PLT Key Terms
Accommodation
Piaget's
term that refers to a change in cognitive structures that produces
corresponding behavioral changes.
Cognitive Constructivism
Advance
organizers
David
Ausubel's term to describe a type of teaching that explains what is to come. It
could be an outline, a list, an introductory paragraph, etc.
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.10.html
Authentic
assessment
A
means of securing information about a student's success or failure on
meaningful and significant tasks. There is a performance component where the
student actually shows what he/she can do, unlike a paper-and-pencil objective
type of test.
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~jflake/assess.html
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.15.html
Behavior
modification
A
deliberate attempt to control student behavior by using positive and negative
reinforcement.
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.5.html
***Bloom's
Taxonomy***
A
taxonomy is a classification system. Bloom's Taxonomy features six major
classes of cognition: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation. Knowledge is the lowest level of thinking;
evaluation is the highest.
Major Categories in the Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives
http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/guides/bloom.html
***Classroom
Management***
Fifteen
ways to bring your class to order
http://www.sciteched.org/plt/classroom_managment.html
Concept
Mapping
Learning Skills Program - Concept Mapping
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/map_ho.html
Concept Mapping Homepage
http://users.edte.utwente.nl/lanzing/cm_home.htm
***Cooperative
learning***
Peer-centered
learning experiences; students of different abilities work together in small
groups to solve a problem. Everyone in the group must participate.
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.10.html
Desists (see
also classroom managment)
A
teacher's actions to stop misbehavior.
The
Facilitative Teacher
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/10.2.html
Classroom
management
http://www.sciteched.org/plt/classroom_manage2.html
Discovery
learning
Bruner's
term for learning that involves the rearrangement and transformation of
material that leads to insight.
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/7.4.html
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.7.html
***Inquiry
teaching***
Bruner's
belief that teaching should permit students to be active partners in the search
for knowledge, thus enhancing the meaning of what they learn.
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.7.htmln
Lesson Plan
An
outline designed to present objectives and content to be taught in a logical,
systematic manner. Objective, Teacher Input, Guided Practice, Independent Practice, and
Closure.
Multiple
intelligences
Gardner's
eight relatively autonomous intelligences. They are: bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic,
logical-mathematical, musical, natural and spatial.
Multiple Intelligences
***Rubrics***
***Seat
Arrangements***
Seating Arrangements
Scaffolding
Scaffolding
is an instructional technique whereby the teacher models the
desired
learning strategy or task, then gradually shifts responsibility to the
students.
Temporary
aid provided by one person to encourage, support and assist a lesser skilled
person in carrying out a task. These skills are gradually transferred to the
learner.
Semantic
Mapping
Simliar
to concept mapping but more like a web
Formative and
Summative Assessment
Formative
assessment is used to give students an indication of how they are progressing
in terms of their skills, knowledge, attitudes and understanding in a subject.
Students can use this type of assessment as a diagnostic tool to identify and
improve areas of weakness and as a means of practicing a skill. Summative
assessment is the attempt to summarize student learning at some point in time.
Think/Pair/Share
Think/Pair/Share
is a strategy designed to provide students with "food for thought" on
a given topic enabling them to formulate individual ideas and share these ideas
with another student.
Cognitive Theories of Learning
Cognitive
theories of learning had their roots in gestalt psychology. During the period
of time that behavioral theories were being developed, a competing and
alternative group of theories was developed by gestalt psychologists. Unlike
the behaviorism, Gestalt theory emphasized the importance of mental processes.
In Gestalt psychology, the learner reacts to meaningful wholes. According to
Gestalt psychologists learning can take place by discovery or insight. The idea
of insight learning was first developed by Wolfgang Kohler in which he
described experiments with apes in which the apes could use boxes and sticks as
tools to solve problems. In the box problem, a banana is attached to the top a
chimpanzee's cage. The banana is out of reach but can be reached by climbing
upon and jumping from a box. Only one of Kohler's apes (Sultan) could solve
this problem. A much more difficult problem which involved the stacking of
boxes was introduced by Kohler. This problem required the ape to stack one box
on another, and master gravitational problems by building a stable stack. Kohler
also gave the apes sticks which they use to rake food into the cage. Sultan,
Kohler's very intelligent ape was able to master a two stick problem by
inserting one stick into the end of the other in order to reach the food. In
each of these problems, the important aspect of learning was not reinforcement,
but the coordination of thinking to create new organizations (of materials).
