The resources listed in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (2007) had little if any age appropriate applications for my pre-k classroom. Han and Bhattacharya state that “[l]earners don't get ideas; they create ideas” (2007). In my classroom, I focus my students’ learning around sensory-based experiences using student selected themes and hand-on activities. These activities often utilize technology by generating graphic organizers, exploring tutorial programs, visiting virtual field trips and exploring kid friendly web sites. We then use various materials to create murals, art projects, posters, and charts to demonstrate their knowledge. This “…builds on the "Constructivist" theories of Jean Piaget, asserting that knowledge is not simply transmitted from teacher to student, but actively constructed in the mind of the learner” (2007). By having my students create artifacts that they can share with others(Laureate, 2009), I am allowing them opportunity to explore their own perceptions and develop new schemas for understand the content.
References
Han, S., and Bhattacharya, K. (2001). Constructionism, Learning by Design, and Project Based Learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging
learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Posts
7 comments:
When reading the inforamtion on constructionism and constructivism I thought of the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten classroom many times. These rooms are typically all about constructing artificats for the students and creating connections for learning. However, your comment about none of the resources being applicable to your classroom made me realize that it must be difficult to incorporate technology into your classroom. Students need to be able to understand basic concepts of how technology works to do basic games and activities and I can imagine that not all of your students arrive in your room with this knowledge. What a difficult task. Good for you for finding ways to use technology in your already creative classroom.
I question how to effectively use technology base constructionism into my kindergarten class. The methods we learned about this week would not translate into younger students doing it by themselves.
So glad to find another primary teacher in the group... I too found it hard to visualize ways to incorporate many of the concepts in this weeks assignments.. I teach second graders and we are so focused on basic skills there is little time left for investigative type assignments... I often feel like the day is just not long enough to accomplish all that we need to.
Reedblogger,
"These rooms are typically all about constructing artificats for the students and creating connections for learning."
That is exactly what I strive for in my classroom. When considering the implications of technology usage in my classroom, I think of skills I can teach them now that will pave the way later. We do a lot of whole group exploring of web resources and some tutorial programs independently. My goal is that when the time comes for them to digitally branch out independently they will have a schema in place.
Julie
Yolette,
"The methods we learned about this week would not translate into younger students doing it by themselves."
I have to agree with that statement. What I took way from this week's resources is that there are skills sets our students need to know to help them be successful. Skills like making predictions, reasoning and summarizing are critical whether using a computer or paper.
Julie
Mrs. Bowman,
"I teach second graders and we are so focused on basic skills there is little time left for investigative type assignments... I often feel like the day is just not long enough to accomplish all that we need to."
That is an all too familiar scenario. My own son comes home with so many workbook pages it boggles my mind. I wish schools would stop purchasing them and instead us the money to pay for experiments, field trips and technology.
Julie
Julie,
I agree totally when I was reading the resources they didn't seem to apply much to my classroom either. We don't use spreadsheets or data collection. We make lots of graphs. They used to be some cool graphing software called Graph Club. It was very elementary. It would be relevent to our little learners. My lessons are similar to yours being foucused mainly on exploration and introduction. The activities are almost always hands on.
Brandy Rainey
Post a Comment