I think you can prove/disprove anything you want depending on your desired outcome.

On an earlier application for this class I inadvertently read the wrong chapter, and I posted on my blog how Generating and Testing Hypothesis was “obviously behaviorism.”

Now I am going to argue that it is constructionist/constructivist. The basic idea of this theory is that students need to explore an idea and come up with their own conclusions. In a way they teach them selves the material through discovery.

To me, this is the definition of generating and testing hypothesis. Students study the parts of the problem, look at various solutions, experiment with them, and finally make a decision or generalization about their outcome.

The more classes I take, the more I study and read, the more open minded I become. One of the things I like about our profession is the unknown. There are not any distinct right or wrong answers. We all do what works best for us. There are so many theories out there, and they can all be correct, but good educators find their own special blend that works for them.

I think we have to be careful about how we use all these ideas. Pretty much since September we have all learned at least one good idea a week. They cannot all be implemented. We have to pick and choose, tweak here and there, but for the most part our students need consistency. Some of the approaches we learn about take years to develop, prep for, and master.

In short, I believe a blended approach is best.

Cognitive learning and the use of cues, questions, and advanced organizers.

As a teacher, it is important that we are teaching students to be successful in life. I hope students not only retain these lessons that I teach in their long-term memory, but that they can easily retrieve them when needed.

As educators we really should do more than just hope. We should teach the material in such a manner that students have a better chance of recalling this info. Cognitive Learning Theory says images are powerful tools, but more importantly elaboration, or making as many connections as possible to the material enhances long term memory retrieval.

The instructional strategies cues, questions, and advanced organizers do just that. Spreadsheet software can be used as a tool for my math students to organize and easily calculate values in a way they do not get lost in the arithmetic and loose the big picture. This data can then be modeled visually making another connection. Organization and Brainstorming software can be used when I am pre-planning out lessons. I have considered having students maintain a wikki site that they entered their own notes. This software could definitely help them and other readers organize it better. To truly understand teach it. Multimedia tools are just an expansion of the above software.

They all offer more connections to the material than a traditional lesson with no technology would. This can only help our students.

behaviorism's role effort rubrics/speadsheets and generating/testing hypothesis

I have to say I was impressed with the effort rubric (P157 of Using technology with classroom instruction that works by Pilter, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski). Incase you do not know what I am talking about it is a rubric that students can use to grade themselves on how much effort they have been putting into the class. Then it is follow up with an example of an excel sheet that students can use to chart their effort correlated to their grades.

This was an idea that hit home with me. I teach a math class that is pretty much all resource students. At times their lack of desire and effort is non-comprehendible for a person like myself who is driven (that’s a nice way to say obsessive/compulsive).

Each year I set a new goal(s) for my self. Last year it was less choral response questions. This year it was to teach students to read their textbooks (less choral response-done, reading the text-on going, but improving). Next year I was going to continue the text reading and then stager my lesson and the assignments that go with them. If I am teaching lesson 8.5, the students will do homework that night over lesson 8.2. The idea is it gives students a few days to mentally catch up to the topic at hand, and it gives them exposure to the material over a longer period of time.

After this weeks reading, I am seriously considering using this rubric/spreadsheet approach with at least my two low-level math classes. I am even having my student aid type it up tomorrow (using the RubiStar link below). It is exciting to learn about new ideas that are doable.

As far as this week’s Walden application/assignment goes, I think it is pretty obvious how behaviorism fits in. The chart and rubric I was talking about gives the students feedback on the behaviors they are doing. Grades have always done this, but now it is broken down to the specific behavior of effort.

The second instructional strategy was generating and testing the hypothesis. Isn’t the conclusion of the hypothesis being true or false reinforcement (behaviorism) of their ideas? I think so.

This weeks reading was exceptionally interesting for me. I always enjoy hearing about ideas that are applicable and doable. I have a new idea for my toolbox.

I have added two helpful links at the top of my blog if you are also considering using a daily/weekly survey/spreadsheet approach next year:

Reference:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.