Reaction to Guest Speaker—Alan Wicker Alan Wicker started his presentation showing a picture from Spanish class Amerigo Vespucci (1589). He wanted to know our perception of the picture. He noted that people saw that the artist represented the other as cannibals to show crudeness and gold in the picture shows the prime motivations of the conquistadores. As I have seen in talking to people and taking history classes, people will interpret things (like pictures) from their cultural perspective. For example if you talk to someone from England about the Revolutionary War he or she will have a very different view on the war than an American. It has to do with the way society has taught its youth. It has to do with the way that people look at themselves. In this picture, someone from the native society would think that this picture is a representation of the time that their culture was taken. However, someone from the conquering culture would say that is a representation of the day they arrived to civilize the barbarians. He quoted Berger—“Let us assume that two persons from entirely different social worlds began to interact.” See the picture of a social/historical construction. Wicker said, “Understanding does not start with a blank slate. We bring a set of beliefs, knowledge and assumptions.” This view in education is called constructivism. Constructivism is a learning theory that is based on experiences has in the past. It states that one comes into a learning situation with information that has already been acquired. If the new information conflicts with what he or she has already knows and believes then the person is in a state of disequilibrium. Therefore, the student can either ignore the new information or assimilate the new information into his or her prior knowledge.
Posted by Michelle Millet
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