Down the trail, the shift from Birch to Balsa Trees on the left side of the trail is subtle. The trees are spread out more and there is more undergrowth, almost like a thicket around the base of the trees. A flash of sunlight from something shiny at the base of a tree not too far away grabs your attention as the trees and leaves sway to change the patterns of the sun shining through. "I wonder as I wander," you think as you step into the thicket to see what reflected that flash of sunlight...
Balsa Trees:
Quintilian
Marcus Quintilian (c. 100 CE) was sent to Rome by his father to study rhetoric during the early reign of Nero. After his studies Quintilian opened his own public school of rhetoric during the Year of the Four Emperors. Some believe that Quintilian was the first to pursue his version of what we call a student centered classroom. Quintilian's surviving work discusses the issues of rhetoric in addition to his educational development.
Ludus: Latin for: game, play, sport, training
Ludus was versatile term in Rome. Ludi were schools found throughout Rome where young children, up to age eleven, studied under an educated slave or freedman. Students studied the areas of math, science, reading, writing, and poetry; some schools also taught rhetoric. Ludus also referred to the training that gladiators pursued. Ludus was also the word used for board games. Because ludus referred to the training of gladiator games and board games, Latin poetry often used the term to resemble playfulness.
Institutes of Oratory
This author believes that children learning the name of letters and their order before their shapes hinders their learning and understanding. He believes this method encourages the mind to take the lead in the learning process then the student skims over the letter shapes, failing to commit them to memory.
Review:
The history of gaming is intriguing; it is always fun consider why and how we have what we have. I do not quite understand how this applies to the development of the gaming world today but I am sure that as I continue down the Birch Trail I will gain more understanding.
It was interesting to read this perspective of teaching the alphabet, and it makes sense. I see how I have done this in the past with other areas of learning. Working in a restaurant, it is one thing to learn how something is prepared and describe how it should look, it is another to build the dish yourself.
Ludus: Latin for: game, play, sport, training
Ludus was versatile term in Rome. Ludi were schools found throughout Rome where young children, up to age eleven, studied under an educated slave or freedman. Students studied the areas of math, science, reading, writing, and poetry; some schools also taught rhetoric. Ludus also referred to the training that gladiators pursued. Ludus was also the word used for board games. Because ludus referred to the training of gladiator games and board games, Latin poetry often used the term to resemble playfulness.
Institutes of Oratory
This author believes that children learning the name of letters and their order before their shapes hinders their learning and understanding. He believes this method encourages the mind to take the lead in the learning process then the student skims over the letter shapes, failing to commit them to memory.
Review:
The history of gaming is intriguing; it is always fun consider why and how we have what we have. I do not quite understand how this applies to the development of the gaming world today but I am sure that as I continue down the Birch Trail I will gain more understanding.
It was interesting to read this perspective of teaching the alphabet, and it makes sense. I see how I have done this in the past with other areas of learning. Working in a restaurant, it is one thing to learn how something is prepared and describe how it should look, it is another to build the dish yourself.
The purpose for considering the historical background is simply to provide foundation for GBL, and to suggest this is how education was originally intended to be. As a whole the Birch path may be a little less directly applicable than the others - although the Montessori material still is in use today.
ReplyDeleteGood job.
5 XP