http://math.about.com/od/reference/a/preschool.htm Great Beginnings Pre-Number Concepts Early development of number concepts is critical in developing positive attitudes about mathematics at an early age. Special methods and activities will assist children to develop early numeracy skills. These methods will need to include the use of motivating and engaging concrete materials that children can manipulate. Young children need to experience a lot of 'doing' and 'saying' before written numerals will make sense to them. As early as 2 years of age, many children will parrot the words 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five' etc. However, rarely do they understand that the number refers to an item or a set of items. At this stage, children do not have 'number conservation' or 'number correspondence'. What are these concepts and how can you help? Engaging children with a variety of measurement concepts is a great beginning. For instance, children enjoy
Early development of number concepts is critical in developing positive attitudes about mathematics at an early age. Special methods and activities will assist children to develop early numeracy skills. These methods will need to include the use of motivating and engaging concrete materials that children can manipulate. Young children need to experience a lot of 'doing' and 'saying' before written numerals will make sense to them.
As early as 2 years of age, many children will parrot the words 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five' etc. However, rarely do they understand that the number refers to an item or a set of items. At this stage, children do not have 'number conservation' or 'number correspondence'.
What are these concepts and how can you help?
Engaging children with a variety of measurement concepts is a great beginning. For instance, children enjoy telling us that they are 'bigger' than their sister or brother or 'taller' than the lamp or that they are 'higher' than the dishwasher. Young children will also think that they have 'more' in their cup simply because their cup is taller. This type of language needs to be promoted and children need parental guidance to help with the misconceptions of these concepts through experimentation. The bathtub is a great starting point, using a variety of plastic cylinders/cups and containers. At this age, perception is the child's guide, they do not have any other strategies to guide them in determining which has more or less, is heavier or lighter etc. A parent or day care provider can provide great learning experiences to assist young childrens' misconceptions through play.
Classification is a pre-number concept that children need lots of experimentation and communication with. We classify on a regular basis without even considering what we're actually doing. We look in indexes that are alphabetized or numerically arranged, we purchase groceries in areas of food groups, we classify to sort laundry, we sort our silverware before putting it away. Children can benefit from
a variety of classification activities which will also support early numeracy concepts.
Classification Activities
-Use blocks to engaged young children to repeat the patterns.....blue, green, orange etc. -Ask young children to sort the silverware or the laundry based on color. -Use shapes to encourage children to determine what comes next----triangle, square, circle, triangle, etc. -Ask children to think of everything they can write with, ride on, that swims, that flies etc. -Ask children how many items in the living room are square or round or heavy etc.-Ask them to tell you how many things are made of wood, plastic, metal etc.-Extend classification activities to include more than one attribute (heavy and small, or square and smooth etc.)
Before Children Count
Children need to 'match sets' before they will understand 'number conservation' and that counting is actually referring to sets of items. Children are guided by their perceptions and will think that there are more grapefruits than lemons in a pile due to the actual size of the piles. You will need to do one to one matching activities with young children to help them develop conservation of number. The child will move one lemon and you can move the grapefruit. Repeat the process so that the child can see the number of fruits is the same. These experiences will need to be repeated often in a concrete manner which enables the child to manipulate the items and become engaged in the process.
More Pre-Number Activities:
Draw a number of circles (faces) and put down a number of buttons for eyes. Ask the child if there are enough eyes for the faces and how they can find out. Repeat this activity for mouths, noses etc. Speak in terms of more than and less than or as many as and how can we find out.
Use stickers to make patterns on a page or classify them by attributes. Arrange a row of a set number of stickers, arrange a
second row with more spaces between the stickers, ask the child if there are the same number of stickers or more or less. Ask how they can find out - DON'T COUNT! Match the stickers one to one.
Arrange items on a tray (toothbrush, comb, spoon etc.) ask the child to look away, rearrange the items to see if they realize the number of items is still the same or if they think it's different.
