Part 1
So far, what I already know about critical thinking is that I use it everyday in school and when encountering any type of problem. I feel like critical thinking strategies are so smashed into my brain that I don't even realize that I am using them. When being asked to pinpoint strategies for critical thinking I would include: understanding all parts to a situation, and learning the who, what, when, where, how, and more importantly why to a question. The video clip asked which is better: give a man a fish? Or teach a man how to fish? This was a very familiar passage to me because my parents used this approach to helping the less fortunate. Part of what the video was trying to say was that critical thinkers are more capable of making independent decisions.
As an educator, I want to know how to teach critical thinking skills to my students. I was blessed with having amazing teachers in middle school and high school who nailed critical thinking into my head. Those skills prepared me to handle college classes and be engaged in my learning. I want to know at what age children really are capable of being critical thinkers, and how to better incorporate those skills into all aspects of learning. As shown in the video, critical thinkers ask questions and seek evidence. I believe that this promotes more curious learners who will be excited about learning.
I am a bit nervous about my lesson planning, being that its my first time "playing" teacher. I definitely want my students to learn how to think critically when they are learning. I have to try and connect that into the plans by making sure the students are doing more than just memorizing facts. Maybe at the beginning of a section I can ask open ended questions to get students to try and come up with their own answers to questions, based on what they already know. Also, after presenting the information, again, assign open ended questions regarding what they were just taught. These questions would include definitions first, to make sure they knew the material. Also, the questions would then go further, asking for explanations about the material, and why, and try to make connections with other things they have learned. I would even let these questions be opinion questions, just as long as they could use evidence from the material to back it up.
Part 2
I had never heard of GWAP before this class and was a little bit confused when I first got there. Basically, you are playing games, with some partner you can't see, online. These games show either a video, and image, or a music clip, in which you and your partner must try and get a matching tag for the image or clip. This is supposed to help computers try and think more like a human. This concept scared me a little bit and made me think of robots taking over the world once they became smarter than humans. It was a cool tool though, that really got me to try and describe things in simple words, so that other people would understand them.
I'm not exactly sure how I could use the GWAP in my lesson planning. I would be teaching sciences, so maybe in some way, I could get pictures of different internal organs that students would have to type in keywords about the picture. I guess by making them try and get their partner to think of the same word, it would make it more of a critical thinking activity.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Introduction to How People Learn
Preexisting knowledge, shown in the text, is an extremely important concept of teaching an learning that I had not yet thought much about before. Addressing preexisting knowledge now makes complete sense when dealing with teaching people of any age. A students will learn a concept better if they can relate it to something that they already know. If they have no concept of what is being taught then they are only learning disconnected pieces of information.
Active learning is another important concept of learning that should be incorporated into teaching students at all levels. Before reading this I did not picture elementary kids being able to assess themselves the way that most college students do in their own learning. Younger students would be more engaged in their learning if they understood how and why they were assessing how well they knew their material.
Some key points of the reading were: in teaching we must make sure students understand what their learning rather than just memorizing facts, we need to recognize that students have preexisting knowledge that can either help conceptualize or confuse what they are being taught, and students need to be active learners.
Meta-cognition is the ability of a person to assess how well they are learning a material, and the ability to predict how well they would test on that material. According to the text, teaching meta-cognition to students at an elementary level is extremely beneficial. It is a skill that will be used not only in education but in the real world of students. Using it to teach information will force students to become more engaged in their own learning. For teachers, this means they will have to learn how to teach this vital skill to their younger students.
As shown in the text, assessment is vital to the learning environment. Assessments help teachers measure how well they are teaching, and help students measure how well they are learning. What could be changed, however, is the way in which we approach assessment. Instead of basing it solely on spitting out memorized facts, it should assess more critical thinking and application skills. For example, as much as I hate to say it, using word problems in math would be beneficial in assessing if students knew how and when to use the math taught to them. Another idea introduced about assessment is that it should not be strictly grade based. It should also focus on students truly assessing how well they know a material and going back to understand material they did not test well on.
Active learning is another important concept of learning that should be incorporated into teaching students at all levels. Before reading this I did not picture elementary kids being able to assess themselves the way that most college students do in their own learning. Younger students would be more engaged in their learning if they understood how and why they were assessing how well they knew their material.
Some key points of the reading were: in teaching we must make sure students understand what their learning rather than just memorizing facts, we need to recognize that students have preexisting knowledge that can either help conceptualize or confuse what they are being taught, and students need to be active learners.
Meta-cognition is the ability of a person to assess how well they are learning a material, and the ability to predict how well they would test on that material. According to the text, teaching meta-cognition to students at an elementary level is extremely beneficial. It is a skill that will be used not only in education but in the real world of students. Using it to teach information will force students to become more engaged in their own learning. For teachers, this means they will have to learn how to teach this vital skill to their younger students.
As shown in the text, assessment is vital to the learning environment. Assessments help teachers measure how well they are teaching, and help students measure how well they are learning. What could be changed, however, is the way in which we approach assessment. Instead of basing it solely on spitting out memorized facts, it should assess more critical thinking and application skills. For example, as much as I hate to say it, using word problems in math would be beneficial in assessing if students knew how and when to use the math taught to them. Another idea introduced about assessment is that it should not be strictly grade based. It should also focus on students truly assessing how well they know a material and going back to understand material they did not test well on.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Course Expectations
My expectations of this course are to learn about the new technology available and how to effectively use it to learn and teach. Whenever I hear the word technology I usually cringe because I feel like its way over my head and somewhat like a foreign language. Hopefully, this course will help to rid me of my fears of using technology.
I expect my classmates to have respect for me and the teacher by being mindful of other people's opinions, not speaking out of turn, and not speaking when the instructor is teaching. I hope my classmates and I can work together as we approach new materials and collaborate our ideas about how we can use the material for education.
I expect my instructor to come to class ready to teach enthusiastically. I expect him to be organized and fair with his grading. I expect him to have respect and appreciation for my ideas. I hope that he is willing to be patient with those of us in the class who are not technologically savvy.
Questions: How can I apply technology to teaching other nurses, or teaching patients about how to care for a specific medical problems? (I'm a nursing major)
Can you teach us how to properly use powerpoint so that the learners retain the information being presented?
I expect my classmates to have respect for me and the teacher by being mindful of other people's opinions, not speaking out of turn, and not speaking when the instructor is teaching. I hope my classmates and I can work together as we approach new materials and collaborate our ideas about how we can use the material for education.
I expect my instructor to come to class ready to teach enthusiastically. I expect him to be organized and fair with his grading. I expect him to have respect and appreciation for my ideas. I hope that he is willing to be patient with those of us in the class who are not technologically savvy.
Questions: How can I apply technology to teaching other nurses, or teaching patients about how to care for a specific medical problems? (I'm a nursing major)
Can you teach us how to properly use powerpoint so that the learners retain the information being presented?
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