Marie Skłodowska Curie’s revolutionary research laid the groundwork for our understanding of physics and chemistry, blazing trails in oncology, technology, medicine, and nuclear physics, to name a few. But what did she actually do? Shohini Ghose expounds on some of Marie Skłodowska Curie’s most revolutionary discoveries.
Showing posts with label theories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theories. Show all posts
Saturday, June 10, 2017
The genius of Marie Curie - Shohini Ghose
Marie Skłodowska Curie’s revolutionary research laid the groundwork for our understanding of physics and chemistry, blazing trails in oncology, technology, medicine, and nuclear physics, to name a few. But what did she actually do? Shohini Ghose expounds on some of Marie Skłodowska Curie’s most revolutionary discoveries.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Culture of Learning
HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Culture of Learning
A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change
The twenty-first century is a world in constant change. In A New Culture of Learning, Doug Thomas and John Seely Brown pursue an understanding of how the forces of change, and emerging waves of interest associated with these forces, inspire and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic. Typically, when we think of culture, we think of an existing, stable entity that changes and evolves over long periods of time. In A New Culture, Thomas and Brown explore a second sense of culture, one that responds to its surroundings organically. It not only adapts, it integrates change into its process as one of its environmental variables. By exploring play, innovation, and the cultivation of the imagination as cornerstones of learning, the authors create a vision of learning for the future that is achievable, scalable and one that grows along with the technology that fosters it and the people who engage with it. The result is a new form of culture in which knowledge is seen as fluid and evolving, the personal is both enhanced and refined in relation to the collective, and the ability to manage, negotiate and participate in the world is governed by the play of the imagination. Replete with stories, this is a book that looks at the challenges that our education and learning environments face in a fresh way. PRAISE FOR A NEW CULTURE OF LEARNING "A provocative and extremely important new paradigm of a 'culture of learning', appropriate for a world characterized by continual change. This is a must read for anyone interested in the future of education." James J. Duderstadt, President Emeritus, University of Michigan "Thomas and Brown are the John Dewey of the digital age." Cathy Davidson, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Duke University "A New Culture of Learning may provide for the digital media and learning movement what Thomas Paine's Common Sense did for the colonists during the American Revolution- a straightforward, direct explanation of what we are fighting for and what we are fighting against." Henry Jenkins, Provost's Professor, USC "A New Culture of Learning is at once persuasive and optimistic - a combination that is all too rare, but that flows directly from its authors' insights about learning in the digital age. Pearls of wisdom leap from almost every page." Paul Courant, Dean of Libraries, University of Michigan "Brilliant. Insightful. Revolutionary." Marcia Conner, author of The New Social Learning "Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown portray the new world of learning gracefully, vividly, and convincingly." Howard Gardner, Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education "Thomas and Brown make it clear that education is too often a mechanistic,
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Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Teaching Strategies
Teaching Strategies
Teaching Strategies
There are a variety of teaching
strategies that instructors can use to improve student learning. The
links below will show you some ways to make your classes more engaging.
- Active Learning - Active Learning is anything that students do in a classroom other than merely passively listening to an instructor's lecture. Research shows that active learning improves students' understanding and retention of information and can be very effective in developing higher order cognitive skills such as problem solving and critical thinking.
- Clicker Use in Class - Clickers enable instructors to rapidly collect and summarize student responses to multiple-choice questions they ask of students in class.
- Collaborative/Cooperative Learning - Cooperative and collaborative learning are instructional approaches in which students work together in small groups to accomplish a common learning goal.They need to be carefully planned and executed, but they don't require permanently formed groups.
- Critical Thinking - Critical thinking is a collection of mental activities that include the ability to intuit, clarify, reflect, connect, infer, and judge. It brings these activities together and enables the student to question what knowledge exists.
- Discussion Strategies - Engaging students in discussion deepens their learning and motivation by propelling them to develop their own views and hear their own voices. A good environment for interaction is the first step in encouraging students to talk.
- Experiential Learning - Experiential learning is an approach to education that focuses on "learning by doing," on the participant's subjective experience. The role of the educator is to design "direct experiences" that include preparatory and reflective exercises.
- Games/Experiments/Simulations - Games, experiments and simulations can be rich learning environments for students. Students today have grown up playing games and using interactive tools such as the Internet, phones, and other appliances. Games and simulations enable students to solve real-world problems in a safe environment and enjoy themselves while doing so.
- Humor in the Classroom - Using humor in the classroom can enhance student learning by improving understanding and retention.
- Inquiry-Guided Learning - With the inquiry method of instruction, students arrive at an understanding of concepts by themselves and the responsibility for learning rests with them. This method encourages students to build research skills that can be used throughout their educational experiences.
- Interdisciplinary Teaching - Interdisciplinary teaching involves combining two different topics into one class. Instructors who participate in interdisciplinary teaching find that students approach the material differently, while faculty members also have a better appreciation of their own discipline content.
