Digital Blog Post #C

Chapter 3

The first section of Chapter 3 “Transforming Learning with unique, powerful Technology” that I want to talk about is “The research on the science of learning.” Yes, I agree with the idea of constructivism. The book explains that the idea of constructivism is defined as constructing new knowledge and understandings based on what we already know and believe.

Some examples of constructivism can be seen in our preschool. The children have a large group session at the beginning of each day in a circle. They will learn new concepts of of naming letters and numbers. They also will learn the lettersounds and how to use numbers while counting objects. After that, they will have a small group session to strengthen the new ideas that they have learned. After this small group session and a little outside break, they will have their own individual learning time. They will get a chance to play games and work with learning lessons to match, trace and form letters and numbers. They use what they have learned before and combine it with these games and lessons. For example, they have capital and lower case matching games. They learn how those letters look like in their circle time and use their new learned information for those matching lessons. 

I really like the activity the book explains about finding out if the earth moves, or the objects around it. On p. 48, the book states that the teacher takes her students outside early in the morning to ask them to trace shadows of different sized objects. They will do that at different times of the day, document the time they ll do it and use different colors for tracing different sized shadows. After that, they created a question: What causes the shadow movements? To find solutions, they are using recourses like weather pages or dark/day maps to answer the question. Also, our children explore things through active learning. For example, when they play with blocks and create houses. They learn about buildings and how to construct them so they will stand straight. I taught children the purpose of a bridge with the help of blocks. I built a bridge from blocks and told them to imagine there is all water around the bridge and asked them what a bridge is for. I let a car go over the bridge and told them, the car will get safely over the water by passing the bridge. A teacher can sit with children at play time and guide them while creating houses. We can ask questions like; What type of house you are building? Who lives in it? Does your house have a roof? Why do we need a roof? What are windows for? With asking those questions, the children will train their thinking skills and learn while playing. 

The next section of the book I want to hang on to is “Lessons from Montessori.” The book states that immediate self correcting feedback, a fundamental element of Maria Montessori pedagogy in the early years of the 20^th century, remains in use today. The book also describes Montessori style learning material like cut out continent map puzzles that have correct sizes of land masses and are color coded to a globe to match shapes and sizes. It also mentions wooden blocks to build a staircase and beads that can be threaded on strings by tens to make a 100 which can be attached to a 1000 cube. All these learning materials sound familiar to me and I have seen them around our school and used them in our classroom. On Youtube I found a video that explains what Montessori Curriculum is. 

Our school uses parts of the Montessori curriculum and some of our learning lessons are Montessori style. We also had Montessori certified teachers until last year. I like the idea that children can work independently with the immediate self correcting feedback. The constant guidance of a teacher is mostly not necessary and the children have chances to explore and solve problems by themselves with the teacher as a support. 

The third topic of the book I would like to talk about is “Online problem-solving environments.” The book says that online learning games and interactive simulations develop students' talents as problem solvers and critical thinkers. In addition, it says that every online game or simulation features problems that must be solved through critical thinking about strategies and results. Yes, I agree that computer games and simulations enhance critical thinking and trains the brain in different areas. I also like to do little strategy games like combination puzzles and brain jogging games. They help train thinking skills.

For the children, I found an App on my tablet from “intellijoy education and fun”called “children learn to read.” They can tab and listen to letter names and sounds and they can blend, combine and listen to words read by the App. Like I said, I like the idea that children enhance their thinking and problem solving skills while playing different video games, but I also have to say that those games should be provided in a safe healthy manner and in an appropriate amount of time for their age group. This will keep the fun in learning with these games and the time for all other real life things the world has to offer for children to explore

 Citations


 Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Davidson Films Inc, Maria Montessori, Learn about her teachings, life and lasting Legacy (2010) retrieved from www.youtube.de

www.Intellijoy.com

Freitag, Julia, Computers, Fun, Lern, play, expolore (2015) from www.linoit.com