Kermit & The Keyboard

ITEC 800
November 29, 2007

Midterm:
Questions (multiple choice) are based on bloggers’ weekly questions.
The class will take the midterm next week, Dec 6.

Final:
Final presentation for next week, Dec 6: Judy, David, Ricardo
Last class will be on Dec 13: Remaining presentations

Need to post your topic on iLearn.
Share learning plan with class.
You will list rational of why you are presenting content in the decided format.
You can give examples of theory.
You can work with partner, but need to confirm with Kim.

Review Chapter 7:

Jerome Bruner
From Russia – focus on individual
Cognitive development
Spiral curriculum: progressive learning that asks that content becomes more complex and difficult as you progress through.

“Kermit and the Keyboard” (page 261)
We were given 5 minutes to read in class.

Lev S. Vygotsky
Also Russian who died of TB at age 38.
Main ideas:
Child’s cognitive development does not occur in a social vacuum.
Ability to think and reason is the result of social process.

Child’s development appears twice:
Social
Psychological

Question posed: How do you tap into the abilities of “GATE” kids who are asked to help/tutor lower level kids?
Response: Homogenous and heterogeneous groups.
Issue with kids being held back by kids who aren’t able to keep up. This is a component on why parents are concerned with putting them in public schools.
Ultimately, it is less of an instructional issue, and an emphasis on home support – teaching parents on the importance of attendance.
A solution is to encourage child to find something to get excited about to motivate mother to take child to school.


Scaffolding and the zone of proximal development
Scaffolding – role played by parents, teachers, and others by which children aquire their knowledge and skills (Wood et al., 1976)

The more familiar the child becomes, the less support (scaffolding) they will need – they will be able to do it for themselves.

Two senses of internalized cognitive skills remain social:
Matures learns can scaffold themselves through difficult tasks
Cognitive expertise is culturally determined (cognitive potential is universal).

Zone Proximal Development (ZPD) – coined by Vygotsky refers to the “level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers … what children can do with the assistance of others might be in some sense even more indicative of their mental development than what they can do alone.” (1978)

Back to “Kermit” story:
What level is Kermit at?

Three Modes of Representation:
Enactive – references a “mode of representing past events through appropriate motor responses.”
Iconic – perceiver can “summarize events by selective organization of percepts and of images.”
Symbolic – “as symbol system which represents things by design features that include remoteness and arbitrariness.”

Video learning styles:
Imaginative learners
Analytic learners
Common sense learners
Dynamic learners

BREAK

Kolb’s Learning Styles:
Abstract Conceptualization > (Perceive) > Concrete Experience
People perceive information differently.
Acting v. Watching






Concrete Experience


Act

Watch

Imaginative

Dynamic


Common sense


Analytic


Abstract Conceptualization




Imaginative (AKA Diverges)
Perceive information concretely and process it reflectively.
Seek the relevancy or "why" of a situation.
Seek meaning.
Need to be involved personally.
Learn by listening and sharing ideas.
Interested in people and culture.
Believe in their own experience.
Function through social interaction.

Analytical (AKA Assimlator)
Perceive information abstractly and process it reflectively.
What is there to know?
Seek facts.
Need to know what the experts think.
Learn by thinking through ideas.
Less interested in people than ideas and concepts.
Enjoy traditional classrooms.
Function by adapting to experts

Convergers (AKA Common Sensors)
Perceive information abstractly and process it actively.
How does it work?
Seek usability.
Need to know how things work.
Learn by testing theories in ways that seem sensible.
Enjoy solving problems and resent being given answers.
Function through inferences drawn from sensory experience.

Dynamic (Accommodators)
Perceive information concretely and process it actively. Anything that encourages independent, self discovery
Seek hidden possibilities.
Need to know what can be done with things.
Learn by trial and error.
Likes variety and flexibility.
Risk takers.
Function by acting and testing experience.


Classroom Activity: Ranking the type of learner you are:
Accommodator
Diverger
Converger
Assimilator

Received “Multiple Intelligence” hand out.

Read Chapter 8: Motivational Learning

Topic of midterm:
Gagne’s Learning Theory
Three learning theory
Gagne’s Nine