Group items tagged

An interesting mind-map of the various learning theories and how they interconnect.

In this case, "cheating" involves find the best answers. The game shows that cooperation, generally, gets better results than going it alone, competitively. Thought-provoking for student teachers to think about. Would it work as a procedure? A flipped testing situation?

Article on PBL: The assumption of non-constructivist approaches to learning has been that as long as learners are provided with knowledge, they will be able to use it. Education based on that assumption is thus primarily concerned with transferring substance to the learner, and little importance is placed on the role of the learning activity. From a constructivist view, on the other hand, learning is the process of constructing knowledge - not merely obtaining it - in social environments (Brooks & Brooks, 1993). The theory of situated learning consistent with this view asserts that what we come to know and understand is fundamentally a product of the learning situation and the nature of the learning activity. Learning tasks should thus, as far as possible, be embedded in the target context and require the kind of thinking that would be done in real life (Brown et al., 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991).

"In the original 2004 article I stated: "The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today. A real challenge for any learning theory is to actuate known knowledge at the point of application" (Conclusion section, � 1). I find Verhagen�s (2006) critique falls at precisely this point. The core of what I wrote in the initial article is still valid: that learning is a network phenomenon, influenced (aided) by socialization and technology. Two years is a lifetime in the educational technology space. Two years ago, web 2.0 was just at the beginning of the hype cycle. Blogs, wikis, and RSS�now prominent terms at most educational conferences�were still the sandbox of learning technology geeks. Podcasting was not yet prominent. YouTube didn't exist. Google had not released its suite of web-based tools. Google Earth was not yet on the desktops of children and executives alike�each thrilled to view their house, school, or business in satellite images. Learning Management Systems still held the starting point of most elearning initiatives. Moodle was not yet prominent, and the term PLEs (personal learning environments) did not exist. In two years, our small space of educational technology evolved�perhaps exploded is a more accurate term."

"The Myth of 'Learning Styles' "A popular theory that some people learn better visually or aurally keeps getting debunked." Despite all the research to the contrary, teachers (and students) continue to believe in 'learning styles.' Let's take a step back, read the actual studies, and look at ways to make students better learners all around.

A good synopsis of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

A colorful diagram of all the learning theories with notes and references.

"The theories children build, whether they are right or wrong, are not capricious. They are often logical and rational, and firmly based in evidence and experience." by Karen Worth This article is very explanatory and is a good argument for maker and project-based learning.

A video about pedagogical theories created for a Curt Bonk class. May not last long, but give it a try. Illustrates Behaviorism, Vygotsky, and Social Constructivism with clips from contemporary movies. Clever and memorable.

Tony Bates, author of Teaching in a Digital Age, updates Wenger further, publishing his comments on communities of practice in a digital age. This post includes links to his book so far, and theories behind CoPs, as well as a definition.

Modules explaining aspects of teacher training theories - theatre and Drama, creative writing, gestures/action English, patterns of SLA, etc.

Our articles offer a new learning theory to accommodate the learning styles and preferences of today's digitally immersed students, discuss how preservice teachers can be prepared to integrate gaming into their curricula, and present technological solutions to challenges in teaching and testing. --EHS

Article from the Informal Education Homepage. infed (the informal education homepage) was established in 1995 as an open, independent and not-for-profit site. Put together by a small group of educators, it is now accessed around 6 million times a year. Our aim is to provide a space for people to explore the theory and practice of informal education, social action and lifelong learning. We want to encourage educators and animateurs to develop ways of working and being that foster association, conversation and relationship.

IRRODL is a refereed e-journal to advance research, theory and best pratice in open and distance learning.\n--EHS

White paper - What are communities of practice?

A slideshow (with audio) of a paper presented at the TESOL NYC CALL IS Academic Session, April 2008. Attempts to clarify what is known about SLA and how Plato's problem of "excessive knowledge" is solved by a computer model of reading prediction that uses Landauer and Dumais' theory of Latent Semantic Analsyis.

A refereed journal with a focus on the links between theory and practice. Reviews of classroom texts. Issues in language education. Regular columns on the Internet and Media. --EHS

An interesting discussion of the theory behind maths. No lesson plan has been developed yet for this TED-Ed video, so have a go!

"Based on the motivational theories of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, the game encourages students to assess themselves not on how smart or talented they are, but on how hard they work. And the reward for completing quests with characters is significant: Help the Cheshire cat from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and he'll help you turn invisible so you can sneak through the virtual world a la Harry Potter and his invisibility cloak. "The more characters from literature you get to know, the more powerful you become," says Schell. "