Brenda Weal Selena Hinchco Technology for specialist teachers in the middle years

Session One- Differentiation in the Technology classroom- finding out and meeting individual learning needs Technology seminar

Aim  To understand the importance of recognising students’ prior knowledge  To develop some strategies for gathering students’ prior knowledge.

What happens currently?  When students come to your class on the first day what does your lesson look like?

Why build on students’ experience? Constructivist learning theory says that we learn by actively making our own meanings, not by passively receiving information. Within a constructivist perspective, students enter classrooms not a blank slates but with pre-existing world views.

Why build on students’ experience? New learning occurs when students make connections between their pre-existing world views and new knowledge. These new connections make the new knowledge meaningful to them.

Why build on students’ experience? When you recognise students’ prior knowledge and experience, you can develop realistic expectations of your students’ learning. In turn, this can help you tailor learning activities more explicitly to meet their learning needs.

Why build on students’ experience? When you build on students’ prior knowledge and experience, you send the message that you have taken time to understand where your students are coming from. Encouraging students to examine what they already know helps them to become more active learners.

Why build on students’ experience? Neglecting to tap into students’ prior knowledge can result in either:  Teaching what students already know (can lead to boredom, disengagement, behaviour problems) Or:  Students find the learning too difficult so don’t get the depth of understanding we expect.

How to tap into students’ prior knowledge, given that technology teaching time is limited. What prior knowledge do teachers want to find out from students?  Curriculum knowledge (Technology)  Context knowledge (Foods, electronics, etc)

Strategies for gathering prior knowledge  Bus stop  Tasks involving figuring out how things work and why  Meet and greet quiz  In pairs write safety rules for a piece of equipment in the tech room  Self assessment sheets