Kohler referred to this behavior as insight or discovery learning.
Cognitive
thinking and research got a boost from the launching of Sputnik (pun intended).
As mentioned earlier this sparked a massively funded curriculum reform effort
in the United States in science and mathematics. The emphasis of the reform was
to produce students who could think like scientists through discovery and
inquiry learning and active student involvement. This emphasis brought together
scientists, teachers and psychologists. One of the most influential
psychologists during this period in science education was Jerome Bruner,
Director of the Harvard Center for Cognitive Studies.
Behavioral
Theories of Learning
What
do you think the following have in common?
• A teacher says to a student, "I'm
proud of you. Your science fair project was outstanding."
• A teacher asks a question. A student
answers. The teacher says, "Good answer."
• A biology teacher gives extra credit for
students who bring a newspaper clipping on bioethical issues.
All
of these are applications of behavioral theories of learning. Behavioral
theories emphasize overt or observable behaviors in order to influence and
determine if learning has occurred. First, we will examine some of these
behavioral theories, and then identify some principles of behaviorism that can
be applied to the classroom.
Conditioning
Conditioning, also
referred to as classical conditioning was one of the first theories of
behaviorism. You are probably familiar with the famous experiments by the
Russian scientist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849 - 1936). He found out that a
dog's behavior could be conditioned. Here is what he did. A dog, when presented
with a piece of meat salivates. Pavlov called the meat an unconditioned
stimulus resulting in an unconditioned response (salivation). To condition the
response behavior, Pavlov rang a small bell the same time the meat was
presented. After several practice sessions in which the bell and meat were
presented simultaneously, the dog eventually learns to salivate when the bell
is rung without the meat. In this case the bell is the conditioned stimulus.
According
to Hilgard and Bower, Pavlov's contribution rested as much on his methodology
as the results of his research. His theorizing and the care with which he
explored numerous relationships provided a foundation for further behaviorists.
Connectionism
According
to Edward L. Thorndike (1874 - 1949), the basis of learning is the association
between sense impressions and impulses to action. Such an association became
known as a "connection." Thorndike's theory of stimulus-response
became the original S__R psychology of learning. Thorndike theorized that the
most characteristic form of learning was trial-and-error, or learning by
selecting and connecting.
Thorndike
developed many of his ideas on learning by studying the behavior of animals
(cats, dogs, fish, and monkeys) in what he called a "problem-box."
The animal was placed in the problem-box confronted with a situation in which
it has to escape from the box or attain food. In the case of the hungry animal
trying to escape, it was learning to associate the stimulus(release mechanism)
with the response (escape or food). Thorndike developed the "law of
effect" which refers to the strengthening or weakening of a connection as
a result of it consequences. Thorndike found that rewards strengthened
connections, but punishments did not weaken them.
Operant
Conditioning
Of
all the theories of behavioral learning, operant conditioning probably has had
the greatest impact on the science teacher. B. F. Skinner (1904 - 1990)
proposed a class of behavior that is controlled by stimulus events that
immediately follow an action. Skinner labeled these operant behaviors because
they operated on the environment to receive reinforcement. According to
Skinner, once an operant behavior occurs, its future rate of occurrence depends
upon its consequences. According to Skinner and other modern behaviorists,
operant behavior is to be distinguished from responding behavior. Responding
behavior involves the reactions of the smooth muscles and glands and includes
reflexive reactions such as salivating, secreting digestive juices, shivering,
increased heart or respiratory rates, and so forth. Operant behavior, on the
other hand, involves the striated muscular system (muscles under voluntary
control), and results in behaviors such as talking, walking, eating and problem
solving. Responding behavior is controlled by preceding stimuli.
Operant
behavior, on the other hand, is controlled by stimulus events that immediately
follow the operant .
Operant
Conditioning
Skinner
designed a special apparatus (others called it the Skinner box) for use with
white rats, and later with pigeons. It consisted of a darkened sound-resistant
box into which the rat (or pigeon) is placed. The box contains a small brass
lever which, if pressed, delivers a pellet of food. Skinner connected the lever
with a recording system which produced a graphical tracing of the rat's
behavior. The pigeon box was slightly different; the pigeon "pecked" for
its food at spot and received grain.
Skinner's
work resulted in the development of a number of principles of behavior that
have direct bearing on science teaching. Two concepts stand out that have
implications for the science teacher, namely, consequences and reinforcement.
In the sections that follow, we will explore these two concepts, and then
return to them again in Chapter 10 on classroom management.
