“Old” Learning Theories in the E-learn Environment

1. “Old” Learning Theories in the E-learn Environment Mikhail Bouniaev Department of Mathematics, Southern Utah University, USA bouniaev@suu.edu

2. LearningIs Effective When based on the general psychological principles of learning. Instructional Design is implementation and reflection of Objective psychological laws Pedagogical principles Methods of teaching the subject Instructional strategy How we learn and how we teach - stories of two parties

3. XVI-XX Centuries Pedagogy • Do we really based our teaching on general psychological principles, even we do not know what are they about? • How the pedagogy and methods of teaching have been shaped? • Can we apply the same teaching methods to the new delivery modes?

4. Puzzle: What would happened if porcupine is mated with snake? Mates?

6. Shaping of e-learn methods • 400 years of “trial and error”? • Try to apply recommendations of the modern learning theories to the development of e-learn methods of teaching?

7. Modern Leaning TheoriesHow our brains and minds learn? • Galperin, P.; Leontiev A.N.; Papert, S; Piaget, J. Talyzina, T.; Scanner, B.; Vygotskiey J; • Constractivism and Satge by Stage Develoment of Mental Action Theory • Piaget: “reflective abstraction is a means by which students construct abstract structures as a result of a student reflecting on his/her own activities and the arguments used is social interaction

8. Stage by Stage Development of Mental Actions Theory (SSDMA) • The SSDMA theory reveals the general principles of learning in respect to methods of delivery. • It discusses what action is and what are independent characteristics of action. • It suggesting five stages of instruction that seem to follow immediately from these principles and are not closely connected with traditional methods of delivery

9. The foundations of the SSDMA theory were developed in the fiftees-sixtees by Russian psychologists: • A.N. Leontiev • P. Galperin • T. Talizyna • We are working on further development of this theory in application to the computer based instruction including developing methods of e-learn instruction

10. SSDMA can be applied very efficiently for organizing CBI in well-structured domains such as mathematics. We also have some experimental data to believe that the same ideas that we incorporated to the CBI could be utilized for e-learn and blended teaching and not only to teaching mathematics

11. Basic Notions of the Stage-by-Stage Development of Mental Actions Theory • Actions • Operations. According to the SSDMA theory, the major goal of instruction is developing mental actions with objects in the studied field. Instruction is viewed as controlling and organizing students' actions and activities.

12. All actions can be referred to two categories: general logic actions and specific actions

13. Examples of general logic actions: • Attributing to a concept • Show that object X belongs to the class Y. Say show that a cow is the mammal • Show that Slovakia is the central europian country • Prove that 5 is a prime number

14. Examples of general logic actions • Classification • Based on some reasons split the given set of numbers into different groups: 1,2,3,4,5 • Classify the different periods in Europian civilization

15. Specific actions are basically inherent to a given subject field. • Multiplication in mathematics • Finding euphemism instead of clear and straightforward words in politics  Almost any general logic action has a specific component • Prove that 5 is a prime number

16. As a rule, the performed actions consist of other, more primitive actions, which in their turn can be part of other actions • Actions that are part of a given whole, are called operations. • That is, operations are also actions, hence the term "operation" implies only the hierarchical subordination among actions.

17. Different groups of Operations perform different functions • Some part of performing an action is taken up by preliminary work, a preparation for an action in a certain sense. • This preparatory part is called orientation part of an action.

18. The SSDMA theory specifies four independent characteristics used to determine the level of development of an action.

19. FORMS OF ACTION

20. The materialized form of action is connected with manual activities (manipulation, hand-on activities, etc.).

21. OBJECTS OF ACTIONare presented in the material form

22. RESULTS OF ACTION should be real transformations of these objects

23. There is no doubt that actions in the given examples and pictures are actions in the material form. But there may be different examples. • The action of sketching pictures on a computer screen with the mouse • or moving some objects from one part of the screen to another

24. Probably, there is no need to discuss the next form of action – the speech form of action, but it should be noted that according to the SSDMA theory Writing and typing belong to the speech form.

25. The mental form of action is the highest form of an action development. • An action in this form cannot be observed. • Only results of it can be recorded and observed.

26. Each of the described forms of an action has another three independent characteristics

27. Generalization of an action means • the ability to determine and discriminate essential for performing an action properties • the ability to apply them to objects of different nature

28. The degree of completeness indicates whether all the operations that were to be performed in the process of performing an action have been actually completed. • If the action is already developed, then the student who performs it practically does not discriminate operations from each other, i.e. the action takes place in the compressed form.