You will have given young children a great start to Mathematics if you perform the above activity suggestions before introducing them to numbers. It's often difficult to find commercial activities to support classification, one to one matching, number conservation, conservation, as many as/more than/the same as etc. and you will probably need to rely on typical toys and household items. These concepts underlie the important mathematical concepts that children will eventually become involved in when they begin school
http://www.theoryfundamentals.com/methods.htm
Teaching Methods ...
How to TeachHere is the position of the different theories with regards to teaching methods.
In addition to the text here, a summary of the theorists' views on teaching methods is available as a PowerPoint file or as a pdf. Click on either to download.
AusubelThe key variable influencing learning is what the learner already knows, i.e., the content and organization of the cognitive structure. For Ausubel, learning is a highly internal process, for it is within the cognitive structure where the learner stores, categorizes, and makes meaningful connections among newly learned concepts. The cognitive structure is dynamic in that every time that the learner learns something new, the structure changes. In order for new knowledge to be subsumed, it must be presented in such a way that the student can relate the new information to preexisting knowledge within his or her cognitive structure. In this way the learning is
meaningful; that is, it will be anchored and retained in the cognitive structure.
The primary role of the teacher is to present the content to be learned in such a way that it is meaningful for the students. To do this, the teacher must first figure out what the learner already knows so that meaningful connections can be incorporated in the presentation of instruction. This can be done through a pretest consisting of elaborate multiple-choice items or graphical representations. Once the teacher has an idea of the makeup and organization of the learner’s cognitive structure, the learner should be presented with an advance organizer. The purpose of the advance organizer is to stimulate the point within the cognitive structure where the new information will fit and become anchored.
With regard to the role of the student, Ausubel favors reception learning over such student-centered approaches as discovery learning. Ausubel asserts that the material to be learned should be presented in its final form. He believes that discovery learning and hypothesizing do not necessarily make learning meaningful and are actually less efficient because the material must still be learned after it is “discovered.” Although Ausubel is a proponent of expository teaching and direct instruction, the students do have an active role in the learning process in that the students themselves are the ones who construct the knowledge within their cognitive structures and make the connections among concepts.
For Ausubel, an ideal lesson would begin with an advance organizer that sets the stage for the knowledge to be subsumed. For example, in a history class, the advance organizer could be an introductory passage that relates the historical concept to be studied to something that the students have already experienced. After the presentation of the advance organizer, the teacher should present students with the “big picture” of the concept (that is, the information that is at the highest level of discourse). The teacher should then move from the more abstract aspects of the concept to the more specific ones. In a history class, the teacher might begin with the general notion of “wars” and continue with types of wars, then types of civil wars. This process is known as progressive differentiation. The teacher would then allow the students to practice making connections within their cognitive structure. The practice will be more effective if it is broken down (delayed practice) instead of given all at once (mass practice). One practice strategy would be to review the material, this time giving students the
opportunity to start at the bottom of the cognitive structure and move their way upwards (i.e., integrative reconciliation). The goal is to present the students with instruction that will strengthen their cognitive structures and prevent obliterative subsumption of the newly learned knowledge.
BanduraOne of Bandura's contributions was to note that learning is a social phenomenon and that we learn through observation of others, not simply through direct experience. In learning Bandura places an emphasis on the student's ability to self-regulate his or her own learning and on the role a student's sense of self-efficacy has in influencing future learning.
Bandura would make appropriate use of models during instruction. He would teach students how to observe and how to regulate their own learning so that they become more independent learners. He would find models that students admire or look up to and have these models display the desired behaviors you are seeking to teach the students. Through observing the models take a certain action and be reinforced for doing so, students are influenced to engage in those behaviors.
Because a student's belief in his or her ability to accomplish a specific task is so important in determining whether, in fact, the student will be able to accomplish that task, Bandura would work to strengthen a student's self-efficacy. This can be accomplished by having students observe other students similar to them accomplishing the task or through encouragement from the teacher. It is important to Bandura that students are successful in school not simply that they acquire specific knowledge or skills but also because if they are successful they are more likely to develop higher levels of self-efficacy, which will lead to even more success in school.
