Voice Thread: Please, No cell phones

My school has a recurring problem with students using cell phones during school hours. I appreciate any ideas that you can offer.

http://voicethread.com/share/572310/

"Talk amongst yourselves"

“Can we work with other people?” is a question my students ask before they begin any class activity. I respond by asking, “Why?” and they always answer, “ So we can help each other”. This example of social learning follows the assertion that meaningful learning occurs when individuals work collaboratively to attain knowledge. Social theorists claim that students actively engage in learning when they dialogue and negotiate with group members and subsequently, develop external artifacts to demonstrate understanding. According to Dr. Orey (2009), social constructions include other people. The nature of collaborative groups encourage students to engage in conversation with group peers, which in turn, helps them reinforce and concretize meaning and ideas. Students validate answers, provide support, and teach each other.

Cooperative learning is an excellent methodology that incorporates social learning concepts. In cooperative learning groups, students work together to accomplish a common goal; each member is responsible for learning, teaching, and assisting other members. I frequently use web quests as a framework for cooperative learning. These inquiry-based activities encourage students to solve an “authentic” problem as they collectively research information, synthesize ideas, and develop a solution.
In addition, my students work in cooperative learning groups to create pod casts, Power point presentations, and iMovies. Other constructs, blogs, wikis, social threads, and game simulations support social learning, as students are able to communicate ideas and interact with others in a virtual environment.

References

Orey, M. (2009, March). Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology. “Social Learning Theories”. (Laureate, CD-ROM 2009 release).

Learning By Design

To understand student’s ideas, interests, and misconceptions, I use a constructionist approach. I found that Learning by Design projects help students to construct external artifacts that they share with peers and experts. As students work individually or in collaborative groups, they create objects that have “real world” application and meaning.

According to Dr. Orey (2009), constructionist learning helps students to make sense of their world by achieving a balance. Students strive to be in a state of equilibration through assimilating or accommodating new information or experiences. As students construct or build artifacts, they constantly interpret new ideas and concepts and thus, create personal knowledge. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski (2007), suggests teacher implement six categories of tasks: problem solve, analyze systems, develop an invention, experimental inquiry and decision-making help students generate and test hypotheses through a learning design project. This student-centered learning activity provides objectives which encourage students to test hypotheses using word processing and spreadsheet software and additional web sources. The teacher facilitates instruction; guides students using scaffolding activities, assign challenging tasks, addresses learning preferences and provides feedback.

I was particularly interested in the primarysource website listed in Using technology with classroom instruction that works (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). This web source combines language arts and social studies content as students create movies, storyboards, digital stories, and rebuses. Students can respond to, What-if scenarios, make a hypothesis about what happened, and develop hypothetical interviews, narratives and additional speculations. PowerPoint presentations, gaming software, simulations, wikis, and blogs are additional computer-based tools that help engage students in the learning process.

References
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. “Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories” featuring Dr. Michael Orey.

Mind's Eye

Cognitive learning theory is the central focus of my classroom practice. How a learner thinks and processes information fascinates me. Activating student prior knowledge is an integral part of cognitive theory therefore, I use a variety of brainstorming activities to motivate and engage student interest. However, I have learned from this week’s readings that activating students’ prior knowledge is an important elaboration strategy that helps a learner create additional connections and associations into their memory network. According to Dr. Orey, cognitive learning theory uses the informational processing 3-stage model of memory. A learner receives information through sensory input, stores it into short-term memory, rehearses this information and consequently, stores it into long-term memory. This network of information stored in long-term memory connects ideas and information to each other and when needed, the student is to be able to access memory. The elaboration strategy that incorporates information images help students to create these connections, memory triggers. Dr. Orey also suggests that teachers should use multi-sensory tools that address students’ multi intelligences. Concept mapping is such a tool.

I have used graphic organizers and outlines to assist student with writing assignments; however, concept mapping introduces versatility into the learning environment. Computer-based software programs as Inspiration offers diverse templates for students to create concept maps as well as follow a sequence of teacher-generated cues and questions that help them organize and summarize new information. I plan to integrate this software into my instructional plan. I can use the program concept mapping capability and its diverse note taking templates to help students to summarize and organize new ideas and concepts.


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Serendipity

I have always associated behaviorism with the renowned Pavlov’s dog experiment. The dog’s desirable behavior is rewarded with food and thus the dog repeats the behavior. After reading this week’s resources, I have realized I have implemented many behaviorism concepts in my classroom practice. I use a system of rewards and punishments to modify student behavior. Particularly, I use incentives and rewards to reinforce classroom management routines and procedures, as students will repeat certain behaviors in order to receive rewards. The hope is that the student will learn and elicit the desirable behavior.

Based on behaviorism stimulus-response concepts, many drill and practice programs and tutorials help students learn and strengthen basic skills. The program presents a small amount of information, asks a question, the student makes a choice and receives immediate feedback. Positive reinforcement motivates the student to complete the lesson and to progress to the next level of difficulty. I have found that well-designed programs are multi-sensory and address various learning styles. Despite criticisms about the design and implementation of drill and kill programs, my objective is to select the most appropriate, well-structured software and tutorials. I have embedded online tutorials in many of my project-based units. The students enjoy the self-paced autonomous structure of the programs as well as the animated graphics and interactive games.

The effort/ reinforcement project described by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski (2007) is another example of how teachers integrate behaviorism into their classroom practice. The objective of the project is to have students recognize the direct correlation between the amount of effort one applies to a task and the amount of increase in test grades. Students enter data into the spreadsheet, Excel, (the amount of time spent preparing notes, reviewing homework and other factors) which influences their test grades and academic achievement. The data results and graphs provide immediate feedback to students and encourages them to make appropriate behavior changes. Behaviorism, applied appropriately, can help students strengthen and reinforce skills as well as motivate students to change behavior.

References
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.