1. Session 5 March 8, 2011

2.  Share SCIM-C Experiences, using guiding questions: Julie, Diane, Alan  Activity/Review of Relevant Learning Theories  Discuss strategies/topics for 2 nd SCIM-C strategy session  Reading for next session: “Historical Understanding among Adolescents in a Multicultural Setting” by Peter Seixas

3. …a constructivist view of learning suggests an approach to teaching that gives learners the opportunity for concrete, contextually meaningful experience through which they can search for patterns; raise questions; and model, interpret and defend their strategies and ideas. The classroom in this model is seen as a mini-society, a community of learners engaged in activity, discourse, interpretation, justification, and reflection….teachers assume more of a facilitator’s role and learners take on more ownership of the ideas. Catherine Fosnot (2005)

4.  Behaviorism  Cognitivism  Social Learning Theory  Social Constructivism  Multiple Intelligences  Brain-Based Learning

5.  Learning is defined by the outward expression of new behaviors  Focuses solely on observable behaviors  A biological basis for learning  Learning is context-independent  Classical & Operant Conditioning  Reflexes (Pavlov’s Dogs)  Feedback/Reinforcement (Skinner’s Pigeon Box)

6.  Rewards and punishments  Responsibility for student learning rests solely with the teacher  Lecture-based, highly structured

7.  Grew in response to Behaviorism  Knowledge is stored cognitively as symbols  Learning is the process of connecting symbols in a meaningful & memorable way  Studies focused on the mental processes that facilitate symbol connection  Jean Piaget  Genetic Epistemology- the formation and meaning of knowledge and the means by which humans move from a lower to a higher level of knowledge.  Assimilation – the incorporation of new events into cognitive structures  Accommodation – transformation of an already existing structure in response to the environment.  Jerome Bruner  Discovery Learning  Learner as independent problem-solver

8.  Inquiry-oriented projects  Opportunities for the testing of hypotheses  Curiosity encouraged  Staged scaffolding

9.  Grew out of Cognitivism  A. Bandura (1973)  Learning takes place through observation and sensorial experiences  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery  SLT is the basis of the movement against violence in media & video games

10.  Collaborative learning and group work  Modeling responses and expectations  Opportunities to observe experts in action

11.  Grew out of and in response to Cognitivism, framed around metacognition  Knowledge is actively constructed  Learning is…  A search for meaning by the learner  Contextualized  An inherently social activity  Dialogic and recursive  The responsibility of the learner  Lev Vygotsky  Social Learning  Zone of Proximal Development

12.  Journaling  Experiential activities  Personal focus  Collaborative & cooperative learning

13.  Grew out of Constructivism, framed around metacognition  H. Gardner (1983 to present)  All people are born with eight intelligences: verbal linguistic, visual spatial, logical- mathematical, kinesthetic, musical, naturalist, interpersonal, intrapersonal  Enables students to leverage their strengths and purposefully target and develop their weaknesses

14.  Grew out of Neuroscience & Constructivism  D. Souza, N. Caine & G. Caine, E. Jensen (1980’s to present)  12 governing principles  1. Brain is a parallel processor  2. Whole body learning  3. A search for meaning  4. Patterning  5. Emotions are critical  6. Processing of parts and wholes  7. Focused attention & peripheral perception  8. Conscious & unconscious processes  9. Several types of memory  10. Embedded learning sticks  11. Challenge & threat  12. Every brain is unique

15. The findings may nevertheless help suggest directions for a pedagogy that incorporates prior understandings of students in multicultural settings. In order to engage family stories, the study of history in schools would have to provide a common ground, with common ground rules, rules of evidence, of interpretation, explicitly taught… Peter Seixas, 1993