Today, during a lesson on fractions, the class became rowdy. Since fractions seem especially difficult for them, they become frustrated. One of the girls blurted out, "You can't make people learn who don't want to."
How does this problem relate to what we know about learning?
Cite your sources.
Given what you know about learning, how might you resolve this problem?
We know from the Cognitive school of thought that getting students to "pay attention" to information is a very real and everyday teacher concern. Whenever possible, lessons should take into account the interests and needs of students.
page 88, The Act of Teaching
As their teacher, I would devise a lesson that incorporated student engaged learning. I would teach fractions by conducting the lesson using M&M candies. Let the students construct fractional problems with M&M's and once they devise the fraction (addition for example) I would let them eat the correct answer!
prepared by De Lyce Schlepphorst
The cognitive school of thought also states that it is easier to maintain attention when learners are alert.
page 88, The Act of Teaching
I would schedule the fraction lesson which requires intense concentration during the morning when students are fresh for the day and more alert.
prepared by De Lyce Schlepphorst
Kathryn Kraus:
We know from cognitive theory that "when children are to learn numbers, they see how numbers are a part of their environment" and that "students should not be overwhelmed or they can become so confused that they attend to nothing." Also, we know that one apect of emotional intelligence is self-motivation. "Teachers motivate students when they develop engaging lessons that connect to students' lives, help students to see how they can meet learning goals, and provide oportunities for their success."
PPR: Ch. 4, p.91,
Authentic Learning
PPR, Ch. 4, p. 88, Beliefs about Attention.
CD: Mod. 5, p. 93, Self-Motivation
Elementary school teacher, Carol Goodrow, has some great ideas for how to motivate young students to learn fractions in her lesson Jog, Tempo, Sprint. Knowing kids love to run, she has them create the necessary materials for this activity as she teaches them during the process about the basics of fractions through their own drawings. Building upon this basic knowledge, she gives students the tools they will need to succeed and have fun in the upcoming physical activity. She also establishes rules for safety, fairness, and good sportsmanship. In this way, she has created a meaningful relationship for students between fractions and their environment in a way which holds their attention and connects to their lives. http://www.carolgoodrow.com/games/jogtemposprint.htm
Carri Gregory:
According to the cognitive school of thought one of the problems the teacher is having is grabbing the students attention during the lesson on fractions. They are become frustrated, rowdy and distracting others in the classroom that already engaged in the activity. The cognitive school of thought also states that if the learning is "authentic" or can be easily related to by the student. The the studentare more than likely to remember the material longer because the student's are applying real world experiences to the problems.
PPR, Ch4., pg. 88, Beliefs about Attention
PPR, Ch. 4, pg. 91 Authentic learning
What the teacher can do to solve this problem is to start the lesson with asking the student's what they know about fractions and basic introduction with the lesson. Once the lesson has been introduce then allow the students to work in groups to work over the problems. Those who understand how to work fractions can show other students who are having a hard time understanding how to work them, almost like peer tutoring. Also, the teacher can use the computer in assisting the students learn about fractions. http://www.learn-with-math-games.com/online-fraction-games.html is a website that can help teachers to teach fractions and also has games to were students can play to help in reinforcing what they are learning about fractions.
Brenda Hebert:
Rosalina Trujillo:
The behavioral school of
thought states that if we receive reinforcement such as a reward for doing good we will repeat the good behavior
Ch. 4
pg 97
para 2
Incorporating games and materials such as markers, shapes that look like toys will promote motivation. Also, remiding students that if they do well and and behave they will receive a treat or a reward on Friday and be able to go to recess.
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From the Cognitive School of Thought we learned that students learn more effectively if the new material builds on prior learning and it can be tied to what students already know. Additionally, we know that emotions affect learning. If students are anxious about their schoolwork, learning will be adversely affected. Cognitive scientists also suggest that Authentic Learning results in knowledge that is more meaningful and remembered longer. This is because students relate it to the real world and/or they learn by doing rather than by merely being “told” the information.
CD; Module 3, pg. 55, para. 3
CD, Module 5, pgs. 90 & 91
PPR, Ch. 4, pg. 91, para. 2
I would closely evaluate the driving factors behind their frustrations and ask myself the following questions? Am I presenting material that is too difficult without properly scaffolding my students? Am I providing different modes of entry to the lessons based on my student’s multiple intelligences and abilities? Am I relating it to their environment? Depending on the answers, I would modify my instruction accordingly. I would certainly refresh my students on what we’ve learned previously that prepared us for fractions. I’d explain the connection between the prior lessons and fractions and ensure that I had many ways of letting them explore fractions, taking into account their preferred learning styles. I’d also explore how to teach them fractions as part of a game to take the pressure off and approach the lesson from the aspect of having fun. In order to connect the lesson to their environments and interests, I’d show how fractions interact with their daily lives – in such things as measuring for baking a cake, calculating batting averages in baseball or cutting boards to build a tree-house.
