4. • Humans are thinkers
•Abduction
•Deduction
•Induction
5. Activate prior knowledge
Acquire knowledge
Understand knowledge
Use knowledge
Reflect on knowledge
6.
7. •Study
•Deep South region of the United States
•Investigate student needs
8. “…humans are constructors of their own
knowledge, rather than reproducers of
someone else’s knowledge.”(Zahorik, 1995)
9. http://proquest.umi.com.libdb.heritage.edu/p
qdweb?did=2444615701&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientl
d=22236&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Lincoln. Y., & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic
inquiry. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.
Zahorik, J. A. (1995). Constructivist teaching.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Editor's Notes
Teaching has changed gears over the last several years. High-stakes testing is the drive for instruction for many teachers. Politicians push to connect teacher salaries to student achievement on standardized tests. Teachers are criticized for not challenging students at a higher level, even if the student does not have the scaffolding to feel successful. Strategies for critical thinking should be pushed and learned at an early age and practiced throughout a student’s academic career.
Children are curious by nature. They wonder how things work, why, what do they do, and so much more. Why not use this natural curiosity in the classroom? Or outside of it like the boys in this picture. Abduction: we have questions. Deduction: we test these questions and hypothesis. Induction: confirmation or alterations to the hypothesis. We acquire new knowledge through discovery.
Zahorik; 1995The prior knowledge must be there to activate it. How well do you know your audience?Teach the new knowledge.Verify the student’s understanding of the new knowledgeWhat innovative way will you come up with to have your students use this new knowledge?Have students reflect on this new knowledge. This serves many purposes such as tracking student growth.
We, as teachers, are taking on many challenges and facing many struggles just to survive in today’s climate. More and more information is being covered in teacher education courses in addition to more courses.
A study was conducted in the deep south of the united states by student teachers. The pre-service teachers entered schools and observed the students to determine their diverse needs. “It is assumed that frequent and meaningful interaction between researcher and key informants allow for the design to be more precise as the study progresses.” (Lincoln and Guba, 1985)
Don’t recreate the wheel (as an educator), don’t lecture on how the wheel was created, allow students to discover the wheel by utilizing innovative teaching techniques.
