Technology and Guiding Student Learning

Every Monday and Friday for 30 minutes, my preschoolers get to go to the computer lab.  It is their absolute favorite thing to do in school and every single one of them looks forward to it.  During calendar time, when we do the day of the week, I will have at least 2 or 3 students remind me it is computer day!  Technology is definitely a tool I can use to reach all of my students. 

This week, I reviewed the idea of the constructionist theory.  This is the idea that students create something and are actively engaged in the learning process.  Technology is a wonderful tool for students to be engaged in as well as actively participating in their learning.  Many examples of constructionist theory involve students picking a favorite book and creating a project off this.  Other examples involve students picking a topic of interest, researching, and creating something to present the information learned (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  

For my young students, I have to guide the choice process and help students to create the project.  A few weeks ago, I gave each of my students 4 options to create their own environments (farm, ocean, forest, or jungle) with animals.  This option was found from a website online (www.sheppardsoftware.com).  Each student got to determine how many animals lived in the environment, what animals lived in the environment, and where each animal lived.  After they were done, they talked to my assistant, speech therapist, or myself to discuss their environment.  It was a really neat activity and my students thoroughly enjoyed creating an environment on their own. 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program seven. Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Instructional Strategies and Cognitive Learning Theory

This week, I read about the following strategies from Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works:  Cues, Questions, Advance Organizers, Summarizing, and Note Taking.   Below is how I apply these strategies into my classroom and how they relate to the Cognitive Learning Theories.  The main idea of Cognitive Learning Theories is using multiple senses to improve learning (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). 

Every day in my classroom, I have a question of the day.  Each day of the week focuses on a different WH prompt (who, what, where, when, why) and is a question that relates to the theme of the week.  For example, on Monday, I might ask "What kind of insect would you like to be?"  On Tuesday, I might ask "If you were an insect, where would you like to live?"  To help students with answers, I always review the vocabulary words of the week.  These vocabulary words tie in to any question and can help assist students.  The vocabulary words are made on sentence strips and have text and image.  This incorporates the idea of Palvlo's Dual Codes of Information where students learn better with images and text (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). 

This week I created a concept map with my students.  At first, I was really concerned about doing this, because they are only preschoolers and I was not sure how well they would understand.  After completing the activity, I found my students were extremely knowledgeable and with assistance could figure out where the arrows would go on the concept map.  For a first time experience, it went very well.  Next time I do this activity, I would really like to incorporate pictures with the words.  This relates back to Palvlo's Dual Codes of Information where students learn better with images and text (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program five. Cognitive learning theory [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Behaviorist Learning Theory

This week, I reviewed the idea of Behaviorist Learning Theory.  It was interesting to see how I use many of these ideas in a more modern way in my classroom.  For example, I truly believe in the idea of holding students to high expectations.  I believe it is important to create these expectations early in the year and reinforce it daily.  In the book, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, it discusses the idea of reinforcing effort by creating graphs to show students how effort can bring achievement (Pitler, 2007).  Both of these modern ideas stream from the idea of behaviorism, more specifically operant conditioning.  It is the idea that rewards outweigh punishment (Laureate, 2010).  I find that if students understand why their effort pays off, they push themselves.  It is my job to help students see the benefit to effort.  One thing I do to show my students is a visual of how many letters they knew in October and how many they know now.  I simply lay out the cards in a stack so they can see the difference. 

In the book, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, it discusses the idea of homework and practice to reinforce concepts (Pitler, 2007).  In my classroom, I use practice with activities, books, and websites to reinforce the ideas I am teaching.  The idea of homework and practice can be found in behaviorist learning theory, because it is the idea of drill.  It is a constant repetition to basically program something into a person’s brain.  For example, reviewing letters so many times will make students begin to recognize letters. 

While many concepts are a modern twist to behaviorist learning theory, the underlining foundation can still be found in many activities and classrooms. 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program four. Behaviorist learning theory [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Pitler H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.