Thursday, November 15, 2007

Final Exam

Final Exam:
Dec. 6 - Pablo gives each person an objective, target audience, 2 learning theories
Create one lesson using the two theories.
Dec. 13 - 15 min. presentation on your lesson during an assigned time

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Bruner

Bruner
• technologies serve as amplifiers of human capabilities
ex. human memory is amplified by use of writing
human physical strength is amplified by use of mechanical tools
human ability to calculate numbers is amplified by use of computers

• 3 systems to represent environments:
1) patterned motor acts - enactive representation
representing past events through motor responses (representations are
retained within our muscles)
ex. learning dance routines - learning to drive a car
2) imagery and perception - iconic representation
representing events by developing percepts and images
ex. maps - diagrams - icons on a computer desktop
3) language and reason - symbolic representation
representing mental and physical events by using symbols
higher level of abstraction
ex. speech - writing - mathematics
•usually learners progress from enactive, to iconic, to symbolic
is the learning task represented in a way that is compatible to the learner’s mode of
representing the world?
What can we do to help learners in different modes of learning?
Math - manipulatives
Spiral Curriculum - use enactive with younger students, iconic with older, symbolic with
the oldest - but depending on the specific domain you can use these strategies
with various ages of learners

•Learning and Education
Discovery Learning - an expectation of finding regularities and relationshiop in the
envirionment
Culture & Cognitive Growth - intelligence is to a great extent the internatlization of tools
provided by a given culture

Summary: “Theories of instruction must bring together the nature of knowlege, the nature of the knower, and the nature of the knowledge-getting process.” (Bruner, 1966)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Situated Cognition

Situated Cognition
learning as participation in communities
-not only does the individual learn, but the community itself learns from the individuals
and the whole

What Learning Communities am I part of?
Home
Family - extended family
Friends
Teacher - Jordan Dist. - Sprucewood - 6th Grade
Grad School
Church - ward
United States - California - San Diego

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Mini Instruction - Schema Theory

Mini Instruction – Schema Theory
Katie and Ross
“Rivers of Life”

Introduction to Schema Theory
Schema theory explains that a learner’s knowledge is stored in their memory as “packets of knowledge.” New understanding acquired by learners relates to these “packets of knowledge”, or schemata, and can be added to already present schemata, can allow schemata to be altered, or can create new schemata. Instructional designers can facilitate meaningful learning by using various strategies to activate schemata and help learners to use their prior knowledge in gaining new understanding.

Theoretical Principles
Learners can acquire more meaningful learning and remember better when they relate new information to prior knowledge.
Schemata – “packets of knowledge” stored in the memory
Mental Mmodels – schemata that guide the learner as they learn new information or solve problems
Accretion – “fact learning” – new information is added to already present schemata
Tuning – schemata are altered, or “evolve”, based on new knowledge and experience
Restructuring – new schemata are created to “replace or incorporate old ones”
Keys to automating existing schemata to lighten the cognitive load of the learner and therefore facilitate further meaningful learning:
Activate Prior Knowledge
•Advance Organizers – introductory materials that “bridge the gap”
between prior knowledge and new information to be learned
•Schema Signals – texts and other learning tools draw on a familiar
structure to aid learners
Make Instructional Materials Meaningful
•Comparative Organizers
•Elaboration
Use Prior Knowledge in New Contexts

Instructional Objective
The students will be able to list seven important factors that play a role in the development of a civilization. They will be able to identify these factors in various ancient civilizations, namely Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient China, and Ancient India. Later, they will be able to identify the same factors in the development of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

Intended Learners
A sixth-grade class of 25 to 30 students.

