Constructivism in Practice

Our book, "Using technology with classroom instruction that Works" discussed different ways to generate and test hypotheses. One teacher, Mrs. Omar, focused on her students learning "that compounding interest and saving money can lead to strong earnings over time" (2007, McRel). She gave each group 3 plans for what they would do with a $10,000 inheritance. Throughout her lesson she had the students working in groups and testing each scenario by entering in numbers, and seeing which plan would work best, and how each investment would end up. The students were first asked to think of a hypothesis before they tested each plan, and then discovered the results over a 30 year period.

I believe this lesson demonstrates a combination of both a constructivist theory and a constructionist theory. The reason I think it demonstrates some of a constructivist theory is that the students are constructing their own beliefs and meanings from this assignment. In addition, their teacher created the spreadsheet, and then just had the students enter in their data. However, I think it is also partially a constructionist theory, because the students created a hypothesis, and then built their knowledge from trial and error. They discovered what would work best for their investment, and learned from applying educational technology. I think the students were engaged during the whole assignment, and this experience was more beneficial than reading about compound interest and saving money. The teacher did state that she created the spreadsheet for the students because they were in 5th grade, and her focus was not on creating a spreadsheet.

Dr. Orey in "Cognitive Learning Theories" explains how the brain connects to previous taught information, and the power of using multiple sensory components when teaching. Students learn best when they can see, smell, taste, hear, and touch what it is they are trying to learn. When those senses are used in learning, it helps the students store the information into a memory that has many different paths to get the students back to that memory when they need to recall that information. In our book, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, there are many different instructional strategies that correlate with the information from Dr. Orey's speech, such as, word processing programs as a table-making chart. Students can fill in the table with pictures, key words, and web resources to help them remember the information in multiple ways. This strategy can also be used when taking notes. For example, a student could draw a picture, and then connect key words that link the two pieces of information together.

Overall, I feel our book correlated with our DVD well, and offered great ideas to help the students remember the content in many different ways. I enjoyed reading about all of the different examples that implement the use of technology with learning and remembering information.

Behaviorism in Practice

The first instructional strategy mentioned in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works is "Reinforcing Effort." This strategy correlates with the principals of behaviorist learning theory because it uses collected data to motivate students to work harder. The behaviorist theory focuses on rewards and punishments and different forms of motivation to help the students want to succeed and learn. In the book, they mention creating a spreadsheet based on effort so that the students can visually see their effort and understand how to improve their performance. In my gymnasium, I use educational technology through the use of pedometers to help motivate my students to be more active and teach them that each step is important for their health and activity time. For my older students, I have them set goals and reward them for achieving a certain number of steps, which demonstrates how I implement the behaviorist theory into Physical Education.

The second instructional strategy mentioned is "Homework and Practice." This strategy correlates with the principals of behaviorist learning theory because it allows students the opportunity to find success and reward from consistent practice and exposure to the material. The book mentions numerous educational technology techniques that can be incorporated to this strategy. For example, word processing, spreadsheets, and web resources that offer tutorials to help the students review the material they learned at school. If they students are getting rewarded by succeeding in their homework assignments, it is likely that they will want to continue this experience with enjoyment. I rarely give homework to my students, but do play games with the students that focus on practicing the movements and activities so that they can find success with each skill. I am constantly reinforcing the cues in class to help the students find success and praising them when they succeed. Practice is an important component in Physical Education that I use daily.