Behaviorists and Technology:
Homework and practice is a way for students to practice and reinforce what they have learned in school. In some ways, homework is repeating what has been done already to reinforce the knowledge or skill that has been learned. Dr. Wolfe stated that rote rehearsal is the best method for learning procedural things, and this is often what is expected when teachers assign homework. The example of the battle graph powerpoint game that students could use to practice coordinates illustrates how technology tools can be used as homework to support extended practice of a concept learned in school.
We use BrainPop (one of the resources mentioned in the chapter on homework and practice) and I must say it is a great resource. There are hundreds of flash videos on a variety of subjects - and there are quizzes that go along with the videos. This provides the behaviorist element by giving positive feedback if they answer correctly and negative feedback if they do not. It is also a great way to make the students accountable for content. The videos explain many concepts in a very straight forward and easy to understand way.
Posts
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of allowing students to chart the progress they are making in class by filling in a chart of effort and achievement. I think that second graders would have a difficult time creating graphs that showed the relationship between effort and achievement. That being said, it is definitely something I can do and show the students in class. Is this something you would like to use in your classroom?
I agree that homework and practice is only reinforcing what students have learned in the classroom. I like to provide practice that can be done in multiple ways (vary the way information is presented to students). This ensures that students have a true understanding of the material. I would like to allow students to create their own games that can be used in the classroom but do not know how well that would work with second graders.
I use BrainPop, Jr. and it is a wonderful resource. My kids look forward to seeing that initial screen on my computer before I can get it projected onto the screen. The material that is there correlates directly with standards I have to cover. They are long enough to clearly present the information but short enough to keep their attention! My kids absolutely love the quizzes (we do them as a class) and they get so excited to see their score at the end. It is nice to hear that others enjoy this resource just as much as I do!
Chris, I was very interested to try using the BrainPOP site. It looks like others have tried it as well and seem to like it. My question is whether or not high school students will like it. I am going to try it out next week as a group. I have a Smart Board, and I thought I could show one of the short vids and then we could do the quiz together. If they seem to like it, I could use other topics as extra credit options. What do you think about that idea? Is this something that you have done?
ReplyDeleteAmy:
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think the example of using spreadsheets to track effort vs. performance is somewhat unrealistic and I probably would not use it in my classes. Effort is a difficult thing to quantify accurately. Sure you can say you studied for 20 minutes, but was it quality time or were you watching the football game while you were studying? I have used spreadsheets to graph things like reaction times to visual and audio stimulus and I feel like that is a better way to teach how to use spreadsheets and analyze data.
We recently signed up for using BrainPop Jr. at our middle school in addition to BrainPop. Some of the content is suitable for our struggling readers and really helps them with various aspects of reading and writing. They are now coming out with BrainPop ESL (free right now - brainpopesl.com) and they also have a Spanish version. BrainPop is a great tool and we have been using it for five years at my school.
Kim:
ReplyDeleteA smartboard would be a good way to use BrainPop together as a class. I have projected the videos before and then done the quiz together as a class. I have also had students watch the videos individually in a lab and then take the graded quiz and email their results to me.
BrainPop is designed primarily for grades three through eight. However, after doing a cursory online search I found that it can be used effectively in high schools. I think it depends on the actual video and content that you are studying, as well as your students in your class. Here is a link to an interview with the director of BrainPop and various ways in which it is used.
http://www.teachhub.com/news/article/cat/14/item/214
Chris, thank you for the link. I will definitely check it out. Do you know of sites like this one that are good for high school?
ReplyDeleteKim:
ReplyDeleteI am not aware of other animated video sites specifically for high school. However, Brainpop does allow you to search for videos by state standard and grade level, which allows you to find content that may be suitable for a more mature audience.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughts on spreadsheets. You make an excellent point about the quality of study time and its correlation with achievement.
Our ESL population has drastically changed since our school was redistricted last year. I do have some parents who would benefit from BrainPop ESL so that they could help their children at home. Thank you for the resource!
Chris,
ReplyDeleteDid your school pay for a subscription to BrainPop or did you have to pay for it? I'm just curious because we were given no instructional money this year. In the past, we could use our instructional money to purchase subscriptions to sites like BrainPop, but without the money this year I haven't even thought about using BrainPop. I have used it in the past and find it to be very useful. I am going to check out the BrainPop ESL for a couple of my students.