Podcast Interview

Click below to listen to a podcast of my interview of two teenage boys on the topic of the internet.
This assignment was particularly challenging as I tried to maintain a balance between allowing the boys to express their own opinions without any influence from me. I wanted to allow them to speak without any interference because I wanted authentic answers not ones that may be influenced by anything I say. As preferred by Piaget, you can learn a lot just through observation. Although, I do regret not asking more specific questions about how the internet works when they listed examples of how they use it. Nevertheless, I believe this interview gave each boy an opportunity to verbally construct their knowledge of the internet. Surprisingly, both students were very comfortable with speaking on the topic. I attribute this to Dewey's belief that the topic “fell within their interests and experiences”. Furthermore, they were free to respond without fear of being right or wrong. Consequently, I think Piaget would say their responses were sensible and coherent within the framework of their teenage mind.

After I completed the process, I realized it helped me to "see in a different way". If I had simply asked them about the internet without first thinking about specific questions or recording their answers, I may have come to a different conclusion. Recording their answers helped me to review and carefully listen to their responses as well as compare the two. Listening is important for gathering insight into what they know and to identify areas of misunderstanding.

Overall, I think these teenage boys do have a lot of information about the internet and were able to articulate this information by using examples of how they use the internet. Nevertheless, I would want to provide further learning opportunities for them to get a better understanding of the mechanics--how the internet works. In addition, internet safety is so important and both students may need more guidance in this area.