James Hartley summarized the cognitive psychology's principles by saying, "Learning results from inferences, expectations and making connections. Instead of acquiring habits, learners acquire plans and strategies, and prior knowledge is important."
Many of the instructional strategies studied this week strongly correlate with this idea. For example, our course text discusses multimedia tools and how they help activate prior knowledge and assist with the understanding of new material. One way I have seen these resources used with an above grade level reading group in my in class support setting. They were reading the Diary of Anne Frank and used streaming videos and powerpoints to learn about children of the Holocaust. Students were able to gain a better feel for the difficulties and realities of the time using the media tools. The students obviously could not relate personally to the horrors, but these tools help them make connections and understand more.
Smith, M. K. (1999) 'The cognitive orientation to learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-cognitive, Last update: September 03, 2009.
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Christina,
ReplyDeleteThe web tools you used for your Anne Frank lesson sound similar to the virtual field trips explained in our resources this week. This is definitely a topic that our students would have minimal background knowledge, so a tool like this would be extremely effective. Just like the teacher in our DVD, who used a virtual field trip to take her students to Ford’s theater, your web tools brought an experience to your students that would be impossible for them to have otherwise.
As a continuation of this lesson you could have your students create multimedia presentation PowerPoint in which they include some of the pictures, videos, and other media that they have found. This could create a stronger learning episode for the students and help with their retention this topic.
ReplyDeleteRyan,
ReplyDeleteGreat minds think alike. That is exactly what they did. They each chose 5 children of the Holocaust and created a PowerPoint with information and images of these children. It was a very powerful assignment for them.
I love how you had your students view videos of children of the Holocaust. I am sure they were able to feel a greater connection to the children since they were seeing them with their eyes rather than simply hearing about them.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine this was a very touching assignment for you and your students. Having them create PowerPoints about 5 of the children they learned about helped them make an even greater connection becuase they had to pull the important information and use it to create something. You certainly created a learning experience they will be sure to remember for years to come.
Excellent write up! How could your students incorporate concept maps into their project on the holocaust.
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