Week 6 Reflection

According to “Psychology of Learning for Instruction” by Reiser & Dempsey try to describe how to design effective learning environments and interventions in the learning process. Also, they explain how people learn by mentioning several of theories, which consider as a starter for me to explore the educational technology.

If I assume that I am trying to teach learners how to calculate and compare the unit costs (e.g., price per ounce) of various brands of the same product.  I will apply two different theories of learning, which are discussed in this chapter. For each of the two theories, I will describe the nature of the instructional activities that I would design if I were adhering to that theory as I was designing instruction.

The first theory that I would implement is a behavioral theory that focuses on three essential steps. First, I will break down the skills and information to be learned into small units. For this topic, I will begin with the zero ( the easiest problem for students’ level) and explain characteristics of a product, then how to compare with other product, and finally, how we can decide which is the best product for us. Second, I will check student's work regularly and provide feedback as well as encouragement. I will apply an activity by dividing students to two students in each group and ask them to imagine one student as a seller and another student as a buyer. I believe that when students are assigned roles as buyers and sellers and asked to strike deals, they are learning about market behavior by simulating a market. I will show students different situations of various products and ask them to compare and decide. Then, students have to share their answers together and receiving immediate feedback for each couple of students. I think the feedback is a crucial phase in the behavioral theory because if it is positive, that leads to encouraging students and giving them more reinforcements. If it is negative, that leads to focusing on the mistakes and don’t do it again. However, positive and repetition of direction are very important to keep students engaged.

The other theory that I want to apply it is constructivist theory that summarized in that people produce their knowledge based on their experiences. So, I will use a brainstorming strategy to elicit students’ previous experience by dividing students into several groups and collect their prior experiences in new topics through study groups, chats, or discussions, and have learners reflect on their learning in a blog, wiki, or Google doc. Then, they have to calculate and compare items at an online store. I will try to two major things in this theory; first, students should connect the new knowledge to their lives or previous lessons. Second, they have to participate and collaborate together to get a correct understanding of the new concept. I believe this type of learning depends on the role of instructors that is to aid the student when it comes to their own understanding of the new concept. Also, constructivist theory gives students the ability to control their learning.