Consequences. Skinner found
that pleasurable consequences "strengthen" behavior, while unpleasant
consequences "weaken it." Pleasurable consequences are referred to as
reinforcers, while unpleasant consequences are called punishers. The teacher
who says, "Alex, you did such a great job on your laboratory assignment
that you can spend the remaining ten minutes working with one of the computer
games" is making use of reinforcer to strengthen classroom work. Let's
examine reinforcers a little more carefully.
Reinforcers. Behavioral
psychologists differentiate between two types of reinforcers, primary and
secondary. A primary reinforcer satisfies human needs for food, water,
security, warmth and sex. Secondary reinforcers are those that acquire their
value by being related to primary reinforcers, or other secondary reinforcers.
Secondary reinforcers are the ones that are of greatest value to the science
teacher. These reinforcers, which are also called conditioned reinforcers, can
be divided into three categories, social, token and activity.
1. Social
reinforcers.
Social
reinforcers are used very effectively by teachers to strengthen desired
classroom behavior and learning. Social reinforcers, especially praise, can be
a powerful tool for the science teacher. Although Brophy reports that praise is
not used very frequently, he did report that most students enjoy receiving some
praise, and teachers enjoy giving it. To be effective, praise should be given
only when a genuinely praiseworthy accomplishment has occurred. The teacher's
praise should be informative, specifying some particulars about the noteworthy
behavior or performance to help the student understand his or her successes.
And finally praise should be genuine, sincere and credible.
Social
behaviors can be divided into four clusters: praising words and phrases, facial
expressions, nearness, and physical contact.
The use of these behaviors is common in many science classrooms.
Praising words
and phrases
* Good
* That's right
* Excellent
* That's clever
* Fine answer
* Good job
* Good thinking
* Great
* That shows a great deal of work
* You really pay attention
* I like that.
* Show the class you model.
* That's interesting
* Joan, you're doing so well with the
microscope.
* That was very kind of you.
Facial
Expressions
* Smiling
* Winking
* Nodding
* Looking interested
* Laughing
Nearness
* Walking among the students.
* Sitting in their groups.
* Joining the class at break.
* Eating with the students.
Physical
Contact
* Touching
* Patting head.
* Shaking hand.
* Stroking arm.
2. Token
reinforcers.
Token
reinforcers are things such as points, gold stars or chips that can be earned
and have a reinforcing effect by pairing them with other reinforcers. Teachers
have found the use of tokens very effective in managing student learning and
classroom behavior. The use of a point system is especially effective in
helping students learn how to manage their behavior, as well contributing their
success as science learners. Many teachers set up their grading system using a
point system, e.g. points can be earned for homework, laboratory assignments,
projects, quizzes, and tests.
3. Activity
reinforcers.
Activity
reinforcers also referred to as the Premack Principle, are a third group of
reinforcers that teachers have found effective in the classroom. According to
psychologist David Premack, more-preferred activities can be used to reinforce
less-preferred activities. According to the Premack principle, any
higher-frequency behavior that is contingent on a lower-frequency behavior is
likely to increase the rate of lower-frequency behavior. Thus the teacher would
set up a situation in which students, when they complete the less-preferred
activity are permitted to participate in a more-preferred activity. In the science
classroom, some examples of the Premack principle would be, "You may work
in the computer game center when you finish cleaning the laboratory,"
"Those who score over 90 on today's quiz will not have to do homework
tonight," or "If all students are in their seats when the bell rings,
then the class may have three minutes of free time at the end of today's
class." These examples will not necessarily work in each situation. The
science teacher must determine the preferred activities, and then use them to
strengthen the less-preferred activities.
Theory into
Practice
Behavioral
theories of learning can be put into practice to the advantage of teachers and
students alike. The underlying principle of behaviorism is "reinforce
behaviors you wish to see repeated." According to Robert Slavin the main
principles of the use of reinforcement is to increase desired behavior changes
in the classroom are as follows:
1. The teacher should determine the
behaviors desired from the students, and reinforce them when they occur.
2. Explain to students the behavior that
is desired, and when they show the desired behavior, reinforce the students'
behavior and explain why.
Teachers
deal with a complex classroom environment, often involving the handling of
dangerous materials, or doing experiments involving safety issues. Specifying
the behaviors that you expect in the laboratory, or whenever students are
handling materials, and reinforcing them when they occur will help the students
become independent and responsible learners.
