Danielle's Blog

History Games Link...

2007-03-28T13:03:00.000+10:00

Schoolhistory.co.uk/games ...

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/games/

This website is fanatastic for several topics. Games include hangman, fling the teacher and several other games as well. The questions are difficult and could only be used to conclude a topic, rather than to open with.

Podcasts...

2007-03-27T10:00:00.000+10:00

http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2005/04/05/create_podcasts_with_pc.html

Wiki's - Not Wikipedia

2007-03-21T12:44:00.000+11:00

Wiki's...

Wiki's are collaberating with other people to create a web page. We collaborate over the internet by adding to information that is already on the webpage.

http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Dreikurs,_Rudolf

This Wiki is a very good exmaple of a Wiki. It contains:

A name
Contents
Ability to 'Edit'
Links to other pages
Resource list
References
Date it was last modified
A counter - how many times the Wiki has been accessed
Search
People who have contributed

Even though Wiki's are a useful point of reference, when using Wiki's, you must remember that ABSOLUTELY ANYONE can make a post... even if it is not accurate. So cross-referencing is a must!

My Multiple Intelligence Results...

2007-03-20T10:13:00.000+11:00

My Multiple Intelligence Results...

From a quiz that I did... I found out that my top three qualities are:

Interpersonal

Linguistic

Logical

To see my full results... go to this website:

http://www2.bgfl.org/bgfl2/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/results/results.cfm

and then type in this code:

d72vpd2854

Multiple Intelligences...

2007-03-20T08:47:00.000+11:00

Multiple Intelligences...

http://surfaquarium.com/mi/intelligences.htm

This website is extremely important and helpful in grouping the multiple itelligences together. Rather than the traditional view where every multiple intelligence is put seperately, this wheel is far more useful and helpful for teachers because it allows teachers to utilise different teaching methods for different groups - they can all learn from either an Analytic, Interactive or Introspective.

Analytical...

Logical - reasoning and problem solving

Rhythmic - sound and patterning

Naturalist - classifications, categories and hierarchies

Interactive...

Kinesthetic - interaction with the environment
Interpersonal - interaction with others
Intrapersonal - feelings, values and attitudes

Introspective...
Existential - connecting to larger understandings
Linguistic - spoken and written word
Visual - seeing and imagining

A Good Blog...

2007-03-20T08:42:00.000+11:00

This is a website for a really good blog that Sarah found, it is quite interactive with interesting links, pictures, podcasts and more.
http://onlinesapiens.com/blog/category/communities

Blog Core Values

2007-03-14T13:56:00.000+11:00

BLOG CORE VALUES

Authenticity

Passion

Transparency

Credibility

Individualism

Creativity

Originality

Relevance

Integrety

http://blogcorevalues.blogspot.com/2005/04/18-characteristics-of-good-blog.html

A Good Blog...

2007-03-14T12:45:00.000+11:00

A Good Blogger...

http://www.downes.ca/

http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes

Hyperlinks
Providing a service
Also has his own webpage
Making it interesting
Hyperlinking text (e.g. 'Montreal') to things he likes - Hockey
A newsletter
A fan base
Ability for people to comment on his posts
Chat service
Pictures
Personal information and contact details

Stephen Downes has created a blog that now is one of the most known, respected and viewed blogs in the world. It is because of the list above that he has made his name in the land of blogging. His OLDaily blog (the top hyperlink) is considered to be at the foremost front of blogs. Through his and others work (including myself), as bloggers, make information that much easier for people to access and use. Whilst it may not information that can be quoted as an expert on the information; it does often give background information, links to proper webpages, and it can also allow the reader to think of their own ideas.

