Case 1: Mr. West wants his students to truly understand Civil War battles. He engages the help of a local Historical Re-enactment Society and assigns each of his students to the Union or Confederate side. His students join the re-enactors from 7:00am-7:00pm for a full day of activities which include a long march (complete with rudimentary battle gear), setting up camp, cooking over campfires, scouting territory, and engaging in a historically representative battle.
1. After participating in this activity, what do you think the students will remember? How might those memories differ from those students would have if they only read about the Civil War in their textbook?
I think that the students would be more interested and more prone to learn. I think that the students would probably remember this experience for life or well into their adulthood because of the length and actual hands on learning that they are receiving. Students only reading about civil war will end up forgetting most of the information, if not all if it is not again rehearsed. From my point of view I would have enjoyed the hands on experience better than reading it in a book. You would definitely understand more of what it would be like to be a soldier in the Civil war.
2. How does Mr. West’s use of a Civil War re-enactment engage students’ emotions? What is the relationship between emotions and learning?
Mr. West uses more levels of learning and intelligences to teach and excite the students about the Civil War. It is something that is off the beaten path of reading and lecturing. When learning is exciting it become fun and enjoyable to learn. Excited students will participate and learn better than students that are not excited. Good emotions are going to have a driving force to learning and even retaining the learning.
3. Based on the principles of dual-coding theory, what activities would be effective for Mr. West to use as a follow-up to the re-enactment?
The students would learn better if following the reenactment the class have a follow up lesson on this same subject of civil war soldiers. This time the teacher may want to include information on you can learn in a classroom setting like looking at picture and discussing certain events that took place. These two in my opinion would cement the study of the Civil War as soldiers.
Case 2: Mr. Dunkin and Mr. Richards, teachers at the same school, are debating in the teacher’s lounge about who provides the best type of organization for the students’ learning. Mr. Dunkin lectures and assigns reading and chapter problems Mondays through Thursdays. On Fridays he gives a short answer exam. In Mr. Richards’ class the students never know what will take place on any given day until they arrive in class and look at a detailed outline of the hour’s activities on the chalkboard. His class engages in mix of role-plays, lecture, videos, group projects and demonstrations. Mr. Richards occasionally gives surprise quizzes and his unit tests can include true/false, multiple choice, short answer, or essay.
4. Who do you think provides better instruction for his students? Support your answer from an information processing perspective.
For sure I would say that the second teacher, Mr. Richards teaches more effectively and provides better instruction for his students. Mr. Richards teaches using variation and the Information Processing Theory. This Theory suggests that people learn new information more easily when they can relate it to something they already know. Mr. Richards would teach a concept and through his many different ways of teaching and assessments the students will be able to apply the learning better. Mr. Richards structure is organized and fun making the learning more fun.
5. How would you expect the students’ learning outcomes to differ depending on which teacher they had?
I am sure students would learn information in both classes but both more students would learn in Mr. Richards’ class. These students would retain the information better and be more excited about the learner (considering everything else is the same). There may be a few students that excel in Mr. Dunkin’s class, however I would bet that better learning where the students are engaged and excited to come to class will occur in Mr. Richards class. This will ultimately be because the new information is being given to the students in a structured/organized way using many different methods of teaching.
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