Written Essays
Laura Hlinka
Ed Psy 399OL
Dr. Tom Anderson
Spring 2004
Lesson 2:
Productive Feedback
The classroom discipline model, Assertive Discipline was created
by Lee and Marlene Canter in 1976. It has been adopted by numerous
schools. Over 300,000 teachers had been trained in this model by
1988. (Crokenberg 1982) Because of it’s broad use it has been thoroughly
examined. Behaviorists believe that Assertive Discipline is an extension
of Thorndike’s Law of Effect. The Law of Effect is “the idea that
if a behavior is followed by a pleasing state of affairs, it is more
likely to occur again in the future under the same circumstances, and
if a behavior is followed by a displeasing state of affairs, it is less
likely to be given again in the future.” (Mayer 2003)
In its fundamental state, Assertive Discipline is a working model
of Thorndike's Law of Effect. The goals of Thorndike's puzzle
box was to increase or decrease a target behavior. This is similar
to the classroom management goal to decrease the number of disruptive
behaviors and increase the frequency of positive and productive behaviors.
In the behaviorist view, behaviors that are punished will decrease while
behaviors that get rewarded will increase.
Assertive Discipline is a reasonable extension of the Law of Effect
because both techniques use positive and negative reinforcement to change
a behavior. Both induce a response which get stronger the more they
are used. In a classic sense, rewards are the intrinsic basis
for both Law of Effect and Assertive Discipline.
Mayer (2003) brings cognitive thought into his discussion of Thorndikes
Law of Effect, in that, he feels that the interpretation and use of
the rewards (i.e. feedback) by the student expands the behavioral changes
past a learned response. Interpretation of the feedback becomes
the basis of the behavior change producing appropriate behavior to specific
situations. The student interprets and uses the feedback as information
for current and future situations thus making the technique more effective
as a tool for the teacher and more meaningful to the student. In
this sense, it seems a reasonable “twist” to the Law and Effect.
When a student uses his cognitive processes to learn, he is more
apt to retain and reuse this information as he moves forward in life.
However, it has been my experience that if the reward or feedback is superficial
(i.e. a learned-type response), the student recognizes that information
as phony or not useful which has the potential to be detrimental to learning
and classroom management.
At its core, Assertive Discipline is widely used and seems to
be an effective tool in classroom management. The main attraction
to its use is its simplicity and its ability to keep the students aware
of their boundaries. However, there are many aspects within the classroom
that deviate from a normal or structured technique such as this. Additional
approaches or philosophies can be incorporated into this foundation that
create a more effective tool for classroom management. For example,
student as well as parent input to some of the classroom rules helps foster
a team approach to the program. This gives each group
a vested interest in the success of the class.
References:
Canter, L. (1988). Assertive discipline and the search for the
perfect classroom. Young Children, 43(2), 24.
Crockenberg, V. (1982). Assertive discipline: A dissent. California
Journal of Teacher Education, 9(4), 59-74.
Mayer, R. E., (2003). Learning and Instruction. Merrill Prentice
Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Wolfgang, Charles H.,(2001). Solving Discipline and Classroom
Management Problems. 5th Edition. Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York
(1989 - 2004) - Observations made as a teacher of the sciences
at Urbana Middle School in Urbana, IL.
Lesson 3:
Use of Punishment
Punishment is not a word that I would have chosen to describe the
management strategies that I use to control the actions of my students
in the classroom. Punishment, in its most basic form, is defined as
a penalty imposed on an offender for a crime or wrongdoing (Webster,
1980). Is this “penalty” capable of changing my student’s wrongful behavior
or can it work against the classroom dynamics by creating a “hero” to
the other students? Wolfgang (2001) suggests that certain forms of
punishment may enable a student to gain status in the eyes of their peers
and thus punishment creates a positive reinforcement resulting in increased
misbehavior. If used haphazardly, punishment won’t really change the
behavior the teacher deems as inappropriate but rather creates a negative
dynamic, related to power. If teachers take on the role of disciplinarian
and “punisher,” students are less likely to learn their own boundaries and
thus create and retain a modified behavior. In this sense, punishment
moves ownership of the problem from the student to the adult (Marshall 2001).
Punishment is not a control mechanism that is
widely accepted by the educational psychology discipline. Some
feel it is simply a device for teachers to show students “who is boss”
while others feel this mechanism to be psychologically hurtful and unjust
to students (Charles, 1998). Whether these descriptions are true or
not, it does indicate that this technique is somewhat controversial and
perhaps not well liked as a behavior modification technique.
Punishment, in my mind, is something that I
get to dream about. I can invent wonderfully creative and
torturous fantasies of punishment for the out of control student.
But fantasies are the extent of these scenarios. I rely on student
consequences in my approach to student behavior modification. I do
not see punishment as an effective tool in this approach. I believe
that punishments occur when a teacher looses control. In order to
be an effective educator, control of my behavior significantly influences
the students response to my teaching. Punishment moves away from
my control of the classroom situation and is only used as a last resort
and only when I feel there is potential threat to either myself or other
students.
Because a consequence is a natural result of
a student’s choice, I feel that I gain control of disruptive situations
in using them in my classroom. The consequences that I employ range
from verbal redirection to a referral. I find that most students
respond to reminders and talks out in the hall. I initiate this type
of talk out in the hall with, “Why do you think I wanted to talk to you?”
Once we are alone, most students are very willing to open up, one-on-one,
and take responsibility for their actions. Those few who respond
that they have no idea why I wanted to talk to them, evoke my response,
“O.K. you stay out in the hall and let me know when you are ready to talk.”
I am usually stopped before I even get turned around and the student says,
“ok ok I’m ready.” When we talk out in the hall, we set up the next
level in consequences if the same misbehavior is committed. This
way, I use the threat of punishment to modify bad behavior and develop
consequences, creating student ownership of their behavior. In most
cases, I’m banking on the fact that the student does not want to receive
punishment, i.e. exile from the class, and wants to acknowledge their behavior
and move on.
