The learning goal that
I have set for my students is for them to be able to learn fractions and be
able to apply them to everyday situations. In order to teach them fractions, I
will use information processing theory. In this theory, appealing to the senses
and connecting information is absolutely necessary. To appeal to the senses, I
would give each student a few candy bars and give them scenarios in which they
have to break apart the candy bars and divide them among the people in their
group. They will be using division, which is something that they should have
learned in class, since division is the first step to learning fractions. The students
will connect what they have learned about division and apply it to their
scenarios. By having them do these hands-on activities, I will have their
attention and they are more likely to concentrate on the tasks given to them.
Eventually, this experience will be stored in the children’s long-term memory.
Using images and candy bars is a technique that can help encode the information
in their brain. With any fraction word problem, a student can change it into a
candy bar problem in their head. To assess their knowledge, I will give them a
formative assessment which will include a series of fraction word problems. I
will have them solve those problems by describing the steps they took to get to
their answers. This will show me whether they have learned something and if
they have connected past information to get to their answer. Since this is a
formative assessment, I will take their answers and review them with the
students so they can see how they did and what they can do for improvement. If
they are struggling, I will try new ways to teach them fractions and at the end
of the lesson, give them a summative assessment to show whether they have
mastered the information or not.
I really liked your example of using candy to teach fractions. Not only does it help students to visually see the concept, but they can connect their idea of candy with the new idea of fractions, which will help them encode it easier. I also liked how you said that you would use pictures of candy to help them remember what they learned. If they can see the manipulative that they used to learn the concept when they are trying to retrieve it, it might help them to remember it better.
ReplyDeleteI like your decision to connect to every scenarios, or something familiar, through the use of candy bars. I'm hoping you chose this because IP theory requires connection to prior knowledge, and so it is a great choice to teach through connections to past experiences. I do have to ask some questions related to your choice of assessment. If your learning goal is to have students reason in everyday scenarios, why choose to assess them in a formal testing situation? Wouldn't it be more aligned with your learning goal to have a performance assessment in which they are within an everyday familiar scenario and must problem solve using fractions? Also, why formative? I think either a summative or formative assessment would be consistent with IP theory and your learning goal, so I wonder why you made that choice.
ReplyDeleteJust think about those things! I'm hoping it helps you see how the assessment could be more aligned with the theory of learning and method of instruction.