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.
Moodle
14 years ago
Cortney:
ReplyDeleteI think the project you describe is effective because it is project based which has students working in multiple stages for a sustained period of time. In designing a lesson in this way it is meaningful so they retain the information and they create an artifact which can be shared which promotes episodic memory retention.
Cortney,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the project you mentions meets the criteria for both the constructionism and construcivism theories. When I was viewing this lesson I found myself wondering about the conclusion of this project. After the students tested their hypothesis with the spread sheets the teacher made, how did they evaluate their hypothesis? I know as educators time is always of the essence. However, I was thinking that this would have been a great project to have the students create or construct their own portfolio based on what they learned. This would have been one way the teacher could assess her students and their testing of their hypothesis. I enjoyed reading your blog.
Thanks,
Courtney
Cortney,
ReplyDeleteThis got me thinking of a lesson that I do each year in economics with my 3rd graders. They have to create a budget for their family. It is not as indepth as this lesson, but I can use some of her ideas. Thanks for focusing on this lesson.