the mall). The second link was the webpage of the CAT
bus system. There, I searched until I found the #16 route, and then
had to translate the PDF file (a lesson all it's own). I finally found
the time and name of the stop. Then I had to get to Moore Square for
the transfer, so I had to use a past lesson wher he taught me how to
get to the bus stop closest to my apartment, two blocks away. It was
the #12, and in Moore Square, it went to the blue zone (Moore Square
has zones, coloured red, blue, green, yellow, and purple). The #16
left from the blue zone, so I was lucky and didn't have to recall the
crazy layout of Moore Square. So, I went back to the CAT bus page,
found the route PDF file for the #12, and figured out the time it got
to my stop, and when it got to the transfer point. I wrote these all
down. On Saturday, I took the #12 to Moore Square, transferred to the
#16, and asked the driver to let me know when we got to the mall stop.
He did, and I got off. I asked another shopper where the front door to
Belk's was, and went in. After navigating the mall a bit, I stopped in
at a chocolate store, grabbed a chocolate bar for myself and a few
chocolates for my teacher, and headed home. On Monday, he asked me how
it went, and I handed him the candy and said "Great; want me to show
you my new favourite chocolate shop there?" So, we did a kinda
test-run (he wasn't allowed to take me on the bus, but he could do the
parts before and after the bus, so he took me to the #12 bus stop,
went over the times I chose, then brought me by car to the mall and we
went from the bus stop to my new favourite shop. It was a great
experience, and I got a prize out of it...he bought me some great
chocolate sticks! That is what I consider structured discovery...give
the student the means to learn something, and then step back and let
them figure it out for themselves.

As a professional nanny, I often used this design of teaching, as it
helps children learn to be independent. They must learn not to rely on
adults for every word of learning and every activity they participate
in. For example, I planned a bug hunt activity one afternoon. I
printed sheets that showed pictures of three common bugs
(grasshoppers, roly-polys, and earthworms) and explained to the
children (ages 4 and 6) where to find the bugs and how to collect them
into the three jars provided. Then, I sent them out into the back yard
and supervised this bug hunt. They both had a rather nice collection
of grasshoppers in a wire-topped container with grass and dirt, roly
polys in a jar with holes at the top and containing dirt and a few
rocks, and earthworms in a larger plastic jar with lots of dirt and a
few shriveled leaves and some grass blades. At the end, we went over
the three types of bugs we had discovered in the back yard, and
discussed why each bug was put in the container it was put in, and
what sort of environment each bug needs. I asked them where they found
their bugs (roly polys and earthworms were usually under rocks, while
the grasshoppers were of course hopping around in the grass). And then
we read a book about earthworms and how they create soil. I taught
them, but they also taught themselves. The tools were provided to them
to get as much out of the experience as they could, and we discussed
it afterwards and they knew a great deal about each bug after.

Hope that wasn't too boring,
Jewel

On 4/24/10, Gerardo Corripio <gera1027 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi guys: I was reading up on the Structured Discovery method and as I
> understand it it's a combination of guidance and doing things yourself. I
> got to thinking that not necessarily O&M is the only place where one can use
> it because though we don't or might not know, we tend to use it in every day
> life! for instance on the PC suppose a friend teaches us the basics use of
> Qwitter, Jaws or whatever software and hardware. Knowing the basics I can
> then take it from there and learn more advanced things myself. is this kind
> of how the structured discovery method works? I don't know why but it sounds
> very interesting, thus my question to you guys and hoping that it might
> serve for those also new in all these topics! Definitely lots of things to
> take in!
> Gerardo
>
>
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