What is content curation?
Content curation refers to gathering information from a variety of sources and presenting it in a meaningful way to an audience It is not mere accumulation of information resources, but, thoughtful synthesis of information one comes across. It is expected that while synthesizing the information sources, one will incorporate one’s own thinking in linking together the diverse information elements. Doing this makes the work original in the sense that the way one establishes connections between the different items is unique to one’s own thinking. Finally, information resources are expected to be arranged, annotated and published so that it is available to the public.
My objective
All of the resources(listed below) used have been linked together in the narrative below to build the case as to how/why Children’s Literature can be useful to instructors teaching Educational Psychology. Even though this argument is targeted at instructors teaching Educational Psychology to pre-service teachers, I hope that the content curated by me gives instructors in other areas ideas about how they might use content from other areas of study in teaching content from their own area. The information drawn from the resources have been summarized, linked together, and arranged thematically for conveying my main message. Thus, even though I have borrowed from other sources, the message is original as I have used my ideas to demonstrate what I am arguing for.
Resources
Pfister, M. (1999). The Rainbow Fish. North-South Books.
Snicket, L. (2013). The Dark. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Zambo, D. & Hansen, C.C. (2005). Once upon a theory: Using picture books to help students understand educational psychology. Teaching Educational Psychology, 1(1), 1-8.
Building the case
Zambo & Hansen (2005) [Click here to read the full article using_picture_books] elaborate on ways an instructor might use picture books to explain theories and concepts in Educational Psychology. According Zambo and Hansen, pictures books may be used in Educational Psychology courses to accomplish the following objectives:
1. To introduce theory
2. To build background knowledge
3. To make theory more understandable
4. To create images of concepts
5. To help students make connections between theory and their work with children
Let us try and understand how we might accomplish the five objectives stated above using picture books to teach two concepts in an Educational Psychology class – self-concept and self-efficacy.
To explain ‘self-concept’ one could use ‘The Rainbow Fish’ by Marcus Pfister and to elaborate on ‘self-efficacy’ one could ‘The Dark’ by Lemony Snicket.
Click on the video below to listen to the story ‘The Rainbow Fish’/read the summary below –
‘The Rainbow Fish’ by is a story about a fish that had beautiful, multi-colored scales and was very happy with its physical appearance. The other fish in the water wanted to have scales like the Rainbow fish. One day, a small fish asks the Rainbow fish to give him one of its pretty scales. The Rainbow fish does not want to part with its scales and turns the little fish away. Soon, the rest of the fish are annoyed with the Rainbow fish for being unwilling to share its scales and they stay away from it. The Rainbow Fish feels upset and lonely. He goes to the wise Octopus for advice. The Octopus tells him that he should not be so selfish and share his scales with the other fish. The Rainbow fish then finds the little fish he had turned away earlier and gives him one of his scales. Very quickly other fish come to him to ask for a scale each. At the end of the story, the Rainbow fish has one of his beautiful scales but is still happy as he is well-loved by the other fish.
At first glance, The Rainbow Fish seems to be a story underlining the value of sharing with others and being part of a harmonious community. However, the story could also be interpreted in another way. The Rainbow fish loses its individuality by conforming to social expectations in order to be accepted by the other fish. We can use this interpretation and link it to a concept that pre-service teachers learn about in introductory Educational Psychology courses – ‘Self-concept’. We can use the story to demonstrate how our views of the Self are influenced by social expectations and reactions of other people. Most importantly, we can highlight the link between self-concept and self-esteem. The message that one hopes that students may take away from this is that – as educators it is important to make students learn how to feel satisfied with their own qualities and not try to change in order to please others. Finally, the story could help students to appreciate diversity among students in their classrooms and refrain from adopting a one size fits all approach.
Click on the video below to listen to the story ‘The Dark/read the summary below:
‘The Dark’ by Lemony Snicket is a story about a little boy named Laszlo who is afraid of the dark. During the day, the Dark lives in the basement and at night the Dark spreads itself all over Laszlo’s house. Every morning, Laszlo visits the Dark in the basement, hoping that if he pays the Dark a visit, the dark won’t visit him at night. But, one day, the Dark comes to his room at night. It asks Laszlo to follow it as there is something that it wants to show Laszlo. Of course, Laszlo is scared and quite uncomfortable when he learns that the Dark want him to go into the basement. The Dark leads him to a chest of drawers that nobody ever opened. On opening it, Laszlo finds electric bulbs in the drawer. Laszlo thanks the Dark for its help and from that day onward he is no longer afraid of the Dark.
‘The Dark’ can be used to demonstrate a psychological concept called ‘self-efficacy’. Self-efficacy is the belief that a person has about his/her ability to complete a task successfully. In short, it is the belief that one can do something. One of the ways in which self-efficacy regarding a task develops is through mastery experience or the actual experience in successfully accomplishing a task. The story is good illustration of how the little boy overcomes his fear of the dark by gaining mastery over the situation through a direct experience of going into the dark with positive outcomes and eventually developing self-efficacy for venturing into the dark in future.
Conclusion
Children’s Literature often conveys complex ideas. I feel that it can be utilized in successfully demonstrating the meaning of several concepts in Educational Psychology as shown above. Using Children’s literature can be especially useful for students who have not yet started teaching in actual classrooms as these stories can serve as good illustrations of how children think and develop. Of course, the instructor has to carefully consider the appropriateness of a story to teach a concept. In other words, the instructor must be sure that there is a clear link between the concept being taught and the elements in the story before using the story to aid instruction.