The "Discovery Principle" is, in my opinion, one of the most important principle in learning. When a learner takes their current knowledge and explores a subject to find out its depths, information is a little easier to hold on to; it has more meaning to the learner. The "Practice Principle" is important because it reinforces the "Discovery Principle". When a student can practice a routine that is not boring to them, they get better and more experienced at the skill being learned. The "Probing Principle" I believe coordinates well with the other two principles I have chosen because while a student may discover new information, if there is no reflection on it, no new ideas can come out of it. A student has to probe the information to think about approaches in the subject that may not have been thought of before.
I would support a simulation that worked from the existing knowledge of my students at a given point in the teaching of a new concept and allowed them to discover, probe and reflect on that information to come up with theories of their own. It would be great for them to simulate those theories and be able to prove them, but this approach may be better for science courses. I haven't thought of a good, solid approah of using it in an English course. I always enjoyed it when I read one of those stories with multiple endings or behaviors I could choose based on my interests. I liked being able to control one of the characters to see what happened in the story once I dictated the action of a character.
Conclusion
I believe the above three principles to be aligned with what most students in middle school are capable of doing. If I could find a simulation that enabled my students to learn the English language, that would be fantastic. I think more applications for these principles lie in the science-related courses and maybe not so much in the language course; unless, like I said earlier, one can dictate the events in a story that has been written with alternative events the reader is left to choose.
References
Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassens, D., Marra, R. M. (2008). Meaningful
learning with technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.
I definitely agree about the importance of the practice principle. I know that I want to emphasize writing as much as I can with my students. The only way to get better at writing is by actually sitting down and writing, so I will certainly be using the practice principle in that regard.
ReplyDeleteI really like what you have said about the discovery principle. It is true that a student will retain much more information and knowledge with a deeper understanding of a subject. Building on prior knowledge is a great way to further a student's knowledge. I also believe they are much more likely to stay involved if they are building on this knowledge instead of learning something completely new that often scares them away.
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