Lore Sampson's Chapter 3 Reflection

Chapter 3- Learning and Knowledge in the Twenty-first Century

Three ideas or learning from the reading
After reading the chapter on Learning and Knowledge in the Twenty-first Century I was interested in the difference between student learning today and student learning in the 1800’s. I was surprised to learn that in the 1800’s students learned primarily through repeated practices in Mathematics and English. I read through the exam from the eight grade test and I realized that I could answer very few questions and if I had to take the test in two hours I probably would not pass the eighth-grade. After reading the tests prepared for students of today, I was able to answer more of the questions. This exercise opened my eyes to the definite shift between how people learned in the past and how our students learn today. The next part of this chapter that interested me was the difference between behavioral view of learning and the constructivist view of the learning. The behaviorist view of learning focuses on the repetition of a particular task such as counting and the number of the alphabet. Although this is a good way for students to memorize information it does not give student the background knowledge need to figure out how they got the answer. For example in the chapter it demonstrates how students are taught to cross multiply two fractions. The problem with this is students learn to follow a procedure without making sense of the problem. The constructivist view of learning gives students an active role building understanding and making sense of the information. I think students need to be given reasons why they are learning new information and they need to be able to build a connection on prior knowledge and experiences in order for the new skill to be memorable. The last part of the chapter I found interesting, was the table that compared traditional learning environments to new learning environments. After reviewing the table I thought about my classroom and whether it is a new learning environment or does it have a traditional environment. I determined that my classroom is geared towards a new learning environment which is definitely different than how I learned when I was a child.

Two new ideas for integrating technology
The first idea that I have for integrating technology into my class includes teaching my students how to use Microsoft word as a writing journal. I would teach my students how to open and save their weekly writing journals. The second idea I have is teaching my students how to type their spelling words in Microsoft word for weekly practice.

One concern about integrating technology
The main concern I have after reading this chapter is being able to teach my students why learning certain concepts is important and being able to relate it to real world applications.