Topic: Finding and Evaluating Information (Session 1)
Note: for Adult Learners
Aim: Gather and Evaluate Information in a variety of ways in a human services context.
Activity: Tutor Led -- Cognitive Dissonance and Power Posing
// Tutor will invite students to watch a TedX talk about Power Posing by Cuddy (Harvard Business School), afterwards the tutor will ask for student feedback and perceptions on power poses (non verbal behaviours). Comments and experience will be written on the board for later review and evaluation. The tutor will then provide copies of a published article (Psychological Science) to support Cuddy's claim on power poses. Critical reading will be applied on the text and tutor will invite students for their quick perceptions and evaluation of the article (Whether their initial assumptions or beliefs are supported or not and why?).
A review of assumptions and beliefs written on the board will then be reviewed to led students concretise their thinking and beliefs. After the tutor make sure that students are satisfied with their reponses -written on the board, the next set of commentary article published (Psychological Science) to replicate power poses will then be evaluated.
Tutor will now solicit reactions from students and will test previous beliefs and prior assumptions, emotions and personal experience. When students feel and think that they are now comfortable with the "cognitive dissonance", tutor will led students to the responses made by Cuddy on how she "ethically" handled the evaluation of her theory of power posing, - (open several online newspaper and articles about Cuddy's interviews).
Big Ideas:
A.) Not all published articles in reputable journals can be replicated (replicability is a strong argument)
B.) Credibility of Information is not always related to author Affiliation (eg university affiliation)
C.) There are measurable standards to identify strong arguments (effect sizes, experiments, sample size)
D.) That knowledge or theories can be tested and needing further updates (Science is self correcting)
Literacy-related tasks:
- the process of gathering information and evaluating information on Power Posing (TedX and empirical articles)
- exposure to research vocabularies (experiments, controlled, randomised, participants)
- watching Tedx and gauging the practicality of power posing to self-confidence (theoretical translations)
- Employing "critical reading" checklist in understanding article and audio-visual products
Numeracy-related tasks:
- Employing weight (percent) to which part of the article can be used for strong argumentations (Introduction ___%, Methods ___%, Results ___%, Discussion ___%).
- Analysing and scaffolding students to interpret diagrams and graphs
- Identifying elements of good quantitative research (proper statistics used, large sample size, and standards for effect size).