Transcript POPBL2x
Learning in a new culture and in an intercultural environment Lars Peter Jensen and Xiangyun Du Department of Control Engineering Department of Education, Learning and Philosophy Overview Confronting culture Intercultural issues in teaching and learning Intercultural group discussion Presentation 2 What are the things confronting when entering a new country? 3 Things that have been taken for granted in one culture might be unknown in another • Parents 4 Meeting cultures – Cultural shock Please write 3 words: What were your most impressive observations on arrival of AAU/DK? Intercultural communication - values and meanings A Danish kindergarten teacher worked at a kindergarten in Greenland. A real story she experienced: One day a boy’s mother was picking up him from kindergarten. He did not want to go home with her and behaved very badly. The mother pretended to leave kindergarten without him. She might expected the boy to go after her, however, he picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at his mother and hit her on the back of her head. Surprisingly, the mother turned round and cried ‘oh, how clever you are that you can throw stone so far and so precisely. Come on, we must hurry home to tell Dad. He will be very proud of you.’ Rasmussen & Bank-Mikkelsen 2000: 8) 6 East vs. West - Cultural Differences comparison of Western and Asian culture in the eyes of a Chinese raised in Germany. http://www.socialhallucinations.com/2008/11/east-vs-west---cultural-differences-in-pictures.html 7 ME 8 WAYS OF LIFE 9 PARTY 10 TRENDS 11 STREET AT WEEKEND 12 SHOWER TIME 13 QUEUING 14 15 Intercultural communication - non-verbal language Symbolism Manners and body language – eye contact, distance, etc. Rasmussen & Bank-Mikkelsen 2000: 8) 16 Intercultural communication - cultural understanding ‘The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.’ (Peter F. Drucker American Educator, b.1909) Solution (Herlitz 1989:60) 17 Intercultural communication - cultural understanding How would you read this ad of pills? (Herlitz 1989:38) 18 Intercultural communication - Power of language Please work in pairs, talking to different people using the script which follows… The script: A: ‘Hello’. B: ‘Hello’. A: ‘You are late’. B: ‘I know’. Try to do it completely differently each time. 19 Intercultural communication in teaching and learning Why is culture an issue? • Development of intercultural competencies for future engineers • Establishment of international program 20 Developing intercultural competencies for future engineers Globalized context Interdisciplinary knowledge Lifelong learning Effective communication Analytical skills Application of mathematics and science knowledge Team work Project management Diverse capabilities Designing and conducting experiments Intercultural competencies Identity and solve applied science problems Social, environmental, and ethical concerns - National Academy of Engineering, The Engineer of 2020, 2004 - EUR-ACE (Accreditation of European Engineering Programmes and Graduates, 21 http://www.feani.org/EUR_ACE/EUR_ACE_Main_Page.htm - ABET: http://www.abet.org/ Intercultural environment in PBL 22 Challenges and identified problems 1 • Miscommunication arises due to – Use of second language (English) as a means of communication – Learning and working styles – Personality 23 Challenges and identified problems 2 Different beliefs on/ways of learning – different expectations Opinions? Educational background 24 Challenges and identified problems 2 Different beliefs on/ ways of learning Nobody knows the exact answers until the project is finished Students are responsible for managing their own learning Learners are creating new knowledge Studying in a PBL environment, Denmark 25 Challenges and identified problems 3 Can group work be an efficient way of learning? Will they believe me because I am a girl?? It is my turn to talk? If we don’t follow the supervisor’s suggestion, will he allow us to pass? He complains of my garlic, but he has coffee and carrots all the time!!! YES, we can meet at 8 tomorrow morning NO, I can’t get up anyway Listen to me, I am very experienced They don’t understand even such easy things!! 26 Challenges and identified problems 5 New student life Housing? Shopping? Cooking? New Life in Denmark Transportation? 28 Group meeting Exam Report writing Life Brainstorm Doing project in groups Subgroup work Discussion Presentation Compromise Disagreement 29 Xiangyun was a What on earth the supervisor wanted new student like me to do? you 9 years ago… So difficult to do a project in group work! I am Depressed! 30 Study environment in some countries… Big class, little room for individual ideas ’There is still one more seat in the wall’ 31 http://www.cnsphoto.com/ Same materials year after year… (Karl Smith, UMN) 32 Memory is more important than application skills for high scores… 33 Transferred knowledge will be returned after exams 34 Room for creativity? 35 Xiangyun’s story: being a student in China 6:30 Get up in dorm 6:30-7:00 Morning Exercise 36 7:00 Breakfast in Canteen 7:30 – 8:00 Morning Reading 37 8:00 – 9:50 Morning Lectures 10:10 – 12:00 Morning Lectures 38 14:00-16:00 Afternoon Activities Lectures Laboratory Supervision Library 39 16:00-18:00 Leisure time 40 Evening Activities – study individually 41 Exams Written form Textbook knowledge based Hard tasks Scores matter 42 Good Good Study, Day Day Up! Study hard - high marks - diploma - good student 43 Student’s reflection `I have never worked in a group in my educational life… In group work, I preferred to listen when some students discussed intensely, because I could not understand why it was a question to discuss. Sometimes I could not follow their ideas or thinking. I need to change and actively work in the group.´ (Chinese female master student) 44 Is ethnicity the only reason that makes us different? Muslim Young girl Philosopher Animal doctor butcher farmer wolf artist 45 Engineering culture – engineer study 46 Engineering culture – engineer study 47 ’I got culture from mom’s breast breeding’ Is culture something we are born with? (Jensen 2005:18) 48 Learning from each other vs. cultural integration Self vs. others Acceptance vs. adaptation You are so big. You can not stay here! Come back when you become smaller! (Jensen 2005:72) 49 Cultural reflections PBL in International programs, AAU, Denmark Doing PBL in ‘the right’ way! Root of PBL in DK - Tradition of group work in Denmark - Critical thinking - Emphasis on - Collaboration and participation - Lower power gap - Close link between industry and university Different backgrounds in educational culture A new culture to be established 50 What can we benefit from international programs? Group exercise • Discussion in intercultural groups • Products presented in posters • Poster presentation around walls 51