One of the earliest psychological theories to be applied to schooling was behaviorism. According to this idea, humans learn by associating rewards with actions; we tend to continue to do (learn) that which is positively rewarded and avoid that which is negatively rewarded. The type of learning associated with behaviorism is called conditioning. Conditioning is Read More
Category: Elevator Pitches
Elevator Pitch: Tech = Tame, Education = Wicked
Technology problems are tame because: we can all easily recognize them as problems (for example, the network doesn’t respond, so we can’t do our work); we have known methods of restoring it (we know how to isolate malfunctioning parts of the system and there are known processes for fixing them) we all agree when they are resolved (we get back Read More
What Teachers Want
In the 2003 book Creating Significant Learning Experiences, L. Dee Fink described conversations with faculty that were focused by the question, “In your deepest, fondest dreams, what kind of impact would you most like to have on your students?” Faculty answers to this question did not mention remembering information. Faculty’s answers did include what they hoped students would do with their new knowledge, how they would solve problems, how they would interact Read More
Elevator Pitch on Teaching for Transfer
Scholars who study knowledge transfer differentiate “near transfer” from “far transfer.” Near transfer describes applying knowledge in settings similar to where it was learned, and far transfer describes applying it to settings dissimilar to where it was learned. Transfer does exist along a continuum and it is difficult to measure reliably. In these ways it Read More
Elevator Pitch on Transfer
John Dewey wrote “education is not preparation for life, it is life itself.” While this may be true, many students enroll in higher education to be better prepared for the profession they will enter after they graduate. It seems reasonable, then, that educators should take steps to ensure their students can use what they learn Read More
An Elevator Pitch on Teaching for Transfer
Education is about changing humans. When our students leave our classrooms, we expect they can do things, see things, and think things they could not before the class. If our students leave with their abilities unchanged, then they (and we) have wasted their time and energy and money while there.
Technology & Cognition
The global computer networks that we have at our finger tips in the third decade of the 21st century have been attributed with creating a “global village,” and that seems a appropriate metaphor as many have had the experience of communicating with individual at the next seat or thousands of miles away using ICT. The Read More
Effective Teachers are Perpetually Learning about Teaching
Each instructor’s experience with teachers and learning has been unique to you. The strategies your teachers used and the approaches you brought to your own learning worked for you; you would not be in this position otherwise. Do not be fooled into thinking your path to becoming educated is the path that will work for Read More
What Roszak Wrote About Curriculum
Historian and philosopher Theodore Roszak (1994) minimizes the role of information in human cognition, and he even observes “humans think with ideas, not with information” [emphasis in the original] and affords ideas a central place in the human cognition by continuing, “Information may helpfully illustrate or decorate an idea; it may, where it works under the guidance of a contrasting idea, help to call other Read More
Culture and Learning
The culture (comprising beliefs, attitudes, symbols, and similar concepts) that learners experience when they are young contributes to their views and perspectives. These influence what behaviors in schools that learners value, how they define learning, and ideas about how learning occurs. These all affect how individual interact with curriculum, teachers, and peers in school. Differences Read More