Task 4a: Knowledge

I recently look back at Task 2d to see what other questions emerged from Module 1.  The one which stood out for me that would be most relevant to my current practice would be:

How can dance develop life skills?

I suppose a better way to word this would be:

Can dance develop life skills?

Because I would like to continue using Dance as my tool for a future career I think it would be beneficial to understand how dance could have a positive impact on your life.  Is there an angle we should use to keep Dance within the curriculum of all schools?


Identifying Knowledge and Skills in the Workplace

I believe that my current knowledge is a key factor to explore to help develop my personal goals.  My knowledge and skills come from a variety of experiences within the performing arts world and I think that this will help and aid me within this module.  

As Eraut described, knowledge can come in 'different forms'. (1994, P.16).  The idea of breaking knowledge up into different concepts fits well with the information I have accumulated over the different areas of dance.  

I looked at 'The Theory of Knowledge' to gain a better understanding of the types of knowledge known.

Procedural knowledge would be the knowledge of knowing how to do something.  So relating to my current practice would be how I teach a certain exercise, position or movement.  What is interesting about this type of knowledge that Eraut describes is that for me this can be a trial and error process.  What might work for one would not necessarily work for another and therefore I am constantly trying to find new ways of doing things.  This varies upon several factors such as the level and standard of my students, the age and the environment in which they are being taught.

Propositional knowledge would be the facts linked with the procedural knowledge.  This is probably the type of knowledge I would need to focus on in order to ensure my practice is ethical.  When teaching someone you are indeed teaching them your knowledge but of course you need to ensure that the knowledge you are relaying is correct first.  As I progress into the next step of my career I would need to develop my knowledge further and ensure my propositional knowledge is accurate.

My practical knowledge is the form of knowledge that I would class as the most valuable.  This is the knowledge I have gained from my experiences which I would describe as very varied and therefore creating a wider spectrum to learn from.

After looking up a definition of tacit knowledge, it appears to me that this is a complex form of knowledge which requires knowing multiple forms of knowledge to gain the full understanding of this.  For example, to be able to dance something accurately you would need to have the knowledge of the style, musicality, body awareness, technique, performance and much more.  

How many teachers of dance in secondary education have tacit knowledge?  How much practical knowledge do they have?  

My knowledge within the dance sector has allowed me to understand dance within the performance and a small area of education whilst in primary schools.  As there is more than one discipline which I use to contribute towards my knowledge I would describe this as having an 'inter-disciplinary' approach to my knowledge.

This article gave an interesting insight on how an inter-disciplinary approach to teaching can benefit a students learning.

http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/interdisciplinary/why.html

I read through the extract from Eraut (1991) where he discusses his thoughts on the process of giving information.  One thing that stood out for me was the need between a professional and a student to be able to listen and translate information into a form that can be understood.  This is described as being 'most developed in teachers, because teachers need to both understand children's conceptions and ways of thinking and to develop a repertoire of possible representations of every aspect of their subject' (Sigrun Gudmundsdottir, 1989; McNamara, 1991)

What this means to me is having the knowledge to be able to understand the many ways in which things can be understood.  As a teacher I know that one student may interpret something in one way and therefore understand the concept, however another may not and that means that I need to draw from my existing knowledge to enable that other student to understand but in a different way.

This has led me possibly focus on the area of teaching dance within education and what already exists...


References:
Eraut, Michael (1994) Developing Professional Knowledge and Competence, Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer.

Pedagogy In Action: The SERC Portal for Educators. Why Teach with an Interdisciplinary Approach? http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/interdisciplinary/why.html (Accessed 8th March 2015).