Tech Grads - Week 4 - Research

Instructional delivery has become vibrant and interesting for learners and instructors (Kirschner, Sweller and Clark, 2006).  Technology has made it possible for instructors to use audio, video, graphics and programming software in the teaching field. Comparison of current technological advancement with the past indicates a leap forward in instructional delivery and its application to the learning process (Jay, 1999).  In this week’s discussion, we were ask to reflect back on our previous multimedia projects and how they can be integrated to fulfill the diverse levels of the learning process.  It was shown by Pam in her Scratch project that students can apply programming to their learning to aid in the memorization rather than remote and drill kill methods of remembering key components of various topics.  On the other hand, Rachel shared her video project which allowed students to transcend to “active learners” as students applied the concepts learned by becoming the author/producer of their own videos.  Stephanie used the podcast to allow students to reflect which in turn led to pre-writing into their description of their culture.

Article

Cherney, I. D. (2008). The effects of active learning on students' memories for course content. Active Learning In Higher Education, 9(2), 152-171. doi:10.1177/1469787408090841

As a look back at the questions and discussions on the self-test, I cannot help but to wonder, are we as educators “teaching the test”.  Which leads to my first question?

1. Given the advancements in technology (audio, video, graphics and programming software), Do you think there has been an increase in “discovery learning” vs. “direct instruction”?
2. Should there be more discovery learning, direction instruction, or a balance between the two methods?

References:

Jay S. B (1999). Educational computing in the schools: technology, communication, and                 literacy. New York: Haworth Press.

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., and Clark, R. E. (2006) Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: an analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist 41 (2) 75-86

Team Education 2.0 Week 4 - Research

by Nick Goodson

In this week's discussion we were asked to look at projects previously created in the program and to examine how they fulfill the levels of learning.  Two-thirds of our group chose to examine Alice.  Using Alice, we were tasked with creating our own "programs" that performed various functions.  Repetition and graphics, the look, were noted as being important.  Repetition allowed the learner to practice and lessons and increased recall.  Graphics helped things from getting too confusing as the colors used helped identify what different blocks of code did.  The same colors aided in recall as leaner's were able to associate certain colors with specific actions.  These features showed the important of visual learning. 

Give the citations of the articles (at least three) you found from a peer-reviewed journal and a short summary of each.

The below article is a study looking at the benefits of using animation, visual cueing to support learning.

Lijia Lin, Robert K. Atkinson, Using animations and visual cueing to support learning of scientific concepts and processes, Computers & Education, Volume 56, Issue 3, April 2011, Pages 650-658, ISSN 0360-1315, 10.1016/j.compedu.2010.10.007.

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131510002927)

Below is a study done to test the effects of audio visual aids in secondary education. 

Murtaza, A., Ud Din, M., & Khan, F. (2011). EFFECTS OF AUDIO VISUAL AIDS IN STUDENT'S LEARNING AT SECONDARY LEVELS IN DISTRICT RAWALPINDI. Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, 2(10), 439-452.

This is an article on identifying good visual based learning material for technology education for grades 7 - 12. 

Katsioloudis, P. (2010). Identification of Quality Visual-based Learning Material for Technology Education. Journal Of Industrial Teacher Education, 47(1), 71-99.

Questions:

Why  do you think visual learning is so effective in schools?

Are there any tech tools that promote visual learning that you find are highly effective in the classroom?

Tech Minds Research by Lauren Schwartz

Summary of Discussions

Everyone discussed the nine types of learning briefly and had various answers on which project last semester demonstrated these. Kimber felt the Webpage project at the end demonstrated all nine, while Becky felt her jeopardy game using the Scratch programming fit the requirements. Merriam agreed with the Scratch programming meeting the needs and also used this as her example. I agree that both sufficiently met these learning types since the Webpage requirement tied everything together and involved the use of each type, while Scratch also did in the creation of your programming.

