Cognitivism in Practice
Cognitive learning, according to Dr. Michael Orey, “revolves around information processing” (Laureate Education, Inc.,). I feel this statement is very true and Chapter 4 and Chapter 6 in the text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works have many strategies that allow students to process information in different and engaging ways.
Chapter 4 titled Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers gives advice on how teachers and students can use spreadsheets, rubrics, Kidspiration, and Inspiration to create organizers to collect information for learning. The chapter also provides many multimedia options such as BrainPOP, PBS, and United Streaming that provide another strong visual to aid in cognitive learning. These technologies, “provide you with editable visual aids and multimedia resources that appeal to a number of learning styles” (Pitler, et al., 2007). To me, it is so important to have a technology-rich classroom that provides learning opportunities that meet the needs of every learning style.
Chapter 6 titled Summarizing and Note Taking gave me a chance to learn about a few technologies that I was unfamiliar with. “Track Changes” in Microsoft Word was a feature to the program that I was unaware of. I think that this would be a very useful aid when teaching students how to summarize. I also was impressed with the “Note-Taking” feature in Inspiration. This would be a really great way for teachers to share their notes with students. The text states, “Technology can scaffold, or provide support, while students are learning the summarizing process” (Pitler, et al., 2007). I agree with this statement because I believe that if teacher’s model how to summarize and model summarizing often then students will learn to summarize and will be able to store it into their long term memory.
Finally, I wanted to add a link to an article I found by Cara Bafile. The link to the article is http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech164.shtml. The article discusses concept mapping. I thought it was a really informative article and I plan to use it as a reference.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Online Learning in K-12 Schools
13 years ago
Posts
Julie:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great website. I use many technology tools with my students, but I must say I have never used Inspiration and Kidspiration. I found the article quite convincing and I will give them both a try. Another really good website is ReadWriteThink. It offers the students excellent mindmaps for writing.
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/
Linda,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your website. I look forward to checking it out. I think it is great that educators are so willing to share ideas and great resources! Thank You!
Mrs. Winner,
ReplyDeleteI want to really focus on helping my 6th graders learn how to summarize better next year. I think it is a skill that I have not spent enough time on this year. I did not realize that Microsoft Word had features to help students summarize until I read the chapter for this week. I will definitely be using that next year!
Kara
Hello Julie.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for providing an interesting and informative link on you blog page. (I responded to your post last week as well..) I too found that this weeks resources were excellent tools that we can all use regardless of the grade level we teach. I currently utilize unitedstreaming.com for just about every unit I teach. It not only provides valuable content on just about every subject imaginable, but many of the videos are accompanied by "Blackline masters”, which are resources that usually align with content standards. In addition, as I read your link on concept mapping I was surprised to hear that, "According to the market research firm MDR (formerly Quality Education Data), students and teachers in more than 60 percent of U.S. school districts use the Inspiration Software products Kidspiration and Inspiration." I am excited to utilize these myself, but I had never heard of this software before. It makes me wonder if my district is falling behind in the promotion of technology in the classroom.
-Mike Stapes
Kara and Mike,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. Kara, I think having your students work with the various summarizing tools in Microsoft Word tools. I used those tools often when I was in school.
Also, Mike, I use United Streaming when I student taught and I loved it. One thing I didn't know about were the blackline masters. What a nice resource to have to assess comprehension after students watch a video.