Assessments

When talking about the difference between formative and summative  assessments it is best to go straight to the the root words in each, formation and summary. Formative assessments are the teacher forming what they are teaching students by what they have found. When climbing a rock wall as you move up the wall before each step you test to make sure that is held on tight enough to support you and if it is not you pick a new rock to climb next on. This is the same as formative assessment where teachers ask students questions throughout the course to determine whether their teaching methods are working or whether they need to put more emphasis in certain areas. An example for a flight instructor might be an instructor just shows how to change between frequencies on the radio on the Garmin 430 but does not allow the student to do so, later the instructor is asking the student to put in a frequency and the student is unsure how, then the instructor reteaches it properly. A summative assessment, similar to a summary is at the end of a course of training. This is best represented by the FAA Practical Test or End of Courses.
Criterion-referenced assessments have to deal with a learner gaining a objectively measured set of competence. This is a student performing to the Practical Test Standards for a new rating. Norm-referenced assessments is measured against others that are in the same class. A good example of this would be a class on Aviation Law where there is no set rule of what cases need to be analyzed, what types of law should be examined, and for how long. Self-referenced assessments deals with the learner learning for personal reasons with no objective or being able to compare to other students. An area in aviation this might be seen is in numerous workshops about ADM where participants are there for their own reasons and it  would be unpractical to use objective standards or compare everyone to each other.
Self-directed learners can incorporate thoughts and feelings, think across theoretical systems, and address problems where a solution is not just hard to fine but may be one of many solutions. They will see their teachers as colleagues other than authorities, and will want to be actively engaged in their learning and assessment activities. They prefer self-referenced assessments as opposed to criterion or norm referenced. An example I have had recently is with my flight instructor when I go flying. He will ask me to come with specific detailed goals that I would like to accomplish during a flight and he will add input on how I can work on that and then after my lesson we have a thorough review about the maneuvers and why I messed up with me providing most of the input and if I miss something we needed to cover he asks about it.

Selecting Methods and Charateristics of Adult Learners

I think role playing can be used on a flight where the instructor is trying to demonstrate to the student about Crew Resource Management (CRM). Crew Resource Management is using team management principles in the flight deck such as workload management, situational awareness, communication, the role of the captain, and crew member coordination (PHAK16-2). A good place to use this would be in a commercial student’s cross country phase with the instructor. The student would play the role of captain and the instructor would be the first officer and would have a preflight discussion with instructor about CRM. The student would be  asked to do more tasks and would then start delegating tasks to the instructor.Afterwards the instructor would talk to the student about what task could have been delegated and were not or if more communication was needed.

The four categories are instructor centered, interactive, individualized, and experiential. Instructor centered is exactly how it sounds where the instructor uses a positivist viewpoint to give knowledge through lecture, questioning, and demonstration. This category works well for larger classes where lots of information needs to be covered. Instructor centered usually focuses on the lower levels of learning. The interactive category has more of a constructivist outlook and suits smaller classes and where the focus will be on the higher levels of learning. Students share knowledge through class discussion, discussion groups, peer teaching, and group projects. Individualized is the third category and is very much based on the pace the student sets and can take more time from the instructor then other methods but the format is flexible and gets the student actively involved in the learning approach. This category fits into a constructivist approach as well. The final category is experiential which uses clinical , such as nurses, laboratory, role playing, simulations/games, and drill. Drill focuses on repetition and lower levels of learning where the other parts of experiential category fit a higher level of learning.

Discussion groups would be useful in talking about flight planning. The execution would start with the instructor giving a departure airport and arrival airport and then include another limiting factor such as altitude and then let the students choose the routes and justify why their group chose the way they did.

What method the instructor uses is based on what knowledge the students have in a subject area or whether the information being covered would best be represented by a specific method. For example when talking to a class about FARs role playing would not be as effective as delivering a prepared lecture because of the amount of FARs and the time it would take using other methods.

Demographics that tend to affect adult learners are age, gender, and language and background. Age gives some insight not only on how somebody looks but could possibly let you know about experiences they might have had or their viewpoint on certain topics.  One example of this could be and older student might not be as familiar with technology in the classroom and expect the teacher to avoid using it while someone younger would welcome it. Men and women are different, not just physically but also in the way that each generally tends to develop women value relationships and responsibilities, empathy, and interdependence (p.31). Men generally on the other hand do not and so it is important that as the instructor that you do not alienate any students with language or imagery. Another demographic that affects adult learners is language and background such as if they have a strong understanding of the language, whether living conditions permit them to safely study, or what they value can all have an effect on the adult learner.

