Digital Blog Post #C

The four learning theories is a concept that caught my eye whilst reading this chapter. I find that constructionism is the best learning theory. Students that get to be hands on and interpret their own thoughts and knowledge into the activity that they are doing will allow them to express themselves through their school work. When I was in middle school I lived in Elgin, Illinois. I was required to take a music class when I was there. I despised pianos and guitars. Only for the sole factor that I didn't know how to play. For a week I practiced on a guitar, I found it to be to complicated because it hurt my fingers. I ended up switching to piano. Although, they where both complicated to learn, I enjoyed myself because I was able to put my own personal touch to the songs we were playing. I would have given up and hated trying to play those instruments if it wasn't for constructionism. I was putting my knowledge into playing the piano and expressing myself in my own way.

Four Learning Theories 

The second concept that caught my eye was the Instructional Methods to Engage Students. 

Photo Credit to Masa_Israel on Flickr

• Some students need one-on-one tutoring to help engage them. It helps for them to have an individual teach them directly with real world examples.
• While others may need to be engaged by working in learning groups. These groups allow students to have others to brainstorm their ideas with and toss other ideas around until they come up with a solution.
• Others may need to be engaged by inquiry learning. Students are able to use information, not only that of which they learned from their teacher but through their own research and hypotheses.
• Metacognitive thinking engages students by showing them how to examine their own learning methods through self-explanation and self-evaluation.

Resources:

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA; Pearson Education Inc.