Cognitive/Information Processing Theory; According to Cohen (2006), with invariant learning approach, it is assumed that people learn to detect complex visual patterns which relies on specifications such as putting items in order, sorting or listing. In relation to Alice, students are required to use step-by-step approach to populate the Alice world with objects and create methods that will manipulate these objects to perform a task. In this case, information received are processed and used to create a story or a game.
Motivational Task; The key factor to academic success of every teaching and learning activity is student motivation(Gonzalez & Mendez, 2011). As students create or develop their Alice project, there should be a need to acknowledge every successful step created. This encourages the student to put in more effort( building confidence) to accomplish the task and improve on their creative skills. When students see the objects in Alice world perform methods(actions) created, it brings satisfaction to students and build their confidence that a goal has been accomplished.
Reference
Cohen, A. L. (2006). Contributions of Invariants, Heuristics, and Exemplars to the Visual Perception of Relative Mass. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, v32 n3 p574-598 Jun 2006. 25 pp.
Gonzalez, E. J. & Mendez, J. A. (2011). Implementing Motivational Features in Reactive Blended Learning: Application to an Introductory Control Engineering Course
IEEE Transactions on Education, v54 n4 p619-627 Nov 2011. 9 pp.
- 3. If you are required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task? (Analyze, Design, Develop/Produce, & Implement).
Analyze; In redesigning the Alice project, students would be allowed to set goals they would like to achieve. This will include identifying what objects they would need to build their Alice world around in the objects gallery, giving them an idea as to a topic to choose.
Design; Students will use the step-by-step process or instructions in “world’s details” widow to build up their story board or game. In so doing, they will make use of cognitive or information learning process where the information learnt from the Alice tutorials is applied used to develop the project.
Develop/Produce; Students will develop an instructional chart or a flow chart showing the developmental stages of their project. This written document will demonstrate or interpret their story line in a step-by-step order.
Implement; Students would be given rubrics to follow, which will assist them understand what is expected of them. It will also serve as a reference point to monitor students work.
I like how you pointed out how important motivation is. Many of my students have a lack of motivation. They just have trouble being motivated in a class they find difficult. It's also true what you said about students gaining satisfaction when the things they build work. If they are having trouble in class and all of a sudden things start working then they will get more motivated and begin working harder.
ReplyDeleteAdelina, I like the way you used the development framework in your redesign. I think you really grasped the framework which helped me in my post. Thanks for setting the example.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you and Nick about the importance of motivation. I find now that my students are more motivated to work in my class because most of the lesson we have been doing are having the students to create powerpoint, concept maps, flyer and etc to show me how they are intrpreting the lesson being taught. They are very motivated because they are using their talents to create a product while learning a lesson objectives.
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