Stephen's Web:

"the design of Stephen's Web is intended to embody the following new directions in online learning:
- Integration of Learning, Practice and Research - it is the author's belief that learning in an online environment will gradually merge with other domains of activity, and specifically, practice and research. Consequently, Stephen's Web merges these three uses of online content into a single space.
- Integration of Content and Community - it is the author's belief that content and community - that is, the presentation of content and consequent discussion of content - should be presented as an integrated unit and not segregated (as is typical in learning management systems).
- Content Syndication - a single online learning resource is depicted on this view as one node in a network of resources, whereby these resources exchange content and services among each other. This outcome is achieved by means of content syndication and supported throughout Stephen's Web
- Dynamic Organization - learning, and the presentation of learning, should not be static. On any given day, the organization, structure and delivery of learning resources may change according to the changing knowledge of the instructor, the changing nature of the field, and the changing preferences of the learner.

Learning Styles and ICT

2007-03-13T09:59:00.000+11:00

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:U5ZCUY3VD50J:www.microsoft.com/uk/education/learning/learning-styles/+ict+learning+styles&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=au

Understanding students' personal learning styles helps teachers make learning more relevant. Learners can be defined by the sensory pathways through which they prefer to receive information:
Visual learning
Auditory learning
Kinaesthetic or tactile learning

Visual - learning by seeing
Information and communications technology (ICT) can stimulate visual learning with graphics, animations and simulations. Interactive whiteboards and PowerPoint presentations enable teachers to present concepts in a visual way.Visual learning ideas:

Show Discovery Channel videos from Encarta to illustrate a topic
Ask children to present a topic such as the water cycle using pictures and diagrams in PowerPoint
Get children to produce a time-lapse movie of a plant germinating and growing using Movie Maker 2
Have a video conference on Windows Instant Messenger
View a visual learning and ICT case study

Auditory - learning by hearing
Auditory learners prefer to learn through sound and speech. Many PCs, and all Tablet PCs, can record speech and sound. These files can then be embedded into slides or documents. ICT can also encourage conversation-based collaboration, for example, through video conferencing.Auditory learning ideas:

Get children to use some of the sound clips in Encarta to explain concepts
Ask children to embed sounds in their PowerPoint presentations to explain a topic
Videos with voice-overs engage visual and auditory learning styles. Ask your students to record the soundtrack to a demonstration
View an auditory learning and ICT case study

Kinaesthetic or tactile - learning by doing
Kinaesthetic or tactile learners prefer active forms of learning such as writing, drawing and producing animations, or making models and doing practical experiments. They benefit from using devices that involve touch, like mice and joysticks, or a Tablet PC, which enables users to write or draw onto a computer using a pen.Kinaesthetic learning ideas:

The 'Lever Principle' interactivity in Encarta is a great example of content for kinaesthetic learners
Set up a PC with Flight Simulator and a games controller and attach it to a data projector or large screen. Select an area to fly over to enhance geography lessons
Ask children to explain a concept that involves movement using the animation tools in PowerPoint
Use digital photography with PowerPoint to teach a movement in PE or a skill in Design and Technology
View a kinaesthetic or tactile learning and ICT case study

What If.......

2007-03-13T09:16:00.001+11:00

What would have happened had we linked up with people at 8pm last night?

To put it bluntly, it would have been a whole lot easier. Not only would people have been using their own computers, which you are automatically more at ease with, but there are more interesting and exciting things to do at home. At the same time as setting up your blog, you would have been chatting with at least one other person on MSN, would have been listening to a new song you have just downloaded on iTunes, have a game minimised, waiting for you to play; transferring some money from one account to another and surfing the net.
What we have done with our 'linking up' of other people's blogs is created a learning environment; a social constructivist network. From here, now that we worked out all the difficulties, it is much easier to learn and educate from and to our contacts. It is an exciting, new and interesting way to learn and help others learn. Welcome to the future!

Constructivism Notes

2007-03-13T09:16:00.000+11:00

What is Social Constructivism?