My only form of “punishment”, is that I give
detentions for classroom misbehavior that does not correct itself and
then use the detention time to collaborate with the student on a plan to
help him better identify their behavior boundaries. I give referrals
(sending a student out of class to an administrator) to students who I believe
to be a threat to the well-being of any student or myself and to students
who absolutely refuse to cooperate in class. Students are usually
given numerous warnings before they receive a referral, but can be removed
immediately in the event that I view them as a threat. I rarely have
to use either of these consequences. The most effective behavior consequence
that I use is parent contact either through a phone call or meeting.
My overall goal for classroom management is to get the students to manage
themselves. It would be very easy to exhaust yourself patrolling and
punishing bad behavior constantly. My philosophy is to let the parents
give the “punishments” and let the teacher teach.
The consequences have the effect of creating
an environment of respect in the classroom. Students understand
that whatever the consequence, it is a result of their choices and not
a personal reflection of how I feel about them. Parent contact is
by far the most effective of the consequences. Students never want
me to call home and share the poor choices that they have made in my classroom.
Calling home helps correct the students behavior and also helps build a relationship
with the parents. To further build the parent relationship I make
a point to contact parents for the positive reasons as well.
In my experience, referrals are not an effective
consequence. Usually I do not see the student again for a day or
two, and when I do see them they are rarely ready to be in class even
when they understand what they did wrong. I give out very few referrals
and when I do I call home the same day and talk to the parents. Overall
referrals have very little value beyond removing a dangerous or extremely
disruptive student from a classroom.
Teachers who tend to exhibit “power trips” as
part of their normal teaching routine seem to be the same individuals
that complain loudly about management issues, i.e. poor students that
misbehave, and write more referrals. The whole idea is to get students
to transfer experiences and be able to self monitor their behavior.
I do believe there are alternatives to punishment
in dealing with classroom misbehavior. As Wolfgang (2001) suggests,
using “proximity” and “working the room” approaches work very well for
me. When a behavior problem appears, recognition and movement toward
correcting that behavior without disrupting the flow of the lesson is
critical. I will tend to move toward the student, either moving right
next to the student or behind them, and continue the lesson without “officially”
recognizing their behavior problem to the class. This takes some
concentration to pull it off successfully but quickly lets the student
know that I am aware of their disruption, will not tolerate it, and will
demand they stop, without allowing them to gain any status in the other
student’s eyes. They then have a choice in changing their behavior
and, knowing the established consequences, own the next step in their
classroom participation.
I recognize that punishment is not a real answer to classroom
management problems for me, and that real punishment does not exist
in my classroom. My approach is to establish the “rules” and then the
consequences for deviating from those rules. I am forcing the
student to acknowledge their behavior and choose their course within
the classroom environment. This works well for me and, being that
I write very few referrals, seems effective.
References:
Charles, C.M. 1998. Building Classroom Discipline. New York:
Addison Wesley.
Marshall, Marvin Dr. 2001. Discipline without Stress Punishments
or Rewards. Piper Press. CA.
Webster, 1980. Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American
Language, Second College Edition. D.B. Guralnik, Editor in Chief.
Simon and Schuster. USA.
Wolfgang, Charles H.,(2001). Solving Discipline and Classroom Management
Problems. 5th Edition. Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
(1989 - 2004) - Observations made as a teacher of the sciences
at Urbana Middle School in Urbana, IL.
Procedural knowledge is defined as a
long-term memory or knowledge that is triggered by an external environmental
condition that makes us act in a particular way. (Anderson) This action,
is based upon “IF-THEN bundles” that are part of a series of criteria that
ultimately lead to a specific action. As the bundles are exercised,
the action becomes faster and ultimately can lead to an error free, elaborate
response to a condition. Learning a script is a simple example of this
behavior, in that as one practices the lines, they become easier to remember
and ultimately become second nature to the actor.
One procedural knowledge lesson plan that I have developed is
a lesson in tree classification. The development of this lesson
involved students describing in detail the steps or IF-THEN bundles for
a variety of trees located in a nearby park. A classification system,
at its core, is the essence of procedural knowledge. Most classification
systems are presented in a taxonomic or dichotomous key. A taxonomic
key looks at the similarities and differences between objects using a series
of paired statements. The paired statements describe contrasting characteristics.
The user chooses the one statement out of the pair that happens to be true
of the object to be identified. The statement chosen may go on to another
pair of statements or it may give the name of the object.
This lesson is taught by an introduction of the classification
system beginning with grouping, teaching how to put things into groups
according to similar characteristics. I start with inanimate objects
(tools, cartoon characters, shoes, etc.) and we list those things that
are common to each. We practice identifying quantitative components
of items as opposed to qualitative. We spend significant time discussing
quantitative versus qualitative components because qualitative characteristics
are unique to each individual’s interpretation yet quantitative characteristics
are universal. Next we discuss the history of the formal
classification system. How classification has evolved from Aristotle
in 322 BC through Carolus Linnaeus to present day. We discuss
how the classification system is dynamic and can change with new fossil
and DNA evidence.
The next progression within teaching classification is the introduction
of the five Kingdoms, or the major groups of living organisms.
We discuss the characteristics of each group and why certain organisms
fall within certain Kingdoms. The hierarchy of the classification
system is defined as: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus
and species. The interesting fact about this system is that as you
move down the classification tree, the more characteristics the organisms
have in common. Humans, cats, dog and cows have enough similar features
that put them within the same Class, Mammalia, but each belongs to a separate
Order. See Inspiration map at
http://www.cmi.k12.il.us/Urbana/ums/science/7th/LivingThings.htm
Next we begin practicing with a taxonomic key. This tool
allows the student to work with IF-THEN bundles related to tree characteristics.
