Description
The
focus of the reading and discussion in EDAT 6615 this week was on a Student-Centered
and Constructivist Approaches to Instruction. Teachers should know how to use
cooperative learning effectively in the classroom. They should also know how to
teach their students problem solving and thinking skills. Teacher need to
observe how student-centered and constructivist learning influence intentional
teaching.
Analysis
Constructivist
theories of learning explore the idea that learners must individually discover
and transform complex information if they are to make it their own (Slavin, 2012,
p.188). Learner compare new and old information obtain and revise the
information when it no longer works for what they need it for. This theory allows for students to be active
learner which helps during student-centered instruction when the teacher is
expected to only guide students through the instruction by letting students
come up with their own ideas about a topic instead of the teacher controlling what
information they take from the lesson. Four principals were derived from
Vygotsky’s ideas of social learning: social learning, zone of proximity
cognitive apprenticeship and mediated learning. With social learning, students
learn through interactions between their peers and teachers. Zone of proximity
refers to students being able to acquire information that they may not know
from those that they have access to. According to Slavin (2012, p.189) children
who are working together will be working at slightly different levels so all of
them can share information that will help each other learn. With cognitive apprenticeship,
a learner gradually because an expert interacting with and expert. This is the
nature of the interaction between the student and the teacher. Mediated
learning involves fully immersing a student into a topic instead of building up
knowledge by teaching them tiny bits of information at a time. This learning is
to take place using real-life, authentic learning.
Next,
teachers examine the constructivist approach to reading, writing, math and
science. In reading, teachers use a reciprocal approach to teaching where the
teacher introduce a set of questions to a small group and later a student is
ask to take over with asking the questions and then passing it to another
student. The teacher modeled the behavior that they wanted the group to
demonstrate while working together. They also participate in questioning the
author to help them understand a story. Another reading approach is concept-oriented
where the students are given content goals, a choice on what they read, hands-on
activities, a variety of informational texts, and collaboration among students
(Slavin, 2012, p. 195). In writing, students work together to plan, draft,
revise, edit and publish pieces of work. By doing this, students are helping
each other with ideas to make their work better. In math, student work in small
groups to solve a problem posed by the teacher. Students work together to
decide which strategies are best to use when solving the problem. In science
students engage in hands-on investigation.
In
cooperative learning, students work together in small groups to help each other
learn. Some methods of cooperative learning involve student teams-achievement
division (STAD), cooperative integrated reading and composition (CIRC), jigsaw,
learning together, peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) cooperative
scripting and informal cooperative learning structures. In all these methods,
each student takes on a role with their small groups to so that they are
helping each other learn with little interaction with the teacher. According to
research, cooperative learning is favored if recognition or small reward is
provided to groups that do well and there is individual accountability (Slavin,
2012, p.202). If those two essentials are being met, there will be substantial positive
effects on achievement.
When it
comes to problems solving, the teacher can teach students to use a series of
steps or the can use incubation time, suspension of judgment, conductive
climates, problem analysis, the application of thinking skills and feedback to
find a solution. The teacher can teach thinking skills through a structured
program that uses techniques that students can use in any situations.
Reflection
As a
teacher, I value the learning and interactions that take place when my students
are learning from each other. In using constructivist learning in my classes, I
have gotten a chance to learn things from things from my students along with
them helping their peers solve problems. Allowing my students to learn from
each other is helpful to me as the math teacher because there are so many ways
to solve a problem. When I lecture, I may only have time to teach one or two
methods for solving a problem whereas, if I have students who know other
methods, when I break them down in there small groups, they are helping other
solve problems by showing other methods that helped them learn to solve a
particular problem. Sometimes, I will even go back and ask them to teach me the
skills if I think it will help other students the next time I lecture.
When I
use student-centered learning, I always see and improvement in my students. They
accountability component of it helps because I will observe students who are
not normally willing to participate in class working because they do not want
to let their peers down. I will also see an increase in test scores because
some students will continue working together even after school so that their
group is prepared for the lesson the next day, especially if it is a
continuation.
Reference
Slavin, R. E.
(2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson Education.
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