World Aids Day WIKISPACE

In this WIKISPACE you can find activities related to the World Aids Day that you might want to use in your classroom.

WIKISPACE World Aids Day

The network of knowledge of Costa Rica

Educated

Movies: videos in the classroom and meaningful learning.

Videos in the classroom

Meaningful Learning

LESSON PLAN PRONUNCIATION

Here you can find a lesson plan as an example to use technology in the classroom.
Lessonplan

The Learning Management System MOODLE

Here you can learn more about MOODLE, a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment.

Teacher’s Role and Pedagogical Issues/Learning Styles

The teacher’s role has changed in the last decade- teachers do not see themselves as instructors any more, but as facilitators.

Therefore teaching has changed as well- we know that deeper learning occurs when the participants become actively involved in their learning process, and that the lesson contents will reach the long-term memory if they become meaningful to the learners. But it is still difficult for many teachers to adapt their teaching style, even partly, to the constructivist theory. I would like to cite Richard S. Prawat, a professor of the Michigan State University:

“Teachers are viewed as important agents of change in the reform effort currently under way in education and thus are therefore expected to play a key role in changing schools and classrooms. Paradoxically, however, teachers are also viewed as major obstacles to change because of their adherence to outmoded forms of instruction that emphasize factual and procedural knowledge at the expense of deeper levels of understanding. New constructivist approaches to teaching and learning, which many reformers advocate, are inconsistent with much of what teachers believe – a problem that may be overcome if teachers are willing to rethink their views on a number of issues.”  Richard S. Prawat, Michigan State University. (Here you can find the whole article.)

I believe that it is difficult to change for some teachers because as humans we are attached to routines, and generally do not like changes. (And we are lazy as well.)  It might be easier for the ones who are becoming teachers now, since they have not got used to a particular teaching style yet (that does not promote constructivism). Nevertheless I think that every teacher would agree if I say that we have to be creative when we plan our lessons using constructivism, and that it means more work for us.

So, to convince all teachers not to teach in the same way instructors have been teaching for centuries- via memorization and drill- we have to outline the positive outcomes of this change in teaching and learning. With Gardner’s theory of the multiple intelligences and different learning and teaching styles, we understand now better why students learn in different ways.

If our students learn by doing, if we provide them with real-life tasks, our lessons will be interesting and meaningful, and deeper learning will occur.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

 The importance of multiple intelligences present in the classroom when using technology