- Learner-Centered Teaching - Learner-Centered teaching means the student is at the center of learning. The student assumes the responsibility for learning while the instructor is responsible for facilitating the learning. Thus, the power in the classroom shifts to the student.
- Learning Communities - Communities bring people together for shared learning, discovery, and the generation of knowledge. Within a learning community, all participants take responsibility for achieving the learning goals. Most important, learning communities are the process by which individuals come together to achieve learning goals.
- Lecture Strategies - Lectures are the way most instructors today learned in classes. However, with today’s students, lecturing does not hold their attention for very long, even though they are a means of conveying information to students.
- Mobile Learning - Mobile Learning is any type of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed location.
- Online/Hybrid Courses - Online and hybrid courses require careful planning and organization. However, once the course is implemented, there are important considerations that are different from traditional courses. Communication with students becomes extremely important.
- Problem-Based Learning - Problem-based Learning (PBL) is an instructional method that challenges students to "learn to learn," working in groups to seek solutions to real world problems. The process replicates the commonly used systemic approach to resolving problems or meeting challenges that are encountered in life, and will help prefer students for their careers.
- Service Learning - Service learning is a type of teaching that combines academic content with civic responsibility in some community project. The learning is structured and supervised and enables the student to reflect on what has taken place.
- Social Networking Tools - Social networking tools enable faculty to engage students in new and different means of communication.
- Teaching Diverse Students - Instructors today encounter a diverse population in their courses and many times need assistance in knowing how to deal with them.
- Teaching with Cases - Case studies present students with real-life problems and enable them to apply what they have learned in the classroom to real life situations. Cases also encourage students to develop logical problem solving skills and, if used in teams, group interaction skills. Students define problems, analyze possible alternative actions and provide solutions with a rationale for their choices.
- Team-Based Learning - Team-based learning (TBL) is a fairly new approach to teaching in which students rely on each other for their own learning and are held accountable for coming to class prepared. Research has found that students are more responsible and more engaged when team-based learning is implemented. The major difference in TBL and normal group activities is that the groups are permanent and most of the class time is devoted to the group meeting.
- Team Teaching - At its best, team teaching allows students and faculty to benefit from the healthy exchange of ideas in a setting defined by mutual respect and a shared interest in a topic. In most cases both faculty members are present during each class and can provide different styles of interaction as well as different viewpoints.
- Writing Assignments - Writing assignments for class can provide an opportunity for them to apply critical thinking skills as well as help them to learn course content.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Birmingham IATEFL Live Schedule Wednesday 13th April 2016
Wednesday 13th April
0915-1025 OPENING PLENARY BY DAVID CRYSTAL
CHECK YOUR LOCAL TIME
Who would of thought it? The English language 1966-2066
Complaints about a supposed decline in standards of English continue to be made, with increasing frequency, in the British press. Although these are nothing new - as the long history of use of would of for would have illustrates - they do draw attention to the way we seem to be going through a period of unusually rapid language change. This paper illustrates the main changes in pronunciation, orthography, grammar, and vocabulary, discusses the chief factors involved - social mobility, globalization, and the Internet - and compares the changes that have taken place in the past fty years with those that are likely to take place in the next fty.
10:30 live studio starts
10:50 interview with Nicky Hockly
11:15 interview with Pete Sharma
11:30 interview with Adam Kightley
11:45 interview with Zeyneb Urkun
12:00 interview with Silvana Richardson
12:15 interview with Jim Scrivener
12:30 interview with Gavin Dudeney
12:45 interview with George Pickering
13:00-14:00 break
14:00 interview with Hugh Dellar
14:00 interview with David Crystal
14:15 interview with Tessa Woodward
14:45 interview with Hornby scholars: Allwyn D'costa and Erkin Mukhammedor
15:00 interview with Hornby scholars: Mohammed Bashir and Abdallah Yousif
15:15 interview with Gail Ellis
15:30 interview with Hornby scholars Parwiz Hossain and Shoaib Jawad
15:45 interview with Alison Barrett
16:00 interview with Alan Maley
16:15 interview with Tim Phillips
17:20 - 18:25 BRITISH COUNCIL SIGNATURE EVENT
CHECK YOUR LOCAL TIME
Shakespeare lives: love, hate, death and desire in English language classroom
Speakers: Lisa Peter (The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust), Dr Christina Lim (lecturer, researcher and teacher educator), Shaheen Khan (actor), Lisa Peter (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust), Tonderai Munyevu (actor). Chaired by John Knagg, British Council.
Join the British Council to celebrate Shakespeare's work on teh 400th anniversary of his death. We will ecplore how Shakespeare has relevance to our society, students and classrooms today and how Shakespearecan speak to people from all around the world about universal human experiences like love, hate, death and desire.
