Constructivist Methods of Instruction
apologize to you all for the tardiness of this post. My mother passed away Thursday morning and I’ve been in Sacramento helping my father with the details.
There is a brief discussion in Chapter 11 describing four (constructivist) methods of instruction. Choose one of these methods and give a brief example of how you personally experienced it; either from the perspective of instructor or learner or both. Your example need not be confined to education, per se, but can include entertainment, professional development, or a personal growth experience. Since there are 10 of us in this class, I’d like to see an equal representation of each method; in other words, don’t all pick the same method.
My example is the strategy/role playing game of “Tropico.” It’s a fun example of the use of the Microworlds method. As “El Presidente” of your own tropical island/developing nation, you control construction of housing, services, infrastructure, determine what crops will be grown on the island, and even hold elections (sometimes to your own peril). This gives the player the “immersive experience” of managing your own government, population, and economy (think Fidel Castro). Although it’s just a game, it can offer you many different scenarios in which to run a country, and learn through discovery and exploration how all the elements come together to run a trading nation in a real world economy.
posted by Kent @ 4:47 PM
14 Comments:
Not to use yet another game as an example, but there's a game called Amplitude that is not intentionall an educational game, but is educational nonetheless. This game (in my opinion, anyway), seems to represent the Goal-Based Scenarios and Problem-Based Learning method described on p. 404. The point of the game is to remix existing songs using existing notes and elements from the original song (i.e., drums, guitars, vocals). The goal is to create a rhythm game/motion game for yourself and others to play successfully, based on the rhythms/notes/melodies you generated for yourself during the remix session. If you don't remix the song "properly" (i.e., following the right meter or melody line), the game you create fails. You can also work collaboratively with another person to remix the song and create the new game.
Here again the collaborating Learning comes into the picture while I am shooting a short digital film about my own daughter learning Persian; in the process of the film, I have to be able to create situation in which she goes through different aspect of learning strategies; I have the whole amazing arrays of theories behind me, and then the actual work of creating scenes becomes the site of learning of her own approaching to the tasks of learning; she is only 2 years, and 9 months; but I gradually find out during the filming that some of the words that I want her to memorize by using different strategies make less sense for her than the actual setting of our family environment; I noticed all my efforts of teaching her fades away while she picks the words that she hears in the context of collaborative nature of all three members of the family; because I have to speak in English to her mother, and also trying to have only Persian dialogue with my daughter, she amazingly avoids the one to one relation of me, and her, and taking the bite of the language knowledge from the interaction happening in her environment; I found out the available resources of a video that I bought in my trip to Iran, and the music that we play in the car have their impact , but the actual effective learning happens where she finds things in more interactive environment of our house; she picks the word more in English from the dialogue between me, and her mother, and the use of the computer displaying words to her or playing songs; but the surprise coming from the social interactivity of being in the middle of my conversation with her mother! In many occasions she refer to some words that I already taught her in Persian, but she will say them in English! The collaborative nature of t her learning environment shows its amazing affect on her; there is the computer in the house, and the film we are watching, and the kids program on TV, and then the conversion of English; gradually I find out the best possible scenario is this beautiful notion of social interaction within the milieu of different collaborative learning environment of computer, and other media plus some real effective social interaction she may find in a Persian tribal communities around; the experience of filming her took me in the actual situation of seeing the impact of socially interactive language setting between me, and her mother;
Here again the collaborating Learning comes into the picture while I am shooting a short digital film about my own daughter learning Persian; in the process of the film, I have to be able to create situation in which she goes through different aspect of learning strategies; I have the whole amazing arrays of theories behind me, and then the actual work of creating scenes becomes the site of learning of her own approaching to the tasks of learning; she is only 2 years, and 9 months; but I gradually find out during the filming that some of the words that I want her to memorize by using different strategies make less sense for her than the actual setting of our family environment; I noticed all my efforts of teaching her fades away while she picks the words that she hears in the context of collaborative nature of all three members of the family; because I have to speak in English to her mother, and also trying to have only Persian dialogue with my daughter, she amazingly avoids the one to one relation of me, and her, and taking the bite of the language knowledge from the interaction happening in her environment; I found out the available resources of a video that I bought in my trip to Iran, and the music that we play in the car have their impact , but the actual effective learning happens where she finds things in more interactive environment of our house; she picks the word more in English from the dialogue between me, and her mother, and the use of the computer displaying words to her or playing songs; but the surprise coming from the social interactivity of being in the middle of my conversation with her mother! In many occasions she refer to some words that I already taught her in Persian, but she will say them in English! The collaborative nature of t her learning environment shows its amazing affect on her; there is the computer in the house, and the film we are watching, and the kids program on TV, and then the conversion of English; gradually I find out the best possible scenario is this beautiful notion of social interaction within the milieu of different collaborative learning environment of computer, and other media plus some real effective social interaction she may find in a Persian tribal communities around; the experience of filming her took me in the actual situation of seeing the impact of socially interactive language setting between me, and her mother;
Ken,
I am so sorry to hear about your mom's passing. My prayers are with you and your family. Thank you for posting for the class during the time like this.
