Important Ideas:
A society exists and continues to evolve because the elders of a generation continue to communicate and educate the younger generations on social beliefs, morals, aspirations and knowledge. Formal education is just as equally important as the education of social beliefs and there should be a balance of both forms of education taught to younger learners. According to Dewey, without this balance, as a species we will regress to the primitive creatures we once were long ago. But as our world changes and advances in technology occur, beliefs and knowledge of younger generations may differ from that of the older generation causing gaps in learning. It is important to continue to develop as learners and make a commitment to become life long learners so that we are able to help bridge the gap between generations of learners and ensure that our species keeps evolving.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Bloom's Taxonomy and My Learning Experiences
Secondary Education and Blooms Taxonomy
Bloom’s model of classifying thinking contains six cognitive levels of complexity. The lowest three levels are: remembering, understanding, and applying. I remember when I was in high school receiving my secondary education, only having a limited amount of assignments that would relate to Bloom’s three highest levels of cognitive development : creating, evaluating, and applying. What comes to mind when I think about the levels of Bloom’s cognitive development that I primarily utilized were : remembering, understanding, and applying. All my learning was generally focused on memorizing facts and taking notes to help me remember those facts. I believe by not being challenged to think about things on a higher level, correlates to why I am unable to recall some of the things that I have learned and studied. The education during this time period was focused on learning what the teacher taught by memorizing your notes, taking a test on that material, and moving on and then never touching upon that content again. This led to meaningless connections and applications of the material I studied. The few projects that were assigned during my secondary education and encouraged higher levels of cognitive complexity I can actually say to this day I can remember fully and with great detail. When exposed to a more complex way of thinking for the purpose of learning and achieving the highest levels of cognitive development allocated me a greater understanding and allowed me to make meaningful connections to the area of study.
Post-Secondary Education and Bloom’s Taxonomy
Through post secondary education I’ve experienced multiple levels of cognitive development. I can remember certain courses that I had taken my freshmen and sophmore years focusing on Bloom’s cognitive levels: applying, understanding, and remembering. As I advanced through college and continued my learning through graduate school, the complexity and expectation of higher cognitive thinking was prevalent and constant. At this level and through various assignments I was able to develop a greater knowledge and think cognitively at the three highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: creating, evaluating, and applying. I believe that this relates to my ability to recall a greater amout of what I have learned in college and can apply today. I also believe by scafolding learning and building solid foundations, you can begin to think in greater complexities, building upon previous knowledge by adding new knowledge to your existing knowledge in specific areas. That is what was successfully implemented for me during my post-secondary education.
Bloom’s model of classifying thinking contains six cognitive levels of complexity. The lowest three levels are: remembering, understanding, and applying. I remember when I was in high school receiving my secondary education, only having a limited amount of assignments that would relate to Bloom’s three highest levels of cognitive development : creating, evaluating, and applying. What comes to mind when I think about the levels of Bloom’s cognitive development that I primarily utilized were : remembering, understanding, and applying. All my learning was generally focused on memorizing facts and taking notes to help me remember those facts. I believe by not being challenged to think about things on a higher level, correlates to why I am unable to recall some of the things that I have learned and studied. The education during this time period was focused on learning what the teacher taught by memorizing your notes, taking a test on that material, and moving on and then never touching upon that content again. This led to meaningless connections and applications of the material I studied. The few projects that were assigned during my secondary education and encouraged higher levels of cognitive complexity I can actually say to this day I can remember fully and with great detail. When exposed to a more complex way of thinking for the purpose of learning and achieving the highest levels of cognitive development allocated me a greater understanding and allowed me to make meaningful connections to the area of study.
Post-Secondary Education and Bloom’s Taxonomy
Through post secondary education I’ve experienced multiple levels of cognitive development. I can remember certain courses that I had taken my freshmen and sophmore years focusing on Bloom’s cognitive levels: applying, understanding, and remembering. As I advanced through college and continued my learning through graduate school, the complexity and expectation of higher cognitive thinking was prevalent and constant. At this level and through various assignments I was able to develop a greater knowledge and think cognitively at the three highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: creating, evaluating, and applying. I believe that this relates to my ability to recall a greater amout of what I have learned in college and can apply today. I also believe by scafolding learning and building solid foundations, you can begin to think in greater complexities, building upon previous knowledge by adding new knowledge to your existing knowledge in specific areas. That is what was successfully implemented for me during my post-secondary education.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Integrating Technology into the Curriculum
Technology is always changing. New advances in technology seem to happen rapidly. Students are also coming to school with an excellent understanding of computer technologies, sometimes with a greater knowledge than that of the teacher. It is important that as teachers, we remain current on the latest trends so that we are able to effectively enhance the lessons we teach. We need to be able to reach, motivate, and teach the latest generation and styles of technologically driven learners by utilizing the technologies we have available. This will enable students to connect the content they are learning with real world technologies. If technology is integrated in to the curriculum, students will acquire a solid understanding of the technologies and application of those technologies that are prevalent in our economy. Let’s face it, by incorporating technology into the way we deliver our instruction we will be allowing today’s learners to gain knowledge and understanding through lessons that are multi-sensory, and that provide meaningful activities that are appealing, engaging and motivational. Vivid colors, interactions, animated graphics, and auditory components are appealing to today’s youth. By integrating technologies into the way to deliver our instruction and assess our students, we will be enriching their learning and preparing them to be successful and well equipped to meet the needs of the technologically driven society that we live in.
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