Definition:  The anchored instruction approach is an attempt to help students become more actively engaged in learning by situating or anchoring instruction around an interesting topic. The learning environments are designed to provoke the kinds of thoughtful engagement that helps students develop effective thinking skills and attitudes that contribute to effective problem solving and critical thinking.

Principles of anchored instruction:  Learning and teaching activities should be designed around an "anchor" which is often a story, adventure, or situation that includes a problem or issue to be dealt with that is of interest to the students. Instructional materials should include rich resources students can explore as they try to decide how to solve a problem (e.g., interactive videodisc programs).

Application:  Teacher can read a storybook about bats and then have students explore the WWW for information on bats.
www.educationau.edu.au

Definition: A term referring to educational experiences that are focused on real life problems which require students to construct their own knowledge, and prepare them to use their learned tools in authentic settings  (Roblyer 67).

Application:  Students would be introduced to real life problems, and are given the task of solving them.  The students would be able to see how different tasks can be used to solve problems in the real world.  They could present their solutions using software such as producing PowerPoint presentations.

Definition:  A new definition of learning, which is based on cognitive, philosophical, and multicultural research perspectives.  These perspectives suggest that meaningful learning occurs when a learner has a knowledge base that can be used with fluency to make sense of the world, solve problems, and make decisions.  Learners need to be self-determined, feel capable, and continually strive to acquire and use the tools they have to learn.  They need to be strategic learners who have a repertoire of effective strategies for their own learning.  They need to be empathetic learners who view themselves and the world from perspectives other that their own.

Application:  Allow the students to use their knowledge of technology to write reports, spelling words, design a report, research a particular topic on the Internet, etc.  This will allow students to solve problems and make decisions independently using their prior knowledge.  Allow students to use strategies and tools they feel will conquer their own learning.

Definition:  The quality of a particular type of media, which determines their capability for handling specific instructional strategies.
These include:  print, graphics, audio, multimedia, and the use of the Internet.

Application:  Give the students and assignment to complete on the computer.   Example:  find information on the solar system, using a variety of technology to create a presentation that will be taught to the class.  Teacher will list possible media sources the students will be able to use.  This will allow the students to use a variety of technological resources and will allow the teacher to determine how students are handling instructional strategies.

Definition:  Situated learning is often described as “enculturation,” or adopting the norms, behaviors, skills, beliefs, language, and attitudes of a particular community.  More generally, it is the idea that skills and knowledge are tied to the situation in which they were learned and difficult to apply in new settings.

Application: A teacher should try to keep any knowledge from being situated in such a way that the students never think to apply it outside the specific situation in which they learned it.
Woolfolk, Educational Psychology

Definition:  Collaborative learning is a personal philosophy concerning working with groups of people.  It suggests a way of dealing with people which respects individual group members' abilities and contributions. There is acceptance of responsibility among group members for the groups actions. The underlying premise is consensus building through cooperation by group members.  Cooperative learning is a set of processes which help people interact together in order to accomplish a specific learning goal. It is more directive than a collaborative system of governance and closely controlled by the teacher.

Application: Divide biology students into groups and have them list, for a grade, all the ways in which cell organelles are analogous to functions and services in a city.

http://www.lgu.ac.uk/deliberations/collab.learning/panitz2.html

Definition: A process that involves direct teaching and monitoring. Scaffolding gives advice, directs children’s attention, alerts them to the sequence of activities, and provides information for completing the task successfully. Gradually, children use this to direct their own attention, plan, and control their activities.

Application: Within a classroom on technology education, scaffolding would include showing graphic examples and by giving them real-life experiences relevant to their individual needs.

 Definition: A cognitive issue that explores an individual’s ability to access previously learned information.  Transfer is defined as improved performance or skill ability on a task as a result of something learned on a previous task.  The successfulness of transfers is contingent upon several factors: the type of transfer, objectives, student aptitude level, instructional method, and pre-exposure to material.  The main objective is for the individual to use information on his or her own without being asked.

 Application: In a technology class, giving the students a project to complete would use transfers. This project would already have areas, which have been taught, and areas that have not been taught.  The students would pull from previous knowledge in order to complete the assignment.  The previous knowledge would then help to finish what is not known.

Definition:  Academic self-regulation, the process through which
individuals become proactive seekers, generators, and processors of information, is widely acknowledged as the means by which students
transform their mental abilities into academic skills. Self-regulated students stand out from their classmates by the goals they set for themselves, the
accuracy of their behavioral self-monitoring, and the resourcefulness of their strategic thinking.
www.guilford.com/cartscript.cgi?page=edu/schunk.htm&cart_id

Application:   In the classroom, the teacher can use scaffolding to encourage self-regulated learning through the expansion of the students' own interests in his/her lessons thus encouraging his/her students. The most effective learners are said to be self regulated learners.