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Prepared by Genevieve Cosby Green
According to the Cognitive belief about attention, for learning to take places the teacher must first capture the attention of the learner. “Getting student to ‘pay attention’ to information is a very real, everyday teacher concern.” The information should be stimulating, pleasant, satisfying, and interest. The objectives of these operations are designed to hold the learner attention long enough for the information to be sorted, organized and stored for future retrieval. “What captures our attention—the visual, auditory, or other attributes of the stimulus that cause us to pay attention. As advertisers well understand, these can be manipulated to heighten the probability that we will attend to the phenomenon.” These operations take place in short term memory. In addition, it is more effective to work on activities that require detail operations early in the morning when the mind is alert or fresh.
To make the fraction lesson more effective, I would settle the class by asking them questions about real life examples for using fractions similar to those in the problems. When the lesson resumed, I would incorporate some of the students’ interest into the examples to make the lesson more relevant. I would also have the students reflect on prior knowledge. During the reflection time, I would ask the the students to think about how they learned how they solved difficult problems in the pass, and then ask them to review what we studied about fractions. “Vygotsky further explored these ideas in his research about the child’s “inner voice,” or the process of verbalizing internal thoughts as a way to make sense of something. Articulating internal thoughts out loud not only helps a student learn, but can demonstrate an awareness of the learning process—both important aspects of metacognition as we define it today.”
Delia Spicer
According to the Cognitive School of Thought the students are not being stimulated enough to bring the information being taught into their short-term memory. [1] As a result they are frustrated and acting out. .
[1] "The Act of Teaching" (TAT)
Ch 4, pg 87, Figure 4.2
TAT, Ch 4, pg 88, paragraph 1 (Belief about Attention)
TAT, Ch 4, pg 88, paragraph 2 (Beliefs about Short Term Memory)
The students need to first, be able to pay attention enough to the information to absorb it into their short-term memory. I might first talk about how we use fractions in everyday life, and then give some examples of commonly used fractions. Then we would begin by demonstration some of the simplest fractions and then reinforce that learning by having students call back the answers to variations of the same fraction (such as 1/2 is the same as 4/8, etc.).
I would check to see if any students are becoming disengaged and work with them individually to ensure that they understand the concept.
I would reinforce the learning of the simpler fractions and then move on to the more complex once the class is ready.
Problem
Today, during a lesson on fractions, the class became rowdy. Since fractions seem especially difficult for them, they become frustrated. One of the girls blurted out, "You can't make people learn who don't want to."How does this problem relate to what we know about learning?
Cite your sources.
Given what you know about learning, how might you resolve this problem?
We know from cognitive theory that "when children are to learn numbers, they see how numbers are a part of their environment" and that "students should not be overwhelmed or they can become so confused that they attend to nothing." Also, we know that one apect of emotional intelligence is self-motivation. "Teachers motivate students when they develop engaging lessons that connect to students' lives, help students to see how they can meet learning goals, and provide oportunities for their success."
Authentic Learning
PPR, Ch. 4, p. 88, Beliefs about Attention.
CD: Mod. 5, p. 93, Self-Motivation
http://www.carolgoodrow.com/games/jogtemposprint.htm
According to the cognitive school of thought one of the problems the teacher is having is grabbing the students attention during the lesson on fractions. They are become frustrated, rowdy and distracting others in the classroom that already engaged in the activity. The cognitive school of thought also states that if the learning is "authentic" or can be easily related to by the student. The the studentare more than likely to remember the material longer because the student's are applying real world experiences to the problems.
PPR, Ch. 4, pg. 91 Authentic learning
The behavioral school of
thought states that if we receive reinforcement such as a reward for doing good we will repeat the good behavior
pg 97
para 2
From the Cognitive School of Thought we learned that students learn more effectively if the new material builds on prior learning and it can be tied to what students already know. Additionally, we know that emotions affect learning. If students are anxious about their schoolwork, learning will be adversely affected. Cognitive scientists also suggest that Authentic Learning results in knowledge that is more meaningful and remembered longer. This is because students relate it to the real world and/or they learn by doing rather than by merely being “told” the information.
CD, Module 5, pgs. 90 & 91
PPR, Ch. 4, pg. 91, para. 2
CD, Chp 3, page 52, bullet 1,
CD, Chp 9, page 159, Paragraph 1
Ch 4, pg 87, Figure 4.2
TAT, Ch 4, pg 88, paragraph 1 (Belief about Attention)
TAT, Ch 4, pg 88, paragraph 2 (Beliefs about Short Term Memory)
TAT, Ch 4, pg 97, paragraph 2 (Operant Conditioning)
TAT, Ch 2, pg 39, highlight 2-4
I would check to see if any students are becoming disengaged and work with them individually to ensure that they understand the concept.
I would reinforce the learning of the simpler fractions and then move on to the more complex once the class is ready.