Making connections, transfer, situationed cognition, culture of learning

This week's progress on the wall has been learning the art of both sanding, and applying tape and mud or compound.  All of these techniques and stages of the process I found fun and satisfying.

The sanding is of the patching I did last week of the dents in the drywall from the drywall screws.  It took a couple of coats, which must dry individually, and now we are at the point where we level out and smooth the surface.  I'm using a sanding block that is manufactured as one piece.  It's of a pretty rough grade, so that I can work quickly.  The finer grade didn't work as well as it clogged up quickly, and I couldn't get a whole lot of sanding done before that happened.

It looks like I do not have to sand too much, as I didn't use too much compound initially.  I was warned by both the DIY videos and my husband, and a friend, to go light on the compound, or I'd be sanding forever.  I'm hoping that I did follow that advice and that is why I don't seem to need to sand so much.  But I'm afraid I will discover that I need to do more, after I begin adding texture to the wall.  The texture is really I think a way to hide a less than perfect surface job of the drywall, but it's become part of the decor, and considered stylish.  Many people, including myself like the look of texture, though I don't like too much of it.  But having an idea of the direction I'm going, the scope of it as it were, allows me to anticipate problems, to mentally image them, and solve problems before the arise.  Experience, even that of others, since I've not yet done this, is a masterful teacher, and school of hard knocks is a merciless one.  I'd rather learn vicariously on the tough and expensive stuff for certain!

I did have some pre-existing experience with this sort of thing, though I didn't realize it when I first chose this subject.  I have done a painting texture called a "faux finish".  http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-add-venetian-plaster-to-a-wall/index.html

It was a style called "Venetian Plaster", and it was a combination of latex paint and plaster.  The plaster has the same consistency as this compound, and I'm using the same tools to apply it.  That may have also accounted for my feeling of comfort in taking this on.  It was already something with which I was familiar, though I didn't grasp it at the time.  Incidently, I wanted to do the Venetial Plaster because it felt very much like sculpting, something I had enjoyed previously.

So, I wonder if past experiences that students have had, but don't necessarily remember, impact the decision to become engaged quickly in a similar lesson?  I think it's sort of opposite the experience where people do not connect similar principles, and are unable to transfer their knowledge about a related skill into a different setting.  The Brazillian children who were street vendors were seemingly mathmatic geniouses, but struggled making that intelligence work for them in a new situation.  I believe I've discovered that I do, even if I don't recognize it at the time.  But the does leave me wondering, why I am able to do this in this situation, while other's are not in their situations.  I will explore that more, now that I know that is what I'm seeking, but I do have this observation: finding similarities of almost any sort, can be valuable to the learner, in pulling up prior knowledge, and making new connections, to assist us in understanding a new idea.

I found this blog timely in that yesterday I attended a conference on internships and apprenticeships.  It was discussed how much more quickly students learn in these environments, as they are authentic, and they are immersed, or surrounded by the culture of the profession they were learning.  Using these similar terms figuratively and literally in our studies helped me greatly to grasp how certain types of math, business, language or music learning methods are so much more effective, and to even understand better some of the DIY videos.  https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#safe=active&q=drywall+tape+corners
The people in the videos were often professional drywall contractors, who wield their tools like extensions of their minds or bodies, and have a grace about their technique and even the way they speak on the topic.  You can tell, to them, they are speaking casually, and without a lot of thought or care for the choice of words they use, they simply speak using that vernacular.  I however, had to really listen with my eyes, and hear the intonations, and style with which they spoke to infer what they were saying, almost as if they were indeed speaking another language.    Prior to this class I wouldn't have really considered it cognitively.

So I'm now laying on the sticky backed mesh tape.  It's quite helpful that I do not have to lay down compound first and then fiddle with the tape atop it.  I can see though that not having a level surface can later cause me big trouble if not dealt with now.  I won't see it's not level until the end.  So I'll go light on the stuff again, laying on thin layers.

Next week:  sanding again, and texture.