Knowledge is negotiated and re-negotiated socially
Through the process of discussion, individuals come to a consensus about the meaning of a concept
Language in a social gathering facilitates the articulation of thought (which results in the construction of ideas and understandings)
Principles of Social Constructivism
Prior knowledge is crucial to any learning experience
People perceive things differently
Collaboration with others facilitates understandings
Knowledge is more meaningful when it is linked to existing understandings
Knowledge is richer when it has multiple links

Social Constructivism and the Role of the Student
Students:

play a central role in their own learning
are actively engaged in the learning process in an attempt to answer/generate questions,
and solve problems
use strategies to monitor their own learning
are metacognitive learners
co-learners / co-teachers

Social Constructivism and the Role of the Teacher
Teachers must:

provide students with the skills of learning (collaboration, learning strategies etc)
carefully orchestrate learning experiences that will actively engage students
carefully generate leading questions that will guide students in their quests to construct knowledge
understand the levels at which all students are working and to structure appropriate
scaffolding to enable them to push beyond these levels
co-learners / co-teachers

Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants Inspiration

2007-03-06T09:50:00.000+11:00

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Outline.

Today's students have changed so much that the old method of teaching is restricting and not challenging enough for them.
The students know how to use technology properly because they grew up with it.
Because they have grown up with this technology, they think and process information differently to predecessors - their brains may have physically been altered.
These students are called N-Gen or D-Gen or, more commonly, Digital Natives. Their parents are called Digital Immigrants.
Digital Immigrants, whilst they can learn how to use this technology, they still do not fully grasp technology like the Digital Natives do.
Because of this non-grasping of technology, Digital Immigrants are teaching students who they can not relate to, who they can not fully understand.
Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants are completely different.
Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text. They function best when networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. They prefer games to “serious” work.
Digital Immigrants typically have very little appreciation for these new skills that the Natives have acquired and perfected through years of interaction and practice. These skills are almost totally foreign to the Immigrants, who themselves learned – and so choose to teach – slowly, step-by-step, one thing at a time, individually, and above all, seriously.
The assumption that the Digital Immigrants make that their students learn the same as they did is wrong.
Immigrants believe that Natives can't learn whilst watching TV and that learning shouldn't be fun.
In order to fix the generation gap methodologies and content need to be altered

Our New Taxonomy and SoundHouse VetcorLab

2007-03-06T09:31:00.000+11:00

SoundHouse VectorLab

http://powerhousemuseum.com/soundhousevectorlab/

The tag line for the webpage is:

Get creative

Get productive

Get connected

What are the key factors that should go into a Taxonomy

Description

Analysis (summarising and note making)

Synthesis (joining ideas together)

Evaluation

Application (to a new situation)

Create

Constructivism - Carl Rogers

2007-03-06T09:11:00.000+11:00

What is Carl Rogers' Contructivist Theory

www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/constructivism.html

http://www.dean.usma.edu/math/activities/cape/

Constructivism/501rog.htm

Rogers identified two types of learning. The first type, cognitive, corresponds to rote knowledge such as learning the multiplication tables. He considered this type of learning to be meaningless in the long run. The second type, experiential, refers to applied knowledge such as learning to use the computer in order to publish a paper. This he considered to be the most important. The principal distinction is that experiential learning stems from the needs and wants of the learner.
The following qualities characterize experiential learning: personal involvement, self-initiated, evaluated by learner, and pervasive effects on learner.
Experiential learning is equivalent to personal change and growth. All human beings have a natural propensity to learn. Education should help students discover how to learn and also support them as they learn to embrace change.

The role of the teacher is to facilitate experiential learning. This includes:

(1) Setting a positive climate for learning.

(2) Clarifying the purposes of the learning.

(3) Organizing and making available learning resources.

(4) Balancing intellectual and emotional components of learning.

(5) Sharing feelings and thoughts with learners but not dominating.

Learning is facilitated when:

(1) The student participates completely in the learning process and has control over its nature and direction.

(2) It is based upon practical social, personal or research problems of interest to the learner.

(3) Self-evaluation is the principal method of assessing progress.

