Friday, January 29, 2010
Constructivism in Practice
Week four stressed the importance of the use of Constructionism in today's classroom and how technology has revolutionized our ability to build upon this theory with our students. We could always have our students do hands on activities to enhance our lessons, but with new technology we can now have our students construct artifacts using so many new computer programs. Not only are there word processing programs like Microsoft Word, but Power Point, Exel, and much more. I love hearing about new innovative programs and sometimes I even find a few that are free. I like programs that allow my students to create their own art piece and add text or storylines to go along with them. I know Dr. Orey mentioned in week three, how strong visual images with text can be for allowing our students to make connections. Paivio's Dual Coding Hypothesis states that people can remember images much better then text alone. They store the image but they also store the label attached to it. This makes images really powerful teaching tools! I like the idea that lasts weeks concept mapping tool replicates the network model of memory, therefore hooking information to prior stored knowledge. It also plays into this week’s idea of bringing constructionism into the classroom. By letting my students create and complete their own concept map I am combining the idea of creating a hands on experience with allowing them to process the information into long term memory. To me if I am giving my students this in one activity, it should be a successful one!
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I like to think of the concept map as a beginning. Give the students the general idea and have them add to it...or "complete" it. They add notes or formulas depending on the subject matter. Some other great programs (for the Apple) is Garage Band, and Comic Life. Garage Band allows the students to creat music or a podacast. Comic Life is just as it sounds. Students create comic strips. Have your students send them to you or save them to a flash drive, and you could create a presentation of their comic strips so that everyone can see them. I find I am always learning about new programs and like to try them out.
ReplyDeleteThis may sound a bit off topic, but what do you think the new iPad from Apple will bring to education that helps build artifacts? I'm really intrigued at the possibilities of this new device.
ReplyDeleteI agree that last week's concept mapping easily ties into this week by letting students continue adding on or creating their own.
ReplyDeleteAlong with your comments about using visuals to help with making connections, I feel that simulations are another great technology tool. When I used to think of simulations I always think of the jet simulator at the aeronautic museum my family visited on vacation a few years ago, but the web has a great many number of free simulations that are great for visualizing. I used a web-based simulation in a unit on human muscles, where student could see how muscles work and then we did a virtual frog dissection that allowed us to manipulate the muscles to see how they worked. The frog dissection was the free part of a commercial site that asked for a subscription to have full access, but it was enough to motive and engage students and they were able to compare and contrast human and frog muscles as well as test their hypothesis and develop new ones.
I have never even heard of the apple ipad, gonna look that up now... I know that apple is always at the forfront of technology. Janice, I never thought of the idea of simulations but that definitily would be a great way to help studnets visualize the content. Janice, do you remember the name of the website that the frog dissection came from? I would love to check it out!!
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ReplyDeleteThat is a great point about the concept mapping relating to this weeks resources on constructionism. The students not only have to create a product like the constructionism practice says, but they also have to relate that information to other information that we are discussing in class.
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