EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/ Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities: An Introduction to Process- Oriented Instruction

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/20082 Introduction A web-based course on developing process-oriented instruction has been created to support teachers of students with learning disabilities. The course focuses on raising self-awareness.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/20083 What is Process-Oriented Instruction? Process-oriented instruction involves a teacher modeling and thinking aloud as a way of uncovering for the learner, the cognitive and metacognitive processes underlying learning. a teacher modeling and thinking aloud as a way of uncovering for the learner, the cognitive and metacognitive processes underlying learning. Process-oriented instruction may be described as "Applied Cognitive Psychology" (Wong, 1992). The goals: 1. to teach students look at themselves as learners, 2. raise their awareness of their abilities and learning preferences.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/20084 Further Defn… Vermunt (1995) defines process-oriented instruction as "... teaching thinking strategies and domain-specific knowledge in coherence", aimed at; "promoting the development of meaning-directed and application-directed learning styles." Students who possess these learning styles use deep processing and self-regulated learning strategies, and to them, learning is seen as a personal construction of knowledge. These students are motivated learners who seek out learning opportunities.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/20085 Process Awareness… Process where learners learn to recognize and analyze patterns, and ask themselves questions: 1. "Is this problem like another I've experienced?", 2."Why do I have trouble with this type of problem?", 3."How is my excitement (or anxiety) affecting how I learn?", 3."How is my excitement (or anxiety) affecting how I learn?", 4. "What did I just do?"..., These are conscious metacognitive statements.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/20086 Metacognitive questions… …become a regular part of thinking that develop into a skill, and with practice, become a regular part of a person's personality. Life-long learners, a popular term in the realms of education, possess the skills and knowledge that develop out of process- oriented instruction.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/20087 Thinking models… One of the keys to developing increased knowledge of thinking processes is to develop models of thinking. Models help an expert learner put into words (or pictures) "tacit" knowledge that is often difficult to verbalize.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/20088 Thinking Models… Models also help the novice learner make sense of a vast number of interactions between perceptual abilities, learning preferences, memory capacities, and the accumulated knowledge of facts and procedures that govern how learning occurs. By developing models of thinking, highly automated processes become declarative knowledge, and the accumulation of this knowledge forms a content area of it's own.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/20089 Metacognitive… This content knowledge differs from other content area knowledge. It can be compared to language, which is a "meta" system of symbols we use to describe other systems of symbols that we use to represent meaning Metacognition is another such "meta" system, used to regulate thinking, the development of which is a primary focus of process-oriented instruction.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/ Metacognition & Learning Disabilities (LD) LD - described by many as the ineffective use of strategies. Children with learning disabilities are not necessarily deficient in the quantity of learning strategies they possess, but rather, apply them in inappropriate or ineffective ways, having less control over certain aspects of their thinking

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/ Characteristics of LD Several characteristic of LD profiles: –disorganized, – lacking social skills, – the class clown, each stemming from the inappropriate or ineffective use of strategies.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/ Further Characteristics of Children with LD… Children with learning disabilities tend not to transfer strategy knowledge across domains; Children with learning disabilities tend not to transfer strategy knowledge across domains; skills they learn in one situation are not likely to be applied in a similar situation in another content area. skills they learn in one situation are not likely to be applied in a similar situation in another content area. Research repeatedly shows that strategy transfer has been difficult to achieve in children with learning disabilities. Research repeatedly shows that strategy transfer has been difficult to achieve in children with learning disabilities. For these children, a primary reason for this lack of transfer is insufficient general knowledge For these children, a primary reason for this lack of transfer is insufficient general knowledge – about learning, –knowledge about one's self as a learner, –and knowledge about task demands.

EDU 3201 Lg Def Lr/GM/UPM/ Roles of Metacognitives…. Metacognitive learners, on the other hand, are able to;. Metacognitive learners, on the other hand, are able to; – tap into a content area consisting of models, – strategies, –and regulatory skills that can be generalized to new learning experiences. Therefore: A goal for educators of children with learning disabilities should be to turn these often disorganized, unmotivated, though often very bright children, into metacognitive learners.