Generating and testing hypothesis and the constructionist/constructivist theories of learning go hand in hand. In this week’s resources, the technological instructional method, generating and testing hypothesis was discussed and I was able to see what this has in common with the learning theories studied this week. As Dr. Michael Orey (2001) states, constructionism “builds on the ‘Constructivist’ theories of Jean Piaget, asserting that knowledge is not simply transmitted from teacher to student, but actively constructed in the mind of the learner. Learners don't get ideas; they create ideas. Moreover, constructionism suggests that new ideas are most likely to be created when learners are actively engaged in building some type of external artifact that they can reflect upon and share with others”. When I remember the classes I took when I was in high school, I seem to always remember the classes and lessons in which the students were taught someone hands-on, where we were able to create our own knowledge and create some sort of project displaying that knowledge of the concepts being studied and what it meant to us. We then were able to present it in one way or another, so others could understand the material in a different way.
The example which uses technology, generating and testing hypothesis, relates to the constructivist/constructionist learning theories because students are not only engaged actively in what they are learning, they are creating something to demonstrate their knowledge, which also proves they know the facts and information dealing with that concept. “When students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaging in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary, and enhancing their overall understanding of the content” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007, p. 202). By using spreadsheets to display the information, this will help students “…[interpret] the data rather than [gather] the data” (Putler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007, p. 203).
I am thinking about some ideas with using technology to use generating and testing hypothesis with my students, but for Spanish class I am actually running into a wall. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can use this instructional method with my students with the Spanish language? I could always have students relate the instructional method with the Spanish culture. Any ideas?
References:
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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Marie,
ReplyDeleteI have given your question some thought. I teach science, so I also had some trouble coming up with ways students could use this week's technology tools in generating and testing hypotheses in Spanish. Could you partner with a core-subject teacher to have students translate something they are doing in one of those classes into the Spanish language using one of the technology tools? This would allow them to get some exposure using the tool, while also practicing the Spanish labguage, but I cannot think of a way they could directly use this week's tools in Spanish. I'm sorry I cannot offer more, but maybe it will help you as you get to thinking about it.
On a different note, I agree with what you mentioned about using the spreadsheet technology tool to interpret data rather than spending the time gathering and calculating...it would help to get students to the meat of what they are doing, and would help to curb frustration that is likely to occur for students that struggle with tedious work like calculations.
Good luck!
Holly
Marie,
ReplyDeleteI have also been giving some thought to ways that you can incorporate testing hypotheses with the Spanish Language and it is difficult. I keep thinking of ways that imply to the culture but the language is challenging because students need to speak and hear what they are saying. One thing that I think can work pretty well is podcast. For example, maybe you can give them an essential question or task and have them use podcasting to record their project. What do you think?
Veronica
Holly,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the ideas you gave me! I had not thought about partnering with a core subject teacher and having them translate something. I was thinking I could work with a science teacher to have my students learn some core science vocabulary and then work on their hypothesis from a science class in my Spanish class. It is just an idea and I will need to do a lot more thought on this, but it's a start. Thanks for the feedback!
Veronica,
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of having an essential question and then having my students record their responses on a podcast. That seems like a wonderful idea. I will do a food unit next year and I will have them do a restaurant project using voicethread which will be a very similar activity. Thanks for the idea!!! It is great!
Hi Marie, I also like the idea of shared bookmarking. On my classroom website, I list several educational websites that the kids can access at home and/or school. VoiceThread was a neat tool to learn how to use. How would you have students work collaborately to complete a task using VoiceThread? What I found when creating my VoiceThread was you could only create one identity per account. So unlike wikis, where a group of students can go in and work on a given project, only one student would have access to it. Unless they shared an email address and an identity, I do not know how it would work. I created a student VoiceThread this week and gave each student a seperate page and uploaded stories that they had previously written to it. The students then went in a recorded their voice reading the story. It was very neat, but I would love to figure out how to do it so you can have more than one identity on an account. I think your students would really enjoy doing this in class and get a lot of value out of this assignment.
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