cues and questions and summaries... oh my!

Well folks, here we are again! And of course, you can’t read my blog without submitting your opinion in my survey (over on the left side).  I kept the results to my last poll posted- so if you voted last week, check it out! 

      Just as a recap (in case you’re not one of my fellow 6711 classmates), we’re reading through a few chapters in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (here’s a PDF version) and discussing the relationships between these instructional strategies and cognitive learning theories. 

       In the first section, Pitler, Hubbell and Kuhn discuss cues, questions, and advanced organizers; these strategies focus on “enhancing students’ ability to retrieve, use, and organize information about a topic” (p. 73).   When seeing these strategies, it’s easy to come up with example for each strategy, but the trick is to create questions and cues that encourage higher-order thinking.  For example, if you were to use brainstorming software and ask students to create a concept map of different types of triangles, every kid will only have three or four pieces.  But if you ask those same students to create a concept map of everything they know about triangles, there will be many more connections and it would look something like this:

http://sheilamorr.weebly.com/triangle-unit.html

     Summarizing and note taking were the strategies from the second chapter our class reviewed. These strategies are significant because students have to understand that the content they are reviewing is important.   Dr. Orey talks about how every piece of information is linked to another and that is how students retain concepts in their brains.  Other senses can help enhance memory (dual-coding), such as smell or sight.  We should use different visual presentations to help students enhance their long-term memory. Students store information in their long-term memory when they deem it of some importance, and when they see the information presented in a multitude of ways, it helps create links from one application to another.  As Novak puts it, “in rote learning, there is little or no integration of new knowledge with existing knowledge” (p. 6); without these connections, students will easily forget the concepts they learn.   For a fun example of how it feels when your instructional technique is NOT working… CLICK HERE!

     By using multiple forms of note-taking, instructing with higher-level questioning and cues, and continually having students summarizing what they are learning, I can ensure that they are learning the information I present.  And on the other hand, by switching up our instructional strategies, we’re helping ourselves too!  Nothing is worse than falling so deep into a regimented pattern that you don’t realize you’ve become one of “those” teachers.

-Kate

"The one real goal of education is to leave a person asking questions."

-Max Beerhohm

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology.  

Novak, J. D., & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them, Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 01-2008

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.