Constructivism in Practice

As many of us know, the ideas of constructivism focus around students essentially creating their own learning experience while the teacher serves as a facilitator of information and ideas instead of the only source. In addition, constructionism additionally suggests that students learn best when an actual product is created during the learning process and the student actually creates something with the information that they are learning. Both of these concepts are regularly seen within the classroom on a regular basis in most schools across the country. However, I believe that with the increased integration of technology into schools, we will see even more project based learning and constructionism in the classroom that focuses around students creating an actual artifact to demonstrate they have obtained the necessary content material.

The book I have been using recently, "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malensoki, 2007), dives further into this subject and suggests numerous technological tools and strategies that can incorporate this particular learning theory and apply it to the actual classroom. The ones that drew particular interest from me were the web resources that were discussed, particularly one titled, "Muzzy Lane's Making History: The Calm and the Storm, which can be found at www.making-history.com. As a social studies teacher, I was immediately interested by this particular learning tool because it focused on social studies content. In addition, after reading about the tool, I began to think that this could have some real impact in my classroom when I teach about World War II.

To briefly summarize the web resources, students are placed in the position of a leader of a particular country near the onset of World War II. They then begin making various decisions that particular leader would have had to make and then see if their decisions changed the outcome of that particular moment in history; thus constructing their own learning. I say this because they have the ability to see what types of decisions could have been made (instead of the ones that were) and see how these different decisions could have changed the outcome of this time period in history.

In addition to this tool, the other web resources that were discussed had much of the same relationship with constructivism in that they allowed students to take control of a situation and then see what kind of outcome their decisions produced. These ranged from web resources involving weather to modifying a catapult to ensure a direct hit on a building. Not only do these constructivist strategies allow students to see how the information they are learning can actually be applied, they also serve as a fun way to learn and an approach that will likely be enjoyed by the students which is always a good thing.

Cognitive Learning Theory in the Classroom with the Use of Technology

Just as last week, today's post will be utilizing ideas gained through the use of the textbook, "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). As stated in the title, this weeks entry will focus on various instructional strategies and their relationship with cognitive learning theory. Refreshing my memory on cognitive learning theory and some of the tools that go along with it reopened by eyes to the effectiveness of many of the strategies associated with the theory and also the ideas that are associated with the theory, which I will be sharing with you today.

One of the most influential concepts that comes from cognitive learning theory, in my opinion, is the concept of dual coding of information. This idea essentially states that the ability to remember things can be positively impacted if you can find a way to remember it in two ways, or dually. The most practical way for me to achieve this as a social studies teacher is to consistently provide useful images to go along with ideas, people, events, or places that I am covering with my students. In addition, if I can use a concept map at the same time, I can not only take advantage of dually coding the information, I can also take steps to create a network of information relating to a single topic, thus increasing my students ability to remember whatever it is we are discussing. When it comes to organizing information, I feel that concept maps give you a great ability to succeed, especially when it is a digital concept map that is capable of including images along with text. That way, students can not only see the web of information but also the images that exemplify and identify the ideas, events, or people we are discussing.

Another useful tool in the classroom that exemplifies cognitive learning theory is the use of the virtual field trip. If used effectively, a virtual field trip can create an actual experience that students will be able to look back on to remember information. The creation of an actual experience can be the most effective way of retaining information and if a virtual field trip is executed properly, it can do just that. In my opinion, the best virtual field trips are those that create a sense that you are actually there. Many virtual field trips that are available are simply a slide show that fuses information and pictures together and calls it a virtual field trip. I disagree. I think that an effective virtual field trip incorporates more then just pictures and text. They should include moving video taken from the point of view of actually being at the site. This way, an actual experience is created in the students brain so they can recall the information that is learned from the virtual field trip.

I plan on suggesting many of my colleagues to review the information presented in the cognitive learning theory and also strategies that make use of ideas taken from the theory. I feel that a lot can be gained by doing so and it can reignite the desire to make a concerted effort to use these strategies in the classroom to ensure that students are given the best opportunity to retain the information that is presented to them on a daily basis.

Behaviorism and Technology

For this post, I am going to be referencing the book "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works", written by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007). In particular, I am going to be discussing the correlation between behaviorism and the learning theories of reinforcing effort and homework and practice.

The basic idea of reinforcing effort is that by creating a project that forces students to keep track of how their effort impacts their success in the classroom throughout a unit. Students create some type of chart or spreadsheet to help monitor their scores on assessments along with their effort in specific areas relating to that assessment or lesson. In a perfect world, students would see that when they put forth increased effort, they gain better results. This not only shows students that effort in a subject can breed results, but it also boosts student self-confidence because they see that they are truly capable of succeeding in the classroom. In essence, this is classic behavioralism at work because it centers around the idea that students will see that effort increases their scores and this realization should modify their behavior and persuade them to continue putting forth effort.

The basic idea of homework and practice is that students can have high success rates learning material if they complete homework on the subject and actually practice using the material numerous times. Parts of this strategy reflect behavioralism better than others, but one area that reflects behavioralism very well is that of using web resources for students to practice their content. One web resource that I am familiar with is called Study Island. Essentially, students have the ability to complete quizzes or assignments on Study Island and when they answer a question correctly, they are allowed an "attempt" at the game that correlates with the quiz. )For example, the content could be a 9th grade social studies standard quiz and the game that could be played is a variation of bowling) Students eventually can become conditioned to put forth enough effort to submit correct answers so that they can play the game that is presented on Study Island. It is a simple example of modifying behavior by providing a reward "at the end of the tunnel".