Materials
•A social studies textbook for each student – needs to have information on the ancient civilizations discussed in this lesson (Recommended textbook: World Adventures in Time and Place published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill)
•If a textbook is not available, encyclopedias, the internet, or other research tools may be used.
•4 long pieces of blue butcher paper (each about 8 feet long)
•Scissors
•Pencils, crayons, colored pencils, markers
•A variety of paper (eg. construction paper, tissue paper)
•Other art supplies as available

Procedure
The class is divided into groups of seven7 or eight8 students. Each group is assigned one ancient civilization to research using their social studies textbook:
Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, or India.
Each student in the group is responsible for one specific factor that contributed to the growth and development of this civilization. (Some partnering may be needed.)
Factors:
Source of Water (the major river that flows through that civilization)
Farming
Religion
Government
Military
Transportation/Travel/Trade
Inventions/Discoveries

Each group will then receive a piece of blue butcher paper to represent their river civilization. They will cut the paper so it is wavy, like a river. The group will display the information gained from their research on their river. The river should have a title (the name of their civilization). The rest of the river will then be divided into seven7 sections on which seven7 subtitles should be written (the seven factors they have studied). The students will place a graphic next to each subtitle that represents that factor, showing they understand what that subtopic means. (Example: Next to the farming subtitle students place a picture of crops growing in a field.) The studentsy may choose various ways to represent the information they have researched: illustrations, lists, captions, 3-D art, etc.

Once the rivers have been completed, the instructor should lead a class discussion about the similarities and differences between each of the civilizations. The instructor should discuss with the students the important role played by each of the seven7 factors listed in the development of these civilizations.
Assessment
The students will be given a quiz on which they must list seven important factors in the development of civilizations.

Follow-Up Learning
Now that the students have learned about several ancient civilizations and the factors contributing to their development, they will continue to use the seven factors learned in studying other civilizations in history. As the class learns about Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the students will be asked to determine if these seven factors were present in these civilizations as well. If so, can they will identify them.? The students will create a comparative organizer displaying how Greece and Rome also had these seven factors.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Midterm

Midterm:
Behaviorism
Cognitive Information Processing
Meaningful Learning
Schema Theory

We will be given an example online and be asked to analyze it based on these theories of learning.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Wikipedia: Schema Theory

Wikipedia: Schema Theory is a theory of learning. Schemata are models suggesting relationships between objects. They are learned and structure future learning. (Schemata is the plural and schema is the singular form of this word.)

The theory hypothesizes that the schema a person uses during learning will determine how the learner interprets the task to be learned, how the learner understands the information, and what knowledge the learner acquires.

Plato elaborates the Greek doctrine of ideal types – such as the perfect circle that exists in the mind but which no one has ever seen. Kant further developed the notion and introduced the word schema. For example, he describes the "dog" schema a mental pattern which "can delineate the figure of a four-footed animal in a general manner, without limitation to any single determinate figure as experience, or any possible image that I can represent in concreto." (Kant 1781).

Since that time, many other terms have been used as well, including "frame," "scene," "scenario," "script" and even "model", "theory". Key theoretical development of schema theory was made in several fields, including linguistics, anthropology, psychology and artificial intelligence. The heyday of schema theory was probably in the 1970s (although of course in OB it has barely arrived). One of the main engines was artificial intelligence, which was engaged in getting computers to read natural text. It was quickly discovered that most of what is communicated in a newspaper article cannot be understood without reference to a great deal of information that is not included in the article itself. For example, consider this story from D’Andrade (1995):

John wanted to do well on the exam, but his pen ran out of ink and his pencil broke. He tried to find a pencil sharpener, but there wasn't one in the room. Finally he borrowed a pen from another student. By then he was so far behind he had to rush, and the teacher took off points for poor penmanship.

To understand this story, you have to understand the writing schema because the text itself leaves unstated the connection between John running out of ink and his not being able to work on the exam.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schemata_theory"

Categories: Articles to be merged since February 2007 | Psychological adjustment |

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Behaviorism

One main argument against Behaviorism is that it is manipulative.
Behaviorists say it is not.

Behavior Modification can change any behavior, but can it change the person? Can it change the person inside?

Task Analysis - can reveal that some problems are not solved by instruction, some are solved other ways, such as with performance improvement (uncomfortable safety goggles example)
See ISPI - International Society for Performance Improvement
They analyze performance, processes, productivity
People can become certified performance technologists
A different field, but similar principles to instructional design