Kim
Ken
Dear friend
I am truly sorry for the death of your mother; i can totally symptodize with you because I went through the same experience about my own mother who lost her life very early on. Please accept my condolsences , and let me share with you in your sadness.
Massoud
Ken
Dear friend, and classmate
I am truly sorry for the death of your mother; i can totally sympathize with you because I went through the same experience about my own mother who lost her life very early on. Please accept my condolcences , and let me share with you in your sadness.
Massoud
I use a variation of problem based learning with my high school chemistry class. The various instructional units (elemental chem, molecular chem, gas laws, chemical rxns, etc.) are presented thematically with a over reaching question that can only be reasonably answered when the material for the unit is learned. For example the first unit for the year is called Alchemy. On the first day of class (the very first day of school) the students come in and do a simple but dramatic lab where they turn a copper penny into a "gold" penny, or do they? The historical context of alchemy and the alchemists is presented to the students and then these questions are then presented to them: "Do you think that you just created a gold penny? How can we tell if what we created is gold? Do you think it is possible to turn 'ordinary' things into gold?" A class discussion follows and the students are told that their learning over the next six weeks will help to answer these questions.
The rest of the unit is covered by a series of group investigations in which students discover what an element is, how the periodic table is put together (trends and periodicity), and the sub-atomic nature of atoms. At every step learning is tied back in to the questions of the unit and the students new knowledge is applied.
Going though this process with students is really interesting. With the Alchemy unit, on that first day most students already do not believe they have created gold. They have enough prior knowledge to reason that that would be unlikely. Some students think there is a distant chance (that up until ow the wool had been pulled over their eyes) but most already think there is a different explanation. So it is not that the problem based investigation changes their mind but what happens is that every time the questions are revisited the students are able to support there belief about the penny not being gold with more and more knowledge of chemistry. By the end of the unit the students are able to revisit the chemical reaction that took place on the first day of class and figure out that it was actually brass (CuZn) that was plated on to the penny and not gold at all.
Sati
Ken,
A terrible time to lose a loved mother. I wish you the best in your Holidays.
Lee
Most recently in my Freshman Visual Arts class is an example of Goal Based Scenarios and Problem-Based Learning. We just finished a unit on Perspective. After an introduction on how artists have met the challenge of drawing scenes and objects in perspective in the past, the class went through a series of exercises to experience and learn the rules of perspective for themselves. After they successfully demonstrated knowledge of how perspective works in their drawings and critiques they were given three assignments that were goal based with an emphasis on problem solving.
The first and second assignments were fairly structured. The first was a rather difficult still life drawing of different geometric shapes of furniture piled on top of each other and the second was a plein-air drawing of from the school balcony that offered an array of complex architectural and atmospheric problems to solve. The students critiqued each other formally and most important informally on a constant basis. They were very supportive of each other in solving these difficult tasks.
The third and final assignment was a Fantasy landscape (I presented this to our class). In this assignment they were to design their own fantasy landscape demonstrating everything they had learned about liner and atmospheric perspective.
The problems were complex and forced the students to dig deep into to what they new about perspective. The ‘social negotiation’ among the students was impressive. In particular on the balcony the students moved among themselves looking at each others ‘view’ and offered technical observations and support and possibly another ‘viewpoint’ other than their peers or my own that might have helped clarify a problem. The third assignment, the fantasy landscape, offered the students a chance at ownership and self-awareness. They set their own challenges and set about to solve them. The results gave them a chance to see just how much they knew or needed still to learn to create their dream world.
