In week 4, our resources introduced us to constructivism theory and how it corresponsdes with the previous weeks conceptual mapping tool.
Dr. Orey summed this concept up the best when he said, in it’s simpliest form, this theory is getting kids to build stuff. The best example was assigning students to build PowerPoint presentations in regards to materials that they are covering in that lesson.
What I found to be most interesting with the conceptual mapping tool is that it forced me think about what I really wanted the students to learn and how we were going to get there. I love this tool; the application itself was easy to use and forced me to brainstorm outside of the box. This is an application I would love to introduce to my 8th graders. What a great way to organize your thoughts academically and even personally.
One of the most important things that I learned is the goal of trying to teach the student something new that we be embedded in their long term memory, which should be done by association in order for the brain to retain in long term memory. Which actually takes us to one of our first discussions regarding how the brain works.
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I thought the same things about creating the concept map. I learned so much myself by creating it, that I knew my students would really benefit from creating one of their own. Now this week we learned about how important it is for students to be involved with first hand experiences. By allowing them to create and complete an organizer like a concept map, we are giving them opportunities to assimilate and accommodate the new information and achieve equilibration while creating this artifact.
ReplyDeleteHey Terri, love the insight on association. I used that tool this week when working with a student learning vocabulary words. I also learned that trick works great for me when learning a new student's name. I think of something the name reminds me of and it's stuck in my head:)
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