6.1 Lower-Order Thinking: The text explains
that attention is not a behavior but a mental process. When mentally paying attention,
information is moved working memory. What
can we do, as teachers, to help maintain our students’ attention?
6.2 High-Order Thinking: Meaningful learning allows a
connection to be made between information already stored in long-term memory
and new information. What are 3 forms of meaningful learning? Give an example
of how you may use each in your classroom.
6.1 We as teachers are going to have a variety of students in our classrooms. There are going to be some that have awesome working memories and attention spans. For those students, engagement in activities does not take much effort. For other students however, maintaining their attention is going to be a challenge. I think that some of the best ways to engage those with shorter attention spans involves planning activities that are extremely relevant to them. The activities should be physical or require a wide range of motion, and the activities should be authentic so as to create a newness and sense of surprise to those students.
ReplyDelete6.2 Meaningful learning is all about connecting new experiences to older ones from which the child can grow. Meaningful learning cannot be verbatim and it has to tap in to students higher-order thinking. To use meaningful learning in the classroom, a first grade class could learn about other cultures and what those cultures eat. Connecting to what the first graders are already familiar with, students as a class could make bread to eat just as they and cultures all around the world eat bread.
Tish, I really enjoyed answering your questions. I think that it is important to consider working memory, as it is a huge part of learning. I did not exactly know what three forms of meaningful learning you were referring to so I just gave an overall thought about it. Nice job!
6.1 We can plan our lessons and activities well so that they meet the needs of the students. Student need to be engaged in an optimal level of arousal. We must organize our lessons so that they last the appropriate amount of time. Students should be allowed to actively participate in discussion and perform authentic activities. We must also provide differentiated instruction for students who are struggling. If the task is too difficult their attention will be lost. Gifted students must be provided with differentiated instruction and ways to extend the activity when they finish ahead of the rest of the class.
ReplyDelete6.2 The three forms of meaninful learning are elaboration, organization, and visual imagery. I could have students elaborate by asking them to write about what they have learned and relate it to a personal experience. Students could organize new material into a ven diagram in order to compare and contrast information. To promote visual imagery learning, I could ask students to draw what they are learning.
Thank you for your questions, Tish. I really enjoyed answering them! It was helpful to think about specific ways I can apply what I have read to my future classroom.
6.1 As teachers, we can attempt to keep our students' attention in a number of ways. Primarily, we should ensure to keep the information presented to a manageable amount. Too much being thrown at them all at once is a sure way to cause them to become easily frustrated. However, too little activity can also because students to become bored and inattentive. Creating activities that allow for students to be active can also keep them interested and involved. Along that same line, giving students the opportunity to take breaks throughout the lesson can keep them from losing interest.
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