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EdPsy
399 OL Casey Jo Burrus |
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2a, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15a, 15b
Lesson 2a: Productive Feedback
Readings: Wolfgang, Chapter 3 & 5. Mayer, Chapter 7.
Assignment -- The thinking of many behaviorists would lead you to believe that assertive discipline is a simple and direct extension of Thorndike's law of effect. In what ways is assertive discipline a reasonable extension? But, Mayer has a different twist on the Law of Effect. If Mayer's modified Law of Effect is reasonable, does assertive discipline still make sense as a "meaningful" way of changing student behavior?
Assignment -- Describe some ways that you use punishment to control the actions of students? How are they effective? Are there alternatives that don't require the use of aversive stimulation?
Assignment -- Discuss some procedural knowledge that you teach. How do you teach it? What are the important IF conditions? Are there some competing IF-THEN bundles that sometimes confuse students, and you have to help them discriminate among them?
Readings: Mayer, Chapter 8.
Assignment -- In the very last paragraph of chapter 8, Mayer states: "What is new, however, is the growing realization that promoting student exploration is not enough; student exploration must be supplemented with guidance that promotes reflection and helps students to find generalizable rules and principles that can live on in new situations. Crafting such lessons involves the skillful use of many techniques, including those based on concreteness, activity, and familiarity" p. 304. Assuming that Mayer's conclusion is reasonable, and maybe even true, what role might computers play in building lessons that teach meaningful learning using concreteness, activity and familiarity. If you can't find some lessons to illustrate your points, design and explain the rudiments of a computer lesson that is consistent with this type of meaningful learning instruction.
Assignment -- Locate 2 web sites of suspected differences in quality that purport to teach and inform the audience about some topic or other. Analyze the web sites using quide lines that you construct from principles discussed by Mayer, e.g., those having to do with the use of questions, signaling, etc. You may need to develop some additional guidelines to analyze a web page, since Mayer's discussion focuses primarily on text and textbooks.
Readings: Mayer, Chapter 4.
Assignment -- Explain metacognition. Use what you know about the writing process and about meta-anything, and develop a parallel concept called, metawriting, and relate it to the type of writing that your students perform. How did this concept development exercise go? Are there parts of the writing process that did not lend themselves to a meta-notion?
Readings: Mayer, Chapters 5 & 6.
Assignment -- The processes of learning and teaching science often involve analyzing "misconceptions". What are some misconceptions in the content areas (including teaching students about computers) that you teach which must be analyzed in order to provide a more effective instructional plan? How can misconceptions be overcome? Is it easy to do so?
Readings: Wolfgang, Chapters 7 & 8.
Assignment -- Glasser is a big proponent of the class meeting and was one of the first model builders to discuss its use in detail (Glasser, The Quality School, 1990). Describe the class meeting. Do you, or someone you know, use the class meeting as part of your classroom procedures, or your family procedures, perhaps? How does it work? Do the asynchronous properties of networked computers offer students and teachers a way to use "cyber" class meetings in some creative ways?
Readings: Mayer, Chapters 13.
Assignment -- Design/locate and explain an instructional program based on an apprenticeship model of instruction. Include the use of computers, networks, and distance learning. Under what conditions can technology work well in this type of instruction or is it just a pipe dream to think that it can?
Readings: Mayer, Chapter 14.
Assignment -- On pp. 481-2, Mayer lists 3 strategies for motivating students: 1. Create situations that mesh with the interest of the students so that they can see some personal value in learning the material. 2. Create situations in which students can observe their peers succeeding and also experience success themselves, and 3. Create situations in which students can learn that their academic successes and failures depend on their effort rather than solely on their ability. How can the use of computers in the instructional classroom facilitate motivation, as described by Mayer. Select a content area, perhaps one that you teach, and illustrate your responses within that context.
Last updated: May 4, 2004