I created a simple Civics review game that focuses on the basic concepts of the legislative branch. It is purely an invariant task, because it just assesses if the student can recall information that they had to memorize. For example, "How many people make up the Senate?" Answer: 100. There is no variation to the question. It will always be 100 unless there is a change to our constitution in the future.
The type of memorization that I used in the Civics game is association. "Association is a one to one correspondence between two items," according to Reigeluth (1999). The association is how many people make up the Senate (stimulus) = 100 (response) based on the constructionist theory.
In order to teach association memorization, I use the routine tactic: Presentation, Practice, Feedback.
Reigeluth describes that it is important to tie items together by incorporating acronyms, mnemonics, visuals, patterns, or other tricks (1999).
I go over the basic qualifications and organization of the legislative branch. During instruction, I ask the students ways that they could remember the information. Usually, they shout out new ideas that I could not think of myself. Plus, it helps reenforce learning because they are putting their own meaning to the instruction. This year the students associated that the Senate was smaller so it only has 100 people. The two S's help the students recall the information. The students practice the information by creating flow charts and other visual graphic organizers, along with recalling the information in the daily warm-ups. The game that was created using Scratch will assess if the student knows the information. It is designed to give the student immediate feedback by letting the student if they got it correct or wrong.
Reference:
Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for learning invariant tasks. Instructional-Design Theories Site.Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2c.html
I think that computer games about core content that offer immediate feedback are useful in the classroom. They give students an opportunity to review the content independently and self-asses their learning. According to Predmore (2006) immediate feedback on a student’s performance can encourage students to participate, more so when the correction occurs in private.
ReplyDeletePredmore, C., & Manduley, A. R. (2006). Immediate feedback and active learning. International Journal Of Learning, 12(9), 79-81.
I am very interested in how these educational games that we can program with Alice or Scratch could help students with mnemonics. I've been a fan of mnemonics for a long time. When I was younger, my mother was a teacher who integrated a lot of brain research into her instructional strategies, and she loved to practice with me. :)
ReplyDeleteThere are so many different mnemonics out there. Adding visuals, sounds, and engaging game activities to them can ensure better retention by the student (Reigeluth, 1999).
Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for learning invariant tasks. Instructional-Design Theories Site.Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2c.html
The ultimate mnemonic is the one which is generated by the learner based on their interests and talents. It is evident in the voices of the students in the following YouTube video how they utilized their talents to Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" to generate a music mnemonic for the quadratic formula.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/z6hCu0EPs-o
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