Week 3: What Makes a Classroom

Week 3: The visual Approach: http://youtu.be/7odhYT8yzUM

• Could it really be as simple as applying this visual approach?

I thought the concept provided by this TED talk was pretty unique. I have never thought of learning without word. Ever since I was a little kid I have learned through either reading textbooks or listening to a teacher. Looking at pictures and watching animations has been in the background of learning for me, but this man brought it into the limelight! Personally, I still prefer learning by reading, but I can see why this form of learning could be so helpful to different students. He provided some key data that showed the amount of language barriers that exist between the educators and students. By simply removing those barriers, the educational system was able to see dramatic results in math proficiency tests. Although I don't think this system should completely replace words, I believe it is a great addition and is a tool that teacher should be taking advantage of inside and outside of the classroom. 

How People Learn video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C-1qMsSeV8

Synopsis of the video: 

Ways to model the science classroom: 

1. Control the variables often seen in the classroom
2. theory development: is it plausible
3. What do scientists do?

Scientists construct models: How do we make this interesting to students?

• What are models connections to nature? For instance, what is a compost column and how is it similar to nature? (Are styrofoam cups a part of "nature"? What about compost and dung? 
• Expanding upon natural happenstances: like fruit flies that run rampant throughout the school

What kinds of mathematics would elementary students investigate?

• Types of designs on a quilts: helps give a basis for shapes and patterns
• Creating a 3D structure: What makes something 3D? What similarities are there between 3D objects?
• A game of tag was changed into a game of ethics and physics: What rules would be fair in the game? How should these rules be created? 
• Can you determine the age/grade of a student from their self-portrait? 
• Students created a modeling system that identified certain features to differentiate a 1st from a 3rd from a 5th grade self-portrait. 
• They also realized that there were some anomalies that were outside the normal results, known as outliers.  

New programs used: 

• Teachers performed in classes that challenged their mathematical knowledge in a similar way that would challenge their students mathematical knowledge. 

Students learning about change: 

• life and development 
• Students decided to classify plants by the times and rates at which plants grew at what speed and at what time.  

There was much more to this video, but I decided to stop it there as I am more interested in showing what I have learned through reading these chapters and listening to the video summary. 

Review and reflection: 

Chapter 7(Excellent teachers and their methods):

Overall, I think that most of the methods and examples taught in these chapters were very effective! The stories of excelling teachers, how teachers continue to learn, and how technology has been and can be used in the classroom are all very intricate. 

However, one thing stood out to me about the "excelling teachers" when they talked about history. The authors belittled a teacher who only gave small comments while they praised a teacher who gave long and VERY VERY thorough comments on a paper, which almost hit 300 words. To be honest, if I was a history teacher I wouldn't have to time to write that much review on every single paper. When I was in high school and was writing lots of papers, my teachers would give brief comments and corrected aspects of my paper that didn't work well or praised sections that flowed marvelously! I realize that there are certain students that need more work than others when it comes to written performances, and perhaps history and english teachers could work on those students a little bit more, but from my point of view sometimes less IS more. 

As far as the math and science "excellent teachers and their methods" I couldn't agree more with the authors. Some of these teachers had amazing ideas on how to help their students understand very difficult subjects such as negative numbers and writing scientific procedures. I hope that if I ever end up teaching science or mathematics I will be able to get through to my kids just as these teachers have done. I also like how the model of the elbow was in here, I hadn't read over that section until the end of the week, after our designs were submitted. That was a very nice review, although I wish I had read over it before I started working on my "elbow"! 

Chapter 8 (Teacher learning and different styles of teaching):

My thoughts on chapter eight can be seen below in the chart. I believe that all these different methods of teaching have a time and place, and teachers should be able to use them at the appropriate times. These decisions can be made easier by working with other teachers-- a method of elevating their own learning--and determining what they can do to use the appropriate method and the appropriate time. 

Chapter 9/TED talk (Technology):

Although I have a deeply profound hatred for technology (Outside of video games and watching the Packers play of course), I can see how it can be used as a unique tool in and outside of the classroom. Normally if something can be done without the use of technology--Reading a paper book instead of a tablet, playing football outside instead of on a gaming system, walking the dog instead of playing with a geopet--I prefer the latter. However, after reading this chapter and some uses for technology, my mind has started to be cracked open. One thing that I will not conform to, however, is the use of technology as a crutch in the realm of mathematics. We viewed a TED talk about the Wolfram Alpha program, and while I love the site and all of the tools is has to offer, I absolutely despise it as well. Being an engineering major I love to be able to double check my calculus work, step by step, using some of the tools provided by Wolfram. However, if I chose a lazy path, plugging all of my homework problems into the wolfram site without thinking, I would learn hardly nothing! This defeats the whole purpose of math in my opinion as for me personally, math homework has always been like a giant game or puzzle. When I get the correct answer without outside help I feel super accomplished, and I wouldn't want my students to be deprived of that feeling. 

That's my little rant for our reading this week. Hope you enjoyed it! 

Below you will find a chart of what I have learned about models and how they are used in different types of learning. 

crossed out words = Old material (Look at week 2)

	Conceptual Change	Situated Learning	Social Constructivist	Models & Modeling
Learner-Centered Environment	The learner is interested in the material Possible previous knowledge   Is open to the idea Recognizes that learning is a choice The student is looking for information by themselves	Teacher designs an environment for the student to learn on their own  Examples: Labs, hands on activities, use of technology Responsibility of learning information is placed on the students	Students give opinions on social/environmental/political issues Have debate/questioning throughout the class.  Is build upon prior knowledge like a pyramid Encourages students to pursue something they are passionate about	Students create a model based off of what they learn Models help clear up any miscommunication, especially with visual or tactile learners Charts/graphs/representations are used to present information Enables creativity within the student
Knowledge-Centered Environment	Students express ideas through prior knowledge Students explain new information obtained How has the student's view changed? Focuses on the hows and why questions	Student's use their own knowledge to get to their own conclusions Teacher gives brief demonstration/instruction Similar to an apprenticeship/internship Students research the material for themselves or pick from a list of materials	Use of logic and reason to fix a social issue Instructor leads a discussion with probing questions about the subject at hand Inter-relates many subject pools that students can pull knowledge from	Teachers use models to represent complex ideas to students Models are used by the teacher to clarify the material Computer models as well as physical models can be used to represent knowledge  Especially useful for science demonstrations of knowledge
Assessment-Centered Environment	Shows how far students have understood the information presented.  Concepts are demonstrate ability through presentations/reports on how their views have changed Assessments based on skills acquired instead of "memorizing facts."	Open ended questions Lab reports Real world applications Do the students know how to apply the information they know to the real world?	Students debate and discuss topics within one another, searching for the truth. Have students learned new information that affects something personal to them? What is it? Self Assessment: What have I learned?	Questions are asked based on charts or graphs A physical model must be labeled (Such as a human skeleton or aquifer) Performance check on models created by students Seen in science fair projects
Community-Centered Environment	Students participate with each other.  Teachers and students have an equal say Freedom of speech in the classroom A classroom "community" instead of a "dictatorship."	Group projects/problems: Possible a challenge day with a problem question.  Teacher brings students together to work as a team effort, but lets the students learn how to cooperate among themselves.	The community within the classroom must be devoted to learning and loving what they are learning about: (Is this possible in the common classroom?) Information learned is used outside of the classroom in the community: This can be seen with community projects, community service, jobs, ect...  Technology is used to communicate information with other students	A class project in which a model must be made.  Models add to classroom community as models can spur conversation and provide a connecting point for students Students often have to work together to build a models Students can network with other groups and exchange ideas about their own models