BrunerBruner is a key proponent of discovery learning and opposed to simply lecturing to students to tell them what they need to know. This stems from Bruner's belief that the important outcomes of education is learning how to learn and becoming a better problem solver, not simply acquiring more facts or concepts. The students would be very active during learning as they worked to solve
problems in groups. The teacher is present to encourage and guide the students, not to give them the answers. Bruner's discovery learning is not a free-for-all where the students are turned loose without any assistance to "discover" something. Rather Bruner favors a guided discovery learning environment in which the students work actively but with assistance from the teacher from time to time to guide them and to keep them productive.
The emphasis in Bruner's system would be on learning the "big ideas" that form the basis of any specific subject matter, nit memorizing all the little facts. The big ideas are much more powerful according to Bruner and more resistant to forgetting than specific facts. For example, it is more powerful to learn that the area of a rectangle is the product of the length times the width than to try to memorize the areas of many rectangles of different sizes. If you learn this one powerful idea – that the area is the length times the width – then you can easily determine the area of any rectangle. This, Bruner teaches for understanding of fundamental ideas and concepts, not memorization of a lot of specific information.
The role of teachers is that of a facilitator of learning, not a lecturer. The students that should be active during learning, not quietly sitting there taking notes on what the teacher says. Teachers should say very little during the instruction. The students should be the ones talking with each other as they attempt to solve problems.
Bruner would first introduce new content in a concrete way making a lot of use of manipulatives. He would follow this with the use of icons to represent the content visually. Finally Bruner would have the students deal with the content symbolically through text and symbols. Bruner believes this is how we grasp things: first concretely, then as images and finally as symbols. You should see a lot of manipulatives and film/video/slides used in Bruner classrooms.
GagneGagne points to five domains of learning, each with conditions of learning specific to that domain. In the domain of intellectual skills, a learning hierarchy exists, which must be attended to for each student by the teacher. That is to say that the teacher needs to place each student at the proper place in the learning hierarchy,
above skills mastered and below those left to be mastered. The learning hierarchy dictates what is to be learned and in what sequence. New learning depends on previously acquired knowledge, so that larger principles form for students from a combination of simpler principles. The learner needs to learn the basics, remember them, and then transfer them in learning higher or more complex principles. The sequence of nine instructional events is outlined by Gagne so that teachers can follow these and thus provide the needed conditions for learning. The teacher designs the lesson according to this order of events.
In order for a child to learn, it is necessary that he or she be taught explicitly. Gagne’s instructional events model would organize a lesson in the following way:
1. Gain learners’ attention: This would involve changing the intensity of a stimulus, for example, flicking the lights.
2. Inform learners of the objective: The teacher then overtly tells the learners what the objective for the day is, e.g., ‘Today I am going to show you how a solid can change into a liquid, a liquid into a gas, etc.’
3. Stimulate recall of prior learning: The teacher associates previous lessons with the lesson of the day. For a middle school science lesson on types of matter, for example, this event could involve the teacher bringing up types of matter familiar to the students in everyday life, showing some pictures of matter in various forms or showing them as manipulatives, and asking learners questions about matter.
4. Present the stimulus: The teacher describes the change in forms of matter explicitly and step by step.
5. Provide learner guidance: The teacher demonstrates how to do change a liquid into a solid, e.g. makes liquid into solid by demonstrating the creation of ice cream in a Ziploc bag.
6. Elicit performance: The teacher asks students to demonstrate how they made this matter change forms.
7. Give feedback: The teacher gives immediate feedback on the student response, e.g. if student can name each ingredient in the bag and how the change occurred or cannot do this, the teacher adjusts feedback accordingly giving hints and prompts as needed.
8. Assess performance: The teacher then assigns students to practice. In this case, the learners may get in pairs and discuss the experiment with a sheet on which they need to
draw how the process occurred, including ingredients and steps.
9. Enhance retention and transfer: The teacher does so by king learners to teach another learner about the process and also by extrapolating what they have learned with this activity to other types of matter and under what conditions they change forms.
