The actual title for the presentation is in fact Connecting the Dots to put the emphasis and focus on linking our activities not only with theory but also with the participants and activities. Socially distributed cognition is a central concept in the approach - the dynamic nature of knowledge makes teaching more challenging as the content and in a way context are in a constant flux.
Melinda walked us through the PADS telecollaboration project with primary school students. The project connects the dots by including several "levels" of practitioners in the process. These are teacher educators, practicing teachers and student-teachers. The approach in the activities was based on the ideas of PBL and students worked through a multitude of teacher designed (note: not research designed) activities solving problems and communicating their acquired understanding to the others (both in the clasroom but also overseas with the partner class).
The preliminary results show clearly that the young students are quick to acquire skills, techniques and repertoires to communicate their thoughts to others. The aims of the project and the activities themselves sound very exciting and we definitely need to keep posted on the developments in the project. Melinda's website can be found at: http://pagines.uab.cat/melindadooly
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