Ana's Blog

Focus question: What are the essential ideas for teachers from research on the science of learning?

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School is a book that extended research on the science of learning. The research is based on social psychology, cognitive psychology, anthropology neuroscience, and technology. It explains that from young, humans are goal-directed who always seek information.

One of the essential ideas that a teacher should have is constructivism, which means construction of new knowledge based on what they already know. In order to reach out to the students, they need to associate new knowledge with ideas and information the students already know. For example, instead of telling facts about the earth revolving around the sun, the teacher should take the students out to observe. This way the teacher starts to build a process of new knowledge. The students begin get involved both physically and cognitively in the learning process. This is called active learning, in which the students start to pursue questions about the topic. Active learning has three main implications for teachers: they must know and work with understandings that students bring with them, they must teach subject matter in depth with examples, and the teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum.

Educators tend to follow one or four combinations of the learning theories. Constructivism is that a person constructs and interprets the world in their own way. Behaviorism “maintains that learning is a set of changes in human behavior created as a response to events in the environment” (Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011). On the other hand, cognitivism claims that nonobservable and internal constructs influence learning. Seymour Papert created the term constructionism, which holds that learners build their own knowledge and add the ideas as public entities.

Learning for the 21st Century! Bluesofamedia Channel

Tech Tool link: Web Resources and Apps for Developing Digital Literacies.

The article offers a website called Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus, which allows students to research word meanings and their connections to other words using a mapping program. In a World…Drama, is an app that enables students to create a movie trailer with their own title and rating. The article provides websites, apps, and e-Books for developing digital literacies.

Summary & Connection:

Chapter three discusses the research on the science of learning and four learning theories teachers follow as they use technology in teaching. It also explains how technology makes transformative learning possible in K-12. The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) central goal is transformative learning with technology.

I believe that transforming learning with technology is important. Teachers need to create opportunities for students by engaging them in learning, such as: thinking critically, problem solving, developing digital literacies, communicating and collaborate electronically, and express themselves creatively. Technology enables teachers and students to express their creativity using pictures, symbols, numbers, and generated words. Teachers and students are able to create PowerPoint presentations and be creative with it.

The chapter further discusses about digital citizenship, which means membership in a society or a country. Just like a citizen, a digital citizens has rights and responsibilities. These rights include writing, photos, and graphic designs are subject to copyright protection. It is important to know that you cannot “falsely present another person’s work as one’s own, or share confidential information without permission” (Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011).

Resources:

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B.P. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.