PBL Selection III

Hi guys,

After reading all three scenarios, my first vote is on scenario 1, followed by 3, then 2.

Scenario 1:

I feel that Scenario 1 allows for the most in depth discussion and application of theories (that we have been taught and that are easy to research on) so far. It also allows us to study the scenario from the many different roles mentioned (the teacher, the main character himself, the “enemy” Bee Chu, and the “friend” Ahmad, as well as a rough insight on Andy’s family background.)

The problems are easily identifiable. There are clearly loads of problems with the classroom management of Andy’s teacher Ms Wong, as well as with the students in the class (partially Ms Wong’s fault for allowing them to behave in certain ways). I think during our meeting last Thursday, Devi also mentioned problems with pedagogy (boring lessons), etc.

Not to mention, Andy is 13, going through a period of early adolescence J and clearly displaying the obvious characteristics of an adolescent. Besides Erikson’s theories which could come in handy here, I have also found some useful article on the 3 interlinked causes (environment, person and situation) of behaviour (I’m pretty sure there are more in the library J).

Because there have been many hints of the causation of Andy’s behavior, perhaps we can draw out something which looks like that, shown below!

OH AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, it’s the best scenario for our idea of making a video of the scenes, pausing the video to state what’s wrong, and also showing what could have been done better.

Unfortunately, as Scenario 1 seems to be the easiest scenario to discuss, and do loads of problem-solving with, HAHA I don’t know, it might be really popular and therefore there's nothing new/amazing that we can expect from it? I’m definitely open to other ideas, but just really excited about the video thingy that we can work out

Scenario 2:

I feel that Scenario 2 does not have as much problems as Scenario 1! Having said that, this scenario seems to be very real to me. Students do share a lot about their teachers and make comparisons all the time. It could be a good learning experience to study how we can cope with the large difference in the teaching capabilities of our colleagues, and how we may bridge that gap. I have no idea what theories could come in here yet. Perhaps we have not been taught!

Scenario 3:

Scenario 3 allows for a lot of discussion as well. However, I feel that the scenes are a bit messy. and that there is too much focus on the family background of the child that we could get carried away discussing that, if we're not careful. While the problems are very real, they are not as inter-linked and related to each other as much as those in Scenario 1.

Nevertheless, again, the main character displays a lot of useful characteristics and situations that can be studied thoroughly, for e.g., low self esteem, gaming addiction (maybe not so much), brilliant but not up to his potential, ostracism, acceptance among peers, family background, etc.

Actually all three scenarios look pretty interesting to me, I would love to hear more about your opinions

xx