The event will be practical, thought-provoking and fully interactive with the opportunity join in the discussion before, during and after, either in person and online. The audience will help to shape the event and on the day and participants will take away ideas to use in the classroom on how to address issues which feature in much of Shakespeare's work yet remain relevant today.
- See more at: Birmingham IATEFLBirmingham IATEFLJoin the British Council to celebrate Shakespeare's work on teh 400th anniversary of his death. We will ecplore how Shakespeare has relevance to our society, students and classrooms today and how Shakespearecan speak to people from all around the world about universal human experiences like love, hate, death and desire.
The event will be practical, thought-provoking and fully interactive with the opportunity join in the discussion before, during and after, either in person and online. The audience will help to shape the event and on the day and participants will take away ideas to use in the classroom on how to address issues which feature in much of Shakespeare's work yet remain relevant today.
Monday, March 7, 2016
The Elephant, The Rider and the Path
A commonly held belief is that human behavior is the result of rational decision making based on available information. A closer look into the science of behavior reveals the powerful role our emotions play in our decision making process. In this animated video we look at the behavior change process using Jonathan Haidt’s analogy of an elephant, a rider, and a path.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Language Learning Theories
Learning Theories
There are 12 learning theories:
• Constructivism
• Behaviorism
• Piaget's Developmental Theory
• Neuroscience
• Brain-Based Learning
• Learning Styles
• Multiple Intelligences
• Right Brain/Left Brain
• Thinking
• Communities of Practice
• Control Theory
• Observational Learning
• Vygotsky and Social Cognition
In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory eternally relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.
Learning means bringing changes, by learning human enters new society and culture. When they learned new understanding, they perform on it. Otherwise, they lose it.
As stated earlier, learning transfers changes (behaviorism) and creates new knowledge or increases information (cognitive skills). Education empowers our brain and beliefs, so it encourages our intellectual power to improve knowledge.
Most important theories related to language learning.
1. Behaviorist,
2. Cognitive,
3. Constructivism,
4. Chomsky’s Universal Grammar
5. Schumann’s Acculturation / Orientation in a new culture,
6. Krashen’s Monitor
7. Conversation
The conversation theory is a transdisciplinary learning theory. Developed by Gordon Pask in 1975, it is influenced by a range of cybernetics, linguistics, computer science concepts, cognitive psychology, and neurophysiology.
What learning theories do you follow and why?
How do you incorporate them into your teaching? Try to be as specific as you can.
I use the mix of different theoriesIt depends on the kind of my students.
In my view, theoretical concepts do not yield concrete prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).
Non-formal education and informal learning are vital for improving language learning.
How People Learn and What are their Learning Styles?
This is my video about the topic
Nowadays the dominant theory is socio-constructivism which can be defined as an approach according to which individual knowledge relies on its social construction of it. (Piaget, Doise and Mugny, 1984). Particularly relevant in this respect are the communication processes (learning dialogs) occurring in situations where at least two persons try to solve a problem. The social world of a learner includes the people that directly affect that person, including teachers, friends, students, administrators, and participants in all forms of activities. Accordingly, learning designs should enhance local collaboration and dialogue but also engage other actors (e.g. domain experts) to participate in certain ways. Research on collaborative learning is particularly interested in learning mechanisms that are triggered by specific collaborative activities.
Key functionalities of a socio-constructivist learning environment are:
- Reflection & Exchange
- Scaffolding & Storyboarding
- Facilitation & Content
- Monitoring & Assessment
- Production, Investigation, etc.
- Psychological support & Community.
Theoretical concepts do not produce actual prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).
In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory increasingly relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.
Additionally, I would like to highlight Constructivism as one of the hot topics in educational philosophy right now. It potentially has profound inferences for how current `traditional' instruction is structured, since it goes with several highly exposed educational trends, for example:
- the transition of the teacher's role from "sage on the stage" (fount/transmitter of knowledge) to "guide on the side" (facilitator, coach);
- teaching "higher order" skills such as problem-solving, reasoning, and reflection (for example, see also creative learning);
- enabling learners to learn how to learn;
- increasing flexibility in the evaluation of learning outcomes;
- cooperative and collaborative learning skills.
For me, language learning through conversation and open communication is the most effective teaching technique.
I want my students to become active learners. As the brain works on a use-it-or-lose-it style, means students must apply whatever they learn.
It is necessary to use the new phrase or character in a real situation. Also learning the words and phrases through original videos helps to learn faster.
Moreover, I encourage my students to make language learning a passion.
I combine the fun of language learning with the commitment to follow through. They should remember that feeling the need to learn a new wording is not enough to take an action. Give yourself clarity on what exactly compels you to learn a new language.
My tips are;
- Figure out the how to comprehend a desire to learn.
- What’s the goal behind it?
- What’s the bigger picture?
- How will learn a new language open opportunities in future?
- Just answering these questions will motivate learners to get to the much higher level to take action when necessary.
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