Adults tend to be more goal oriented seeking the immediate benefit of the knowledge they are attaining and are there by choice. Adults also have more life experiences, educational backgrounds, and physical requirements. When teaching an adult I would make sure that I can show how each lesson is directly tied to what they are trying accomplish and try use some of their life experiences to help them better understand what I am trying to teach.

Modality and Another Look at Positivism

From reading the Jeppesen textbook I feel that auditory modality suits me well because I have noticed in my flight training I like to try and explain in my own words what my instructor has taught me and that I learn really well on my own or with only one other person. I also tend to remember things that people tell me that they themselves may not remember telling me.But I defiantly am kinesthetic when I am solo in the plane where I remember what I did in other similar situations and applying that to the current situation I am in.

Two points I found in the article that  I will apply in my teaching are modality to content and that memories are stored as meaning. When I talk about modality to content it is that depending on what it is you are teaching you should use the best modality to best convey the information to the student. For example a lesson on unusual attitude recoveries would benefit from the kinesthetic experience from inside the airplane where as a lesson on storm movement in the northern hemisphere would benefit from a visual representation such as a animation or charts showing movement over time. The other point that memories are stored as meaning is important I believe because if the meaning of lesson is not conveyed properly then the student will not retain the proper information. One example might be when demonstrating to your students cross controlled stalls and if you do a spin and do not treat it like a big deal then what meaning will the student remember? That the cross controlled stall is a cool trick they can show their friends or that the cross controlled stall could happen if you overshoot the runway centerline and then use opposite aileron and rudder while applying back elevator pressure leading to a spin 500 feet above the ground or lower.

Another thought on positivism in aviation. Positivism definitely has its place in aviation education because there are certain things that are concrete facts like that without gas your plane’s engine will not continue to run. A positivists view could help to explain the facts that a pilot needs to know so they can use them to help create experiences. An example would be the weight and balance. The math is the same and the numbers for the arms don’t change and a positivist could go through and teach about weight and balance but a positivist view only gets base knowledge that is needed to develop true understanding. That student who learned weight and balance still needs to know where to add weight and fuel or how much to take or even passenger loading. One experience I had with this was at St. George in 2010 I was going on an instrument flight with another student to Cedar City  and on the weight and balance I noticed if I flew second would be out of CG limits but if I flew first we would be fine.

Epistemology

Epistemology is an investigation to determine what knowledge is and how humans can gain knowledge. Epistemology attempts to answer these questions and in education where one is teaching it can render an important philosophical foundation for the teacher to pass on knowledge to a student.

            Primarily there are two ways knowledge is viewed. One view is that of a positivist. Positivists believe that knowledge is something that is discovered and is transferred from someone who had expertise in that area to a student. For a positivist knowledge is factual and is discovered through the experiential method, which after findings are verified a positivist believes they have knowledge. In positivist perspective knowledge and information are the same thing. On the other hand is a constructivist epistemology where a human assigns meaning to a combination of facts and artifacts. Knowledge is pieced together by humans from what they collect from the world around them and assigns meaning to what has been found.

The main difference between constructivist teachers and positivists ones is that a constructivist teacher creates a situation that allows a student to develop their own understanding as opposed to the positivist teacher who possessing the knowledge simply gives information to the student usually through a lecture. The other difference is the view of what knowledge is whether it is tangible as with positivists or whether it is more intangible in the case of the constructivist. Another difference is the amount of participation between students in a positivist setting, where a teacher talks about information and tells the student what is means, and a constructivist environment where the student is expected to come to their own understanding which forces the student to become more engaged in the topic.

I personally indentify with constructivist epistemology more because the focus is on students deriving the knowledge for themselves rather than relying solely on others to be the providers on knowledge. When I was in martial arts I would teach different techniques to a wide range of people of various ages and skill level. We taught some techniques that were already designed but the reason was so that students would eventually use the basics (like different punches or kicks) to make their own techniques, which was demonstrated in a game called monkey in the barrel. We set out a mat and every person got a chance to stand in the middle then every person would one at a time would attack the one in the middle who would defend against it. One could tell when someone had finally come to some sort of understanding how what they did affected the opponent’s body.  I identify more with constructivism because I think that knowledge is something each student comes up with on their own and doesn’t always have to be the same.