Skinner's
concept of operant conditioning can be applied to the science classroom in many
ways, but three seem clearly the most important, namely in (1) the use of
classroom questions and associated techniques, (2) developing a positive classroom
climate and (3) in the development of programmed teaching materials.
Use of
Classroom Questions. One of the most common teaching behaviors that you will
employ is that of asking students questions. Questions can be directed at the
whole class, small groups of students, or individuals. The technique involves
this sequence:
•
Teacher asks a question
•
Teacher pauses for at least 3 seconds (to give students a chance to think of an
answer)
•
Teacher calls on a student
•
Student responds
•
Teacher responds to student (choices include praising the student, using the
student idea).
Classroom
Climate.
Skinner's work can be applied to creating a positive classroom climate by
having the teacher respond to student success rather than failures. For example,
rather than pointing out what students are doing wrong, point out what they are
doing right. When a student answers a teachers question with a partially
correct response, the teacher should pick up on the correct aspect of the
answer to reinforce the student's contribution.
Creating a
Positive Classroom Environment by Means of Operant Conditioning
Step
1: Analyze the environment
Step
2: Make a list of positive reinforcers
Step
3: Select sequence of behaviors to be implemented
Step
4: Implement program, maintain records of behavior and make changes
Identify
positive and undesirable student behaviors receiving reinforcement. What
behaviors receive the punishment. What is the frequency of punishment. Have
these behaviors been suppressed.
Determine
students' preferred activities (students can contribute to this). Consider
using punished behaviors as reinforcers. If talking with peers is a disruptive
behavior consider using it (time to talk with peers) as a reinforcer.
Implement
a positive reinforcement program. Instead of punishment for tardiness, reward
students for being on time.
Make
sure classroom rules are clear. Make
sure students know how to earn reinforcement. Implement reinforcement schedule.
Programmed
Teaching Materials and Computer Assisted Instruction
Skinner
designed teaching machines which controlled the students progress through a
body of material. The teaching machine, usually by means of questions or
fill-in-the-blank statements, provided reinforcement for right answer (by
confirming them, allowing the student to move ahead). The teaching machine was
a vehicle for programming instruction, as well as providing an environment in
which students could work at their own rate. Textbook and workbooks were
written to teach information about a variety of subjects, especially in
science. The textbooks were equipped with a card that could be inserted in a
page holder. As student s worked through each statement or question, they would
slide the card so that the correct answer would appear. Early machines and
textbooks were limited in the types of reinforcements they could provide.
However, with the development of the microcomputer, not only can a variety of
reinforcements be provided (a pleasant sound, a voice), but the software can be
programmed to provide a variety of feedback for various responses. Drill and
practice, tutorial and some game software programs are based on the Skinnerian
concept of programmed instruction.
Teachers
can make use of Skinner's concept of programmed instruction by providing
students the opportunity to work in the microcomputer environment. Drill and
practice and tutorial programs are available in most content areas. Although
not the most avant garde use of the computer, they can be help students learn
science information efficiently, and with little teacher effort.
Behaviorism has contributed greatly to teaching, but like any theory of learning, it has its limitation and rivals. In the past 20 years , there has been an increase in the variety of learning theories to explain student learning. Teachers have available to them the theories proposed by a group of psychologists known as cognitive scientists. These psychologist shift their attention away from observable behaviors and instead focus on skills associated with memory, perception, conceptual processes, as well as processes related to problem solving, concept discovery and the use of rules.
Social Theories of Learning
Most
teaching takes place in groups, and it is therefore imperative that science
teachers closely examine the results of research on small group, mixed-ability
team learning. At one time or another, students in your classes will be
involved with each other doing science laboratory activities, pairing off to
answer questions or solve a problem, working in a small team to prepare a
report or make a class presentation. Students interact with each other, and it
is important to know how this interaction contributes to student learning. It
is also important for the teacher to know how to apply social learning theory
to improve student learning, and instruction. Enter cooperative learning.
Over
the past several years, a major educational innovation has emerged that is
effecting classroom learning. Teachers are implementing programs in which
students are organized into small groups to accomplish a task, solve a problem,
complete an assignment, study for a test, engaged in a hands-on activity.
Cooperative
learning
is based on the relationships among motivation, interpersonal relationships and
the accomplishment of specific goals. According to social psychology theorists,
a state of tension within the individual motivates movement toward the
attainment of desired goals. Thus, from this notion, it is the individuals
drive to accomplish a desired goal that motivates behavior, whether it be
individualistic, competitive or cooperative.
