Constructionism

Constructionism to me is when you actively involve the students in building something or creating something to help them remember. An example would be actually having the students write out a check to their neighbor to help them remember. The videos call this an artifact.

When it comes to project-based learning, you are also involving the students in building something to help them remember. The video talks about PowerPoint presentation becoming the artifact. I like the idea that you would have a unit on banking and have each student or group build a presentation on a different part of the unit and then present that information for all.

These two correlate with eachother because you are both building something to help you learn the information.

Cognitive Tools

I think the biggest reason to use cognitive tools is for long-term memory. When the students use maps, charts, or other visuals it is helping them sculpt their brain to remember the information. It also helps the students make connections so that they can relate the information to something.

Pictures are huge when making connections. Look at the pictures of Haiti that we have seen since the earthquake. If reporters just described what was going their would not be as much as an impact on the devastation. It is with those pictures that we can make a connection. In the resources they talk about senses. The more senses you can get involved the more the students will remember. The only sense that we can not get from the earthquake is the smell. It has been described to us but unless you are their you will not be able to make that connection.

Behaviorism Week 2

There were two strategies talked about in this week’s resources. The first is reinforcing effort. At our school we have used the Baldrige approach. We introduce charts and graphs to show the students behaviors. One popular chart is attendance. This correlates with behaviorism because usually if the student has good attendance then they will get an award or some type of praise at the end of the quarter.

The second strategy is homework and practice. I use a couple websites to help me with this. The first one is Quia.com. I have online quizzes and have set up games to help the student with vocabulary. Another website is one from the book I use. On this website the students can take a test, quiz, or just play games all while learning or reinforces the material discussed. This correlates with the drill and practice idea of behaviorism.

Welcome Back

I first created this blog in my technology class two classes ago and now I am going to pick up blogging again in my recent class. The first time around, I enjoyed blogging but was not sure I would have time to keep it up. I am hoping now that I am not a rookie, I will be more experienced and can utilize this technology better. I am a mother to three boys and have been married for 11 years. I teach a career and technical education program in Dayton, Ohio where my focus in business management. In my free time I enjoy exercising and reading. I also love to watch movies. I am looking forward to reading your blogs and learning new information from you too.