Chapter 7 - Constructivist Approach

For this post, I chose to look at a lesson that I am preparing for my SPED 402 class. It is a 4th grade science lesson about magnets. There are several things that I would do to teach this lesson using a constructivist approach.
1. Activate the students' prior knowledge about magnets by having a class discussion about anything  they already know about the topic.
2. Allow students to individually experiment with magnets and different objects. This would allow them to come to their own conclusions about how magnets work and what kinds of things they attract or repel.
3. Have students discuss their conclusions with their classmates. This group interaction would allow them to compare their ideas and build off of each others' knowledge.
4. We would wrap up the lesson by having a class discussion about their conclusions. I would also ask students to give some examples of how magnets are used (or could be used) in daily life.

Below is a link to an interesting article that I found about how constructivist theory can be applied to mathematics. I think this is important because teachers often encourage students to memorize formulas without actually understanding the reasoning behind it. Constructivism emphasizes the importance of building off of prior knowledge and utilizing real world examples.
Constructivist Learning and Teaching

Ch. 6 (Memory Processes)

Knowledge about memory processes can be very beneficial when trying to help students remember some specific information. Recently, we have been learning specifically about long term memory and things such as declarative vs. procedural knowledge and explicit vs. implicit knowledge. One important thing to remember when teaching students is that meaningful learning has proven to be somewhat more effective for long term memory storage than rote learning. For this reason, I will try to have my students complete fewer rehearsal tasks and more meaningful tasks such as organization, elaboration, and using visual imagery.
Below is a link to an interesting article about how to help students remember information.
Memory Strategies To Help Students Remember What They See And Hear In The Classroom
In addition to the strategies mentioned above, the article contains some great examples of memory strategies that can be used in the classroom. Some of my favorite strategies from the article include...
* Associate the information by linking it, finding a similar theme and/or finding what is similar between the items.
* Think of examples of what you are trying to remember.
* Change the information to a different format, that is, from words to pictures or from images to words.

Ch. 6 (Cognitive Learning)

Cognitive learning is a very important thing to keep in mind when designing lessons for students. There are a couple of things that I definitely want my students to be able to do that relate to cognitive learning. First, I certainly want them to be able to remember important concepts and topics. I will try to promote this by making lessons interesting and relating them to what the students already know. I will also try to be mindful of their cognitive load and not give them too much information all at once. I also want my students to be able to think logically and explain how they solved a problem or why they chose a certain answer. This is a crucial skill that they will need in the real world. I will try to encourage this skill by regularly asking the students to explain their answers.

Below is an article I found about different strategies that can be used to support cognitive learning.
Cognitive Strategies
I particularly liked the quote that, "A cognitive strategy serves to support the learner as he or she develops internal procedures that enable him/her to perform tasks that are complex" (Rosenshine, 1997). I thought that was a great explanation of what a cognitive strategy is. The article also gave some great examples of cognitive strategies that can be used in the classroom.

Assessment

Assessment is a very important topic, and I think it is crucial that teachers incorporate both formal and informal assessments into their lesson plans. I think this is especially applicable when teaching math and gauging whether or not the students are understanding the material. For example, I might be teaching a lesson about long division to a group of 5th graders. I would probably start out the lesson by explaining the concept of division and its real world applications. Next, I would give each of the students a post-it note and have them write down a way that they think division might be used in the real world. I would have the students come stick their post-its on the board, and we would discuss some of their answers. This would be an informal assessment to see how the students are thinking about the topic and if they understand the basic idea behind it. Next, I would tell them the exact steps for long division and work a few sample problems on the board. Then I would probably ask the class to gauge how well they feel like they understand it by giving a thumbs up, thumbs in the middle, or thumbs down. This would be another type of informal assessment. If they majority of the students gave a thumbs up then I would probably move on and give each of the students their own individual white board and dry erase marker. I would then give the students a problem to solve on their white boards. As they are working, I would walk around the class and watch them work the problem to see which students might still be struggling with the concept and provide them with some extra help as needed. This would be yet another type of informal assessment to gauge their understanding. I would repeat this process until all of the students had worked several problems individually. Finally, I would have the students complete an assignment about long division (probably a specific set of problems that I designed to test their knowledge). This would be considered a more formal assessment. In addition to the methods mentioned above, below are some informal and formal assessments that could be used with this lesson:
informal: long division game where the teacher observes the students playing and assesses how well they understand the concept, ask the students to explain long division in their own words, have the students work in partners where one student works a problem while the other student coaches them through it and checks their work
formal: give a quiz at the end of the lesson, give a test at the end of the chapter, have students complete a graded assignment consisting of several story problems that incorporate long division

Below is a link to an article I found about different types of informal assessments. Some of my personal favorites included: application cards, brainstorming, directed paraphrasing, and hand signals.

Informal Assessment Strategies: A-Z for the Math Curriculum