What is Learning: Learning is to use new concepts in a new way to solve a problem or accomplish a task. People learn in many different ways. One powerful way starts as a child whereby they learn by observation and copying what they have seen or heard. Apprenticeships are basically learning the same way. Learning has to be meaningful to the student so they will desire to learn it.
How is learning best effectuated by the teacher: In every new theory we learned that in order for the students to master the new material with have to tie it into their past knowledge or schema. When we can successfully help student connect to past knowledge and make the lesson applicable to their lives they will be more likely to acquire the new knowledge. Our goal should be to get the students to desire knowledge as an intrinsic value, and get them to take responsibility for their own learning. A teacher should guide a student's learning and help them when they become confused. Teaching is like explaining how to read and understand the symbols and layout of a road map. Our lesson should be the map that they follow from point A to point B. If they know how to use the tools we teach them then they should be successful in mastering the content.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Week 11
What is learning: I found in the first reading it said that any animal can imitate, but with children instruction plays an important role in learning. Learning is taking your current abilities and with some instruction and guidance you can master a skill you probably would not been able to do on your own.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher: I found the second reading interesting in the tutor working with 3, 4, and 5 year old children. What I thought was funny that they found the 3 year old children asked for the most assistance and yet ignored the instruction the most also. The important part of the learning was that the students must have comprehension of the solution. Even though they allowed the students to have free play with the blocks at the beginning the learning was not unassisted. The tutor roles in scaffolding are
1. recruitment
2. reduction in degrees of alternatives
3. direction in next step
4. making critical features
5. frustration control
6. demonstration
It said the tutor used praise, direct assistance, and verbal prompts.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher: I found the second reading interesting in the tutor working with 3, 4, and 5 year old children. What I thought was funny that they found the 3 year old children asked for the most assistance and yet ignored the instruction the most also. The important part of the learning was that the students must have comprehension of the solution. Even though they allowed the students to have free play with the blocks at the beginning the learning was not unassisted. The tutor roles in scaffolding are
1. recruitment
2. reduction in degrees of alternatives
3. direction in next step
4. making critical features
5. frustration control
6. demonstration
It said the tutor used praise, direct assistance, and verbal prompts.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Week 10
What is learning: According to Jerome Bruner you can teach children complex ideas at a young age without giving them the in depth lecture type background information. I know this is true from watching my husband with our 3 year old granddaughter. He has taught her the process of reloading without the complex background knowledge of measuring powder, etc. She knows what to do and enjoys it. He has also taught her all the basic tools used to fix things, and has shown her many ways to use these tools. Her other grandfather was impressed with her knowledge when he was doing some work around his house.
How is learning best effecutated by a teacher:A statement made in the first reading by David Page was that children learn faster than adults if in terms they understand. As teachers we need to make sure we present the material at a level they understand to facilitate learning. I think as adults we add extra stuff to the material we are learning which takes us longer. We need to learn from little children who just take it as it is. They believe what you say is true and they copycat what you teach them. Thus they learn faster. As we get older we have to decide if it is true, do we really want to do it that way, will we ever use this information, etc. We complicate things, thus our minds are filled to capacity with what if's. Therefore there is little room for new information. This is only my idea. I may be way off base.
How is learning best effecutated by a teacher:A statement made in the first reading by David Page was that children learn faster than adults if in terms they understand. As teachers we need to make sure we present the material at a level they understand to facilitate learning. I think as adults we add extra stuff to the material we are learning which takes us longer. We need to learn from little children who just take it as it is. They believe what you say is true and they copycat what you teach them. Thus they learn faster. As we get older we have to decide if it is true, do we really want to do it that way, will we ever use this information, etc. We complicate things, thus our minds are filled to capacity with what if's. Therefore there is little room for new information. This is only my idea. I may be way off base.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Week 9
What is Learning: According to this weeks theory learning is achieved if we use it in the context of real life activities. When learning is applicable to things you do in real life people learn better. I see this all the time when teaching computers. When you teach students features of the computer they may remember them for a few days. They remember them better when they are incorporated into a project.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher: In the video on John Abbot it talked about project based learning, collaboration, and apprenticeship in the classroom. I use all three in my classroom. Students will help each other even if you do not pair them up. Team activities are important, but I do not use them all the time. My project based activities are at the end of the unit which will cover the computer features used in the chapter. I demonstrate the features used in the chapter prior to starting the chapter. Starting a year ago I went back to doing the chapter exercise with the students as a class, and leave the end of chapter exercises as independent work. This bothers some students who are allowed to work on their own. I found that many students will follow along with me as we do the chapter work because they are either are not good readers, or unmotivated to do it if I leave it up to them. I do not know if this is best, but it does help many students stay up with the work. I assume this is like an apprenticeship.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher: In the video on John Abbot it talked about project based learning, collaboration, and apprenticeship in the classroom. I use all three in my classroom. Students will help each other even if you do not pair them up. Team activities are important, but I do not use them all the time. My project based activities are at the end of the unit which will cover the computer features used in the chapter. I demonstrate the features used in the chapter prior to starting the chapter. Starting a year ago I went back to doing the chapter exercise with the students as a class, and leave the end of chapter exercises as independent work. This bothers some students who are allowed to work on their own. I found that many students will follow along with me as we do the chapter work because they are either are not good readers, or unmotivated to do it if I leave it up to them. I do not know if this is best, but it does help many students stay up with the work. I assume this is like an apprenticeship.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Week 8
What is Learning: I found the second reading fascinating since I always wondered why I would get another idea while I was talking to someone and hardly could hold it until it was my turn to talk. According to this article it is natural learning. We try to remember what we are going to say next that we do not hear the rest of what the other person was saying. We learn as we build on our past experiences with the new information.
