Title: Interactive Teaching
1Interactive Teaching
- Peter McDermott, Ph.D
- The Sage Colleges
- Troy, New York
2Goals of the Presentation
- Review major theories of teaching and learning.
- Share several examples of interactive teaching
strategies. - Provide opportunity for discussion and analysis.
3In groups of four, provide a list of reasons
supporting these two statements.
- Traditional approaches to language teaching have
worked well and there is little reason to change.
- Language teaching must adapt to new theories and
ways of learning.
What is your groups position and why do you
feel this way?
4How do children learn? What is their best way to
learn?
5At what point should they learn by
- Listening?
- Watching?
- Speaking?
- Writing?
- Doing?
6Is there a time when they should only learn by
- Listening?
- Watching?
- Speaking?
- Writing?
- Doing
7Learning should be
- Meaningful
- Engaging
- Involve critical thinking
- Social
8Major learning theories
- Behaviorism
- Cognitivism
- Constructivism
- Multiple intelligences
9Behaviorism (Skinner)
- Operant conditioning
- External reinforcers
- Environmental
10Cognitivism (Bruner, Anderson)
- Internal processing of child
- Mental processes such as thinking, attention,
memory, knowing, and problem-solving - Knowledge is seen as schema and learning is
defined as change in a learners schemata.
11Constructivism (Vygotsky Rogoff) interactive,
participatory, collaborative, democratic,
sociocultural
- Learning is social
- Learn from an expert
- Learning is building knowledge, not giving.
- Learning must be active.
- Gradual release of responsibility
- Talk is essential
12Multiple intelligences (Gardner)
- Linguistic ("word smart")
- Logical-mathematical ("number/reasoning smart")
- Spatial ("picture smart")
- Bodily-Kinesthetic ("body smart")
- Musical ("music smart")
- Interpersonal ("people smart")
- Intrapersonal ("self smart")
13In groups, draw an image or outline of a child.
- On the drawing, brainstorm and write key concepts
and ideas about how they learn language. What
principles apply? What forces influence their
learning? What motivates them to learn? What
interferes? Etc.
14Studies of childrens language acquisition offer
important insights about teaching and learning.
- After three days infants can distinguish mothers
voice from others. - After one month mothers can distinguish infants
voice for function (hungry, gas, etc.) - Six months children have acquired their sound
system and linguists can identify their country
of origin.
15Language learning continued
- One year children are pronouncing one year
utterances to stand for complete thoughts. - Second year children use 3-4 word strings and
have acquired speaking vocab of 400-500 words. - By third year they use simple and compound
sentences and speaking vocab is 1000 words. - 4-5 syntax is well developed and vocabulary is
about 3000 words. - 5-6 children have a speaking vocab of 8,000
words.
16What do studies of language acquisition have to
say about teaching and learning?
- Predisposition to learn - language.
- Language is learned in social contexts.
- Meaning is the driving force to learn.
- Adults respond to the meaning of what children
are saying, not the pronunciation and grammar. - Adults model and scaffold childrens learning.
- Learning is fundamentally social.
17In small groups discuss how you learn best? What
are the conditions and what strategies do you
use?
18What are the implications of constructivism and
multiple intelligences for language teaching?
- Create a list of the implications in your group
of four and identify a reporter to share with the
class.
19To what extent is constructivist teaching used in
the U.S.?
- Elementary schools (teach as taught state
standards but more likely to see at this level) - Secondary (teach as taught state standards,
pressure to cover curriculum) - Higher education (mostly lecture and teacher
centered Harvard uses Socratic Method in many of
its schools many institutions are strong with
digital technologies internships international
experiences)
20Does constructivist teaching apply to Bosnia?
- Children should develop a personal view of the
world - this prepares them for a society in which
individuality is prized and democracy is the
ideal. - Questioning ideas, including those of the
teacher, play a vital role in learning. - Learning proceeds from whole to part. Children
need to see the big picture, and then analyze it
to see its parts and connections.
21Constructivism in Bosnia?
- Children are naturally curious and want to learn.
- Mistakes are a natural part of learning and
should be part of classroom learning. - Children develop learning strategies as they
acquire content. - Students are expected to be active, independent
learners who make connections and articulate
their understandings.
22Exit card
- What is the most important thing you learned from
todays presentation? - What question do you have about the presentation?
23References
- http//tip.psychology.org/theories.html
- Bailey, F. Pransky, K. (2002). Are other
peoples chldren constructivist learners, too?
Theory into Practice, 44(1), 19-26. - Palincsar, A., Herrenkohl, L. (2002). Designing
Collaborative Learning Contexts.Theory Into
Practice, 41(1).