Goal-Based Scenarios and Problem-based Learning:
Recently I was asked to work on a website. There were six people in the group; I was assigned to create a flash animation for the website. It was my first time working in a tele-commute situation. We used email, telephone and ftp work to each other. The interesting part was working with people who were not familiar with flash- this lead to problems in communication. It was hard trying to describe certain visual aspects or flash techniques over the phone. So I worked through at least 15 different versions of the animation; however revising the project over and over again improves the project. Color and alignment were hard to match because each person had a different perspective The web designer was concern about the size, the graphic artist was into the colors of the interface and all of the information generated had to be approved by the client. This was a goal based scenario and we all had resources that we brought to the project. I learned that people will change their minds and you have to flexible and team work will lead to a better project. I also realized that this is the polishing of the project and the socialization that goes on in goal-based scenarios
I have some experience with Collaborative Learning and Problem Scaffolding software. We have Blackboard here at SFSU and I use it mainly in a more traditional sense of handouts to download and posting the syllabus. The software, however, is designed for distance learning and has some great capabilities - realtime whiteboard discussions where participants can observe an electronic whiteboard the teacher 'writes' figures on during lecture. Individual student groups can meet together online to chat and discuss projects. Different students can email each other as well as the instructor. Quizzes and tests can be administered online. There is even a course calendar for students to access to keep up with upcoming activities. Used to its full extent there is definite support for effective collaboration between each other and problem-solving support if the instructor posts links to information or invites professionals to a virtual discussion.
I have some experience with Collaborative Learning and Problem Scaffolding software. We have Blackboard here at SFSU and I use it mainly in a more traditional sense of handouts to download and posting the syllabus. The software, however, is designed for distance learning and has some great capabilities - realtime whiteboard discussions where participants can observe an electronic whiteboard the teacher 'writes' figures on during lecture. Individual student groups can meet together online to chat and discuss projects. Different students can email each other as well as the instructor. Quizzes and tests can be administered online. There is even a course calendar for students to access to keep up with upcoming activities. Used to its full extent there is definite support for effective collaboration between each other and problem-solving support if the instructor posts links to information or invites professionals to a virtual discussion.
I have some experience with Collaborative Learning and Problem Scaffolding software. We have Blackboard here at SFSU and I use it mainly in a more traditional sense of handouts to download and posting the syllabus. The software, however, is designed for distance learning and has some great capabilities - realtime whiteboard discussions where participants can observe an electronic whiteboard the teacher 'writes' figures on during lecture. Individual student groups can meet together online to chat and discuss projects. Different students can email each other as well as the instructor. Quizzes and tests can be administered online. There is even a course calendar for students to access to keep up with upcoming activities. Used to its full extent there is definite support for effective collaboration between each other and problem-solving support if the instructor posts links to information or invites professionals to a virtual discussion.
What Are Examples of Traditional Literature?
Introduction
"Man positively needs general ideas and convictions that will give a meaning to his life and enable him to find his place in the universe. He can stand the most incredible hardships when he is convinced that they make sense but he is crushed when, on top of all his misfortunes, he has to admit that he is taking part in a tale told by an idiot."
- Carl Jung
Traditional literature, such as myth or legend, often reflects the culture from where it came. Students will use the resource page to choose three myths from three different cultures. They must research the myth and culture and record their notes. Students will then educate other students about the myths they chose through a presentation of their projects. This point is important, because many students choose myths from their own culture and enjoy sharing the information with other students.
Make sure students have completed a lesson on Basic HTML: Anchor Tags and any prerequisites. Have a class discussion about traditional literature. What are examples of traditional literature (myth, legend, fable, fairy tale, urban legend, etc.)? Talk about how traditional literature reflects the culture from where it came. What are some traditional American stories? How do they reflect the nation’s culture?
The Task
Students will make web pages about traditional literature to explain and interpret different cultures.
Students are to create web pages to educate other students about myths and cultures.
Students must choose three myths from different cultures and take notes about the myths and cultures.
Students must complete the activity page by organizing their ideas for their web page, drawing sample pictures, and writing appropriate HTML code.
Students use a text editor and web browser to create their web page and preview it.
Students educate other students about the myths they chose. This point is important, because many students choose myths from their own culture and enjoy sharing the information with other students.
The Process
Traditional literature, such as myth or legend, often reflects the culture from where it came. Students must choose three myths from three different cultures. Students must research the myths and cultures and record their notes.
Students must complete the “Myth and Culture Research Activity Pages”
The Project
Students will use their notes to create a web page about myth and culture.
The web page will contain three sections, about each myth, linked to the top by internal anchor tags. Students should organize the information for each section. Remind students to use a writing style that is appropriate for a web page and for their audience. Remember to keep the sentences concise.
Now, students will use the "Design Activity Page" to design how the web page will be organized and how it will look.
Next, students will use the "Code Activity Page" to write the necessary code needed to display the web page correctly. They should include image files, text styles, background colors, and text colors. Don’t forget to include internal links to each section.
Finally, students will use a text editor and browser to create the web page. Here is a quick reference chart to help with the necessary code.
This lesson can be found on my wed site (under lesson 1) at:
http://iteck.info/
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