The learning and teaching context of information resource provision

 Herring, 2011

p. 3. Key purposes of schools

·      Intellectual

·      Political and civil

·      Economic

·      Social

p. 7. Good teacher are knowledgeable about subject area, collaborate with other staff, oranised, and adaptable to new school policies and new technologies and have a sound understanding f the needs of their students.

Website useful for TL’s http://www.sldirectory.com/

p. 12. “The web can be used as a resource which provides students with mediated sites, which have been vetted by the teacher…The value of this type of mediation is that sites are selected for particular local purposes and to suit the learning needs of particular groups of students.” For this to be successful the teacher needs to be an effective searcher themselves.

p. 13. Inquiry based teaching is the key to successful education.

Blooms Taxonomy :

•      Knowledge - remembering or recognising something previously encountered without necessarily understanding, using, or changing it.

•      Comprehension - understanding the material being communicated without necessarily relating it to anything else.

•      Application - using general concept to solve a particular problem.

•      Analysis - breaking something down into parts.

•      Synthesis - creating something new by combining different ideas.

•       Evaluation - judging the value of materials or methods as they might be applied in a particular situation

Pardoe, D. (2009). Towards successful learning: Introducing a model for supporting and guiding successful learning and teaching in schools. 2nd ed., London: Continuum International.(Ebook in CSU Library).

p. 49. Pollard and Tann in above say: “Learning can be considered as the processes which skills, attitudes, knowledge and concepts are acquired and understood, applied and used, or advanced and extended.it should not be confused with a mere completion of tasks.”

Pritchard, A. (2009). Ways of learning: Learning theories and learning styles in the classroom. 2nd ed., Abingdon, Routledge.

Contents page:

1. Learning

 2. Behaviourism and the beginnings of theory

3. Cognitive, constructivist learning -- 4. Multiple intelligences

5. Learning styles

6. Difficulties with learning

7. Brain-based learning and other new understanding

 8. Relating theory to practice: what can we learn from research? Appendix. Comparing and contrasting Piaget and Vygotsky: in summary

Forum posting:

Activity 1:

I must admit when I saw the names of Bloom, Piaget and Vygotsky, I remember how much I disliked learning about them 15 years ago. I am pleased that now that I have some teaching experience I understand them more and how the deeper order thinking skills are essential for student learning.

On a side note, I like the change of name from synthesis and evaluation (http://gaeacoop.org/dalton/publications/new_bloom.pdf p. 2) to evaluate and create, as it is more user friendly. I also found it interesting that they have changed the order and placed create last. I guess being able to create something shows a greater understanding of the learning objective.

Activity 2:

Sources of Information

·      Interactive website for use on the whiteboard about what makes a rainforest and looks at the key elements required for a rainforest to be classed as rainforest

·      Map showing where in the world rainforests grow (poster or website or both would assist students to understand what rainforests need to grow)

·      Website (preferably interactive) describing and showing pictures of the different types of trees and animals that live and grow in the rainforest and how they are integral to each other and the rainforest ecosystem.