What is the difference between Formative and Summative assessment?
Formative assessment is measuring the learning of students during the learning process. Summative is measurements made at the conclusion of the learning process to see how effective the whole course was.
Norm reference assessments are use when there is no agreement on what a student should know. This is vastly different from Criterion assessment where this type of assessment is used to measure if a student reached an objective to a satisfactory level. Self referenced assessment are used when a person sets personal goals and then evaluate whether or not those goals were met.
Self directed learning is where a student is matured and sophisticated enough that they are able to set their learning goals, how they will learn, and how the learning will be assessed. People who use this type of learning sees professors as colleagues rather than authoritarian and rather get criticism than a grade. These people are able to connect and integrate problems as well as possible solutions being comfortable with a problem that doesn't have only one correct answer.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Adult learners
The demographic characterisitcs of adult learners have an affect on how adults learn. Age plays a big role, knowing age tells someone a lot more than just how many years they have been alive. Age can clue to how mature an individual is and how experienced they may be. Both of which are uge for tailoring a lesson to an individual. Another factor is gender. Females learn different than males and they both react differently as well. One of the last categories in considering demographics is language and background. How and what language people speak along with their past experiences grealy influences how they learn and the past also shapes what their new experiences will be.
Adults in general learn much differently than a child in school. Most adults are in a classroom by choice. Their parents aren't making them go to school and they usually dont absolutely despise the subject in which they are studying. This can make it much easier for an instructor and in some instances harder. The motivation in an adult learner is usually there and there is no need for the instructor to provide it. The characteristics that make it harder are complex backgrounds, emotional development and experiences. All these combined along with the different type of cognitive styles and learning methods make teaching adults much different from children.
Adults in general learn much differently than a child in school. Most adults are in a classroom by choice. Their parents aren't making them go to school and they usually dont absolutely despise the subject in which they are studying. This can make it much easier for an instructor and in some instances harder. The motivation in an adult learner is usually there and there is no need for the instructor to provide it. The characteristics that make it harder are complex backgrounds, emotional development and experiences. All these combined along with the different type of cognitive styles and learning methods make teaching adults much different from children.
Selecting Methods
Selecting a method in which to teach a subject, many things should be considered. These thing can be summarized by four main categories; The type of learning characterisitics of the student, content of the subject, prefered teaching method of instructor, and the context in which the subject will be taught. The last of the categories is very important. One would teach very differently towards a class of students as opposed to a one on one session. Perhaps a discussion might be more appropriate in a classroom setting where as independent projects may be more appropriate along with an interactive learning approach.
Accounting for the content of a subject is also very important. It is very ineffective to teach a subject such as flight computer computations using a group project approach because the student(s) do not know how to use the computer at first.
Obviously knowing how the student learns best is key in being a successful teacher. Each student has a different way in which they learn best and the closer we can align the subject matter appropriately with the specific learning style, the greater the chance of the student retaining the information.
The last subject we haven't touched on is the teaching preference of the instructor. The instructor must be able to understand how best to present the material and must be comfortable with it. If they are not, increased possibility of errors and misunderstanding can occur between student and instructor.
Teaching students cockpit resource management and flight crew management is very well suited to use role play. The students are put into a situation where they must imagin that they are on a real flight and must work together in order to be successful. The real life experience makes it very a very effective learning style for some situations.
Accounting for the content of a subject is also very important. It is very ineffective to teach a subject such as flight computer computations using a group project approach because the student(s) do not know how to use the computer at first.
Obviously knowing how the student learns best is key in being a successful teacher. Each student has a different way in which they learn best and the closer we can align the subject matter appropriately with the specific learning style, the greater the chance of the student retaining the information.
The last subject we haven't touched on is the teaching preference of the instructor. The instructor must be able to understand how best to present the material and must be comfortable with it. If they are not, increased possibility of errors and misunderstanding can occur between student and instructor.
Teaching students cockpit resource management and flight crew management is very well suited to use role play. The students are put into a situation where they must imagin that they are on a real flight and must work together in order to be successful. The real life experience makes it very a very effective learning style for some situations.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Blog #1 Ask the Cognitive Scientist Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learner
I learn best as a Kinesthetic Learner. Being able to manipulate and use all of my senses to learn a new subject is most effective for me. This ensures that I can take in all aspects of that subject in order to store it in as many parts of my brain (visual memory, auditory memory ex.) as possible.
