Constructionism

As a teacher of science, creating and testing hypotheses is something that we do from week 1 of the science curriculum.  When possible, I try to incorporate as much technology into my units as I can, because it’s something that not only I find fun, but the students do as well.  In our first real lab of the year, my students begin using computers to create and test a hypothesis. 

Our first lab of the semester, entitled the “Mortality Lab” is based around the question, “who lives longer?”  Students have to devise a plan and investigate the mortality ages of a population from around the country.  The goal is to see which gender lives longer.  During this time, students not only focus on the scientific method, but also how to graph and analyze their own data.  When students are focused on the activity at hand, “they are engaging in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary and enhancing their overall understand of the content,”  (Pitler et al, p 202, 2008).  This activity not only helps them learn the scientific method, but also how to analyze the data and draw conclusions as well.

This lab is a great tool that reinforces the ideas behind the constructivism and constructionism learning theories because it not only helps them build on their knowledge from their experiences, but it also has them create a report that demonstrates their knowledge and documents their experiences.  Dr. Orey commented that these are two main points of the constructivism/constructionism theories (Laureate Education Inc.  2009). 

Using technology in the classroom is a great tool to support constructionism in any class.  Part of what makes the theory effective in the classroom is that students love to create and showcase their work, and by having them create something, whether it be a PowerPoint presentation, movie in MovieMaker or anything along those lines, students love to learn new material through building something.  Students today learn through more technological methods today and expect instant feedback on their work.   One of the most effective tools that can be used as a way to promote this and have students lead a discussion on their own is the use of a blog.  Although students can create their own views and statements or assignments have an interclass critique and discussion about each piece so they can explain themselves.  This is a great tool for students who are creating a piece of literature for an English class, or any other reflective essay. 

Technology is something that is not going to go away, and teachers must embrace the use of it and create lessons that incorporate it into their curriculum.  As they do this, they must also consider the use of the constructionism and constructivism theories to further enrich their teaching strategies. 

References: 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program six. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.

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

Technology and the Cognitive Learning Theory

Using technology, teachers can become more effective educators and convey ideas more accurately and effectively to students by using cognitive learning strategies. This idea is quite beneficial to all teachers, and can be adapted for any lesson or concept.

One of the most effective tools that I have used recently to build on student’s knowledge about the biomes of the world is the use of wikis to act as a virtual field trip around the world. Each group is given a biome, and must present basic information about the biome, its climate, animals, and plants. This way students can learn the basic information, and store it in their declarative memory and be able to recall it when necessary (Laureate Education Inc, 2009a). After doing this type of activity for several years, I have seen that it is quite effective and the students enjoy it because it not only helps them remember the material longer (which is needed for their SOL test in 8th grade), but also allows them to work on their 21st century skills that include skills such as collaboration, creativity and critical thinking.

Another aspect of the technology that I really think is beneficial is the ability to take virtual field trips within the confines of the classroom. My school is fortunate because it is located in the Washington D.C. suburbs, and have a wide variety of resources available to us as a result, however, it is not something everyone has access to nationwide. Using virtual fieldtrips are quite beneficial in that they help students see and experience things they normally would not be able to. Case in point, students learning about the assassination of President Lincoln may not be able to visit Ford’s theater, but they can see the setup and pictures from the theater from their classroom using computers. This way they still can make a connection with the events that occurred there, but did not actually visit it. By creating connections, students can store the information they gained through episodic memory, and have a better chance of recalling it later, and generating opinions and views on the history being taught (Laureate Education Inc, 2009b).

The cognitive learning theory is something that is quite beneficial in the education system, and is crucial to strengthening student’s knowledge and learning skills. Regardless of the strategy being used, students gain more knowledge, experiences and critical thinking skills from using technology to strengthen cognitive learning, ultimately making it a more enjoyable lesson for the students, and the teacher as well.


References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program five. Cognitive Learning Theories. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program six. Spotlight on Technology: Virtual Field Trips. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Technology and Behaviorism

Often times when students get their tests back in my class, they are surprised at their scores. Usually it is not in a good way. They expect to do a lot better than they did on the test, and as they are grumbling about their grades, I ask them, “How much did you study?” I usually get the response of “a lot,” which after some discussion usually ends up totaling around 5 minutes. I had only imagined that I could arrange it so that I could graph their effort and their scores to show them the correlation. After reading the section on Mrs. Powell’s math class, I feel inspired to follow her strategy. In order to show this correlation, she had her students graph their effort and their grades to visually display their effort and their scores to find the relationship. Ultimately, most of her students saw, by creating this excel file, that the more effort they put into their work, the better they did in the class. (Pitler et al., p. 156 -157, 2007). As a teacher of seventh graders, this is a concept most of them do not realize. I often see them expecting “A’s and B’s” but are frustrated and confused why they did not get them. By doing this, students should be motivated to work.

Another way that behaviorism is enforced in education is by utilizing technology both in and out of the classroom. By using tools such as a wiki, students can work on building a project outside of class, which promotes team collaboration, critical thinking skills, and also reinforces the content discussed in class. “Technology facilitates homework and practice by providing a wealth of resources for learning outside of the classroom making it easy to work on collaborative homework assignments and providing drill and practice…” (Pitler, et al, p. 189, 2007). When students were to learn about biomes this past semester, I had my students use wikispaces.com to create interactive presentations about each biome that they could then references for later assignments. They created amazing projects, and really enjoyed working on them. This was intended to be an in-class assignment, but my students took it upon themselves the first night to work on the projects outside of class. It worked out extremely well, and the students were quite motivated to do their work.

As we continue to move through technology age, students will have access to a great amount of technology, and in order to utilize it as an effective tool, teachers must be creative and design lessons that allow students to use it within the classroom. From my experiences, any time a student has access to technology in school, they jump at the chance, and ultimately use it as an incentive for learning the content. This idea, which is very simple in reason, is the primary belief behind behaviorism, which is an effective process in the classroom.

References:

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