The characteristics start out very basic and move to the more sophisticated
which finally leads to the identification of a specific tree. The
students and I have developed a web site for the tree identification of
Blair Park in Urbana.
http://www.cmi.k12.il.us/Urbana/projects/apple/service/bpark/index.html
The most confusion within the IF-THEN bundles comes from the student’s
lack of understanding of the vocabulary with the bundle. There
is also confusion when the student accepts one of the conditions but becomes
lost on the next step. This indicates that the taxonomic key may
be too sophisticated at the onset of its use. However, in true procedural
knowledge characteristic, as the student uses the key, they become more
familiar with the verbiage and are able to travel through it more efficiently.
Eventually, the student’s become experienced enough with the key to use it
to identify trees that are very foreign to their local area without my
help.
This lesson plan creates the basic understanding of classification
and the taxonomic key for tree identification. Its principles are
applied in many components of our daily lives and is a useful and necessary
tool. Once my students learn the basic principles and concepts of
the classification system, they are able to apply that knowledge to other
subjects. Examples of the usefulness of the classification system
are found in its use in fingerprinting, fossil identification, matter,
prefix/suffix laws, and music, to name a few.
References:
Anderson, Tom. (n.d.) Lesson 6 Memory Continued. Retrieved March
1, 2004, from: http://blackboard.cites.uiuc.edu:80/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_3839_1&frame=top
Blair Park website for classification of trees
http://www.cmi.k12.il.us/Urbana/projects/apple/service/bpark/index.html
Classification of Living Things outline website:
http://www.cmi.k12.il.us/Urbana/ums/science/7th/LivingThings.htm
(1989 - 2004) - Observations made as a teacher of the sciences
at Urbana Middle School in Urbana, IL.
I believe that Mayer's conclusion is especially true in the science
field, in that it is critical for students to use learned concepts and
apply those concepts to new situations. (Mayer 2003) After all, that
is the essence of science and scientific development. It is even
more critical that the science teacher develop lesson plans that promote
this concept. A rote response to science is its downfall. Science
is all about discovering the unknown or unexpected and that is what I
try to teach to my students. Science is dynamic in all aspects.
Students need to have a set of basic tools to use in the ever changing
world of science.
Concreteness, activity and familiarity all play key roles in scientific
learning. One must be very aware and critical of one's lesson so
that a specific concept must be explained by the teacher and understood
completely by the student before its application; otherwise, wrong assumptions
and thus conclusions can be easily developed. This understanding becomes
the foundation (or the concrete) for development which allows other ideas
and concepts to spawn. In science, as in math, some basic concepts
are absolute and those absolutes allow us to expand concepts and ideas. Involvement
in research, i.e. activity, is also a cornerstone of science. In
order to prove or disprove a hypothesis or idea, experimentation, data
collection, and data analysis are required. I believe a "hands on"
approach is an essential tool that allows the student to experience what
is really happening. Familiarity with concepts in science allows the
student to wonder about how things work not only in the current lesson but
in other aspects of the natural world (transfer). For instance, we
experiment with the laws of physics in our labs. We experience those
concepts when we take the students to Six Flags for a science day. The
concept of acceleration can be simply defined in the classroom and demonstrated
in a laboratory environment; however, when a student rides a roller coaster
and his or her body experiences the same forces, the familiarity of the
lab experiment helps them to recognize the forces in a different environment
(transfer). Giving the students a chance to physically experience the forces
of physics gives them a concrete reference to tie with the familiarity learned
in the lab. Computers can greatly aide the familiarity, concreteness
and transferability of a concept.
Computers play an important role in our science department's activities
throughout the school year. Our science group has been very active
in developing and expanding web sites that are used for various science
lessons. The students seem to enjoy as well as learn from them. We
also develop lesson plans that use existing web sites that help ingrain and
enhance the learning for the student. For example, the students are
all aware of the web site that contains complete instructions and helpful
hints for their quarter projects. http://www.cmi.k12.il.us/Urbana/projects/sciencenet/index.html
This site is a resource or the foundation (concrete) for the student's
required projects. Computers are also a great tool for reiterating
points or concepts through different means. An example of a lesson
plan that I use for the students to learn the concepts of predator versus
prey in the natural world is called Gungan Frontier http://www.lucaslearning.com/products/gungan.htm.
This site was developed by George Lucas who has brought his Star
Wars characters into a different environment and applied various real
world concepts for education. The students are familiar with the
characters which allows them to become more engaged in the lesson. The
format of the tool is an interactive game which brings the even more familiar
"game" technology into scientific learning. In this context, the
students are learning natural predator and prey concepts, most likely,
without even knowing it, in a modern and familiar computer application.
Mayer (2003) expounds upon this concept when he stated "In computer-based
micro worlds, the student is able to relate general principles to more
familiar objects by manipulating simulated objects on the computer screen."
One other site that I've incorporated into our lessons is the Urbana Blair
Park website (www.blairpark.com).
This site was developed by the students, myself, and our computer
tech as a classification tool of trees in a nearby park. The site
provides a baseline classification process that moves one through a step-by-step
process to classify and identify trees. This step-by-step process
is the basis of the if-then concepts that science is bound to. As
the student becomes more educated, this basic process will give them a concept
to use in tackling other problems in any field.
When I think about computers in the learning process, some caution
is warranted. As I have already discussed, computers have the potential
to be a great tool in education, but they also have the potential to be
very destructive as well. Duane Bristow (1997) brings up some interesting
points about the use of computers in schools when he suggests that where
properly implemented, computers can increase ones efficiency in both the
business and education worlds. However, if they are improperly used,
they can have the opposite effect. This is true in our use as well.
Most people will use the internet as a tool for a short time but become
fascinated in the wide variety of information at their fingertips which
can lead to unproductive computer and educational time. Steve Cameron
(1994) also states that there is a time and place for technology in the
classroom. When used as a tool, it promotes learning as well as brining
computer skills to students that will need these skills in everyday life.
He also suggests caution in its use because it changes very rapidly
and to use it effectively, the teacher must be well versed and knowledgeable.
