Saturday, May 5, 2007

Theme 2: Reading Two

Prensky, M. (October, 2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, NCB University Press, 9(5).

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

Prensky suggests that our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. It is now clear that a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. Our digital immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.

Theme 2: Reading One

Prensky, M. (December 2005/January 2006) Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8-13.

Listen to the Natives

Prensky states that times have changed, and so have students, the tools and the requisite skills and knowledge. Digital natives are today’s technologically savvy students. Prensky states that teachers must put engagement before content when teaching. He also states that educating or evaluating students without these tools makes no more sense to them than educating or evaluating a plumber without his or her wrench. Schools should actively teach students this technology and encourage them to use it.

Theme 1: Reading Two

Jonassen. D. (2006). Modeling with technology: Mindtools for conceptual change (3rd ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Chapter Three: Assessing Learning by Modeling

Assessing Learning by Modelling
Jonassen suggests that the answer to assessment-driven learning in the classroom and an antidote mediocrity is modelling. Conceptual change is one of the most meaningful conceptions of learning. So if we want students to engage in conceptual change, then we need to assess conceptual change. Jonassen proposes that models students construct while representing domain knowledge, systems, problems, experiences, and thought processes can be used to assess conceptual change.

If you use other forms of assessment (essay, problem, examinations, etc.) in addition to Mindtools models, make sure that they too assess knowledge constructing and meaningful learning. Mindtools can be used to assess knowledge construction, self-regulation, collaboration and critical thinking.

Theme 1: Reading One

Jonassen. D. (2006). Modeling with technology: Mindtools for conceptual change (3rd ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Chapter Two; Model Building with Mindtools

Jonassen, states that when a Mindtool is being used, knowledge is constructed by the leaner not provided by the teacher. Mindtools are just that: tools for engaging the mind. The principal purpose of modelling is the construction and revision of conceptual understanding, that is conceptual change. Mindtools are generaliseable computer tools that are intended to engage and facilitate cognitive processing. What can be modelled; domain knowledge, systems, problems, experiences (stories) and thinking (cognitive simulations). Constructing models facilitates intense cognitive and social activities that result in conceptual change.

Limitations of model building
Model building is very demanding for learners requiring the integration of multiple sources of information. Different kinds of modelling tools require different building of intellectual development. Models only represent interpretations of phenomena in the world however misconceptions prevail about models.