Resistance to change and new ideas

I think it's only natural to resist, unless one has been trained to embrace. Resistance is a form of self-protection, a protection of beliefs, of values, of comfort. Only someone exposed to new ideas, open to change, humble to know what one thinks and is convicted of may not be the best, and has the practice of acceptance, can be excited about change.

What is our first response when we hear about new. ideas very different from what we are used to?

When the calculator was introduced into the syllabus, many responded with, "How can? Then, the kids will not be able to do mental sums! What if there isn't any calculator??"

When the electronic dictionary was introduced into the Chinese syllabus, many responded with, "What lucky kids, we never had this in our time, but... Shouldn't they learn how to write words by hard, instead of enlisting the help of an electronic device?"

When one is first exposed to open book exams... "What? Open book?"

Hmmmm... now that I read a paper....

"Assessment tasks should be conducted under normal working conditions, and presume student access to resources such as calculators, computers, texts and consultants."
(Ruthven, Kenneth. 1994. Better Judgment: Rethinking Assessment in Mathematics Education. Educational Studies in Mathematics 27:433-450. page 441)

It makes very much sense. :)

I still recall my University Profs trying to convince me of this. It's okay, you're graded, and it's okay to discuss, surf the net, check your textbook for the answers.

How can one know if a student is truly learning?

If I give out exercises for a child to do and she gets them all right, does that mean she has the depth of knowledge I planned to develop in her? Or could she have copied? How do I know?

If a child gets some wrong, do I know what he doesn't know? How can I help him develop the conceptual knowledge required to solve the question? Is a cross on his worksheet enough? Is teaching how to do the question one more time enough? Is asking his peer to teach him how to do enough? Is some written comments sufficient? What can I do to help him learn?

What kind of information or evidence do I need to collect to tell me whether a child is truly learning or not? How do I gather it? Through assessment, through dialogue.

What is the heart of formative assessment?

Maybe that's why there's this dissatisfaction.

I'm searching for meaning.

But... Even if there's no meaning I can see as yet, I don't want work to be a joyless affair.

I think, I do not consider research, because I have not find a worthier enough (to me) topic to pursue.

I think academia becomes very meaningless when one pursues it not so because of the burning passion to find the answer to a question, but as a job to produce papers.

Every time I find it's a paper-producing job and there's no real world good in a paper, I am turned off.

There's just this void without the meaning part.