Cooperative
learning theory posits that behavior among individuals in a group is
synergic, that is the goals of the individuals in a group are linked together
in such a way that cooperative goal attainment is correlated positively, or is
greater than the separate or individual performance of the group members. This
theoretical principle runs through a wide range of cooperative learning models
which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 6, but are alluded to briefly
below.
How
does cooperative learning facilitate student learning? There are many points of
view on this question. The behaviorist explanation goes like this. Students
working in one group compete with other groups that the teacher has
established. Students within a group work together to accomplish a task
(complete a laboratory report, study together to prepare for a test, complete a
science worksheet). Students are placed in a situation where their success is
dependent on the behavior and performance of other students in their group.
Success does not necessarily imply a grade, but simply doing well on a
competitive task where one teams performance is rated against other teams'
performances. Accordingly, team rewards and individual accountability are
essential to achievement. In one of the most widely used models of cooperative
learning (Student Teams--Achievement Divisions) student teams study together
after being presented information by the teacher. After studying together,
students take a test. Test scores are used, along with a system of improvement
scores, to chart team recognition.
On
the other hand, a cognitive perspective argues that the intrinsically
interesting nature of learning tasks combined with the range of abilities and
knowledge that students bring to the classroom promotes an environment of
learning. Learning tasks that require multiple abilities to accomplish appear
to be effective in reducing the domination of group learning by high-ability
students. Instead of relying heavily on reading ability, science teachers
should design group learning tasks that require reasoning, hypothesizing,
predicting, and inductive thinking, the use of manipulative materials, and
multimedia sources. According to social psychologists, such tasks
"encourage students to modify their perceptions of their own and one
another's competence."
A
number of social factors affect the success of cooperative learning. As David
and Roger Johnson point out, cooperative learning is not having student sit
together as they do individual assignments, not having high ability students
help slower students, and is not assigning a project wherein one person does
all the work. They do, however, point out that cooperative learning is based on
the following concepts.
Principles of
Cooperative Learning
Johnson
and Johnson (1992) has investigating learning in cooperative teams, and have
developed a model that is based on several principles, the most important of
which are positive interdependence, face-to-face communication, individual
accountability and social skill development.
Positive
interdependence. Students need to value the performance of each member of the
group, as well as their own. A sense of mutual dependence is established by
agreeing on a goal, dividing up the workload or materials, resources or
information, differentiating roles, and providing joint rewards. Each of these
creates contributes to creating an environment of positive interdependence.
Face-to-Face
Communication. Students need to be put in situations where they interact with
each other face-to-face. Learning in small groups is dependent on students
talking with each other. Interaction in the science classroom will not only
involve verbal exchanges, but, if you embrace the multi-ability concept
mentioned earlier, students will interact with each other nonverbally as well.
For example, building models of atoms, or glacial features, making a video tape
of a natural phenomena, testing the ph of a collection of rain samples are
activities that provide the opportunity for both verbal and nonverbal
interaction.
Individual
Accountability. There is always the fear that groupwork results in one or two
students doing all the work, while the rest get a free ride. The structure of
cooperative learning is dependent also on each student's mastery of the
material being learned, and responsibility for sharing in the attainment of the
groups' goal. Individual testing, grading and feedback are part of the
cooperative learning approach.
Interpersonal
Skills. Just as students need to learn the skills of doing science, you will
discover that students, if placed in cooperative learning groups, will need to
learn some communication skills. Just as science teachers devise lessons
designed to help students learn science skills such as observing, classify,
predicting and hypothesizing (see Chapter 3), they also design lessons to
prepare students for cooperative work. Cooperative groupwork requires a set of
communication skills that are not required in traditional , or individualized
learning environments.
One
effective technique is to design a science activity, but use it to focus on one
or more of the following discussion or cooperative group skills:
1. Asking for others' opinions
2. Listening
3. Reflecting on what has been said
4. Being concise
5. Giving reasons for ideas
6. Allowing everyone to contribute
7. Pulling ideas together
8. Finding out if group is ready to make
decision
Jerome Bruner
and Discovery Learning
Because
of Jerome Bruner's connection with the National Science Foundation curriculum
development project's of the 1960s and 1970s, his thinking had a powerful
effect on approaches to science learning. Bruner believed that students learn
best by discovery and that the learner is a problem solver who interacts with
the environment testing hypotheses and developing generalizations. Bruner felt
that the goal of education should be intellectual development, and that the
science curriculum should foster the development of problem-solving skills
through inquiry and discovery.
