How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School

1. How People Learn:Brain, Mind, Experience and School John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, editors

2. How People LearnKey Findings • Pre-Existing Knowledge • Active Learning • Competence

3. Pre-Existing Knowledge • Preconceptions students bring to classroom about how the world works • Teachers must learn these and either build on or challenge initial understanding

4. Active Learning Metacognition • Ability to predict performance on various tasks • Monitor current levels of mastery and understanding • Meaning-making, self-assessment, and reflection • Increases degree to which students transfer learning to new situations

5. CompetenceConceptual Framework Students Need • Deep foundation of factual knowledge • Knowledge organized to facilitate retrieval and application • Understanding of facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework

6. Implications for Teachers • Draw out & work with pre-existing understandings of learners • Assessments must tap understanding and reveal student thinking • Teach some content in depth • proving many examples of the same concept and a firm foundation of factual knowledge • Develop metacognitive skills • Inquiry cycle • Self-reflection • Colleague critique • Mentor evaluation

7. Designing Learning Environments • How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice • Learner-centered • Knowledge-centered • Assessment-centered • Community-centered

8. Learner Centered • Broad understanding of Learner • Instruction is Differentiated • Challenges are Engaging, but Possible

9. Knowledge Centered • Deep Understanding of Content • Reasoning Behind Learning the Content • Competence Facilitates New Learning

10. Assessment Centered When students ‘construct knowledge’ through ‘disciplined inquiry,’ they must often: • consider alternative solutions, • justify their conclusions with reasons and evidence, • apply their knowledge to new contexts, • develop deep understanding of topics, and • express themselves through elaborate communication

11. Community Centered • Norms that encourage inquiry, problem-solving, risk-taking, the opportunity to make mistakes, obtain feedback, and revise • Critique should involve all members of the learning community • Collegial critique is a skill • Curriculum supports cooperation and intellectual curiosity

12. Themes from Reading • Research • Student choice • Deep understanding • Critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making • Analyzing information, applying knowledge to new situations, and comprehending new ideas • Collaboration and teamwork • Technology-enabled presentations of learning, knowledge, information • Reflection and metacognition • Ethics, responsibility, sociability and self-management

13. Web Design Initial Considerations for your Design Outline

14. Purpose or Mission • Portfolio of work • Page to support a class or course • Consulting page • Resource page • Project page • Personal page • Other

15. Categories of Information • What categories do you need? • Think Flow Chart • Three Levels Maximum • Navigation (part of Visual Design) • FrontPage Navigation Buttons with Themes • Horizontal Links • Vertical Links • Main menu with sub menu for 3 levels

16. Resources • Gather resources you will link to, organized by categories/pages • Links to other web sites - urls • Word Documents • PowerPoints • Excel Spreadsheets • Images/Photos • Contact Information (limit to email address in most circumstances)

17. Visual Design • Design Tools • FrontPage Themes • FrontPage images or clipart • Photography • Digital art • Drawing or painting • Color scheme • Tables to organize and format • Page titles, menus, logos/art, text, links, images • Navigation (FrontPage buttons, links, vertical or horizontal)

18. Web-Based Tools • Web authoring • FrontPage • Communication • blog • Collaboration • wiki