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From Now On
The Educational Technology Journal
Vol 9|No 2|October|1999
We give students skills to create meaning where many would find nothing but fog. When we set two or more ideas, paintings, poems, leaders or cities side by side, we provoke thought and comparison.
When we place them thus in juxtaposition4, we set in motion thoughts of difference - cognitive dissonance. The sharper the contrast, the greater the dissonance. We can feel the vibration, the conflict, the discomfort. We are thrown off balance. Our minds are intrigued . . . our curiosities awakened. We want to resolve the dissonance . . . bring things back into harmony5 or resonance. Too much school research and thought has suffered from a singular focus. Topical research (Go find out about California!) lacks the energy and excitement of comparison and choice.
Dissonance and Juxtaposition in ARTThe vast digital resources available on the Internet provide countless opportunities to inspire original thought. Examples of dissonance and juxtaposition can be found within images. And images may also be placed side by side to set up the juxtaposition. Within Images How do dissonance and juxtaposition add to the meaning and impact of each of these paintings?
Comparing Images Which of these Goyas available at the Thinker (www.thinker.org) - The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco - better shows courage? Click here to search for a list of Goya "COURAGE" images from the Thinker. Enter "Goya" and "courage" in the Search box mid way down the page.
Thumbnail images used with permission of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Which of these jobs would you prefer if you were living in Victoria in 1890 - 1930? Why? Explore the digital resources available from Museum Victoria to make your choice. The Biggest Family Album in Australia Which of these jobs would you prefer if you were living in the States in 1890 - 1930? Why?
Explore the digital resources available from The Library of Congress to make your choice. Detroit Publishing Company http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/detroit/dethome.html Dissonance and Juxtaposition in Poetry What examples of dissonance and juxtaposition can you identify within the poem below? Benched
Their eyes shift back and forth Poem and sketch © by Jamie McKenzie Dissonance and Juxtaposition in Datasets Huge datasets such as this one from the Department of Justice listing populations and numbers of homicides for the largest American cities are jammed full of comparisons just waiting to be explored. Any time we put information in grids we are juxtaposing information - setting up a comparison.
(click here to download EXCEL file with complete dataset)
Stilling the Narrative Voice: Explanation and Explication as Enemies of Thought. . .We must still the narrative voice . . . at least part of the time. The voice at the front of the room. The voice on the museum's guided tour cassette. The labels next to the paintings. The Cliff Notes. The sound bites. The mind bytes. The eye candy and mind candy. When we explain everything to young people, they do not learn how to interpret for themselves. They yawn. They memorize. They yawn some more. They take notes. They daydream. They yawn. But how much do they remember? Are they growing mentally strong and independent or flabby and dependent upon others to do their thinking for them? Those of us hoping to enhance the thinking skills of students often focus on the importance of teachers learning to pass back and forth through a spectrum of teaching styles that range from "sage on the stage" to "guide on the aide." It is unlikely that students will learn to make up their own minds or think for themselves if someone stands at the front of the room day after day explaining life, content and curriculum to them. We have growing evidence that "traditional" teachers (as defined by Hank Becker) are much less likely than "constructivist" teachers to allow students to make frequent and meaningful use of information technologies. Concern about curriculum standards keeps many of these earnest professionals in the role of information provider and wisdom dispenser. Students in such classrooms are restricted to consumption of insight rather than construction of insight. They consume a steady diet of secondary sources and other people's interpretations. They are raised on the educational equivalent of fast food. We must still the narrative voice . . . at least part of the time. We must construct information challenges for our students that put them in the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew. We must provide teachers with robust professional development so that they will be skillful in their efforts to require fresh thinking from students. We don't need more classes in software. if we expect to witness "standards-based," curriculum rich integration of new technologies with classic classroom content, then we must show teachers how to employ learning strategies such as the ones outlined in this article to set up juxtaposition - carefully structured comparisons, contrasts and choices that will provoke thought and inquiry.
Credits: Photographs by Jamie McKenzie. Copyright Policy: Materials published in From Now On may be duplicated in hard copy format if unchanged in format and content for educational, nonprofit school district and university use only and may also be sent from person to person by e-mail. This copyright statement must be included. All other uses, transmissions and duplications are prohibited unless permission is granted expressly. Showing these pages remotely through frames is not permitted. |