What is learning?
During Week 1 I wrote that in order to really learn something, you must synthesize it to what background knowledge you already have. After reading about Ausubel and Meaningful learning theories, my ideas have been justified. Learning is still an active process, but if you want the new information to "stick," it has to stick to something that's already in your brain.
How can learning be best effectuated by the teacher?
Teachers need to use graphic organizers, get students brainstorming and thinking about what they know before they are taught anything new. The other day we were talking about absolute value inequalities in my Algebra 2 class. I used the analogy that "at most" is like your mother saying you can go out and play, but you can't leave the yard. You can go any direction from the door you want, but you have to stay within a certain distance. Similarly, we said the "at least" is like your mom asking you to stay out of the kitchen while she's fixing dinner. She doesn't care where you are, but you need to be a certain distance away, or further. This was sort of a funny situation and as a class, we elaborated on the stories and added details to them from our own thoughts and experiences. But, in the end it helped the students better understand the concept.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like your comment on What is learning this week. It is short and to the point. I am always wondering how I can make things stick longer, and I often forget how simple but powerful it is to synthesize with background knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI like your analogy of "at most" and "at least". This sounds like a very fun way to get students to remember the concept. I am curious as to what "details" they added in? That age has great imaginations!
ReplyDelete