The article was very interesting and I got a lot from it. A common misconception that was discussed was using a students strong modality in teaching any subject. I thought this to be true as well but in reading we began to understand that people learn best by presenting the subject in a way that is best for the subject not the student. Students will learn more if they a taught in a way that is best for a subject then best to them because its more natural which makes it easier for the brain to comprehend and store.
I also learned that the brain can store information as audio or visual but the most common and most effective way to store information is through meaning. This was really interesting to me because I thought that since we have six senses, that's how the brain would store the incoming information. But it turns out that the brain only uses this to gather the information. The brain would rather store correlations of the incoming information and convert these correlations to meanings for long term memory. Knowing this, I will attempt to always highlight the meaning of everything that is taught in order to make it easier for the student to remember everything that is taught.
The article was very interesting and I got a lot from it. A common misconception that was discussed was using a students strong modality in teaching any subject. I thought this to be true as well but in reading we began to understand that people learn best by presenting the subject in a way that is best for the subject not the student. Students will learn more if they a taught in a way that is best for a subject then best to them because its more natural which makes it easier for the brain to comprehend and store.
I also learned that the brain can store information as audio or visual but the most common and most effective way to store information is through meaning. This was really interesting to me because I thought that since we have six senses, that's how the brain would store the incoming information. But it turns out that the brain only uses this to gather the information. The brain would rather store correlations of the incoming information and convert these correlations to meanings for long term memory. Knowing this, I will attempt to always highlight the meaning of everything that is taught in order to make it easier for the student to remember everything that is taught.
Blog #1 Constructivist vs. Positive Article
Epistemology, what is it? As humans we try to quantify things and put labels on them. We like certain things to mean certain things. So what is the definition or label of Epistemology? It is the part of philosophy that attempts to define knowledge, what it is, and how to measure it.
There are two main theories on Epistemology, the first is Positive Epistemology, and the second is Constructivist.
Positive Epistemology is the theory that "knowledge," is something that is quantifiable; it's somewhat like an object in space that one can aqcuire by using science and observation. Positive Epistemology would argue that a person could go out into the world and aqcuire "knowledge," by observing and learning the facts about something such as flying. Knowing that the high and low pressures of a wing create the necessarily lift for flight would then be considered knowledge.
Constructivist Theory would argue almost the exact opposite. This theory implies that facts are not enough to be considered knowledge. Knowing that the high pressure on the bottom of a wing and the low pressure on the top of the wing isn't knowledge in it of itself, but the meaning behind this explanation is what Constructivist theororists believe. What does "high pressure," mean? What does lift mean? The answers to those questions are "knowledge."
I personally believe that "knowledge," can be explained very closely to the Constructivist Theory. Facts in this world are a given. We as human beings have defined "facts" as something that is proven to be true through observation or science. But just because I observe airplanes flying, doesn't mean I understand and have the meaning of flying. We give words to many things and some words have two meanings. I believe to have knowledge we must understand the meaning behind these words in order to attain knowledge. Understanding the facts and what facts mean is knowledge. If I were to teach someone the word "fact," from a country that didn't speak English, this person would just be string certain sounds together without any understanding of what "fact" is. They must understand our definition and meaning behind the word before they really KNOW what "fact," is.
There are two main theories on Epistemology, the first is Positive Epistemology, and the second is Constructivist.
Positive Epistemology is the theory that "knowledge," is something that is quantifiable; it's somewhat like an object in space that one can aqcuire by using science and observation. Positive Epistemology would argue that a person could go out into the world and aqcuire "knowledge," by observing and learning the facts about something such as flying. Knowing that the high and low pressures of a wing create the necessarily lift for flight would then be considered knowledge.
Constructivist Theory would argue almost the exact opposite. This theory implies that facts are not enough to be considered knowledge. Knowing that the high pressure on the bottom of a wing and the low pressure on the top of the wing isn't knowledge in it of itself, but the meaning behind this explanation is what Constructivist theororists believe. What does "high pressure," mean? What does lift mean? The answers to those questions are "knowledge."
I personally believe that "knowledge," can be explained very closely to the Constructivist Theory. Facts in this world are a given. We as human beings have defined "facts" as something that is proven to be true through observation or science. But just because I observe airplanes flying, doesn't mean I understand and have the meaning of flying. We give words to many things and some words have two meanings. I believe to have knowledge we must understand the meaning behind these words in order to attain knowledge. Understanding the facts and what facts mean is knowledge. If I were to teach someone the word "fact," from a country that didn't speak English, this person would just be string certain sounds together without any understanding of what "fact" is. They must understand our definition and meaning behind the word before they really KNOW what "fact," is.
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