How can a teacher best effectuate learning: We want students to connect to prior knowledge in a way that will cause them to be interested in what we have to say. I can see how failure, the ability of learning by doing, would work for a little while. I do not think the students should be left hanging for a long time. The article mentioned this worked best when a student was alone and not in fear of looking stupid for trying. Since most of our classes are full of students then you would have to limit this time so the struggling students would not become discouraged. Story telling is fun to do and many times fun for the students. I remember my sons telling me that they had a teacher who always told them lame stories which they would tune him out when he started. I think we should limit the use of our stories since what we find amusing and interesting might be totally stupid to someone else. I know I have seen confused looks when I told a joke or story that I later had to thoroughly explain. At that point you have lost the fun and purpose of telling the story.
How can a teacher best effectuate learning: We want students to connect to prior knowledge in a way that will cause them to be interested in what we have to say. I can see how failure, the ability of learning by doing, would work for a little while. I do not think the students should be left hanging for a long time. The article mentioned this worked best when a student was alone and not in fear of looking stupid for trying. Since most of our classes are full of students then you would have to limit this time so the struggling students would not become discouraged. Story telling is fun to do and many times fun for the students. I remember my sons telling me that they had a teacher who always told them lame stories which they would tune him out when he started. I think we should limit the use of our stories since what we find amusing and interesting might be totally stupid to someone else. I know I have seen confused looks when I told a joke or story that I later had to thoroughly explain. At that point you have lost the fun and purpose of telling the story.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Week 7
What is Learning: I thought this weeks ideas were exciting. I think it is better for the students if we can get their attention and present them with a challenge that they can receive an intrinsic satisfaction from. I enjoy learning new things so I already have an intrinsic value in what I have to do. I know that it is sometimes not fun if the task is too hard like some math (for me) or if I have to rush to get the assignment done. In either of those cases I am not sure if I learn the material or just complete the assignment. As a society we will have accomplished a great task if we could instill in all students an intrinsic value for learning.
How is Learning best effectuated by a teacher: According to this weeks readings we need to get the attention of the students or arouse their curiosity. I try to do that with an anticipatory set. I liked the ARCS +V model presented by Keller. The material we present needs to be relevant to their lives. I use guided practice to help the students to have the confidence they can do the work. I have slacked on the satisfaction area. I use to have a place where I would display a perfect paper. I need to start that again because I think it made the students feel good when their paper was on the board. Most students at the secondary level will not take the work home to their parents even if you encourage them to do so. I like the idea of volition. It seems to me that today some kids leave it up to the teacher to make sure they are doing their work or making up what they miss when absent. I think each student needs to track their own progress in learning. I think this year I will use a blog for each type of class I teach, and I will blog each day what we did. Maybe then the kids will just look for themselves get what they need and take a little responsibility for getting their work done.
