Active Learning

As a future physical educator, active learning could not be more important to me. I myself am an active learner. When i am physically involved in the learning process i retain the information better. Physical educators strive to find ties with critical thinking and active learning. When the two are mixed students are provided with an amazing learning opportunity. In the same way it is important for us to actively engage ourselves in our world in order to learn more about it. More specifically it is important for us to actively engage ourselves in the media if we ever hope to gain a better understanding of it. Media has so many dimensions. I can not even fathom the amount of information and meaning i am missing when i watch movies. Directors and writers and everyone envolved with the movie making process puts so much into it. They develop signs and codes that an ignorant person would completely miss. I feel as though i have just began to scratch the surface on understanding semiotics and finding things that the movie makers, and others have intwined their work with for us to pick up on. This class has definately helped me to appriciate the media slightly better. I now actively pick up on codes and symbols when i watch commercials, or listen to music. Its becomming an annoying habit to my friends, but it is so facinating to me. I never realized how drenched media is with semiotic domains that i had no idea even existed before a few weeks ago. I love learning about it, and its like putting a huge puzzle together when i pick up on something. Creators of media want their audiences to pick up on this stuff, and as the audience, we have a duty to ourselves and the creators to find it. When we do, we can only appriciate the art more.