Ok, that's a pretty big topic, but I'll see what I can do to make it as concise as I can while providing all information.
I don't think that it would ever be right to teach all students the same way. I rarely have a class that even has two learners that prefer all of the same things for teaching. I was a smart student, was able to learn in many settings, but... wait for it... I hated group work. (That was then, this is now :) ) Fortunately, a lot of things have changed in the way of teaching and learning over the past couple of decades. The way I was taught was definitely behaviorism. Rewards for good grades and drill/memorization instruction. Those spelling tests and direct memorization of multiplication facts actually worked for me... but only short term. I am in the spell check generation, because I can't spell. I could pass my spelling tests, but the minute I got a 100, I forgot them all. It's not that I think that the behaviorism model doesn't work. It definitely has it's time and place, but for most students, this process doesn't provide for long term retention of facts.
Moving on to cognitivism (again, thank God for spell check). The influx of media into the instructional setting provided the view of cognitivism with new fuel for their theories. Students can still use a book, but need to add visual media or flow charts to see what they are learning. Well, were getting there. I do teach with visual's and learning maps, because I have students that need that especially my spacial learners.
Constructivism, while probably one of the hardest to plan for, is the best way for most of my students to learn. This type of learning provides for hands on instruction and promotes long term retention of what they are doing. It is much easier to remember how landforms are created by doing an experiment with sand and water than reading it in a book or watching a movie about it.
I personally incorporate a lot of Howard Gardner with the different learning styles. We mainly sort students into spatial, auditory and kinesthetic. This works well in tripods for getting all students to share in different ways.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I agree with you that students will have a better retention of knowledge if they actually "do" something than just read about it in a book or movie. I teach 4th grade and we did a cookie map of the three regions of North Carolina. We used chocolate chips for mountains and students used three different colors of icing for the regions. The students really enjoyed the activity. You could tell very quickly who got the concept and who did not.
I wonder how much of how we learned influences our interpretation of how others learn. In other words, a person who creates a theory that is a behaviorist is going to see the participants in the study as behaviorists--zeroing in on those traits and not necessarily notice other styles.
And such is the nature of all the challenges a teacher faces in the classroom. Certainly a "one size fits all" approach can never work in education, as so many of you have pointed out.
2 good points - rarely have a class that has two learners that prefer the same type of instruction and constructivism is probably the best way most people learn. Once I understtod these 2 things, my students excelled.
Post a Comment