Unit 7: Culminating Review Experience
Learning activities
Learning activities
7.2 Toward a Personal Theory of Instruction (due June 16 by 5:00pm via e-mail)
One of the most important goals of this course is for you to come away with a personal sense of how these learning and instructional theories can be of use to you in your future "educational" practice, however broadly that may be defined. I would suggest that, at some point, you ask yourself a series of questions about each of the theories. Since the goal is to construct your own unique understanding of the theories, I can't tell you what those questions would be. I can suggest some possibilities, though, such as
- What aspects of learning are addressed by this theory?
- What are the main processes or mechanisms that are proposed to account for learning according to this theory?
- What, to you, is the single most important "big idea" from this theory?
- With what other theories is this theory most compatible?
- Does this theory resonate with your own experiences and beliefs?
- Does this theory seem to be a good match for the kinds of learners you're interested in?
- ... for the kinds of learning tasks you're interested in?
- ... for the kinds of educational settings you're interested in?
Well, you get the idea.
In Unit 1 you drafted a personal theory of instruction. You have now done a good deal of reading, discussion and reflection on theories of instruction from a variety of perspectives. As a final activity in this course, you have a chance to revise your original theory of instruction. Note: This is an individual activity only, as each of our theories of learning will be slightly different.
What changes to the theory will you make now that you have spent the last semester thinking deeply about learning theories?
7.3 Thought Paper #2 (Due June 16, 2003 by 5:00pm via e-mail)
At the end of unit 4 and at the end of the course, a short thought paper (3-5 pages) will be required.
• The first paper may be about behaviorism, cognitive information processing, or meaningful learning/schema theory.
• In the second paper, you should choose two theories to compare/contrast in light of a problem, issue or setting of interest to you. At least one of the theories must come from Unit 5 or 6; the other can be any other theory we’ve covered that you have not yet written on. In other words, you will have written papers on at least three different theories by the end of the course.
Your task in these papers is to evaluate a theory from the perspective of a setting, issue, or problem of importance to you, and to determine how well the theory “fits” the setting or problem you have chosen.
Remember that I am your audience for the papers. Although I want you to demonstrate that you have a basic understanding of the theory, don’t take up valuable space re-stating the theory. Be sure your paper is about something (i.e. it should not just be a series of unrelated reflections or observations about the theory). Like all good papers, it should have a descriptive title, some kind of thesis statement, and some sort of conclusion after a review of your “evidence”. And, as with any paper of this kind, I will expect it to be well organized and coherent. Sample titles might include “Behaviorism and coaching basketball” or “Schema theory and mathematics education: A match made in heaven?” or “”Making sense of Bruner’s theory of cognitive development in college instruction”.
This is not intended to be a library research paper. You do not necessarily need to use any resources other than the text and class readings/discussion. You should, however, attribute ideas and citations as appropriate.
Web resources
There are several web sites that you may find useful.
Comments: joalexan@indiana.edu
