Activities in Dyad Pedagogy

L.R. Sherman 5/3/2009

The biggest challenge in teaching is coming up with activities that fire the imagination and energize the process of problem-solving – what happens along the way is the learning – specific and ancillary - to that objectives that are set by us and dictated by the curriculum standards. Learning is three dimensional – taking place on the cognitive, affective and psycho-motor planes and integrated in the psyche (Brunner, Polyani, et al) and the viscera (Demasio, et al.).

Activities to spark the imagination – mind and gut – stem from authentic contexts – what is going on in the world; one’s life and that of the community and community at large. Activities in text books and other made up ones rarely embody the richness of human context with its meaning - that touches the lives of students while they study in school.

The best place to look of activities is in what is happening with you the teacher, the students and their community, the nation and the world. The big questions and small questions – this context is truly multi disciplinary; inter-disciplinary, covering every discipline in pre-college, college, graduate, and professional school.

Activities – are what students do in cause of resolving a problem or answering a question. Activities are congruent with the objectives they are focused on and respond to the evaluations that are parallel to the objectives and activities. For example, students are evaluated within the context of the activity that they are/were engaged with to gain the knowledge aimed by the objective.

Activities – are actions initiated by a concern engaged in to solve problem/s to get information/ answers related to the concern, or results.

Actions begin with interest in the question and its solution. The pursuit of action, devising stratiges, plans, and actions to arrive at a solution or an approximation of a solution –involves a substantial period of ambiguity about the task, question and its framework and context.

Definition: Activity in general speaks to action – say doing something requiring the use of both small and large muscle movement – related to a task. Activity is generally goal-directed – in the interest of addressing a problem. Inquiry is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem.

(Is Listening an activity?)


Attributes of Dyad Activities*

Simple - Complex*

Short term - Long term*

Passive - Active *

Teacher paced - Student paced*

One type of material - Multiple types of materials *

Small muscle - Large-small muscle *

No electronics environment - Electronic environment *

Few degrees of freedom - Many degrees of freedom*

No inquiry – Inquiry*

Time off task - Time on task*

no verbral - regular verbal presentation*

sitting - standing when speaking*

short answer - narrative*