Information Processing Family

Project Based Learning

GOAL: Shift emphasis away from teacher-centered lessons to create learning activities that are more long-term, interdisciplinary, and centered on the student.

4 Design Principles

• Define learning-appropriate goals that lead to deep understanding
• Providing support: engaging problems, teaching moments, technology
• Formative assessment opportunities embedded within
• Developing social structures that promote participation and revision

Benefits

• Produces gains in academic achievement
• Gives opportunity to apply basic skills
• Leads to higher-level cognitive thinking
• Encourages cooperative learning

Challenges

• Requires changes in curriculum, instruction and assessment practices
• Cannot be used to teach basic skills
• Challenging to manage student choices

Inquiry Learning

Students must accept an invitation to learn!

The 5 E Learning Cycle Model

• Engagement
• Exploration
• Explanation
• Elaboration
• Evaluation

ENGAGE:
Learner has a need to know, therefore, defines questions, issues or problems that relate to his/her world.

EXPLORE:
Learner gathers, organizes, interprets, analyzes, evaluates data

EXPLAIN:
Learner clarifies understandings discovered, reaches conclusions or generalizations and communicates in varying modes and forms.

EXPAND:
Learner applies these conclusions or generalizations to solve problems, make decisions, perform tasks, resolve conflicts or make meaning

Socratic Method

Begins with the question

"WHY?"

Goal:
Have students think critically about difficult issues

STEP 1
Pick controversial topic and provide questions for students, or have them help develop them

STEP 2
The leader leads the conversation, participants engage.

Role of Leader

• Keep topic focused
• Limit and distribute participation
• Force students to elaborate
• Clarify and synthesize and restate earlier opinions

Role of Participants

• Think and speak persuasively
• Use the discussion to support their opinion 
• Listen closely
• Demonstrate respect for others ideas
• Do not interrupt

Take Note...

• There is no one right answer
• Start with a good open-ended question
• Ask follow-up questions
• Students should eventually be able to lead

Created by
Chelsie Wright
GED 616