My goal is for students to learn and locate all 50 states on
a map of the United States. I decided to
use the information processing theory to target the goal. This theory involves
students using previous knowledge and then adding new information to enhance
their existing schemata. It also
involves the long-term memory and how to store different information into the long-term
memory through chunking and other strategies.
I first am going to introduce the map of the United States in different
chunks so that students aren’t required to learn all of the states locations at
once. I will start with the mid west
area because since we live in Indiana, many students will already have an
existing schema of states surrounding Indiana to create. By learning the states around Indiana they’ll
be able to add to their existing schema and correlate state names with places
on the map. I will teach each chunk of the States by having students color and
write the names of states on their own map, so that they’re rehearsing the
material and have better chances of converting the information into their long-term
memory. After each chunk is learned the
next day we will have a quick assessment to see if students can locate each
state on the map. By chunking the
different sections of the United States students can slowly learn the different
sections without being overwhelmed by all the information at once. The students at the end will have a large map
to color and label to review the information of all the sections they
learned. Then there will be a test to
see if the goal of learning the placement of the 50 states was achieved. This form of assessment is best because it
gives students a way to break down the material, and learn it through prior
knowledge, and practice. By having an
assessment after each chunk, is a way of checking that each chunk is being
learned before the final assessment.
This way I will know if students are struggling with a certain area, and
I can provide further instruction to help students with that particular area of
the map.
I really like how your learning goal and method of instruction are aligned with your chosen theory (and that the theory fits better than other choices). Your idea of starting with the familiar schema of Indiana is great!
ReplyDeleteMeaningful chunking sounds like a good method of encoding as well--remember that according to the IP model, rehearsal only does so much, and does not meaningfully encode, so you'll need additional teaching methods. I also like that you are using a color map, since it allows more extensive visual encoding.
Your idea to have an assessment after each 'chunk' sounds very appropriate. Would you think this is a formal or informal or formative or summative assessment? Otherwise, I think it fits well with your learning goal and instructional method.