VoiceThread Addition

This VoiceThread discussions the issues surrounding technology at a suburban high school in Northeast Ohio.

Social Constructionism

Social constructivism asserts that students construct meaning primarily through their interactions with others and their environments. Coupled with social constructivism is cooperative learning which provides experiences for students in which they are working together in ways that will enhance and strengthen their learning. Cooperative learning and social constructivism work hand in hand when allowing group collaboration, communication, and problem solving.

One of the many ways that social constructivism can be utilized in the classroom is by using multimedia and web resources. By nature social constructivism requires students to work together to create and construct meaning with material being discussed. When students are able to work collaboratively to create multimedia presentations, like mp3 files and movies, it requires student planning, problem-solving and creativity. These are all skills which require a deeper understanding of content and provide social interactions for students.

Web resources also promote social constructivism. Today, students can log onto the Internet and instantly be connected with students all over the world. This type of interaction allows for students to problem-solve and discuss topics with students hundreds of miles away. The Internet also provides students with a wealth of knowledgeable experts to pull information from. While studying the International Space Station students can email questions directly to experts to receive information via email about questions that the class or students may have.

Social constructivism does not have to be solely used in conjunction with educational technology, however. There are many approaches that can be taken to utilize cooperative learning within the classroom that does not require a computer. Students can be placed into groups to discuss and react to a book that is being read in class or cooperative groups can work together to solve a community problem such as pollution in a local pond. Cooperative grouping gets its strength in the knowledge that is discovered and constructed by the students working together.

When students have the opportunity of working together it allows for each student to share his or her unique talents with the rest of the class. Cooperative learning groups provide a safe and non-threatening way for students to communicate while applying knowledge to create or solve a problem. Social constructivism is one of many learning theories that should be utilized within the classroom.

Constuctinoism: How does it impact the classroom?

The constuctionism theory adds into the equation of learning the idea of intentional and accidental learning. When we want to learn we turn on our receptors and observe the world around us and consciously alter our schemas. This is because our beliefs and knowledge are constantly being added to. If I observe something that solidifies my beliefs I will use it to defend them. If something is observed that contradicts my beliefs I will either find a way to discredit that piece of information or change my belief.

More important is probably the process of accidental learning. There are some things that we observe that add to our knowledge but that do not require us to immediately act on. Take fashion as an example. As new styles emerge we begin to incorporate them without any real conscious decision. That explains why so many people wore leisure suits in teh 1970's, there was no conscious thought. Since motivation is so important in the education of our students we need to activate this intentional learning becuase it is much more powerful. One way that we can do this is to get students to use resources and information in novel ways. With that in mind the strategy outlined in our course text is a perfect example. A teacher can tell her class in about five minutes that investing leads to longterm wealth, it actually isn't that hard of a concept. The problem is that intentional learning has not been activated. To activate this type of learning the teacher does a wonderful job of having her students jump into the world of investing and experience the different choices. By doing this the students are realizing the true difference betwwen the options without the teacher's voice going in one ear and out the other.

That is what we need to be aware of when previewing any resource of lesson plan, whether they use technology or not. The beauty of constuctionism is that it is a pure application of the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. That is exactly what our goals should be. If we want to move beyond route memorization we have to get our students to use information in a manner in which they are creating new products and solving problems that may not have answers.

A Cognitivist View for the Classroom

One of the difficulties of the educator is to effectively teach all students that walk through our classroom doors regardless of previous experiences and prior knowledge. Cognitivism is a learning theory which tries to explain why learners approach learning experiences in different manners but are still able to flourish (Oxendine, Robinson, & Willson, 2004).

Cognitivism works under the assumption that students learn best when they are actively engaged and involved in the learning experience. When students are engaged they are able to gain a deeper understanding of content and use their knowledge to problem-solve and synthesize while creating concrete connections to aide in memory encoding. With the use of cognitive tools students are able to interact with information as they shift the learning from a computer to learning with a computer (Robertson, Elliot, & Washington, 2007). This difference is critical as students are being required to use computers as tools for problem solving at an increasing rate. Teachers need to be sure that their use of computers in the classroom does not replace their impact on the lesson. Typically teachers use computers as a remedial tool and not a teaching tool for new concepts and skills.

When discussing ways of increasing student engagement and experiences into the learning process there are various technological tools that can be utilized. Using graphic organizers and concept maps offer students the concrete experience needed for cognitive learning to take place. Advance organizers can incorporate pictures, text, sound bytes, and even video clips to provide students with a framework to begin and enhance their learning. As advance organizers activate prior knowledge they also develop mental models which allow for students to begin reflecting upon the subject matter which then leads to an abstract understanding (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

Additional tools which lend themselves to cognitivism are summarizing and note taking skills. When teaching summarizing, teachers can use Microsoft Word to type a portion of text into the program. Together, the teacher and students can work together to summarize the text (this is the concrete stage of learning). Next, the teacher can auto summarize the text to see if the students summarized the text in a similar style to the computer (students are now critically reflecting upon their own work). After that the students are then ready for more abstract practice in which they will summarize a paragraph on their own. Leading the students through the summarizing process and moving from concrete to abstract will provide the students a framework in which to draw from for future lessons and activities.

