- What are your beliefs about how people learn best? What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology?
I believe that K-12 children learn through a variety of ways. Hands-on activities seem to work the best in my sixth grade classroom. Students also need to relate the concepts that they are leaning to their own lives. It seems as though students can retain information better when I relate what they are learning to how they will use it in their own lives. An example of this is if I am teaching about fractions, I will explain how they will use this with cooking and measuring throughout their lives. I teach mathematics, so the use of repetitive actions helps tremendously with learning. I incorporate a large amount of technology into my lessons. The use of websites to help with repetitive learning through the use of websites that have flashcards and gaming helps my students to learn their facts. Given that students are used to using different forms of technology in their lives, they are very interested in and comfortable with any form of class work and homework that has the computer involved.
The purpose of any learning theory is to provide a framework to education to help the students to learn and retain the information and then be able to apply the information they learned at a later time. When using technology in the classroom, the teacher needs to be well educated in finding the best form of technology for the concept being taught. Just choosing any website or program on the computer is not the appropriate way to integrate technology into the lessons. The teacher needs to do research, and find the best websites and activities for the concept. I attempt to find websites that scaffold learning so that each student can learn at their own level and move on to more difficult levels if they are ready. Teachers are using websites to help the students with using the behaviorist approach to learning. Learning occurs through the “black box activity” that is observable and the behavior is the main focus. The student is influenced by the nature of the reward, punishment, and stimuli. The memory is one of repeated experiences where reward and punishment are the most influential factors. They learn through stimulus and response. They respond to task-based learning. (Siemens, p. 11). I use many websites while teaching my sixth grade math class.
Reference
Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from http://itforum.coe.uga.edu/Paper105/Siemens.pdf
I agree with you when you say that we learn what we want to learn and that was a great example with the video games. My sixth grade students are experts at games. After finding out how much they love the game minecraft, I first started entering videos of this game into my class and immediately got the attention of my classes. I have questioned the students during the year of what they created on the site and how to use certain aspects of the game. One of my goals this summer is to become an expert in this game so I can incorporate it into lessons in either math or science if possible. Like you, I feel that I need to be an expert in the subject before I teach it, but I guess you have to use some trial an error at the beginning when you first teach something.
http://lrsgturn.blogspot.com/
http://lrsgturn.blogspot.com/
I agree that students have to want to learn in order to retain anything taught to them. They have to have an interest in what they are learning also. When I have students in my class that struggle with my rigorous lessons, I will often grade them differently. When beginning a lesson, I show examples of bad work, average work, and excellent work for a project that we are doing. After I show the rubric for the project, I ask the students to look to see what is missing from the work according to the rubric. I explain how each would be graded. I encourage my struggling students as they work on the project and grade them in a way that it builds their confidence. I then ask them if next time they will try "this"(meaning something they struggled with) on their project. After a year of confidence building, they really seem to come through and do become interested in learning and being successful.
Lori,
ReplyDeleteI believe that we all learn in a variety of ways. In my case I consider myself a visual learner than anything else. At the same time, I also believe that there are certain subjects and concepts that are better learned in a specific learning environment; such is the case in your math classes.
What I enjoy creating, as mentioned by your post, which also reflects John Dewey’s (1938) ideals, is real life experiences that allowed my students to grasp the concepts and apply them in their daily lives. When we do that real learning occurs.
In regards to technology, it is amazing to see how many resources we have available that reinforce our teaching. I am glad you are utilizing many of them in a variety of ways. Out teaching methods do not follow the “one size fits all” mentality. We are all unique in our own ways, which makes teaching one of the most challenging professions with life changing results.
Gus
Reference:
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York, NY: Touchstone.
Gus,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say certain subjects are better learned with a specific learning environment. I have recently gotten into creating lessons with relating to real life experiences and the students love them. I am lucky to gain enough trust with my students that they tell me what they like and dislike and what works for them and what does not. Sometimes it is disappointing when I work hard on a lesson and it turns out to be more fun than relatable. It is funny when I do a lesson, such as cooking with the use of multiplying fractions within the recipe, and the students tell me that they or their parents ask why am I doing it because it has nothing to do with math.
Hi Lori,
ReplyDeleteWe meet again at yet another wonderful class here at Walden. As a 6-8 middle teacher myself, I think you brought an excellent point in students retaining information and them actually learning it. It is important for them to find themselves as well as what works best for them when it comes to learning. Lesson complexity and differentiation with students is very important, because all students learn differently and as individuals are on different levels.
Lori,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see another familiar face this term! I like how you noted the importance of teachings finding quality websites for students to use. I have learned the hard way that just finding the first site that "fits" the topic can lead to a major lesson fail. When students use technology to interact with the curriculum, it is very important for the materials to be appropriate in terms of difficulty and scaffolding. If the material isn't appropriate, a perfect learning opportunity is often wasted. In my opinion, this is a huge cause for off task behavior with technology.
I agree Sarita. I also learned the hard way. I used to find good websites to go along with the lessons, but now I try to find the best one so it isn't just about fun, but more about learning.
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