A guest lecturer came and briefed us on her research project she presented in a symposium last year. It was on CMD and she analyzed the linguistic features used in this type of discourse. Instead of recapping what she already discussed in class, I'd like to point out one interesting bit she mentioned. Apparently, what she found out from this research was, CMD propagated a kind of learning style found in constructivism theory. Piaget, the one who came up with this theory, argued that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas.
As you can see, the discussion and exchange of ideas happened in CMD help people build up their knowledge. It's almost like you pick someone else's brain and extract their ideas. It's smart. You don't have to learn by yourself, instead, you just let someone else do the studying and get the knowledge from them. That is, of course, if you feel comfortable being a free rider not contributing anything to the discussion. I can relate to this. Guilty as charged. Sometimes when we have a test coming up and we want to gather for discussion, it's only natural that everyone does their reading prior to discussion. But I'd usually come vacant and empty-headed, taking advantage of what my friends have to say.
As you can see, the discussion and exchange of ideas happened in CMD help people build up their knowledge. It's almost like you pick someone else's brain and extract their ideas. It's smart. You don't have to learn by yourself, instead, you just let someone else do the studying and get the knowledge from them. That is, of course, if you feel comfortable being a free rider not contributing anything to the discussion. I can relate to this. Guilty as charged. Sometimes when we have a test coming up and we want to gather for discussion, it's only natural that everyone does their reading prior to discussion. But I'd usually come vacant and empty-headed, taking advantage of what my friends have to say.
But again, this is not healthy. Imagine not knowing anything and when you listen to your friends you can't even make sense of the discussion, you're doomed. Scaffolding of knowledge doesn't work this way. Which brings me to the question: How do we make sure everyone participates in CMD so that everyone can get the benefits of building up their knowledge? Scaffolding means you build up your knowledge based on your prior understanding and background knowledge about something, but if you do not have even the basic grasp of it, it'd be futile.
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