I feel that computers can be wonderful tools in enhancing learning
and providing basic resources for further education. It takes a lot
of effort; however, to incorporate this tool into the learning process appropriately.
References:
Blair Park website for classification of trees
http://www.cmi.k12.il.us/Urbana/projects/apple/service/bpark/index.html
Bristow, Duane. (1997). "Computer Literacy, Computer Skills, and
Computer Use in Schools and Small Businesses," retrieved from WWW at
http://webcom.com/duane/compeff.html
Cameron, Steve. (1994). "Technology in the Classroom: Proceed with
Caution." Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine.
Vol.1, Num 3. p.9 retrieved WWW http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1994/jul/tech.html
Gungan Frontier: Lucas learning software for teaching ecology:
http://www.lucaslearning.com/products/gungan.htm
Mayer, R. E., (2003). Learning and Instruction. Merrill Prentice
Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Science Net Quarter project website:
http://www.cmi.k12.il.us/Urbana/projects/sciencenet/index.html
(1989 - 2004) - Observations made as a teacher of the sciences
at Urbana Middle School in Urbana, IL.
Lesson 8:
Anderson's questions from blackboard:
How many of these strategies do you feel comfortable with? Under
which conditions do you use them? Being a successful student, how did
you learn to use the strategies that work for you?
I like Sheree P, did not enjoy reading in my youth either. I
am not sure why, but I was very self conscious in elementary school when
we had something to read silently and the other students would finish
first. I knew that if I hurried I could not answer the questions
at the end. Rehearsing and monitoring comprehension were two of the
earliest strategies I can personally remember using. Other strategies
that progressed were organizing and summarizing. Many of the others
listed by Tom Anderson (lesson8 blackboard) require higher ordered thinking.
As I raise my three children and teach 130 each year, I try and
take them through the reading and decoding comprehension steps. Going
from sentence meaning to paragraph purpose to article analysis.
Tom Anderson listed some strategies that students use in reading:
(Anderson blackboard:Lesson 8)
“Some of these strategies are:
- Generating and using advance organizers
- Schema activation
- Determining importance of ideas
- Summarizing information
- Drawing inferences
- Generating questions
- Monitoring comprehension
- Attending to text signals
- Answering adjunct questions
- Organizing, outlining and mapping ideas
-
Rehearsing”
These
strategies should be kept in mind for a website that is built for the
purposes of teaching and educating it’s consumers.
With these reading strategies in mind and the website analysis
strategies of web credible, Gestalt Principles of Jim Levin, and a web
development page developed by D. Michelle Hinn, I created sample checklist
of items a good teaching website should include.
Usability:
Can the user find what he is looking for quickly and efficiently?
Navigation Ease:
Can the user move around the website in an organized manor?
Information Retrieval:
Is the website easy to scan?
Structure and Presentation:
Are navigational menu items evident?
Gestalt Principles:
Are like items grouped accordingly or do different items have
similar presentation with color, size, shape and proximity?
Signaling:
Are there advanced organizers?
Do subsections stand out?
Ease of Reading:
Do text color choices contrast well from background color and
images?
Is there a consistent web page design?
Credibility:
Does the website have a credible source or an organizational
sponsor?
Timeliness:
Is the page current or updated regularly?
Questioning:
Does the website offer a format to check understanding as the
learner navigates through the website? (See side note ****)
**** I believe that a great website can fail at this
standard. Many websites are developed to host information not to walk
a learner through their education. If the teacher deems it necessary
they can develop a lesson around the website to monitor the students
understanding and analysis of information. It does not have to be
the web creators job to “monitor” a students learning or ask higher order
questions. A website can be the tool a teacher uses to supplement
education.
The two websites I chose to compare were created to give information
about the Periodic Table:
http://www.chemtutor.com/perich.htm
and
http://www.chemicalelements.com
Website Analysis
Strategies
|
Chem Tutor
|
Chemical
Elements
|
Usability:
Can the user find what he is looking for quickly and efficiently?
|
Easy to understand
list of major topics
|
Major list of topics is located
on the left. There is not a lot of history of the periodic table listed,
but is you can the information you want listed on periodic table.
|
Navigation Ease:
Can the user move around the website in an organized manor?
|
Yes
|
Yes, It would be nice to have
a key of colors for the periodic table.
|
Information Retrieval:
Is the website easy to scan?
|
Few graphics to clutter the
site
|
No extra graphics to clutter
page.
|
Structure and Presentation:
Are navigational menu items evident?
|
Very
|
Yes
|
Gestalt Principles:
Are like items grouped accordingly or do different items have
similar presentation with color, size, shape and proximity?
|
Similar colors to indicate
equal importance
|
Similar colors are used, however
proximity is an issue
|
Signaling:
Are there advanced organizers?
Do subsections stand out?
|
Ordered lists
|
Repeating lists are somewhat
close together and all blue
|
Ease of Reading:
Do text color choices contrast well from background color and
images?
Is there a consistent web page design?
|
Very clean and white background
|
Easy to read. Very clean.
|
Credibility:
Does the website have a credible source or an organizational
sponsor?
|
Created by David Wilner a chemistry
teacher
|
Created by Yinor Bentor - No
personal information listed
|
Timeliness:
Is the page current or updated regularly?
|
Created in 1997. Does
not appear to have been updated since then.
|
Updated in 2004
|
Questioning:
Does the website offer a format to check understanding as the
learner navigates through the website? (See side note ****)
|
No ****
|
No **** |
While both websites give great information,
I would not solely depend on either one for teaching the Periodic Table.
Both have good readability and are easy to navigate. The
Chem Tutor site gives a greater overall picture of chemistry and how
the periodic table is just one part of the science. The chemical
elements site concentrates on just the periodic table.
**** I believe that a great website can fail at this
standard. Many websites are developed to host information not to walk
a learner through their education. If the teacher deems it necessary
they can develop a lesson around the website to monitor the students
understanding and analysis of information. It does not have to be
the web creators job to “monitor” a students learning or ask higher order
questions. A website can be the tool a teacher uses to supplement
education.
