Reflection: Bridging Theory and Instruction

Teenagers in the 21st century use technology tools a great deal. As teachers, we need to reach our students with technology and at the same time teach our students how to use technology effectively. In the same way that teachers apply various modern and historical educational learning theories to paper-and-pencil learning, I have learned to approach learning using technology. My personal philosophy of education is a hybrid of constructionism, cognitivism, and behaviorism that essentially has not changed throughout this course. What has changed is my awareness of important instructional strategies which will lead my students to be more successful learners.
From thirty years of research, Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007) determined nine categories of instructional strategies that affect student achievement. I have, begun to emphasize identifying similarities and differences as well as summarizing and note taking in all of my science classes. These two strategies were shown to increase student achievement the most (p.8). Web tools like www.bubbl.us, which create online graphic organizers help students do both well.
I still believe that a unique construction of knowledge takes place in each of my students’ brains during whatever lesson I teach. Our video resources, reminded me that all learning theories are centered around students actively engaged in learning (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). Valuable engaging teaching, helps my students synthesize ideas through their own mental filters, and leads them to create their own meaning. This is easy to accomplish using technology tools and software where students construct creative projects to demonstrate their learning on just about any topic.
I have always believed that positive reinforcement is an essential component of a safe classroom environment. I have used online drill and practice activities in the past. Keeping in mind the strategies of successful learners, I have sought out technology resources and found games that will lead to more higher-order complex thinking by my students. Games created by CalTech scientists like the Spitzer Spectrometer game found online at http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_games/spectra/spectrometerDemo.htm go beyond rote recall of facts. The game has different skill levels and challenges students to Identify similarities and differences in order to excel in the game.
I have two long-term goals for integrating technology further into my instructional practice. I would like my students reflect and share their learning in chemistry using a class discussion board. I know this is possible on the Blackboard Academy site I have set up this year and I have enrolled in professional development training to accomplish this goal. I would also like students in all my classes to track how their achievement in my class correlates with their effort.
I will continue to learn and to improve my practice, pairing instructional theory with learning outcomes that involve technology. I have begun to improve the educational value for students of the technology tools I have already use. I have not only learned how to use new Web 2.0 tools, I have leaned to bring them thoughtfully and meaningfully into my instruction in the high school science classes I teach.

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program eleven. Instructional Strategies, Part One [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Pitler, H. , Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works . Alexandria: Ascd.

Technology and Social Learning

When I think of social learning my mind links it to cooperative learning groups of four students with established roles and individual accountability. Cooperative learning has been around for years but has been brought into focus for me through my graduate course resources on social learning while, at the same time, being expanded to embrace computer technology. Adding this dimension expands the definition of a group to include the computer as a group member in the role Orey calls a “knowledgeable other”. (2001) Students today can create and publish more accurate, thorough projects than ever before with the world wide web of information at their fingertips. The ‘smart kid’ in the group is now the computer.
Online web 2.0 tools are becoming prevalent in more classrooms today as savvy teachers create discussion groups online. This is another aspect of social learning. Wiki pages or class web pages can facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expression of opinion in a social way that allows teachers to monitor all conversations. Students in the 21st century may even be more comfortable with these methods.
Reference: Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Teachers Share Your Ideas for Using Technology

I have created and published my first ever Voicethread presentation on the topic of using computer labs in school. view it here http://voicethread.com/share/661269/

Constructing Learning Using Computers

Computers have changed so much in education; they have even changed education itself. Why learn and recite facts on a test when you can always look them up in a few seconds? The last time you actually performed long division was in what decade?
When we decide to use computers as tools for learning in the classroom, we can provide our students with valuable opportunities to construct knowledge for themselves and for others in unique ways. "(T)he computer can be seen as a cognitive tool to learn 'with' as opposed to learn 'from'". (Robertson, Elliot, & Robinson, 2007) Add in the ability to connect this learning to concrete experiences and the requirement of self-reflection about students' learning and the results can be powerful.
Given the right resources, students can use computers to collect data, retreive data from others' work, sort data, and present data. Information on the entire world is available online today on the internet. Any 'artifact' or project they create from this information forces students to think about the information they are choosing to include, assign it significance, and relate it to other facts. Beyond research online, students can use other computer applications to analyze their findings. They can create projects to present what they've found beyond the limits of their memory or communication skills, beyond their capability to spell or calculate, and beyond their talents of drawing, graphing or even organizing. The process of creating can completely engage the learner.

Reference:

Robertson, B., Elliot, L., & Robinson, D. (2007). Cognitive tools. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved October 1, 2009 from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Cognitive Learning and Technology

This is a topic near and dear to my heart. As teachers we are brain builders trying to make memories for our students. We must use every avenue available to get learning into their long term memories. From humor to images and from rhymes to actual hands on objects, our goal is to get students to hang new learning on the existing branches of their cognition. Students in our high school classrooms create and interpret concept maps making connections between concepts with pencil lines which we hope will be connections in their minds.
How we ever did this without today's technology tools is a wonder. I began teaching in the age before the internet was available and now I use it daily to access images, lab simulations, models of molecules, even songs and poems. My best lessons start by tapping into students cognition by asking for prior knowledge to be written into their notes or by asking their ideas and questions about a visual image on the smartboard or a video from YouTube. I can remember tearing out pre-made blackline masters of concept maps from text workbooks to turn into overhead acetates and now online concept map creators like www.bubbl.us make a professional product out of my own connected ideas for a lesson and, even better, my students' ideas. As a class we can even take virtual field trips to another part of the globe or to a far away science research project through the internet and then post our responses on our own class webpage.

Teaching Science with Technology and a Behaviorist Approach

Teachers study all types of education philosophies to prepare for working with students. One popular, although perhaps old-fashioned, philosophy is Behaviorism [a great tutorial on what behaviorism is from the University of Georgia Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology can be found at http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Behaviorism]. Decades ago psychologists began to explore stimulus – response behaviors in animals and people. Both respond to positive reinforcement like attention and rewards and negative reinforcement like punishment. Education today is a complex process involving addressing different learning styles, implementing a more thorough understanding of how the brain thinks and stores memories , and the creation of meaningful learning environments for all students. I believe that behaviorist approaches still can be valuable in the high school science classroom.
In secondary science education, we face challenges with our students that come from years of conditioning. Many students enter our rooms believing they are no good at science, or that they are not smart enough to excel in science, or even that science is too hard. It is difficult to coax out of students the effort it takes to learn ideas, practice skills, and persist because effort pays off. Pitler, Hibbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski in their book Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works reassured me that “(s)tudents can learn to operate from a belief that effort pays off even if they do not initially have this belief.” (2007, p155) Technology can provide terrific tools to reinforce student effort. From Behaviorism we know that students need to feel success to know that their effort paid off. Using a rubric and a spreadsheet program available to most computer users, teachers can direct students to enter their effort in various categories and compare it to their weekly quiz or test results. The computer can chart their effort next to their achievement in a side by side bar graph – a wonderful visual reinforcement for students. (Pitler, Hibbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, pp 157-160). This application of technology and the time it takes to implement in class teaches students the value of effort. It is data driven – perfect for science classes. I am excited to try this approach this year.