Session 8 - Goal Based Learning

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model?

• As I read the articles on goal-based learning (GBL), it sounded similar to the problem-based learning approach. They both recommend using real-world learning situations.  I find it interesting in the types of artificial goals that young students have. I feel teachers can help foster goals for the students. The challenge is that the students are usually only with a teacher for one year. Parents are in a very powerful and unique position, where they have life-long influence on students’ goals. This brings up the age-old question of how can parents instill goals in their children, if they have no goals themselves. I feel children are not born with natural goal setting abilities, thus parents and teachers need to model how achievable goals are created. I feel students need to understand the meaning and purpose of goals, before they can be effective in GBL.

What are barriers to its use?

• I feel that creating interesting and effective GBL modules can take a lot of time to create. The examples that I have seen have different paths for students to select based on their interests. Creating these would require more time and effort on the teacher’s part. Having choices is a good thing, but require a lot of up front planning and development time.
• Another challenge is there are many teachers that are not very tech savvy, in creating web modules that are visually, auditorily, and interactively engaging to the students. If they are just created like web pages, with a bunch of web resource links, students are not going to be very excited and interested in the lesson activity.
• Since students have many varied interests, a teacher should have a variety of different GBL lessons for student to select. When students have choice, they are more likely to be interested in the activity.

Since we are taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?

• I believe GBL can be implemented in a web-based environment. The challenge for teachers is to come up with realistic goals. Extrinsic goals like stickers, food, etc are not always that motivating for students. Intrinsic goals like figuring out how much fence is needed to create a pen to save abused horses can be more motivating for a student. That assumes they like horses. I feel it is important for teachers to have several different goals to allow for a variety for diverse student interests. 

Session 7 - Situated / Apprenticeship Learning

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model?

• As I read the article on situated learning, it sounded very similar to the problem-based learning approach.  In situated learning and problem-based learning, both approaches are tied to learning in a context environment.  Both are dealing with real world contextual situations that the students use to learn. The cognitive apprenticeship learning approach is a little different from the previous ones. The apprentice approach is built around the three facets of modeling, coaching, and fading scaffold support. This approach does have its rich master and apprentice history. The concept does sound good, and can work well in specific education situation. It does raise some issues when you try to apply it to large general education system.

What are barriers to its use?

• Most apprenticeships I have heard of are based on a lot of one-on-one instruction. A computer is not always a good replacement for the complex apprentice one-on-one learning interactions between a highly skilled master teacher and the student. How do you apply this individualized apprenticeship approach in a large classroom that is teaching general education material like in an elementary school?
• In the past, after an apprenticeship was completed, the student was ready to go to work in that trade or skill area. There was a job waiting at the end, which was a definite motivation for the apprentice to complete the apprenticeship. What motivation is there for middle school students to be an apprentice in a social studies class for example?
• In the past, a craft person would select an apprentice to take on to teach their trade. They did not select anyone. How do you handle the cases where an apprentice finds out that this trade/education was not for them?
• I think most apprenticeship master-teachers, where skilled in a couple areas at the most. How do we get general education teacher to be highly skilled and passionate about all the content areas they teach? I can see this being especially challenging in the elementary grades, where teachers are generalists, not specialist like middle school teachers and up.
• The apprenticeship was something that the student selected/chose to go into. For example, how do you get students to select a Language Arts/English apprenticeship, if that content area is not of real interest to them? We have to be careful that an apprenticeship does not turn into a general education indentured servant program.

Since we are taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?

• I believe the idea of situated learning can be implemented in a classroom very easily. I feel when student learn in context, they are able to relate and see how it is applied and used in the real world. I feel content that is taught in isolation is not retained as well as when taught in context.
• I can see the apprentice learning approach being successfully applied at high school and the college level. I see issues with trying to use the approach in the elementary school level.  

Session 6 - Problem Based Learning

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model?

