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Home » bLearning documentation » 10 Multiple modes, criss-crossing, cognitive conflict, and cognitive tools (M3C)

10.7 Getting-familiar model

Submitted by Kathy on Sat, 2009-08-01 11:55

The getting-familiar model means that learning is a process of getting familiar with something or someone. Once one becomes familiar with something or someone, then he/she is able to better solve a problem relevant to something: either something itself, or the interaction with something is a problem, or something is the collaborative partner to help a learner solve problems. 

Criss-cross is a series of processes that can help a learner get familiar with something, especially when something is complicated and ill-structured. I borrow the concept of criss-cross from Spiro et al.(1991)’s article, in which they proposed that “revisiting the same material, at different times, in rearranged contexts, for different purposes, and from different conceptual perspectives is essential for attaining the goals of advanced knowledge acquisition”(p.28).
 
In order to illustrate this concept, a metaphor scenario can be examined. Think about the scenario of getting familiar with a place, what would you do?
 
You might navigate a place a lot in different times, by different routes, for different purposes, with different people, and in different ways. In all the possible combination of the above dimensions, you might learn the place from a different perspective. The more complicated a place is, the more ways and times you need to experience and learn about this place.
 
I would like to use a metaphor scenario to describe my experience. I happen to live in downtown Toronto, a busy place with great diversity, and I happen to have some free time to experience this place in different ways.
 
Say the place is downtown Toronto since I have lived here for two years. I will focus on the area nearby Yonge, Bloor, and Bay Street.
 
Through criss-crossing by using the various arrangement and combination of 4W1H (when, where, why, who, and how), I become familiar with the place, and have accumulated my experiences about the place.
 
When

‘When’ is about in different times, such as

  1. Different seasons
  2. Different weathers: sunny, rain, snow
  3. Day or nights, morning or afternoon
  4. In a special occasion: watch a parade, or just in common days
  5. In different frequency and speed

The place looks different due to the various light (sun-shine, night-light) conditions, with or without festival decorations.

 
Where
‘Where’ means by different routes, and from different perspectives, such as
  1. busy or quiet route
  2. roads newly built or with long history
  3. my sitting in a Cafeteria, a bus, or just walk 
Yonge Street is busy almost all day except early mornings. Bay Street is busiest in traffic times.
Yonge Street is old, with a long history, with a great variety of stores: big, medium, or small; operated by people from many countries. So, it is quite a view to sit in a cafeteria in a Yonge Street’s cafeteria, to watch who is walking by the window.
 
Why
‘Why’ means for different purposes, such as
  1. just walk by for reaching another place
  2. with the purpose of looking for something that I intend to buy
  3. with the purpose of carefully examining all the stores 
If I am in a rush to go to a target place, I usually will not pay much attention to the buildings and stores on Yonge, Bay or Bloor Street.
If I am trying to look for a gift store on Yonge Street, I become very sensitive to all small stores that look like gift stores.
If I am trying to figure out how different stores design their logos, I basically pay attention to each and every store logos, to see the color and the pattern.
If I am trying to teach my daughter language, I might stop at every store with interesting curtain design, and point and name the stuff inside the curtain.
 
Who
‘Who’ means I walk with different people or meet different people, such as
  1. with my daughter, my husband, or with my parents
  2. meet different people: students, business man, beggars
  3. seemingly friendly or not-so-friendly people; happy or unhappy people 
With my daughter, when she is happy and is reluctant to sit in her stroller, I might be able to teach her or just simply enjoy the stroller-walking. If she refuses to sit in the stroller, I have to carry her with me before she learned to walk, so I might be too exhausted to think about anything else.
 
After she learned to walk, I had to be very careful since she would run suddenly and there are usually so many people on Yonge Street.
 
With my husband, because he cares about electronic products, the chance is that I might have to stop before an electronics store because of him.
 
With my parents, they are curious in knowing what a store is about but they don’t know a lot English, so I might often translate something for them.
When I was new in Toronto, I often needed to ask directions on the street; then later I might often point directions for somebody else.
 
As a new mom, I become very interested in seeing other parents or grandparents who walk a stroller with a baby or toddler in.
 
I meet people with varied facial expressions: happy or unhappy; tall or short; friendly or not-so-friendly; different racial etc.
 
Those volunteer asking donations for sick kids or beggars with diverse backgrounds.
 
How
‘How’ means in different ways, such as
  1. by slow walking, fast walking, running, taking a bus, subway, or car
  2. taking pictures or videos
  3. before and after knowing the history of a road
  4. with checking the a map: traditional or digital
  5. with or without seeing some road signs, shop signs, and some advertising banners.
  6. with happy, unhappy, or so-so mood
  7. to walk when I am energetic or very tired.
  8. to walk with actively interacting with some people I meet or just as observers of what is happening
When I was in my late phase of pregnant, I felt it was such a long road when walking over around three subway stations. When I enjoy a spring walk after delivering my daughter, walking over 2 hours on the street is a piece of cake for me.
When I take a bus, I can see the scenery on both sides of the road, which will be missed when taking the subway. However, taking the subway enables me to discover some interesting buildings that otherwise I might never enter.
 
Taking a taxi or a friend’s car enables me know that there might be a different route to go to a place than I know before.
 
Taking pictures of my parents standing on the street enables me to examine the street’ backgrounds when I check the photos in my computer.
 
After seeing an article about Yonge Street’s history, I saw the street differently than before. After seeing an online review article about Toronto’s second-hand book stores, I became interested in the second-hand book stores on Yonge Street that I never thought that they are second-hand book stores before.
 
Before my family moved to Toronto, I checked the traditional map that I bought in a Montreal bookstore, to see the situations around my apartments. However, I did not know at that time, that I can check Google map to see the satellite pictures of this area.
 
After actually knowing a little about my neighborhood, or a lot about my neighborhood, it is quite different for checking the map: traditional ones or the Google ones. My degree of relating this place has been enhanced as I become more and more familiar with it.
 
And finally, it is quite different between negotiating in the actual physical space and seeing the big picture of the space in a map.
 
In conclusion, my becoming familiar with my living area is through criss-crossing by 4W1H. So, I guess that in order to learn something (to become familiar with), I need this comprehensive criss-crossing.
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