· Discuss one question or confusion that you had about the material. Even if you think you understand everything, you must ask one question related to the material, its connection to other modules, or its implications.
Why is it that most schools use mastery learning? In my experience, that is the main type of learning that I have seen in schools, but why is that? Is it the easiest for teachers to use? Is it most effective for almost all grade levels? In the book, it states that there are no gains for standardized tests, only teacher-made tests, so why is it that the majority of teachers use mastery learning?
There are multiple 'Teaching Methods' described within the module.
· Mastery learning
· Direct instruction
· Discovery learning
· Expository teaching
· Inquiry learning
· Cooperative learning
· Methods of fostering comprehension
Choose two and explain how one or more theories may have influenced the instructional choices involved in the methods. You should be able to connect these methods with elements of development/learning/motivation theories that we have covered. It is NOT enough to say that 'Inquiry learning is clearly influenced by Piaget because he thought that kind of thing was a good idea.' Particular theories will 'match up' more or less with different theoretical assumptions.
In other words, describe how what a teacher considers as LEARNING influences how they choose to teach students. I want you to express that you understand that a teacher's idea of how learning happens (their learning theory) influences the kinds of instructional strategies they choose to use. So, I mainly want you to explain why a teacher who believes in Information Processing, etc would be likely to choose one of these in particular for their classroom. Or, backwards, why someone who uses one of these strategies likely believes in Behaviorism.
1) Methods of fostering comprehension, reciprocal teaching is obviously influenced by Vygotsky’s theory of Proximal Development. The teacher first models the comprehension strategies and then scaffolds students when needed. The Zone of Proximal Development theory states that students can complete higher cognitive tasks with the help of someone who is cognitively higher, and in this case the teacher, who is cognitively higher, is helping the students complete the comprehension strategies. There strategies are questioning, clarifying, summarizing and predicating. Depending upon the age of students, some students might need more help than others leading the discussion through these strategies, and the teacher will help the students as necessary making sure that the discussion moves along as it should. Methods of fostering comprehension also connect with the sociocultural theory within the learning theories. In this teaching method, the teacher must first model the four comprehension strategies before students complete the task. Modeling is an important part to the sociocultural theory and the teacher must model competence behavior within the modeling, which any teacher should be able to do with the four comprehension strategies, and therefore it will be more likely that the students will model the teacher when it is their turn to learn the discussion.
2) Expository teaching had to of been influenced by the information processing theory since in this type of teaching the goal is for material to be “integrated” in to the student’s memory in a meaningful way and memory is the whole concept of the information processing theory. Information first begins in the sensory memory, then to the working memory and then into the long-term memory, but before this process is complete several things must occur. First, a student must hear or see information through sensory memory, next is working memory where the student should put the information either into the visuospatial sketchpad, phonological loop or episodic sketchpad. Finally, through practice information is in the long-term memory. In expiatory teaching, a teacher begins with relating the new information’s relevance to previous information. Next, the teacher organizes the general information before the instruction. Next, the teacher presents the information in an organized way, which is beginning to get the information into the sensory memory, and working memory. The final step is practicing knowledge, and practicing it a lot so that the information can be in the long-term memory, and through all of the practice and connections of the information with previous knowledge, it will be in the long-term memory, most likely in a meaningful way.
To answer your question about mastery learning... I feel that many teachers use this technique to teach students because they have to follow strict standards from the state on what the students have to learn. In mastery learning, the teacher sets standards and learning objectives for the students. I feel that this is easy for teachers to do, as they have standards to follow anyways. Another idea is that this allows the teacher to have control over the classroom, where they give students limited independence. I feel that teachers that teach using mastery learning like to have this control and have a structured classroom for the students. I am not sure if this helps answer your question?
ReplyDelete