• When I read these articles on problem-based learning (PBL), it sounded similar to guided learning, in that you use real world situations/problems for instruction.  I like the idea of students working in groups to learn. Groups allow the students to work through problem resolution stages like, what information is known, what information is need to be researched, where do we find this information, and what is our going forward strategy to solve the problem.

What are barriers to its use?

• Most of problem-based learning research seems to focus on mid to higher education, and not much on elementary school students. I can see some younger students struggling with this approach, since they do not have as many life experiences to draw on.  As stated in (Ryan, 1994), the PBL group is made up of 5 – 6 members, of which, is a narrator, scribe, and tutor/coach. I can see these roles being challenging in the elementary school grades.
• When students learn through the PBL approach, they tend to sacrifice breadth for depth of knowledge in an area. One of the challenges is that it takes time to dig and research into a PBL topic, thus you are not able to cover a broad curriculum area in depth.
• It seems somewhat ironic that you would use problems to teach students, since some people try to avoid problems, while others like to solve them. As (Hung, 2003) has stated, “Research shows that the initial transition from a traditional to a PBL curriculum may be a difficult adjustment for students.”
• There are also concerns that PBI does not prepare students for the standardized tests that will test there breadth of knowledge, vs. depth of knowledge in a subject area.

Would you attempt to use this theory/model with the students you are currently teaching or hope to teach in the future? Why or why not? Could elements of the theory/model be modified so that it would work with your current/future students?

• Being an elementary teacher, I wonder how many of these PBL problem-solving stages are achievable with young students. Since younger students are still learning how to get along socially, there may be more effort required by the teacher to help the students learn good team dynamics, along with how to work through the PBL stages. I can see the teacher providing much more scaffold support, to help students learn the PBL problem solving process. Using guiding questions can help students figure-out/discover the next stage. Additional assistance will be needed to help young students learn research techniques.

Since we are taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?

• I believe the idea of problem-based learning can be implemented in web modules. Having real world problems for the groups to select/choose, can help foster more team motivation and interest. For elementary students, PBL activities could incorporate a problem that is tied to a story, which the students have read. For example, the students have read a book as part of a unit on the plant life cycle. The problem-solving challenge for the students is to find out why Ms. Wiffle’s inside houseplant is not producing seeds. 

Session 5 - Cooperative Learning

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model?

• When I read these articles on cooperative learning, it sounded similar to guided learning.  I like the idea of students working as a team to learn. As stated in Haller’s research article “A key assumption of cooperative learning is that students working in groups will learn from and teach one another.” The idea of groups of people learning together is very common in the corporate world. The group’s grades /evaluations of success are based on all the members’ participation. In the software and engineering fields there are many groups that are working on coming up with competitive designs for specific products.

What are barriers to its use?

• The barriers in cooperative learning seem to be very similar to guided group learning. They basically, revolve around team dynamics. One barrier that I can think of is students with an intrapersonal learning style. They are not as likely to be as successful with cooperative learning, since it is an interpersonal learning style.
• Another issue that has to be considered is the dynamics that each team member brings. A team with too many strong personalities may cause the team to flounder, due to personal achievement goals, group disagreements, and infighting.

Would you attempt to use this theory/model with the students you are currently teaching or hope to teach in the future? Why or why not? Could elements of the theory/model be modified so that it would work with your current/future students?

• The research article Johnson stated “five basic elements have emerged as critical to cooperative work in classrooms: positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing.” I noticed that many of the articles are based on research in a university setting. Being an elementary teacher, I wonder how many of these five basic elements are achievable with young students. Since younger students are still learning how to get along socially, there may be more effort required by the teacher to help the students learn good team dynamics.  

Since we are taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?

• I believe the idea of cooperative learning can be implemented in web modules. By using logs and blogs, students are able to interact and reflect on learned materials, while away from the classroom. Blogs can also help intrapersonal learners in the group to feel more in their learning zone. Having real world projects for the teams to select (giving choice) can help foster more team motivation and interest.