Lesson 9:
Metawriting
Webster (1980) defines meta as: going beyond, higher, or transcending,
and cognition as: the process of knowing in the broadest sense, including,
perception, memory,and judgment. So, in its rudimentary form, metacognition
could be defined as a self-analysis of thoughts, or the thought processes.
Mayer (2003) defines metacognition as “knowledge and awareness of one’s own
cognitive processes.” Similarly, When we take the time to asses what
it is we are doing and apply or regulate our behavior from the assessment,
we are practicing metacognition. This concept is a critical part of
education and is taught through various techniques, whether it is planned
or not.
Science education demands that one looks at complex problems systematically
and logically in order to understand the principles involved and rationally
explain them. Metacognition theory is central to understanding scientific
phenomenon. My lesson plans require the students to perform experiments
to understand science principles. The labs begin in a relatively
simplistic manner and become more complex as the school year evolves.
The basic idea is to get the students to learn the approach of scientific
discovery and apply that to future labs and other life experiences.
For example, a lab requires a student to think about the concept that they
are experimenting with, use known applications to try to see whether their
experiment is performing like it should, monitor steps in their assessment,
understand how their experiment might differ from known concepts and explain
why they might have gotten the same or different results. In effect,
the students are using a scientific equivalent to the cognitive process,
in that, instead of the thought process (central to cognitive theory)
they use the scientific method. This method, or portions of it, can
then be inferred into other aspects of the students education as well as
problem solving in real-life situations. Blakey and Spence (1990) define
metacognition as knowing “what we know” and “what we don’t know” through
connecting new information to former knowledge, developing and selecting
thinking strategies, and planning, monitoring and evaluating the thinking
process. This definition parallels the scientific method.
As with the scientific method, another parallel concept of metacognition
might be that of metawriting. Mayer (2003) in his discussion about
the cognitive processes in writing identifies three distinct processes in
writing based upon a study by Hayes and Flower (1980): planning, translating,
and reviewing. This study attempted to understand the psychological
aspects of writing by what they termed the process of “thinking aloud” where
the participants were asked to describe what they were thinking when they
did various assignments. Because I would define metawriting as the
knowledge and understanding of one’s own writing, Mayer’s cognitive processes
would be at the core of this concept. What steps are necessary in
writing?
1. Defining a concept or subject to write about
2. Acquiring information about the concept or subject
3. Develop a plan of how to write about the subject
4. Write a rough draft
5. Analyze the draft and make improvements
6. Write the final document
Planning, translating, and reviewing are prevalent throughout this
writing excursive. Defining and acquiring concept information and
thinking about a plan, all fall within the planning process. Translation
is required for rough draft writing and reviewing allows the student to
making improvements at several points in their process. All these
activities require the student to think, plan, assess, and reassess what
it is they want their audience to know, and how they are going to communicate
that to them. If they truly are interested in clear communication of
their thoughts and ideas, they need to understand what it is they want to
communicate and how best to do that in a written manner, i.e. knowledge and
understanding of their own writing; “metawriting.”
In my classroom, several components of metawriting are used, in that,
for every lab experiment, the student is required to turn in a lab report.
This is a very structured write-up of the scientific concept, the experiment,
and the results of that experiment. Each lab starts by discussing
the overall concept, what we are going to do, and why this concept is important,
and how it fits into our daily lives. “Why do you think I want you
to do this?” is my common question.
Planning, translating, and reviewing are all major components of the
reporting of scientific information to a reader. The planning of
the experiment is accomplished by strict rules or methods set by me.
Each individual or group must follow the directions. However, when
the experiment begins, things sometimes do not happen similarly between
the students. Translation and review become critical. I require
them, in the lab report, to explain their results and whether they feel
that their results seem reasonable. This is ultimately metawriting,
in that they must communicate to me their knowledge and results of the experiment
by a clear and concise write-up. In order to do this, they must use
the principles of metawriting; planning, assessing, and reviewing of their
own work, their own work being the experiment and discussion of their results.
If these concepts are not used and the student doesn’t take the time to
understand how to communicate their results, the reader will be confused
and their report will need further assessment and review.
Processes like these discussed are common in scientific education.
Knowledge and communication are key to the scientific process and can be directly
exported to other aspects of education.
References:
ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources Syracuse NY.
Author: Blakey, Elaine-Spence, Sheila at http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigest/ed327218.html
Hayes, J. R., and Flower, L.S. (1980). Identifying the organization
of writing processes. In L.W. Gregg and E. R. Steinberg (Eds.) Cognitive
processes in writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Mayer, R. E., (2003). Learning and Instruction. Merrill Prentice Hall,
Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Webster, 1980. Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American
Language, Second College Edition. D.B. Guralnik, Editor in Chief.
Simon and Schuster. USA
Lesson 11:
Misconceptions
Misconceptions are a way
of life. We all seem to believe what we want in many situations.
The material for this assignment was interesting. It gave me an understanding
of how misconceptions exist everywhere and also gave me some resources
to help me assess what might be happening in my classroom.
Burton & Brown (1978) tie into the belief that flaws exist in a student's
procedural knowledge component of learning. They developed computer
programs to assess where a flaw might exist in a student's procedural knowledge
and were able to quantify several of these components in their assessment.
For example, they were able to determine that a fair number of students
had the misconception that a smaller number was always subtracted from a
larger one regardless of where it might lie in a subtraction problem, i.e.
the borrowing procedure never took place. By understanding the procedures
associated with their learning process, they were able to establish the point
where the misconception began. The student's procedure was flawed,
not their ability to conduct the process. A teacher can then attack
the point in learning that the flaw occurred. Unfortunately, their study
also showed that they were only able to quantify misconceptions for about
half of their sample population. This indicates that there may not
be a way to determine how a misconception occurs in many instances and one
must be always cognizant of this fact in our teaching.