SkinnerB.F. Skinner defined learning as a change in behavior. The key factor influencing learning is the reinforcement a learner receives to alter behavior. Reinforcement must be individualized for each student, but in general behavior is altered through a series of reinforcements. A learner in Skinner’s classroom is only required to attend and be reinforced. Skinner does not involve learners in developing curriculum or actively influencing the classroom, but simply states that they are developed through a series of reinforcements and behave accordingly.
An instructor in a Skinnerian classroom is required to present instruction in small, manageable sections that allow the maximum opportunity for students to successfully retain information. This instructor must conduct frequent assessments that allow the maximum opportunity to provide immediate reinforcement. Skinner favored the idea of shaping, or reinforcing successive approximations to the desired behavior. The use of shaping requires that instructors frequently assess students in situations where they are likely to succeed. This success allows the instructor to provide positive reinforcement. Skinner stated that the most effective schedule for reinforcement is a variable ratio that rewards students at differing intervals and that positive reinforcement is more effective than negative reinforcement, punishment, or extinction. Skinner was not in favor of lecture, however, if used it should be to motivate students more than just to convey information. Instructors must continually adjust reinforcers to maximize their effectiveness for each individual student.
Skinner’s ideal lesson is self-paced with maximum opportunities to shape students by providing positive reinforcement as they successfully complete a particular task.
This ideal lesson begins with clearly stated behavioral objectives and ends with an assessment that provides immediate feedback. A
Skinnerian lesson also provides the maximum opportunity to practice and provides for a variable ratio of positive reinforcement.
Specifically within the realm of school subjects, Skinner believes that students must be taught in order to learn. A teacher must be available to provide continuous feedback for students to allow for learning to occur.
VygotskyVygotsky believed that the variables that influenced learning are the social, cultural aspects of the learner’s environment and how what is to be learned is constructed within the learner’s zone of proximal development. Vygotsky defined the zone of proximal development as the range of tasks between actual development levels and the level of potential development. The social, cultural aspects influence not only what the learner thinks but how he thinks. The learner is actively involved in the learning process rather than simply receiving content presented by a teacher. The learner expands his level of performance by collaborating with more capable others. Language is critical for cognitive development, which is key to learning.
The teacher’s role is to motivate, serve as the more knowledgeable other, and ensure that lessons focus on concepts or categories to support the learning process. This process is not done in isolation. The learner has the opportunity to negotiate content. Scaffolding is used to support and move the learner to his appropriate level of performance within his zone of proximal development. Scaffolding allows the instructor to continually adjust the level of support given to the student in response to the student’s level of performance. Through scaffolding a student experiences immediate results and develops the skills necessary for independent problem solving.
The ideal lesson is based on the learner’s zone of proximal development as determined through appropriate assessments provided by the teacher. These assessments must target the actual level of development and the potential level of development of the learner. Opportunities are provided for the learner to interact or collaborate with peers or capable others. Self-pacing is a priority for lesson acquisition. Vygotsky believed that every child must be taught in order to learn and that learning comes from a more learned other.
Posted by Julie on March 18, 2010 · Leave a Comment
What is Cognitive Learning?
With all the many learning terms and concepts nowadays, it is hard to remember what all of these are. But one of these common academic theories, cognitive learning, has recently entered into the world of business. But what is this new concept and how does it help? Literally speaking, cognitive learning is translated into “to know” learning. And this basically means to gain knowledge through one’s perceptions or thoughts.
When talking about cognitive learning, people are allowed to learn through the use of their own perception, intuition, and reason.
This is a technique which is being used often to alter the behavior of people. But since the behavior of people is strongly influenced by several different external factors like upbringing, culture, religion, motivation, and education; the concept cannot be fully incorporate to it.
As a result, cognitive learning only involves an understanding of how such factors can influence the behavior or an individual. Once this information has been obtained, it is then used to develop new programs for learning.