Bloom's Taxonomy

2007-03-06T09:00:00.000+11:00

What is Bloom's Taxonomy?

www.coun.uvic.ca

/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html

www.teachers.ash.org.au

/researchskills/dalton.htm

Benjamin Bloom’s revised educational theory is shown on the right. His theory is that there are six skills and objectives that educators set for students. The most recent Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning diagram on the right shows the current skills and objectives that are tested by teachers on their students. From top to bottom it reads creating, evaluating, analyzing, applying, understanding and remembering; with creating being the most difficult and remembering being the least difficult.

Previous to the current diagram of Bloom’s Taxonomy, the top six skills and objectives set for students were, from top (most difficult) to bottom (least difficult): evaluation, synthesis, analysis, application, comprehension and knowledge. The reason for the change in assessing the skills and objectives was because of a change in the way students now process information. The students these days are now Digital Natives.

Piaget's Theory

2007-02-27T10:10:00.000+11:00

What is the essence of Piaget's Theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget

The four development stages are described in Piaget's theory as:

Sensorimotor stage: from birth to age 2 years (children experience the world through movement and senses and learn object permanence)

Preoperational stage: from ages 2 to 7 (acquisition of motor skills)

Concrete operational stage: from ages 7 to 11 (children begin to think logically about concrete events)

Formal operational stage: after age 11 (development of abstract reasoning).

Vygotsky's Theory

2007-02-27T09:54:00.000+11:00

What is the essence of Vygotsky's theory

chd.gmu.edu/immersion

/knowledgebase/

theorists/constructivism/

vygotsky.htm

Vygotsky believed that development is a process that should be analyzed, instead of a product to be obtained. According to Vygotsky, the development process that begins at birth and continues until death, is too complex to to be defined by stages (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather,1996).

Vygotsky believed that this life long process of development was dependent on social interaction and that social learning actually leads to cognitive development. This phenomena is called the Zone of Proximal Development . Vygotsky describes it as "the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978). In other words, a student can perform a task under adult guidance or with peer collaboration that could not be achieved alone. The Zone of Proximal Development bridges that gap between what is known and what can be known. Vygotsky claimed that learning occurred in this zone.

Glasser's Drivers

2007-02-27T09:24:00.000+11:00

What are the drivers / motivators that Glasser identifies in students?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice_Theory

Choice Theory suggests that behavior is central to our existence and is driven by five genetically driven needs:

SURVIVAL

BELONGING / CONNECTING / LOVE

POWER

FREEDOM

FUN

Choice Theory suggests the existence of a "Quality World" in which, starting at birth and continuing throughout our lives, we place those things that we highly value: primarily the people who are important to us, things we prize, and systems of belief, religion and cultural values. Glasser also posits a "Comparing Place" in which we compare the world we experience with our Quality World. We behave to achieve as best we can a real world experience consonant with our Quality World.

Hattie's Motivators

2007-02-27T08:56:00.000+11:00

What motivates people most to learn, using Hattie's ideas?

http://www.acer.edu.au/workshops/documents/HattieSlides.pdf

http://www.teacherstoolbox.co.uk/T_effect_sizes.html

Professor John Hattie believes that:

FEEDBACK - listening and reaffirming their work; positive reinforcement to the students

STUDENTS PRIOR COGNITIVE ABILITY - the ability of the student to build on what they have learnt before

INSTRUCTIONAL QUALITY - teaching ability and quality of the teacher

DIRECT INSTRUCTION - clear and precise instructions from the teacher

ACCELERATION - making sure that the students are working to the best of their ability

RE-MEDITATION / FEEDBACK - going back over what has been learnt

STUDENTS DISPOSITION TO LEARN - the students desire and attitude towards learning

THE CLASS ENVIRONMENT - how the class is presented

CHALLENGE OF GOALS - how challenging and interesting the class activities

are the top ten motivators in the classroom.