Interview Two: Age____12____ Gender___M_____
1. What is something that you have learned in the past that you still know and understand
today? Describe the place and your age when you learned this information.
Something I learned was long multiplication. I was 11 years old and I was in a class with
people like me.
2. Describe the learning process and explain why you think you learned (remember) that
information? For example, if the learning took place in school what did the teacher do to
help you learn?
My teacher just did the assignment multiple times with us and showed us how to do it. I think
that I learned because I am just interested in math.
3. What particular study strategies did you use to learn this matter? Please describe any
strategies or experiences that might have helped you in this learning process. Do you find
these strategies helpful in any other learning situations?
I use a multiplication chart to continue my multiplication. I don’t think that it wasn’t helpful
but it just gives me the answer, so I don’t know it that means it isn’t helpful.
4. How did you know you were learning? Please provide evidence that told you that you
were learning.
I don’t know how I was learning I just know that I learned it. I know that I learned it because
I was able to do my homework by myself and I understood it.
5. Would you consider learning this information hard or easy? Interesting? Explain or
describe your learning experience.
It was both hard and easy. It was easy because I just needed to use the chart, but it was hard
because I didn’t get how the chart really worked.
6. What currently motivates you to work hard to learn something new?
When I like something, that is what motivates me to practice more and learn it.
7. Please explain how you remember new information today. Did your prior learning help
you learn better today?
If I like something I do it more and I practice it. The more I practice it then I learn that
new thing.
8. Do you believe you are naturally smart or are you smart because you work hard? Provide
examples/evidence for your answer.
Yea I am naturally smart because I practice more at stuff I like. Like playing soccer. I
really like soccer, so I practice it and I used my smarts to get better.
9. What do you do to learn that is beyond or not required in school or work?
I just do what I have to for school, but I do like to learn how to play video games. I practice
and play with my brothers so that I can get better and learn more.
10. What would you like to tell educators about helping others learn?
Don’t be aggressive have patience.
Reflection
This interview was not as in depth as my first interview do to the age and lack of
talkativeness from my interviewee, but it really revealed a lot to me. This student’s education
has come from the most recent changes and the newest research, yet he couldn’t understand
what he was doing and why, but he knew that the multiplication chart would give him the
right answer. I hear all of these great things happening in education, but I didn’t think about
how some teachers can just choose to resist change and stick with their own perfected
method of teaching because it is “easier.” I experienced this as I was finishing school at the
start of common core and these recent shifts in education, but I did not think that there would
still be teachers fighting change and refusing to try to better their methods for their students.
Retrieval practice is one of the greatest strategies for brain centered teaching, but
in this instance, the student is retrieving a chart instead of his knowledge on multiplication
that was learned. I also saw how this student has a very fixed mindset. He knew he didn’t
understand what the chart was doing but settled on this method because it was quick and easy
and grave him the answer. He also stated that He only liked to practice and learn about things
that he liked. I think he has a fixed mindset, but a tremendous amount of grit when it comes
to things he does like. Before the interview he was talking about his game and new the
backstory on the characters and different codes he could input to get better moves. If the
teacher could only relate the codes of a game to multiplication, I could only imagine what
this student could do. Having a fixed mindset inhibits the students learning to simply what he
finds interesting. Having a growth mindset will allow the student to apply the information
learned to all things, especially things he does find interesting. Having a growth mindset
seeks to create a whole student with knowledge in all areas in order to expand their
knowledge and allow them to become experts in things they do like and things that are
important.
I think this interview really brought home the fact that for the brain to really hold onto
this information and for the student to want to learn, we need to allow the student to
experience meaning making. In the book Teaching with the Brain in Mind, the author
emphasizes how students need to connect to the learning and make meaning of it for
themselves in order to learn. I think that because this lesson on multiplication was just shown
and copied, the student was not able to make meaning of the information and got a surface
level understanding of the content.