29. The degree of assimilation, as a rule, is connected with such indicators as • the speed of performing an action, • technical errors and mistakes, • the level of automatism, etc.

30. As it follows from most modern psychological theories at the initial stage of instruction the object of an action should be presented in a material or materialized form • Moreover, the action in a materialized form should be developed at a high enough level of generalization, completeness and assimilation

31. The SSDMA theory singles out five stages in the process of instruction. • Remainder: the major goal of instruction is developing mental actions with objects in the studied field. Instruction is viewed as controlling and organizing students' actions and activities. • Any action presupposes an object at which it is directed.

32. The First Stage of InstructionAt the first stage the student gets • Information about the goals and objects of the action to be developed. • The structure of the action is defined, which includes orientation, executive and control parts • Links, connections and relationships with actions and studied previously objects are determined

33. At the first stage traditional instruction includes: • Class presentations • Visual aids • Laboratory experiments • Reading textbooks or manuals

34. The organization of instruction at the first stage in the e-learn environment should involve at least the following components: • Multimedia incorporated into on-line presentation of material. • Computer modeling of the action’s object • Internet search • Students' work with hypertext and active zones • More structure in the presented material

35. Multimedia • It goes without saying that even a traditional form of presentation with multimedia is much more efficient than without it. It is especially true for the present generation of students that were brought up with hours of daily internet browsing and playing computer games.

36. Modeling • Model of a jet with changing wing angles in studying aerodynamics • Model of a grammar form in studying a foreign language • Group of commands of a programming language

37. Internet search makes it possible • To solve motivation, attention, and concentration problems • To connect mental activities with the manual ones • To connect objects of action with visual images and its models • Allows students to move in their own speed

38. In designing an e-learn environment, we do not exclude traditional forms of presenting a new material. • Just reading the textbook is not a sufficient activity for students to master a subject. • Reading a textbook is made more effective with a available hypertext • Using the support of visual images • reducing the time for search of the already studied material

39. At the first stage of instruction technologies could be used • As a tool to help students visualize dynamics of different phenomena and processes that cannot be observed in reality. • To provide a graphic interpretation of the studied process to model and imitate it

40. Three factors that determine the crucial role of technologies at the first stage of instruction in the e-learn environment. • The studied material should be visually interpreted. • Motivation problems should be resolved. • Students should get additional means (besides a traditional textbook) to reproduce the action, its components and objects on their own, without the instructor.

41. The Second Stage of Instruction • The second stage of developing an action focuses on students performing actions in the material or materialized form • Any action presupposes an object at which it is directed. If the action is manual, then the object should be material. If the action is mental, then the object of action should exist in the student’s mind

42. Modern technologies provide some means for creating models of materialized objects that the action under development is aimed at. • Graphics, drawings, tables, figures, diagrams, text blocks, group of commands of a programming language, etc. • Computer models of action to be developed may incorporate sound, dynamics and color.

43. Designing “objects to work with” probably is the most challenging task for both traditional and e-learn learning environments • Next challenge is to organize the learning activity aimed at the properties of the object that students are supposed to learn

44. Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as WebCT and Blackboard provide good tools to organize on line and blended courses • “Such systems provide a generic framework for web-based courses, and even some functionality aimed specifically at math and science, such as math-enabled message boards.”

45. The third stage of developing an action is that of the speech form • At this stage all the elements of the action are presented in the speech form • The action is becoming more generalized but still remains non automatic and not compressed • The speech form of the action should be developed in the operation-by-operation mode

46. There are some features inherent in e-learn environments that make us believe that the e-learn environment could be competitive with traditional teaching • Asynchronous and synchronous chart boards • Shared documents and images • Chart boards archives

47. At the fourth stage the action should be developed in the inner speech form. • The inner speech form is the first stage of the mental form of an action

48. Action are still performed in the operation-by-operation mode • Students should be provided with incentives and opportunity to describe in a compressed form the performed operations or to do them in a dialogue regime • The executive part of every operation could be performed by computer at student’s command

49. The students’ activities at his stage should be thoroughly planned and organized. • These activities should be organized in synchronous as well as asynchronous modes • The exercises that require participation of all students in the group and operation-by- operation control should be developed

50. The fifth stage is development of an action in the mental form • The action at this stage becomes an inner mental act with only the product of this action explicitly evident and observable. • Assimilation of the action at a given level of compression and generalization becomes a matter of top priority in developing an action at this stage. • The problems that have to be resolved at this stage are mostly related to motivation and control over the final result of students’ works.