Utilizing similar ideas through preschool in Singapore, this theory has help kids here further build up their cognitive, language, physical, and socio-emotional skills in a supportive setting which is fun and engaging for them.
For this reason, cognitive learning is understated if you are only telling people the things you want them to perform differently. It also involves presenting a message in a manner that people are given a chance to find out what the answer is on their own. And there are several ways this can be accomplished.
The first is through response consequences, where you are going to reward or punish the individual for demonstrating either the right or wrong behavior. While there are people who attest to the rule of punishment, it is sometimes necessary to be combined into learning as there are several factors which motivate people to try out new things.
Observation as a Powerful Tool for Learning
Another way to be successful with this is through observation. This is considered as a powerful tool you can use for learning since it allows everyone to see if doing a certain action is either desirable or not without needing to first commit the mistake. In terms of incorporating this with the workforce, employees are able to show the appropriate behavior which is expected from them from the company once they see that their superiors are also doing the same thing. This means if a person’s boss behaves inappropriately, the employee will think that it is accepted in the company.
Symbolism Through Mental Images
The last method you can use for cognitive learning is symbolism. By this method, people are given the ability to produce mental images as well as produce some scenes were they will foresee what will happen once an action is performed. This gives them the opportunity to rethink their actions and consider what the consequences will be without actually performing the action first.
Through the three above mentioned cognitive learning techniques, people are able to be aware of what they are doing and what they will be doing. Because of these techniques, people are able to make wise and informed choices on how they should deal with either a new or similar situation. While some may perceive this as a complicated way of looking at things, but in truth, this is how we actually learn.
Posted by Julie on March 11, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The Importance of Incorporating Cognitive Learning In Preschool
Preschools in Singapore – the perfect scenario when cognitive learning is being used. This is because it is one of the best places to prepare a child for a succeeding formal school education. Through cognitive learning, children are being taught new skills and their development is being promoted. This is done by letting children explore new things in school and have fun without putting any pressure on them.
Normally, children who are prepared for going to preschool are at a stage wherein preschool play and their thinking skills are still being developed.
During this time, children can actually learn a language, its usage and association, the process of thinking, knowledge and awareness bank. By playing the right learning games, the development of cognitive thought can be greatly promoted.
This will then teach children how to develop effective skills for problem solving which are the basis of a life full of happiness and success. In order to promote cognitive development, here are some examples of the activities you can teach children.
Role Playing
This common game allows kids to make use of their imaginations in order to fabricate new ideas and stories. With this, they are creating images on their minds as well as try to comprehend how a certain persona should act. By doing so, they are getting an understanding of each role a human being performs such as a chef, doctor, and a nurse. As a teacher, you can help this process by providing play toys such as miniature kitchen toys, dollhouses, and role playing costumes.
Puzzles
Since preschoolers are able to grasp ideas immediately, using puzzles such as alphabets, shapes, numbers, sizes, and colors will catch their curiosity. For this, you can provide blocks, jigsaw puzzles and shape sorters so that they can think beyond their normal mental boundaries as well as try new things by applying their thoughts. With these activities, the development of a child’s skills for problem solving is being enhanced.
One effective tool to be able to stimulate a child’s senses is music. By listening to educational songs and nursery rhymes that involve counting and word formation, the memory of kids is being enhanced. This then encourages them to have a fun way of learning. In addition, finger play using puppets are able to entertain their creative skills. In doing so, children are being inspired to try out new things without fearing anything.
Aside from the above mentioned games, preschool teachers also play a big role in developing the memories of children by reintroducing them to toys, tools, and activities which were done a week ago. Through the use of these specific experiences, children are being taught how to remember past things so that their memories can be practiced.
Since the development of cognitive learning with preschoolers is important, it is important to incorporate play with learning so that the natural curiosity of kids is satisfied. Their cognitive skills are developed along with their emotional and physical development. And by being able to properly teach kids in a fun manner for them, they are being nurtured into having a strong future foundation. As a teacher, it is your role to incorporate cognitive learning with fun activities in order to achieve this goal.