Cognitivism can be used effectively in the classroom when students are engaged in realistic experiences, discussing content, and experimenting with newly formed concepts and experiences (Oxendine, Robinson, & Willson, 2004). Students will remember content much longer when they have had real experiences and hands-on activities to draw from.


Citations

Oxendine, C., Robinson, J., & Willson, G. (2004). Experiential learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved <2009>.

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

Robertson, B., Elliot, L., & Robinson, D. (2007). Cognitive tools. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved <2009>.

Are These Strategies Really Examples of Behaviorism?

B.F. Skinner created to concept of operant conditioning (later to be included in the larger term of behaviorism) in part to answer two fundamental questions. How do we learn to behave in the manner that we do and how do we develop behaviors in others? Skinner, along with other behaviorist, rejected the internal workings of the mind. He would argue that since there is no way to prove the thought processes of an individual they are largely unimportant. Instead the observable behaviors of an individual should be studied. These individuals will then respond to the environment in which they find themselves in. What in the environment makes people respond? If something pleasurable immediately follows an action that action is more likely to be repeated, the behavior has been reinforced. If something unpleasant immediately follows an action that behavior is less likely to be repeated, it has been punished.

The concept of behaviorism becomes more complicated because we are not talking about normal rewards and punishments. A normal reward would be a congratulatory pat on the back. A normal punishment would be a detention for being late to class. Any educator that has spent time in a classroom will agree that these actions have mixed effects. They are not going to produce the same results each time they are administered. True behaviorism seeks to increase the likelihood or decrease the likelihood of specific behaviors. It has to be intentionally planned and carried out in every situation. A token economy is a good example of behaviorism in the classroom. Positive feedback from a teacher does not necessarily mean behaviorism is at play. Positive encouragement is simply encouragement. To be true behaviorism there has to be a measurable increase or decrease of specific behaviors.

These behaviors are completely different from internal knowledge and thought processes. I cannot increase the accuracy of a homework assignment through behaviorism. I can only increase the likelihood that homework will be completed. With this in mind the strategies outlined in chapters eight and ten of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works are not behaviorist methods. They may be good teaching strategies but they have merit completely independent of behaviorism. The first strategy calls for students to track their effort in comparison to the results on their tests. After four weeks of tracking the students will be able to see that higher effort results in higher test scores. If higher scores are valued by the students and they understand the relation to effort logic would dictate that their effort would increase. The students effort will increase but not because of external reinforcement or punishment. True behaviorism would be evident if the teacher provided something that the student wanted everytime good effort was shown. It might also be shown if the teacher provided an unpleasant consequence when poor effort was shown. Allowing four weeks to pass before the lesson is reviewed is not an immediate consequence and therefore not behaviorism. A second strategy that is oultined in the aforementioned book follows a fictional football coach how is attempting to help his players review mathematical concepts. In this strategy the coach encourages his players to track their workouts in an Excel spreadsheet. This is a great idea to help with data analysis but I have to ask, what behavior is increasing or decreasing? Remember, behaviorism does not teach concepts or any new knowledge, it teaches behaviors. These students still workout on the proscribed days, whether the strategy was used or not the players will probably lift heavier weights, and there is no gaurantee that these players are more or less likely to do their math homework. I do not know any psychologist that would define these strategies as behaviorism.

Skinner tried to relate behaviorism to education. His thesis was that eventually students will learn that the consequences of answering a question wrong are not worth it. Once this realization is made students will not answer incorrectly to avoid to unpleasant stimuli. What Skinner failed to realize and what educators should know is that there are times that we have no choice but to answer incorrectly. If the concept has not been taught how do we answer correctly? That same misconception is repeated in online tutorials and remedial programs. These technologies assume that we are motivated by their feedback, that we learn from our mistakes, and that we are investing our complete attention to their problem. While some resources are beneficial and expertly created, while some resources truly use behaviorism in their delivery, they tend to still fall to the same fallacy that Skinner fell to. I want to reiterate this one very important point. The strategies outlined above and the online resources that tutor and remediate are wonderful educational tools and techniques. They can deliver the lesson perfectly. Some of these lessons will stay with students for years. No matter how good they are behaviorism is not in play. Simply because a lesson is not behaviorist does not mean that its quality is diminished it just using another learning perspective.



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


Standbridge, M. (2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (ED.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved 07/03/2009, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt

Tavris, C., & Wade, C. (2006). Invitation to Psychology (3rd ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.