Invariant tasks require memorizing factual information or routine procedures. They do not require any understanding, nor do they require learning how to deal with variation. They require what Ausubel (1968) referred to as "rote" learning. (Reigeluth, 1999)
Why do we need to memorize any routine procedures? Most higher forms of learning are not possible unless certain information has been memorized first, to the point where it is an "automatic" "response-that" is, we don't have to think about it, which frees us to use our cognitive resources on higher matters. (Reigeluth, 1999) 1. What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.
The three principles of learning listed in Module 2 (Reigeluth, 1999) are creating links which are strong, chunks of about 5-7 items, and relating to meaningful prior knowledge.
During the Scratch and Alice projects, I felt like the most challenging element was that I had no interest and no prior knowledge about programming and/or creating games. This made it extremely difficult to learn how to use either of the programs and how to create meaningful activities for learning. I think this made it even more challenging because I am tech savvy and don't like not being able to figure it out. I really struggled with these programs, in fact I did not even finish the Alice project. I turned in two parts, but not the third because I was so frustrated. I found scratch to be more GUI and I was able to figure it out easier. I was also able to figure out a few commands (chunk 5-7) that worked and use those program commands across the game. This made Scratch easier for me to use and figure out.
2. What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.
Reigeluth (1999) listed the principles for teaching invariant tasks as routine tactics, enrichment tactics, motivational tactics, and review. During the Scratch project I was able to incorporate the element of literature into my scratch game making it motivational. I felt like my game had purpose. |
If I had to do this project over again, I would probably drop the course. I'm just kidding. I hated Alice, so I would hope that I had the option to use the programing language of my choice. I would probably give more thought to the audience and the purpose of the game. I would then take more time to figure out the commands, so that my game would not be boring. Then I would have some other people test it out and give me feedback. This would allow me to make the necessary changes.
Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for learning invariant tasks. Instructional-Design Theories Site.Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2c.html
Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for teaching invariant tasks. Instructiona-Design Theories Site.Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2e.html
Kimber, I agree completely about Alice and Scratch. I had never even considered programming, so background knowledge was at a ZERO!! Alice was definitely the more frustrating for me too... I had a lot of difficulty figuring it out. Scratch and chunking the color blocks worked so much better for me. I liked Scratch more and found it easier to use and easier to find information relating to how to change it. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that you could download previous projects and manipulate them. This is how I learned to use the "pen" feature in Scratch. It was so much easier than looking at a tutorial. Tutorials are helpful, but oftentimes I find that playing around with the materials helps me more.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that choosing the programming language would have been a good addition. However, I would not have known where to begin. Maybe if we were given a choice of Alice, Scratch, and others, we could have chose one that best fit us. And while I never thought of it, getting adults to test out the game before giving it to the students would be a great idea. It seems that sometimes our thought processes and order of games makes sense to us, but doesn't make sense to others or to the students. Letting another adult test out the material and give feedback would be a great way to alleviate some of this.
Kimber I did enjoy both programs, mainly because I had a programming background. However, even like that I also had trouble trying to figure out Alice. I agree Scratch is more user-friendly than Alice. As I completed several tutorials it did help me figure things out easier. Initially I started out with an excellent more challenging idea, yet I was disappointed that I had to change to a simple animation (story) because I was running out of time to figure out the language. Of what I read and what I have heard there is alot we create with Alice and that got me mad not being able to to figure it out. To me.. everything is a time issue!
ReplyDeleteThe only problem I see with having the ability to choose a language is that there are many out there and I wouldn't not have made my mind. Besides, the programming I know are technical and I don't even think they are still used. I programmed using Cobol, Visual Basics, and other old fashioned languages.
Anyways, I think we did great with those projects.