Knowledge Is Stories

Learning is experiencing an event and then remembering back to those experiences.

Activity:

This theory explains that learning is when someone not only experiences an event, but then can reflect back on that event or experience and understand and recall what they were taught. This is different from my original model of learning because, while I had the part about learning from experiencing things, I failed to include the fact that students have to refer back to these experiences. If a student only follows directions and does not truly understand the purpose of an experience or activity, the student will not end up taking away anything significant from doing it. Once a student fully understands and can explain the significance and what they learned from their experiences, then they have learned the content.

An activity that would demonstrate this theory of learning would be to write a report on a field trip a students’ class went on. This demonstrates each idea of this theory because, first, the student would experience the field trip and be able to physically see and even sometimes experience what they are learning about. This creates a memory for the student, which they will hopefully be able to access later when reflecting on their experience on the field trip. Then, the student would have to reflect on what they did at the field trip as well as what they had learned. Of course, this would have to be in their own words to fully demonstrate what they had understood and not just memorized from what they learned on the field trip.

Updated Model Reflection

After reading “Theories for Educators”, I still stand by my original model of learning that I posted on Sunday, August 26^th  therefore I have not created a new model to post. The chapter explains how children learn an abundant amount of information when they interact with their environments.

Suzanne M. Wilson and Penelope L. Peterson are very clear when they talk about the conclusions that different research studies have reached. The authors proclaim that, in the past, there was common misconception that the best way students would learn was through only listening. This would mean that the best form of teaching would be to lecture and for students to just sit quietly and listen to the instructor speak. People thought that as long as teachers were clear when speaking and explaining information, students would understand just as clearly as the teacher explained it. If students were unsure, it was assumed that the instructor just did not do a good enough job of informing their class.

However, with today’s information, we know that this is not the case. Students actually remember more when they can relate what they are learning to actual experiences they have had in their own personal lives. Therefore, if a teacher conducts their lessons with a series of activities that illustrate the concepts they are teaching, their students are more likely to gain a deeper understanding of the ideas they are conveying to their class. Having said this, there are definitely still some benefits of having a classroom of students put everything down, have their eyes up at the front of the room, and listen to their teacher educate them about a particular concept. This method of teaching just may not be the most beneficial for the students and should definitely not be the only form of educating used in a classroom.

Week 1: Model and Explanation

These pictures illustrate the way I feel that students learn. I believe that learning has a lot to do with trial and error. Although teachers can give instructions and explain why those directions work best, I think that students actually realize why when they experience for themselves which ways work and which do not. As an example activity that may be used in a kindergarten classroom when learning about shapes, I showed a teacher holding up a board with cut-outs of different types of shapes. After learning about which shape is which, and how many sides each particular shape has, the students would have blocks distributed out to them and they would have to match up which shape belongs in which hole. Instead of memorizing that a triangle has three sides, the children can experience for themselves that the triangle will only fit in the cut-out that has three sides to it. Over the summer I work in a day camp in Chicago and I have had the incredible experience of watching my campers learn through play. I think play is an extremely educational experience and I can definitely see that my campers are using problem solving strategies as part of their everyday lives and they seem to remember these experiences the most. For example, when my kids make arts and crafts projects and they see that there are six hearts to color in on their paper and they have three colors to use on these hearts, they will often explain to me that they are going to use a pattern in their coloring that will allow for the use of all three colors, two times each (in simpler terms of course). Obviously, children need guidance in their learning but I think they can learn an incredible amount from their own trials and errors.

Week 1: Introduction to Myself

Hi everyone! My name is Kim Lane and I am a Sophomore TAL major at IU. I am from a northern suburb of Chicago called Northbrook. I have also changed my major a couple times...I started in nursing and now I am hoping to teach first grade. I am the baby in my family and have an older brother, older sister, and a brother-in-law. My sister is also a first grade teacher and I love spending time with her kids in her classroom. Unfortunately, I can't do that very often when i'm in Indiana at school.
Over the summers I work at a huge day camp in the Chicago area where I am a camp counselor for 3 and 4 year old girls and I absolutely love it! All throughout high school I was on poms and our dance company and I am still dancing at IU on HipHopConnxion (come see us perform sometime)! I am really looking forward to the field experience portion of this class so I can get to spend time in a classroom while I am learning how to run my own. :)