From the questions in the commentary related to my
math class experiences, I was comfortable and efficient enough with math
that I worked through accelerated courses through calculus. I always
enjoyed the logic that math brought to learning. Step-by-step solutions
made sense to me and thus made my understanding easier. Even though
my teachers were all male, I really did not notice a “glass ceiling” per
say, but then again, I didn't choose a math career either. Maybe
this is one of my misconceptions, in that, I thought I was actually good
in math and in reality, maybe I was not so good.
Misconceptions are also an integral part to science
and scientific learning. Science, by its nature, is the analysis of
physical properties in relation to a question or concern about them (the
study of the unknown). Science labs are designed to physically
observe properties, assess those properties in relation to other known properties,
and comment on the observations and assessments. To this end, misconceptions
abound. It is then my job to make sure their work does not fall into
misconceptions but reality.
I too believe that we live with many misconceptions
and some of those are prevalent in the classroom. Within my 8th
grade science classroom, one misconception that I strive to help my students
overcome is that in science, there may not be only one right answer.
In fact, because analyses and techniques vary, the same answer from different
groups attacking a lab, is very suspicious. Similar results are acceptable
in science, exact replication of results is rare. Students often want
to change their answers to match a neighboring group or assume their experiment
is flawed if they get different answers.
In regard to the use of computers in my classroom,
there seem to be two common misconceptions that surface regularly with
both the students and teachers. When students are using computers,
a common flaw in their procedure is that they believe their computer is
broken when they somehow become stalled in a lesson plan. Not
one computer related lesson goes by without someone stating, “Mrs. Hlinka,
I need to go to a different computer, mine is broken.” Whether it
be not even turning the computer on, an incorrect url, or not knowing how
to activate a file on the hard drive, the students’ reality is that the computer
does not work, a misconception. Operator error is never a consideration
until I point the problem out to them. Galloway (2003) in his outline
of fifteen computing misconceptions says, “If you don't experience any frustration,
make any errors or have any problems, then you aren't doing anything - especially
in the world of computers.” http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=13100792
In regard to a misconception related to my fellow
teachers, it seems evident that we are becoming more and more dependent upon
the computer in our everyday lessons. Being that computers are found
in almost every aspect of our lives now, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
However, there seems to be a real misconception by many teachers that by
using a computer, the lesson plan is always better. A lesson using
computers is still only as good as its human creator makes it.
Misconceptions are everywhere in our lives.
Because people felt the need for antibiotics with common virus’, we now have
super, or drug resistant bacteria. Another common misconception
is that of genetic engineering. Individuals predetermine that a genetically
altered product is something new and indistinguishable from the original.
In fact, genetic engineering has been occurring for centuries. Cross
pollinating for a dominate trait, in essence, is genetic engineering.
Misconceptions are woven into the fabric of our lives. We have misconceptions
about race, ethnicity, religions, etc. Dr. Anderson stated it well
when he said that we just move from one level of naiveté to the next,
without ever fully understanding the truth. I received over
700,000 hits when I did a search for fun on misconceptions. One site
that was sad but funny was a list of misconceptions in science textbooks
found in grades K-6 at
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/miscon/miscon4.html#mis
References:
Fifteen Computing Misconceptions by Jerry Galloway retrieved from the
WWW at:
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=13100792
Mayer, R. E., (2003). Learning and Instruction. Merrill Prentice
Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Recurring Science Misconceptions in K-6 Textbooks retrieved from the
WWW at:
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/miscon/miscon4.html#mis
Lesson 13:
Class Meetings
Glasser first introduced the concept of class
meetings as part of his “Reality Therapy” program in 1969 (Glasser, 1969).
Although the program was an attempt to help students with behavior problems
become more responsible for their actions, his concepts continued to be
used to the present day. The classroom meeting is a forum that
allows the students to gather and discuss pertinent aspects of their learning.
Glasser discussed three types of meetings: the open ended meeting, the diagnostic
curriculum meeting, and the problem solving meeting. Each addresses
or fosters discussions toward specific potential conflict areas and each
is designed to get the students to be more active in their educational
experience.
The open ended meetings are designed to allow students to discuss a variety
of topics and/or explore imaginary problems. The idea being that the
student can open up in a protected format and discuss whatever might be
on their mind, real or imaginary. Diagnostic curriculum meetings are
designed to allow the teacher to test the knowledge of the students about
certain topics that would then be used to help guide the upcoming curriculum.
This type of discussion can also give the teacher an idea of student interest
as a basis for planning. The problem solving meeting is designed to
address a real problem that arise in class. It is hoped that the problem
becomes defined, solutions are developed, and a plan of action is developed
that addresses the problem. This creates a sense of ownership to the
students and is hoped that because of their involvement, they would become
more active in the solutions.
Within my classroom, formal meetings are never planned. Because
of our somewhat tenacious schedules, taking the time to develop a formal
classroom meeting is not practical. I also feel that by setting
up a classroom meeting, the teacher has a tendency to move the students
in a direction that he wants them to go related to solutions. In a
sense, this is creating a false democracy. One must be very careful
not to sway the discussion toward a wanted goal.
I do feel that, in the teaching of science, one specific activity that
could be considered to be using the classroom meeting concept is that of
our laboratory experimentation and specifically the write-up of that
experiment. When an experiment is completed, I use group discussions
to try and get the kids to transfer knowledge that they acquired during the
lab. We also apply what we’ve learned to real world situations which
would be similar to an education/diagnostic meeting. I have also opened
up discussion by stating what phenomena we needed to learn and letting the
students through discussion decide what experiments and approaches to use
to learn the concepts. This does create an ownership in the topic and
a lot less of the, “why do we have to do this,” attitude.
