Social Constructionism

I think the instructional strategies described this week are great for the Social Constructionism Learning Theory.  First of all, you can’t get any more social than the Cooperative Learning strategy!  Students here are actively engaged in creating or problem solving together while they have conversations together.  They are constantly interacting and bouncing ideas off of one another, getting validation for their thoughts, and gaining confidence in their learning and practice (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  This type of learning together in cooperative groups really gets students to participate in a real world learning scenario.  More often than not, students will find themselves in college and in their careers working with others.  Two thoughts are more powerful than one and sometimes students bring different background knowledge and experiences to the conversation which can help others think at different levels in different ways.

Another instructional strategy described this week was the Jigsaw activity (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  I have actually used this strategy many times throughout my teaching career.  The students always enjoy learning this way because it is something different and the results are always extremely effective.  My students love being considered an “expert” regardless of what the topic might be.  This jigsaw activity allows students to come together to research, “build something” in the form of an instructional tool like a PowerPoint, and then teach the material to others.  Not only are they socially constructing something, but the teaching component is a huge learning bonus.  As a teacher I can relate because I know so much more about the Revolutionary War than I ever did due to the fact that I have to teach it!  Dr. Michael Orey in his video on Social Learning Theories even said, “One of the best ways to learn content is to teach it” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). 

Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

VoiceThread

Link to my VoiceThread:

http://walden.voicethread.com/share/3757581/

Cognitive Learning Theory

The Cognitive Learning Theory primarily focuses on how we process information.  Dr. Michael Orey in his video on the Cognitive Learning Theory said that there are three main ways to process information.  The first thing that must happen is that a person must receive information via their senses.  Then, that information goes into short term memory.  With repeated “rehearsal”, that information can then be stored in long term memory (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  It is very important for teachers to understand this process so they can create lessons and activities accordingly.  Asking students questions and prompting them for a response helps guide and structure their learning.  Using advance organizers is also a great strategy to structure student learning for easier processing.  Pictures can be added to advance organizers so the sensory information students receive is varied, and organizers can be created to show connections between ideas, which mimics the Elaboration Theory (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  Dr. Michael Orey suggests “integrating multiple senses in presentations” because “anything you can do to keep things manageable for the learner is important” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  Cueing students to focus on specific information or connections and having advance organizers that affect multiple senses will ultimately increase student learning for the long run.  Summarizing information is a great example of rehearsal.  Students need to “digest” what they’ve received through their senses and having them put it into their own words is one great way to do that.  Note Taking also helps get information from short term into long term memory because students practice writing the information which forms a visual representation and serves as another form of rehearsal.  All of these instructional strategies help teach students to understand information.  They allow students to focus on information and create a network visually (organizers and note taking) or through audio (cues and questions).  Teachers can use these strategies to help students concentrate on key ideas and help them understand those ideas for immediate or long term use.

Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Constructionism

The instructional strategy on generating and testing hypothesis is perfect for Constructionism because students are involved in project-based, problem-based, or inquiry-based learning.  At its core, Constructionism is the learning process where students are involved in creating something (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  If students are creating something, such as a hypothesis, they are engaged in their learning (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  Testing a hypothesis forces students to ask questions and reflect, which are both powerful learning tools.  They may even need to make adjustments or recreate a hypothesis.  Also in the resources this week, the technology programs Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word were discussed.  These programs again allow students to create an external artifact based on what topic they are exploring (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  Providing students with problems instead of feeding them information allows students to try to make connections to content in different ways.  Each student brings different experiences to the table so it is important to have them collaborate among one another to share ideas or suggestions.  Students solving problems requires them to use more of the different types of knowledge they possess and put them together in an effort to find a solution.  Students are likely to have more meaningful learning take place that will remain with them in the future.  Asking students questions or posing problems to students causes disequilibration in their brains (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  In an effort to get their brains back into equilibration, students must work hard to assimilate or accommodate new information while using their schema (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  Giving students real-world problems or activities lets students see the value in what they are doing and it also makes assimilation and accommodation more meaningful.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program seven: Constructionist and constructivist

learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology.

Retrieved from

http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

The strategies that were discussed this week in the resources focused on reinforcing effort and homework and practice.  Other strategies that were discussed dealt with managing behavior in classrooms and remedial drill and practice work for low achieving students.  All of these strategies fall into the behaviorist learning theory as they use the idea of operant conditioning.  Operant conditioning revolves around two main objectives: reinforcing desirable behavior and punishing undesirable behavior.  When teachers reinforce effort, they are rewarding desirable behaviors in students.  This can be done through verbal praise, privileges, or other tangible rewards.  Students then learn that if they repeat the good behavior, they will receive a reward.  Behaviorists believe that this is how learning takes place.  The homework and practice strategy really focuses on having students repeat what they've learned through drill and practice.  The behaviorist learning theory claims repetition is an extremely powerful learning tool.  Frequent practice in necessary for learning to take place based on the behaviorist model.  Managing student behavior can be done effectively using the behaviorist strategy of operant conditioning with rewards and punishments.  Again, the good behavior is rewarded while the bad behaviors are punished with consequences.  Remedial work with the low achieving students in an effort to boost test scores or ratings is usually accomplished through drill and practice programs that also follow the behaviorist model.