How is Learning best effectuated by a teacher: According to this weeks readings we need to get the attention of the students or arouse their curiosity. I try to do that with an anticipatory set. I liked the ARCS +V model presented by Keller. The material we present needs to be relevant to their lives. I use guided practice to help the students to have the confidence they can do the work. I have slacked on the satisfaction area. I use to have a place where I would display a perfect paper. I need to start that again because I think it made the students feel good when their paper was on the board. Most students at the secondary level will not take the work home to their parents even if you encourage them to do so. I like the idea of volition. It seems to me that today some kids leave it up to the teacher to make sure they are doing their work or making up what they miss when absent. I think each student needs to track their own progress in learning. I think this year I will use a blog for each type of class I teach, and I will blog each day what we did. Maybe then the kids will just look for themselves get what they need and take a little responsibility for getting their work done.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Week 6
What is Learning: According to Piaget learning is different from cognitive development. Kids will go through four stages of development until they are able to think in abstract terms around age 11-12 years. Learning is "provoked by situations", meaningful and applicable situations.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher: Of course you have to realize the development stage of the students you are trying to teach. Piaget also stated that there are three types of knowledge: physical, social, and abstract. I work with junior kids who love to be social. It works well to have students work together in pairs, or team teach one another. It also helps to add the physical action of completing a task in what you are learning. I love what Piaget said, "to know is to act on it". We want our students to act on what they are learning in our classes and transfer that knowledge to other areas in school or in their lives.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher: Of course you have to realize the development stage of the students you are trying to teach. Piaget also stated that there are three types of knowledge: physical, social, and abstract. I work with junior kids who love to be social. It works well to have students work together in pairs, or team teach one another. It also helps to add the physical action of completing a task in what you are learning. I love what Piaget said, "to know is to act on it". We want our students to act on what they are learning in our classes and transfer that knowledge to other areas in school or in their lives.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Week 5
What is learning: I really enjoyed the reading on the restaurant and shopping schema more so than the prison/wrestling, or music/cards experiment. It is true that people have a mental image of what a place is suppose to look like and what goes on there. In a kitchen we would assume that there would be pots, pans, plates, and forks, unless of course it belonged to a 18 year old just starting out in life. I know that I learn better when I incorporate new information into a cognitive image that is already there.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher: What I tried to do in this weeks lesson was to have the students get an mental image of the topic I was going to address, and used an exploration exercise to get the students to incorporate the new topic into the old. I used tools that the students were already familiar with and showed them were they are in the new environment. I hope my lesson will be useful to orientate my students to the Office 2007 working environment.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher: What I tried to do in this weeks lesson was to have the students get an mental image of the topic I was going to address, and used an exploration exercise to get the students to incorporate the new topic into the old. I used tools that the students were already familiar with and showed them were they are in the new environment. I hope my lesson will be useful to orientate my students to the Office 2007 working environment.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Week 4
What is learning: Learning is transferring rote (new) learning into our cognitive structure. What we learn depends on our mental state, what we know, and our observation strategies. Young children learn quickly by observation. New knowledge that is incorporated depends on our effort, quantity, and quality of cognitive structure. I agree with the author that some of it depends on our effort to learn the new material.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teachers: The article by Novak mentioned using advanced organizers such as the knowledge Vee and concept maps. Teachers need to use such tools to help students avoid learning faulty information. I liked the statement Novak made on page 554, that "hands on is not enough...need minds on". Three pages later Novak goes on to say that only the learner can choose to learn meaningfully, to consciously and deliberately reconstruct his/her framework(p. 557).
Near the end of the Novak article he states that a good teacher does not remediate faulty misconceptions. He describes his course for remediation:
1. Progressive differentiations
2. Subsumption - new info builds on old
3. Superordinate - several cpncepts recognize subconcepts
4. Integrative reconciliation - similiar or differences of knowledge
One thing I know for sure is that it is very hard to unlearn faulty information and relearn the correct information. I have seen this many times with bad keyboarding techniques. Generally these students are not willing to give up the old to learn a better way. It is best if we can help them learn correct information from the start.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teachers: The article by Novak mentioned using advanced organizers such as the knowledge Vee and concept maps. Teachers need to use such tools to help students avoid learning faulty information. I liked the statement Novak made on page 554, that "hands on is not enough...need minds on". Three pages later Novak goes on to say that only the learner can choose to learn meaningfully, to consciously and deliberately reconstruct his/her framework(p. 557).