In a more formal situation, I do rely upon group discussions for problem
solving. I am the school’s student council sponsor with the responsibility
to motivate and direct this group’s activity. We look at the school’s
needs and develop a plan of attack to either fundraise, create school spirit,
and/or participate in worthy causes. We have total control over our
activities (within limits of course) and our use of the funds we raise through
these activities. The spending of these moneys forces these students
to have an active part in meetings that develop goals and a plan of attack.
Although this falls short of using classroom discussions to create ownership
of students related to their behavior, in essence, the student council meetings
fall within a similar concept.
I do like the idea of delegating behavioral responsibility to the classroom
individual, however, I’m not sure how the classroom meeting concept truly
helps in this respect as it pertains to a real classroom situations.
The flavor of any classroom becomes highly dependent upon the personalities
of the students that make it up. Typically there will be several very
outgoing students who tend to carry classroom conversations. Even
though the teacher has to guide and encourage student participation, those
students who are not outgoing and shy may never express themselves fully.
I have also had classrooms where the students are so loyal to the “student
code” that true, honest discussions are not possible. For instance,
recently a student was punched in the lunch room so hard that he fell unconscious.
No one has stepped forward with any information as to who the individual
was that hit the student even though this happened in a full cafeteria.
Also, peer pressure plays an enormous role in decisions made by students,
even though classroom meetings would take place in a protected, teacher
run environment. However, once the students move outside of the teacher’s
protection, true personalities and feelings may be expressed that may use
things said in confidence to take advantage of other students.
Although research has found that classroom meetings can be effective and
powerful tools that help improve student behavior and that those students
that are actively involved in these types of meetings have improved their
behavior (Sorsdahl & Sanchez, 1985), my experience, as mentioned, tends
to lean the other direction. The types of personality traits and situations
that make up classrooms, I feel, may create a false sense of realism in a
classroom meeting situation. Certain aspects of the classroom meeting concept
are very useful, i.e. getting students to talk in a forum, but my experience
tends to indicate that the significance of these meetings may not reflect
true student feelings. It takes a wonderfully gifted moderator to
run a meeting where all parties feel valued and unpressured.
In regard to using the classroom meeting approach via cyber space, I think
various technologies each have their place in education, one must, however,
find that place and apply the technology appropriately. I think that
an asynchronous application for a classroom meeting is a great forum for
those students that would not normally discuss their feelings, to express
their thoughts. Anonymous discussions may work better in many situations
and using a “chat room” forum certainly may give the mediator a more accurate
picture of a particular situation. Personalities and peer pressure
have little or no impact if the discussion takes place over the internet.
However, the very essence of a classroom meeting is to apply the concept
in the classroom as a face-to-face type activity. This may be contrary
to the specific application but may be even more effective in today's cyber
world.
References:
Glasser, W. (1969). Schools without failure. New York: Harper
& Row
Sorsdahl, Sandra and Sanche,Robert "The effects of classroom
meetings on self-concept and behavior" Elementary School Guidance and
Counseling V20 n1 p49-56 Oct 1985
Wolfgang, Charles H.,(2001). Solving Discipline and Classroom Management
Problems. 5th Edition. Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York
(1990-2004) - Observations made as a teacher of the science at Urbana
Middle School in Urbana, Il
Lesson 15:
Cognative Apprenticeship
Simply put, an apprenticeship
model of instruction refers to an educational tool where a student learns
through either traditional (informal) or cognitive (formal) instructional
methods. An informal apprenticeship would be learning through real-world
experiences, whereas a cognitive method would be more closely aligned with
a student following a specific set of guidelines setup by and “expert” in
a particular field of study. Mayer (2003) describes three examples
of methods or strategies within the cognitive apprenticeship approach as;
reciprocal teaching, cooperative learning, and participatory modeling.
Reciprocal teaching involves the altering of dialogue between the teacher
and a student where strategies or approaches for learning some material are
discussed and debated. Cooperative learning involves the use of several
students who work together on a specific classroom task or activity.
Participatory modeling involves the use of an expert and novice each participating
in a modeling process for accomplishing some academic task. Each method
has its good and bad points that make it appropriate or inappropriate in certain
learning environments depending upon the subject and student pool.
One instructional program that I found interesting
is located at: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/step/ep301/Fall2000/Tochonites/cogap.html
This web site offers specifics related to the use of cognitive apprenticeship
to develop lesson plans that guide a student through foreign language.
It offers suggestions on how to use this model in the classrooms, gives examples
of cognitive apprenticeship in action, lists the pros and cons of this
learning method, and how to use it in a thematic approach. An example
of a theme-based student-centered lesson using cognitive apprenticeship
can be found at: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/step/ep301/Fall2000/Tochonites/cogaplesson.html
While this site offers a great deal of information about cognitive apprenticeship,
it does not incorporated technology into the equation. Distance learning,
however, is an up and coming field that involves the use of experts to
teach novices, the basis of cognitive apprenticeship, and is centered upon
the use of technology. The teacher monitors the students progress
through online lessons which puts the control over learning in the hands
of the student and away form the teacher. This can lead to the student’s
development of skills like planning, evaluating, and goal setting.
The student becomes actively involved as opposed to being a passive learner.
The entire CTER program is based upon this approach.
The future of distance learning looks promising.
Students who are unable to attend a regular classroom because of medical,
behavioral or social reasons now have an outlet for learning. Distance
learning programs, using a cognitive apprenticeship approach, could be very
useful to smaller school districts who do not have the resources to employ
a full time teacher for an accelerated program that typically have only a
few students. This way the districts could offer larger choices of
course work without having to hire individual teachers, a cost-cutting potential.
The downside of this approach is that the program would require a large amount
of initial setup time and the student must be self-motivated to learn.
I believe distance learning has become a mechanism
that our fast-paced society is rapidly becoming dependent upon and I also
believe that there are several conditions where this technology can and does
work well. As mentioned, the CTER program is a prime example.
The course work is all based upon computer technology that brings together
students throughout the country as if we were in one classroom. It’s
hard for me to remember that most of you are nowhere near the Urbana campus.
