Constructivism Ch7 Learning Log

What
While we grow we are constantly adding or modifying our understanding of the knowledge we have. As we modify or add knowledge we are influenced by our communities, teachers, peers, and ect because we work together to sort out and clarify the information we gain. However, in the end it is up to the students to decide what they learn and how they process. It is because of this process that each individual ends up with different conclusions. Even though each individual ends up with different view of the knowledge that you present to them it is the teachers job to asses them in a way that promotes the subject they have learned. In class we talked about the five E’s - Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate - which can help clear up or prevent misconceptions from occurring. We also discussed the importance of realizing what misconceptions might come up in your topic so you can be prepared to clarify them for your students.

So What
Even though we may be teaching one topic our students will interpret and taking different things from it. Sometime, what they understand from our lesson isn’t what we intended them to learn. For this reason it is important for us, as teachers, to know our material and recognize when what we are teaching is interpreted incorrectly. If our lesson does end up being interpreted incorrectly it is important to decide whether or not it is important to fix that particular misconception.

Now What
One lesson I could use to teach this method would be a lesson I call plus and minus world. When the kids first enter class I would have decorated with negative signs hanging from the ceiling and positive signs on all the solid objects, i.e. a desk, the walls, and ect. I would also give each of the students a big positive sign to grab their attention or engage them. Next I would tell them to pick and number four spaces in the room where no one else is. Than they would have to find or explore how they can move in interesting ways to their spaces. As they are moving I will explain to them that because the positive objects, themselves, are moving the negative space is shifting as well. Once they understand the difference between positive and negative space they will be taught a game where they can replace, add on, or invade a partners personal negative space. The students will then perform their games in front of the class to be evaluated.