Mind in the Making: Connections

Connections…such a simple word for such a complex idea. As Ellen Galinsky points out in Chapter 4, the ability to make connections is an essential life skill. One of the newer learning theories, connectivism, rests on this idea.  In fact, one of the fundamental principles of this theory states that the “ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill” (Siemens, 2004). Since connections are at the heart of this chapter, I created a mind map to share the connections I made while reading. This is similar to curriculum web that many of you use to lesson plan. I started with chapter 4 and then put key ideas from the reading in the inner layer and wrote connections to other readings, theorists, classroom ideas, instructional strategies, and personal experiences in the outer layer.

Click Here For Larger View of Map

As part of my son’s homework, he is asked to note a connection each night after he completes his daily reading. There are three options: text to text, text to self, or text to world. As you are reading through Mind in the Making, I encourage you to look for these connections.  And as you are reading books with children in your classrooms, I challenge you to help them make these connections as well by asking questions such as:

• What other books have you read about_______( this subject)?
• When was a time that you felt the same way as ________(the character in the story)?
• Where have you seen _______(something from the book)?

Galinsky shares the story of Philip (pp. 158-9) to explain how sorting is the beginning of making connections. At the start of the quarter in my math/science class, I have the students collect items from outside and sort them to illustrate this point.

     So, go find 10 random items now…….

     Go on, I’ll wait…..

     Now, sort them into two groups.

     Yes, I really want you to actually do it.

     What categories did you use for this sort?

     Great! Do it again using different categories….

     Again….

     Again…

     Again.

In my class, we fill up two white boards of categories and can still come up with others that we haven’t used yet. These objects can be linked in so many different ways and one of our jobs as teachers is to help children make these connections. We can give them categories and ask them to sort. But we learn so much more about their view of the world when we ask them to group the items and then have them explain their groupings to us.

Piaget also stressed the importance of understanding the relationships between objects. There are four tasks used to build connections: classification (sorting into groups), seriation (putting in order by attribute), temporal relations (putting in order by time sequence, think ordinal numbers: first, second, third…), and spatial relations (an awareness of space, think prepositions: on, under, over, beside). Children should have opportunities to develop their skills in all four of these areas. In a unit on pumpkins, students might:

• Sort the pumpkins a group of small pumpkins and a group of large pumpkins (classification)
• Put the pumpkins in a row from the smoothest skin to the bumpiest (seriation)
• Put the pumpkins into a sequence according the stages of its lifecycle: seed, flower, green pumpkin, orange pumpkin (temporal relations)
• Scoop the seeds out from the inside of the pumpkin (spatial relations)

As you are planning your curriculum, be sure you include opportunities for children to make connections in all four of these ways.

I’ll share more of the connections that I made during the webinar on January 17th and will ask you to share some of yours. See you then!

Blog post written by:  Krissy Kim
Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education,
Pierce College