The technology allows a cognitive apprenticeship approach for the course work
and also allows us to relate to one another on a one-to-one basis, even if
we might be hundreds of miles away. I do feel though, that the technology
is somewhat limited in that it is centered mainly around the higher level
schools, i.e. high school but mostly the college level. I believe it
works well at these levels mainly because a student takes more of an active
learning approach to the class. This course is not forced upon them
and the student has a vested interest in taking the class. Ownership
of learning is not that prevalent at the middle school level and a distance
learning approach, I feel, would not work as well. The technology and
a cognitive apprenticeship approach does work well and is ideal for the high-paced
professional lives we see at an ever increasing rate. Many professionals
take advantage of this technology to increase their education to compete in
the business world. This allows them to maintain their current position
and garner an advanced degree in hopes of moving up the business/professional
ladder.
Technology makes the cognitive apprenticeship approach
a viable option in distance learning and other instructional programs.
It’s not a pipe dream to think that this this can work, our course work is
a prime example of how effective technology can be in advanced learning.
Lesson 15:
Priming Student Motivation
The term motivation comes from the root word “motive,” simply defined as;
some inner drive that causes a person to do something or act in a certain
way; an incentive (Webster, 1980). Now and in the past, motivation
in our world has been vital to our success. We all strive toward goals
and those goals are achieved by activities that move us in their direction.
In effect, we are motivated to achieve because we have some goal or
outcome that we deem necessary, whether it be in our personal, academic, or
business lives.
In education, motivation is critical to learning. Students must be
motivated to understand and retain knowledge so it can be applied in either
the same or a varied context. Motivation is typically described as either
intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is referred to that which
is internal and can be associated with basic human needs. For example,
we are intrinsically motivated to find food or water. Extrinsic motivation
is that which would be brought about by external factors. In education,
this might be the things that a teacher might do such as grading, generating
interest or intrigue, providing encouragement, topic relevancy, etc. (Hill,
1999).
Schank, et al. (1995) suggests that extrinsic motivation fails in education
because it teaches the student to learn to see the knowledge the teacher
is trying to convey but does not bring in the perspective that the knowledge
is interesting to the student in its own right. The student does not
see the knowledge as being useful and they have little motivation to retain
what they may have learned. Crotty (1994) believes that extrinsic rewards
have interfered with learning rather than enhancing it. She feels that this
motivation ignores the fact that learning itself is a reward and has resulted
in the students doing only what they know will get them that reward.
Mayer’s (2003) three strategies for motivating students; 1) creating situations
that mesh with student interests so the student sees personal value in learning,
2) creating situations where the students observe their peers and
can experience success themselves, and 3) creating situations where the student
understands that it is their effort rather than ability is what is important,
seem to fall toward the extrinsic motivation concept but don’t fully fit within
the category. In effect they seem to use some extrinsic techniques to
move or motivate the student to develop an intrinsic motivation philosophy.
Within the context of my scientific educational area, I have built a web
site as an instructional tool that I feel has moved my students toward intrinsic
motivation in the learning of forces. It uses the Mayer strategies
and introduces the concepts of force by way of the construction of toothpick
towers. Each student is required to research and build a tower to certain
specifications using only toothpicks and glue. The strength of the tower
is then tested by comparing how much weight it can support to the weight of
the tower itself. An efficiency ratio (support weight/tower weight)
is calculated and used as part of their project grade.
Because computers play a major role in the lives of the middle school students
in both their academic and personal activities, I have developed this “towers”
web site http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/lhlinka/index387.html
as a way to interest and educate at the same time. The site explains
the project, details the use of Geometer Sketch Pad (which is critical in
their tower design) and displays video clips of the testing (which visually
shows the design and design strength). The computer forum provides an
entertaining way to learn about the project and develop a better tower by
viewing past tower designs and testing. The student’s work will be
evaluated on the tower design and performance as well as their field study
analysis, research log and written summary of performance. The web site
also challenges the student to see what knowledge he or she might have before
and after their project by way of a short quiz.
This web site uses all three of Mayer’s strategies to help motivate my
students for this project. First, it creates a interest by way of
using a computer to develop or design their project. The students
would much rather work on a computer than graph paper to design a tower.
Second, it allows the students to view other student (peers)
work and use as a guide for their project. And third, their grade is
not determined solely by how much weight it will support but by their overall
design and write-up about their tower. They are given credit for explaining
how their tower reacted to force which tells me they are understanding and
thus learning how and why things work. The use of the computer forum has
proven to be successful, in that, last year students were receiving C and
B letter grades and poorly explaining the trials and tribulations of their
towers. This year, the tower write-ups have explained problems and
reasons for failure and has lead to A and B letter grades as the norm. I
feel that this web site has moved the students toward and intrinsic motivation
because they are interested in improving on last year’s designs and have
found it to be an interesting and fun challenge for their project.
My students have fallen into what Lepper describes related to intrinsically
motivated students, i.e. one who is intrinsically motivated undertakes an
activity "for its own sake, for the enjoyment it provides, the learning
it permits, or the feelings of accomplishment it evokes,” through this web
page.
References:
Crotty, Julie. (1994). Student Motivation to Learn. ERIC
Digest 92 June 1994, http://edservices.aea7.k12.ia.us/motivation/motivation.html
Hill, Jonathan M. (1999). Enhancing Student Motivation, ISG501:
Worceser Polytechnic Institute Seminar in College Teaching. http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/CEDTA/ISG501/motivation.html
Lepper, Mark R. "Motivational Considerations in the Study of Instruction."
Cognition and Instruction 5, 4 (1988): 289-309.By Linda S. Lumsden
Mayer, Richard E. 2003. Learning and Instruction. Merrill
Prentice Hall.
Schank, R and C. Cleary, (1995). Engines for Education, Institute
of the Learning Sciences, Northwestern University.
Webster, (1980). New World Dictionary of the American Language,
Second College Edition. Simon and Schuster.
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