Each of us had trouble with the self-test and felt it was primarily based on memorization for the discussion, rather than actually obtaining the information. We also all agreed that with a bit of feedback about the wrong answers we submitted, we would each have a better understanding of why our answer was wrong and able to learn from it so as to be able to decipher the correct answer later.

This brought me to research about positive reinforcement. Oftentimes teachers grade a paper or a test, mark an “x” and give it back to the students without explanations of why their answers were wrong or what they could have done to improve their answers. This is a negative form of teaching, and just as we have just discovered, being told why you are wrong on a subject is extremely important. If students are given positive reinforcement after incorrect responses, like “Good Try! However, the correct answer is … because …”, they are more likely to understand why their answer was incorrect without just marking up their page with red marks.

Articles

1.      http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED044880&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED044880

This article is a book that discusses how to use positive reinforcement in the classroom with students for multiple reasons: bad behavior, bad grades, trouble children, etc. The book begins in part 1 where each chapter contains a self-diagnostic pretest, a narrative summary, and an intermediate test. This is a long book, but would be beneficial to a beginning teacher or a teacher changing her method of teaching and incorporating positive reinforcement in her classroom.

2.      Sigler, E., & Aamidor, S. (2005). From Positive Reinforcement to Positive Behaviors: An Everyday Guide for the Practitioner. Early Childhood Education Journal, 32(4), 249-253. doi:10.1007/s10643-004-0753-9

This article is a great everyday guide for using positive reinforcement to positive behaviors. If children are rewarded for the positive things they do, they are more likely to promote positive behavior of other students than to act negatively with their fellow students.

3.      Rekabdarkolaei, S. (2011). Studying Effective Factors of Classroom Control and Management in Primary Schools. New Educational Review, 23(1), 325-336

This article is a study on positive classroom management techniques in primary schools. The study looks into classroom management and control and factors in how effective it is in the particular classrooms being identified.

Best Article

Sigler, E., & Aamidor, S. (2005). From Positive Reinforcement to Positive Behaviors: An Everyday Guide for the Practitioner. Early Childhood Education Journal, 32(4), 249-253. doi:10.1007/s10643-004-0753-9

I definitely feel that the second article listed above is a must read. It helps to show  how to use positive reinforcement to promote positive behaviors in the classroom as an easy-to-read guide for getting started and continuing this method of teaching.

Questions

1.      What testing forms do you use in your classroom (multiple choice, essay, etc.) and are you using reinforcement techniques for wrong answers?

2.      How could you incorporate positive reinforcement more in your classroom?

3.      If needed, what would you change about your testing types in the classroom?

TechGrads - Rachel Mallory

1. From the previous course, CSTE5336, you had created various multimedia projects which can be incorporated for teaching and training purpose. Review the 9 types of learning in the Synthesis page. How do you apply the material you created last semester to fulfill the levels of learning? (Hint: You can choose any project you had completed to provide the details of how it incorporates with the Concept (What), Procedure (How), and Principles (Why) in the subject area.) Use references to support your statement.

Last semester, my video project presented information on Deaf Smith and the Battle of San Jacinto. As a social studies subject, the emphasis was on concept and principle, and less on procedure. The video gave the facts of the subject: dates, names, and places - which fit into Memorization/Concept. It also described Deaf Smith's role in the Texas Revolution - which asked students to Understand/Concept. At the end, the video reveals what controversy surrounds Deaf Smith today. I ask students to Apply/Principle when they must think how they would advocate for Deaf Smith's burial site. When students create their own videos to present a topic, "students shift from the role of passive observer to active creator of digital media” (Langran, Langran, & Bull, 2005). This would Apply Procedure to follow the steps to create the presentation as well as Understand Concept and/or Principle to present the information in their own way.