Definition:  A multiple representation of content using various examples, analogies, metaphors, illustrations, etc.  Spiro, 1991

Application:  For example, students could learn about dissection of the frog from lecture or the text.  Then the teacher can use a virtual tour of the frog to see a simulation of all of the different parts of the frog.  Technology is a wonderful way to look at related material in a different setting and other context.

Definition:  Refers simultaneously to a place, an aggregate of individuals who are interdependent, and a system of agreed upon rules to define their interactions

Application:  Teacher will separate the class into groups of four and assign an Internet project.  Students will have to collaborate as a group, work together, and share ideas to complete the assignment.  Teacher can assign any type of group work for distributed knowledge to be actively integrated within an assignment.

Definition: To transform information into knowledge by combining, classifying, and analyzing it in new ways to deepen our understanding of cognitive, ethical, educational, legal, and social implications of new types of interactivity and to collaborate in sharing this knowledge of working together interactively.

Application: Teachers will actively discover who every student is, and draw will discover and draw forth students’ talents as both learners and leaders.  A teacher may do this by assigning a power point presentation in groups of two.  The groups will have to research a specific topic and present their topic to the class in a presentation.  This encourages the students to perform both learner and leader tasks.

Definition: Instructional activity that takes place in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text. The dialogue is structured by the use of four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher and students take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading this dialogue.

Application:  After reading a chapter of the textbook, the teacher leads the class in discussion over the concepts in the book.  The teacher asks the class to summarize the reading, then asks for any questions.  If there are no questions, the teacher asks the class some previously-prepared questions.  The teacher would then introduce a new situation, and the students would give their expectations about what would happen.

From: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm

Definition:  A theory in which learners in effect generate their own learning by generating and solving their own problems instead of solving pre-defined problems. Closely related to constructivism, generative learning environments can use a variety of instructional strategies often employed in a cooperative learning format including mechanisms for exploring multiple and differing perspectives, techniques for building upon prior knowledge, brainstorming and categorizing, general and content-specific problem-solving processes, team teaching, and techniques for constructing mental models and graphic representations.

Application: Have students plan a trip.  This would involve figuring out how much food they will need, what method of travel to take, what time they are likely to get there, etc.  This activity would involve using the skills listed above, in the definition.

From: http://www.aln.org/alnweb/magazine/issue1/sener/genlrng.htm

Definition :  Problem-based learning (PBL) is a total approach to education.  PBL is both a curriculum and a process. The curriculum consists of carefully selected and designed problems that demand from the learner acquisition of critical knowledge, problem solving proficiency, self-directed learning strategies, and team participation skills. The process replicates the commonly used systemic approach to resolving problems or meeting challenges that are encountered in life and career. In problem-based learning, the traditional teacher and student roles change. The students assume increasing responsibility for their learning, giving them more motivation and more feelings of accomplishment, setting the pattern for them to become successful life-long learners. The faculty in turn becomes resources, tutors, and evaluators, guiding the students in their problem solving efforts.
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/pbl/info.html

Application:  Within a teacher education class on technology, problem-based learning would include using computers for gathering information off of web sites.  The teacher could provide a question for the student, and then the students could search the web for an answer.

Definition:  “knowing about knowing”; knowledge and awareness of your own cognitive processes, how they function, when it’s likely to falter, etc.; To understand what you are thinking about

Application:  Within a teacher education class on technology, metacognition would include using computers for an online assessment of one’s understanding of a topic.
 

Definition:  In a relationship with an expert, students are scaffold to learn to design like an expert. The desired behavior is first modeled for the student. When the student has less need for this modeling, the model (or framework) is retreated so that the student can perform behavior alone. An exploration can begin, where students are looking for other possibilities in designing, see other perspectives, and learn to see the complexity of many factors influencing each other in designing.

Application:  Within a teacher education class on technology, cognitive apprenticeship would include the building of a web site or a power point presentation. The finished production would be placed on the www

Definition:  Students engage in extended conversational exchanges with the teacher and/or peers about subject matter in a way that builds an improved and shared understanding of ideas or topics.

Application:  Within a teacher education class on technology, substantive conversation could be used via email or a messaging system (yahoo, MSN, ICQ)

Definition: Mental structures that provide a framework and context to what we know and how we learn.  Schemas are sets of behavioral responses and provide scaffolding and context to new information, allowing effective classification and sorting.

Application: Enable students to learn by challenging their existing schemas (such as showing them a chemical reaction that does something really surprising).  When these schemas (or organizations thereof) no longer fit their experiences, the student must either change and fit their schemas to their new knowledge, or adopt new ones.

Definition:  Constructivist learning is based on students' active participation in problem-solving and critical thinking regarding a learning activity which they find relevant and engaging.  (M. Briner)

Application: “The students "construct" their own knowledge by testing ideas and approaches based on their prior knowledge and experience, applying these to a new situation, and integrating the new knowledge gained with pre-existing intellectual constructs.”
http://students.ou.edu/R/Sarah.M.Rodgers-1/cmap.html

 Concept Map