Bruner
said that knowing is a process rather than the accumulated wisdom of science as
presented in textbooks. To learn science concepts and to solve problems,
students should be presented with perplexing (discrepant) situations. Guided by
intrinsic motivation the learner in this situation will want to figure the
solution out. This simple notion provides the framework for creating discovery
learning activities.
Bruner
described his theory as one of instruction rather than learning. His theory has
four components as follows (Based on J.S. Bruner, Toward a Theory of
Instruction (cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1967):
Curiosity and
Uncertainty.
Bruner felt that experiences should be designed that will help the student be
willing and able to learn. He called this the predisposition toward learning.
Bruner believed that the desire to learn and to undertake problem solving could
be activated by devising problem activities in which students would explore
alternative solutions. The major condition for the exploration of alternatives
was "the presence of some optimal level of uncertainty."This related
directly to the student's curiosity to resolve uncertainty and ambiguity.
According to this idea, the teacher would design discrepant event activities
that would pique the students' curiosity. For example, the teacher might fill a
glass with water and ask the students how many pennies they think can be put in
the jar without any water spilling. Since most students think that only a few
pennies can be put in the glass, their curiosity is aroused when the teacher is
able to put between 25 - 50 pennies in before any water spills. This activity then
leads to an exploration of displacement, surface tension, variables such as the
size of the jar, how full the glass is, and so forth. In this activity the
students would be encouraged to explore various alternatives to the the
solution of the problem by conducting their own experiments with jars of water
and pennies.
Structure of
Knowledge.
The second component of Bruner's theory refers to the structure of knowledge.
Bruner expressed it by saying that the curriculum specialist and teacher
"must specify the ways in which a body of knowledge should be structured
so that it can be most readily grasped by the learner." This idea became
one of the important notions ascribed to Bruner. He explained it this way:
"Any idea or problem or body of knowledge can be presented in a form
simple enough so that any particular learner can understand it in a
recognizable form."
According
to Bruner, any domain of knowledge (physics, chemistry, biology, earth science)
or problem or concept within that domain (law of gravitation, atomic structure,
homeostasis, earthquake waves) can be represented in three ways or modes: by a
set of actions (enactive representation), by a set of images or graphics that
stand for the concept (iconic representation); and by a set of symbolic or logical
statements (symbolic representation). The distinction among these three modes
of representation can be made concretely in terms of a balance bean, which
could be used to teach students about quadratic equations. A younger student
can act on the principles of a balance bean, and can demonstrate this knowledge
by moving back and forth on a see-saw. An older student can make or draw a
model of the balance beam, hanging rings and showing how it is balanced.
Finally, the balance beam can be described verbally (orally or written), or
described mathematically by reference to the Law of Moments. The actions,
images and symbols would vary from one concept or problem to another, but
according to Bruner, knowledge can be represented in these three forms.
Sequencing. The third
principle was the most effective sequences of instruction should be specified.
According to Bruner, instruction should lead the learner through the content in
order to increase the student's ability to "grasp, transform and
transfer" what is learned. In general sequencing should move from enactive
(hands-on, concrete), to iconic (visual), to symbolic (descriptions in words or
mathematical symbols). However, this sequence will be dependent on the
student's symbolic system and learning style. As we will see later, this
principle of sequencing is common to theories developed by Piaget, as well as
other cognitive psychologists.
Motivation. The last
aspect of Bruner's theory is that the nature and pacing of rewards and
punishments should be specified. Bruner suggests that movement from extrinsic
rewards, such as teacher's praise, toward intrinsic rewards inherent in solving
problems or understanding the concepts is desirable. To Bruner, learning
depends upon knowledge of results when it can be used for correction. Feedback
to the learner is critical to the development of knowledge. The teacher can
provide a vital link to the learner in providing feedback at first, as well
helping the learner develop techniques for obtaining feedback on his or her own.
Metacognitive
Strategies
Have
you ever thought about your strengths (and weaknesses, too) as a learner? Do
you know how you learn? Do you have strategies that you use to learn? These
strategies are ways to help students learn about learning and learn about
knowledge. These are called metacognitive strategies, and they are playing an
increasingly important role in science teaching.
There
are several definitions of metacognition. One view is it is our ability to know
what we know and what we don't know. We might also think of metacognition as
the ability to plan a strategy: