Instructional Strategies Paralleled to the Cognitive Learning Theory

This is by far one of my favorite topics! Almost all the instructional strategies explained in chapter 4 & 6 in our text are great. Fortunately I have used a good bit of them in my classroom or have seen them in action in a colleagues' classroom.

I am a big fan of the program, Inspiration (Pitler, 2007, p.79). My first year of teaching I had my students create a concept map using Inspiration as an organized way to gather their research for their World War II research topic. After creating the concept map, students then had an outline for their research paper and media project they were creating next. In the program, Inspiration, if you change the view from 'concept map' to 'outline', literally the students have typed a good outline to a research paper. The students were amazed (and so was I) how much they remembered and comprehended by using technology and visual cues.

Also, the BrainPop website (www.brainpop.com) is a great place to find short animated video clips based on your state standards topics (Pitler, 2007, p.80). The students are engaged to the lessons the characters Tim and Mobey explain. Hey, we all know our students would rather watch a guy and a robot have a conversation and explain a lesson rather than us (aliens! :) In addition to BrainPop, my school has access to the online Ignite Learning program (online version of the "Purple COW--Curriculum On Wheels"). This program also provides short animated video clips based on state curriculum standards. Check out the following website link to learn more about Ignite Learning: http://www.ignitelearning.com/ . Both of these websites are great sources to find educational visual images that your students will learn and remember--supporting the cognitive learning theory.

After reading in chapter 6 about using the program Inspiration as a note-taking template, it really got me thinking about a new way to have my students take notes. Even though it is required in my school that every student takes "Cornell-style notes", using Inspiration is a great way too. Like it says in the text "using a variety of note-taking formats" can provide students with a new and maybe better way to organize their information (Pitler, 2007, p.128). To learn about "Cornell-style notes", please visit the following website: http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/cornellnotes.html. I believe Cornell notes are a good way to have students organize the learned information, but Inspiration is digital--something that will engage students anyway because it is using a computer rather than paper/pencil. I also think that the program Inspiration has the students more actively taking notes rather than just writing notes. With the program Inspiration, it allows the students to move around where and how they would organize their information based on how they learn--talk about individual differentiated instruction!

References:

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.