Big Idea: Humans learn through a process of different
interactions from listening, observing, and participating in activities.
I changed my big idea of learning from “Humans learn through
listening, observing and interacting” because humans learn through different
interactions and experiences. These do
not just happen through school, but also from home, friends, etc. Maximum
learning however will occur with challenging tasks and assistance because students will be introduced to a hard concepts and the confirmation of another will increase cognitive growth (Sociocultural Theories Powerpoints, Vygotsky, Slide 6)
Activity: Last week while I was in my 2nd grade
classroom the teacher had the students do an activity to practice adding 9s,
before they took a timed math quiz. Before
she had them start the activity she reviewed some rules adding 9s and practiced
adding some 9s to ensure the students would be prepared. Then she randomly paired each student and
gave one student a paper that had two game boards on it and the other student a
bag of colored chips and one dice. The
goal of the game was to cover your game board first with chips. One player roles the dice and then adds 9 in
their head (working on mental math) to that number. The answer is the number that you would cover
on your game board. For example, a
student roles a 5 and adds 9, so they are to cover a 14 on their game
board. When you get to the end of the
game if you only have a 10 on your game board left to cover, you have to keep
playing until you get a 1.
This activity allowed students to work on their mental math
accompanied by another student who is doing the same activity. This activity was challenging through quick
mental ability and partner cooperation. Each
student was to help their partner if they needed help discovering the answer.
The zone of proximal development is the idea that
students achieve at a higher level when supported by someone who has more
knowledge than when unsupported and therefore development is more likely (Theories
of Cognitive Development, Chapter 4, Page 164).
These students reviewed and were reinforced by the teacher before they
played the game. They were more
confident playing the game after reviewing.
I think that games are a great way for students to learn because they look at it as just a game and don't really see the learning aspect of it. I like the ides that the 2nd grade teacher had because they are practicing on their own and have another peer their to help if they get stuck. I think that you should relate this concept more to the reading and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. In the article another theorist states that human beings are born with the inclination to teach. With the activity above, you could explain how it relates to this concept. They are teaching each other in a way because one is their in case the other gets stuck and shows the method to fins the correct answer or point out why or how the way they did it was not correct. You could even pair them in a way that a more gifted student is paired with one who is not as gifted to better demonstrate the idea of the zone of proximal development. I think that the activity is a great idea using the game and your diagram is a great depiction of your idea.
ReplyDeleteTo extend Mariah's idea, you can also focus on how learning happens according to Vygotsky. Siegler presents a three stage overview of how this happens. These ideas are highlighted in our powerpoint notes but here's a brief description of learning. Note that these stages are not like Piaget's (e.g. they are not biological stages) - they are processes that can happen over a short or an extended period of time. You can even substitute child for person - given that these processes can happen at all levels.
ReplyDeleteFirst step: The child’s actions is influenced by socialized speech and cultural artifacts
Second step:The child’s actions is influenced by their own think aloud speech
Third step: Child’s speech becomes internal, that is, they can direct their own actions silently