Month: January 2008

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]a. How would you use mnemonics (memory strategy) to encourage the different learning styles of students? Support your answer with appropriate examples (10 points)

b. How can you use Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) to enhance various multiple intelligences of students in the classroom? (10 points)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Read the following article and answer the questions (20 points):

click on this link to go to the article…

Professor pans ‘learning style’ teaching method

1. What are some of important issues discussed in the article? (5 points)
2. Do you agree with the overall theme of the article? Why do you say so? (5 points)
3. Suggest an alternative viewpoint to tackle the issues discussed in the article. (10 points)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]An understanding about learning styles requires knowledge of brain functioning. The “whole-brain” approach to teaching is an appropriate one because it enhances intra/inter-neural connectivity in the brain, which has a significant positive outcome on learning. Lessons that incorporate a variety of learning modalities in unison are more stimulating and beneficial for students than the ones that focus exclusively on one or two learning modalities.

Although this is an established fact, teachers are still faced with the challenge of covering contents within a specified time frame (we still teach at schools that are bound by traditional views of teaching and learning). Teachers are constantly running out of time to complete the “syllabus” and in the process, find it difficult to employ the “whole-brain” approach that considers students as individuals with different preferences and styles in learning.

Recommend five concrete ways to enable a teacher to use the “whole-brain” approach to teach his/her subject(s), and at the same time, complete the syllabus assigned to him/her. (5×5 = 25 points)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After having utilized a teaching method that is in-line with the “whole-brain” approach (one that is inductive, inquiry-based, discovery-oriented; simultaneously incorporating visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic modalities; encouraging higher order thinking skills) – you are to report the same according to the following format: (has to be sent to my e-mail address as a *.doc attachment)

1. Grade level?
2. Class size?
3. Subject?
4. Lesson?
5. Objective(s) of the lesson?
6. Teaching materials used?
7. What did the teacher do? (from the start until the end)
8. What did the students do? (from the start until the end)
9. Personal critique of the lesson (What was good? What was difficult? What could be done differently? How did you feel? How did the students feel?)

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The learning styles methods class is on the move. The first two days went fairly well, and we have a few more hurdles to cross before completing the requirements for the class.

The course attempts to fulfill one major objective: Equip students (who are teachers, one way or the other) with knowledge and skills that would enable them to become effective “learning-designers” in the classroom. When teachers take the role of an active facilitator of the thinking process, students are empowered to become life-long learners and thinkers.

The foundational theme of the course is that learning takes place best when it encourages thinking (“thinking is the highest form of learning). The brain, which is the organ responsible for the human thinking processes, operates the best when its neurons are stimulated to interconnect with one another (both intra and inter regional neural connectivity) – e.g. connecting emotion with reasoning/problem-solving, connecting motor skills with visual skills, connecting visual with auditory modalities, etc. When the “whole brain” approach to teaching is adopted, assimilated, and practiced, teachers would become “learning-designers” who are aware about How The Brain Learns. Their practice would reflect adherence to the principles of how the brain learns, in natural ways and settings. Bringing these principles into the class and contextualizing them would encourage and engage students in higher order thinking skills.

The following topics were discussed during the first two classes:

1. Traditional teaching and its characteristics

2. Role of psychological eras in determining educational trends at school

3. Introduction to teaching methods that incorporate the principles of How the Brain Learns

4. Rationale for not dealing with each learning style from an “exclusivistic” viewpoint

5. Evidence that learning styles and/or multiples intelligences work in unison, at all time – established through an understanding about how the brain learns – physiological and neurological explanation
6. Dimensions of Learning: Perceptions and Attitudes; Acquiring and Integrating Knowledge; Extending and Refining Knowledge; Using Knowledge Meaningfully; Productive Habits of Mind – DOL encompasses all the necessary interactive components (especially when deliberately applied in lessons) that would be required for “brain-based teaching”

7. Dimension 1

8. Dimension 2: Acquiring Knowledge

1. Concept Maps
2. Ranking
3. The Human Flowchart
4. Concept Formation
5. Concept Attainment
6. KWL

9. Organizing knowledge (Under dimension 2)

• Graphic organizers

Topics for Next Week:

Dimension 2: Storing Knowledge (Memory Techniques)

Dimension 3: Extending and Refining Knowledge

Highly Effective Questioning (HEQ)
Giving Examples
Metaphors
Analogies
etc.

Dimension 4: Using Knowledge Meaningfully (decision-making, debates, problem-solving, investigating, inventing, analyzing)

Dimension 5: Developing Productive Habits of Mind[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]