Near the end of the Novak article he states that a good teacher does not remediate faulty misconceptions. He describes his course for remediation:
1. Progressive differentiations
2. Subsumption - new info builds on old
3. Superordinate - several cpncepts recognize subconcepts
4. Integrative reconciliation - similiar or differences of knowledge
One thing I know for sure is that it is very hard to unlearn faulty information and relearn the correct information. I have seen this many times with bad keyboarding techniques. Generally these students are not willing to give up the old to learn a better way. It is best if we can help them learn correct information from the start.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Week 3
What is learning: According to the Cognitive Information Processing theory students learn through internal coding, organizing new information with prior knowledge, and transfer the new information into long term memory. Then the student uses mnemonics and cues to pull the information back out of memory to use in other applications. The nature of the learner is different in this theory because of their active role in learning The focus of this theory is how information is received, organized, stored, and retrieved by the mind. It is not what the learners do, but how they learn. The learner must identify prerequisite relationships, structure, sequence and make connections between the new information and past knowledge in some manner. The student must feel that the knowledge is useful to them. Attitudes and values of the learner are equally important to the learning process.
How is learning best effectuated by a teacher/trainer: Some of the important factors mentioned in the reading was the use of explanations, demonstrations, examples, and practice with feedback. Some of the techniques mentioned to make connections between the old and new knowledge are through analogies, metaphors, framing, mnemonic, concept mapping, and advance organizers. Since most of my class materials deals with learning how to use computer software I do use all of the factors mentioned above in my teaching. The area I need to improve on is the techniques used to make connections between the old and new. This has caused me to think about how I teach my classes. The students learn many new function each day and at the end of the unit they are to use these functions to create a product. The advanced students are able to do this without problems. I need to come up some concept mapping or advance organizers which will help the remainder of the class to complete the project without a lot of assistance. This way I could actually test what they have retained not what they can do with my help. I think I will have them create an organizer for each unit that they can refer to when they do their projects at the end. For example, if the unit is on formatting text, we can start with a center circle labeled Format Text, and then have lines to other smaller circles labeled bold, italic, small caps, font, size, and etc. I will try this next year. Does anyone have other ideas?
How is learning best effectuated by a teacher/trainer: Some of the important factors mentioned in the reading was the use of explanations, demonstrations, examples, and practice with feedback. Some of the techniques mentioned to make connections between the old and new knowledge are through analogies, metaphors, framing, mnemonic, concept mapping, and advance organizers. Since most of my class materials deals with learning how to use computer software I do use all of the factors mentioned above in my teaching. The area I need to improve on is the techniques used to make connections between the old and new. This has caused me to think about how I teach my classes. The students learn many new function each day and at the end of the unit they are to use these functions to create a product. The advanced students are able to do this without problems. I need to come up some concept mapping or advance organizers which will help the remainder of the class to complete the project without a lot of assistance. This way I could actually test what they have retained not what they can do with my help. I think I will have them create an organizer for each unit that they can refer to when they do their projects at the end. For example, if the unit is on formatting text, we can start with a center circle labeled Format Text, and then have lines to other smaller circles labeled bold, italic, small caps, font, size, and etc. I will try this next year. Does anyone have other ideas?
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Week 2
WHAT IS LEARNING I really liked reading about behaviorism. I agree with the ideas BF Skinner had more so than Pavlov. Most people are willing to do their work so they can get paid or a grade in school. I know that I also try to behave on the road so I do not get a ticket. We have some new officers in my town and they are really making an impression. The behavior Skinner was able to get out of the doves or even the rats is the same as having our dogs do tricks for treats. In fact, many times our dogs will not except a treat without doing a trick first. It does not mean the same to them without the trick. HOW CAN A TEACHER ENCOURAGE LEARNING I think teachers should use positive reinforcement such as praise for positive student behavior. You can also give extra credit and candy. Since I have computers in my class, students who do well and finish early are able to play games or listen to music with headphones. I prefer that they help others when necessary and will give extra credit for that. I believe you have high expectations for the students or you get little performance. The thing that amazes me is that I had two parents this year tell me that all they care about that is their student gets a D- out of my class. This is sad.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
INST 6325 Week 1
What is learning? People learn as they hear and see new things. The key to leaning is the desire to pay attention to the learning environment. You look at toddlers and how much they learn in a day. Children will watch and copy everything you do and say. My husband has taught our 3 year old grand-daughter how to reload bullets. Of course she does not know the technical measurements but she knows the process.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher/trainer? This is a hard one. I think to get the students to pay attention you have to make it interesting, build on prior knowledge, and explain the importance of learning this new process/concept. Some students will pay attention to the point that they can at least do the assignment because their motivation is to get a good grade. What you want is for them to desire to know for the sake of knowledge.
How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher/trainer? This is a hard one. I think to get the students to pay attention you have to make it interesting, build on prior knowledge, and explain the importance of learning this new process/concept. Some students will pay attention to the point that they can at least do the assignment because their motivation is to get a good grade. What you want is for them to desire to know for the sake of knowledge.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)