Langran, E., Langran, R., & Bull, G. (2005). Copyright law and technology. Learning & Leading with Technology, 32(7), 24-26. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EJ697342

2. Share your reflection after complete the Self-Test. (No references are required.)

The situations that fall under Cognitive-Application usually had some sort of action required. It occurred to me that applying knowledge is more active than explaining or recognizing, which would fall under Understanding, or recitation, which is under Memorization. The quote included in our discussion questions puts into words what I see in my school - we may teach one way, but test another...and that frustrates students and teachers alike.

Brown, Kimber

The nine types of learning are memorize concept, understand concept, apply concept, memorize procedure, understand procedure, apply procedure, memorize principle, understand principle, and apply principle. 


Reigeluth, C. M., (1999). Instructional-Design Theories Site: Basic Methods of Instruction. Retrieved from www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/methods.htm

Webpage Project 

During the webpage project we demonstrated concept, procedure, and in our reflection demonstrated principle. We needed to demonstrate the what we were able to do (concept), how we were able to not only teach ourselves the software, but also use it (procedure) and then define why (principles) and how we could use it to improve our student's outcomes. 

Reflection of Self-test


My performance on the self-test was poor and indicates that I was merely memorizing the information required to do well in this discussion. Since I was unable to apply what I had read to the questions on the quiz I answered most of the questions wrong. Had the wrong answer given me some logical explaination as to why it was wrong or why another answer was better, i might be better able to pass it next time. With some discussion, I would probably have a better conceptual understanding of the information and be able to apply the information better. 

TechGrads - Stephanie Godare

1. We all know students learn in different ways. A student can master a concept but struggle at another. Mel Levine says that many "faltering students have specialized minds - brains exquisitely wired to perform certain kinds of tasks masterfully" (Levine 2003). It is important that educators realize this and include instruction that hit every kind of learning.


Last semester, I created a podcast about culture. I defined the concept of culture through different pictures and ideas. Then I asked the question of how one can define culture by providing the definition of culture. I then asked the listener what defines their culture. I asked them to reflect on what they do everyday that defines who they are. The pictures that went along with the principles showed students similar to the class age, demographics, and interests to help the student think about what describes their culture. 


References:


Levine, M. (2003). Celebrating Diverse Minds. Educational Leadership. 61(2). 12-18. 

2. I was actually very surprised after taking the self-test. I had missed a few questions. I had problems distinguishing between memorization and concept. For instance, naming the bones in the body is memorization, but recognizing the iambic meter is concept. It seems like they are both recall activities, because you have to recognize the bone in order to name it. 

Team Education 2.0 Week 4 - Natalie Price

1.  How do you apply the material you created last semester to fulfill the levels of learning? (Hint: You can choose any project you had completed to provide the details of how it incorporates with the Concept (What), Procedure (How), and Principles (Why) in the subject area.) Use references to support your statement.

In the CSTE5336 class we use the Alice Programing Software to create projects which could be incorporated into teaching and training purposes.  It was researched that the use of an image-rich programming language such as Alice ,  along with working in pairs can make learning programming easier to learn and create more   positive attitudes. (Bishop-Clark and Howard, 2006).  The use of fitting the tile and use of color engages the student in concept, procedures and principles I math.  Alice is in 3-D and uses real life object to tell the story or animation.  It helps students to understand and become more interested in learning programming because  it is hand – on.  Evidence is provided that students preferred using Alice, found it easiest to use, and favored the interactivity it provides in contrast to the others. (Bishop-Clark and Howard, 2006).    Taber writes about how the Alice In Wonderland story that was created by the Alice Programing Software helps students understand the operations of multiplying by rational numbers less than 1. (Taber, 2007) 

References:

BISHOP-CLARK, CATHY; COURTE, JILL; HOWARD, ELIZABETH V.. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2006, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p213-228, 15p

Susan B. Taber, 2007.  Using Alice in Wonderland to Teach Multiplication of Fractions.  Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, v12 n5 p244-250 Jan 2007

2.  The Self-Test was interesting.  I did good with the questions that dealt with memorization and physical learning.  Affective learning and understanding relationships made me have to take a little longer to answer those questions..