We have just added a new section to the site where we will begin to add content on Learning Management Systems (LMS). If you aren’t familiar with LMS’s take a look. These systems provide organizations with the ability to better manage the learning process. This includes the ability to track who has learned what and should allow monitoring of results and even follow-up discussions. In the coming weeks we’ll add posts that cover the topic in greater detail. Our goal will be to start with LMS’s and evolve to the point we consider means and methods for measuring and assuring effective learning. These topics are particularly important in the corporate training departments of Corporate America. Please take a look at the new page and let us know if there is more you want us to address.

A reader from India posted a question on our Constructivism page, asking how constructivism would be applied to a poetry class. Let’s imagine that a teacher were interested in teaching students the poetry of Shakespeare. Constructivism would challenge the teacher to:

• assure the students draw from their experience to relate to the poem
• keep a larger context, where they don’t just break down the poem into small pieces but keep the ‘whole’ in mind
• somehow, someway learners get involved in constructing their own poems and through them, find a way to relate to the poems being taught

(more…)

APPLICATIONS AND APPROACHES
This section contains examples of traditional and innovative learning applications. We welcome descriptions and discussions of other innovative applications, including samples of your work.

A passive approach

A bell rings. The professor stands before a podium with a sheaf of lecture notes. Facing her is a roomful of banked seats filled with students, notebooks open, pens poised. An hour-long lecture on photosynthesis begins, during which the instructor delivers reams of facts and the students busily record them. The students learn these bits of information and recall them at exam time. The professor grades students on their ability to do this.

A more active approach

Students gather around a table. The professor begins class with a 5 minute discussion on plants. Then, the professor divides the class into groups of three and gives each group a plant. The students are challenged to design experiments that determine how plants get nutrition. The professor walks around the class, providing guidance to each group.

Our current educational system was developed at a time when assembly line workers were in demand. Today’s workers need to be creative, agile thinkers who understand processes, not just facts. This requires a different set of skills. A number of current learning theories suggest ways to nurture the kinds of creativity and flexibility that enable people to thrive in the rapidly evolving work world.

LEARNING A HOBBY

Consider your favorite hobby. Perhaps you are a Pogo Stick enthusiast. It’s unlikely you were born with the innate ability to jump around on a Pogo Stick. But somewhere along the line you mastered this art. How? By getting on your Pogo Stick and jumping…and falling off…and getting back on…and jumping…and falling off… (you get the picture).

Gradually, during this iterative process, your brain and your body (which are accustomed to negotiating the world on two legs) developed a sense of how to balance while bouncing around on a stick. Although you may not have been aware of it, you increased your Pogo Stick expertise by developing and testing theories about how to stay on the stick. You made countless mistakes. And you used each mistake to examine what made you fall off.

The dialogue in your head may have gone something like this:

Okay, if I wait too long to start jumping after mounting the stick, I fall off. So I’ve gotta start jumping right away.

Okay, now I’ve gotten the hang of jumping as soon as I get on the Pogo Stick. But if I lean too far to the left or the right, I lose my balance. So I need to stay centered.

It seems that if I push off from the ground with the same amount of force each time, I can develop a rhythm and build momentum. Hmmm….How can I do that?

What made this learning situation work?

• You were motivated. Pogo-sticking wasn’t part of an established curriculum, but it was on your list of personal goals.
• You practiced in a safe environment. No one was testing or grading you, and it was okay to fail.
• You constructed your own knowledge about how to use a Pogo Stick.
• You learned how to use a Pogo Stick by pogo-sticking!

To run the coaster applet, you’ll need a java-enabled browser.

Welcome to the death defying Funderstanding Roller Coaster!

This simulator is designed for people who want to design their own thrilling coaster and educators who want to use a cool activity to simulate the application of physics by using an exciting interactive tool and access to a wonderful reference source.

It is your mission to design the coaster so that you can achieve maximum thrills and chills without crashing or flying off the track (unless that’s how you like your coaster to work!).

If you accept this mission you must decide on a number of factors. You are responsible for setting the controls for the height of hill #1, hill #2, the size of the loop, the initial speed of the coaster, its mass, the gravity at work and the amount of friction on the track.

This tool offers a great way to play a roller coaster game, and learn while doing it. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this simulation and it will encourage you to think about how simulations can help you improve the way you teach.

If you need help, click on the ‘?‘ that relates to each slider. A second browser window will open to display the information. You can also get help on the topics listed below.

• Acceleration
• Centripetal Force
• Energy
• Force
• g’s
• Inertia
• Momentum
• Sir Isaac Newton
• Velocity
• Weightlessness
• Weight
• Work

Contact us for more information.

Kids, be sure to get your parents permission before you email us. We don’t use this information to contact you with promotions, news about Funderstanding or changes on the site. We don’t share any of this information with advertisers, marketers or any other third parties. We do, however, save emails. See our full Privacy Policy for more information.

People are best engaged when they are actively involved in an activity. This means challenging learners with something they want to achieve. We do this by drawing on what leading educators, psychologists, and other experts have learned. Read on!

Theories–Explore the many theories that directly impact education today.
Influences–Check out the innovators and schools of thought that have influenced Funderstanding’s views on teaching and learning.
History–Take a look at the roots of our current education system.
Patterns–Examine how the work of architect Christopher Alexander has influenced and enhanced Funderstanding’s design of educational products.
Emotional Intelligence–Learn about the tremendous impact Emotional Intelligence–the ability to apply intelligence to your feelings–has on learning, both in the classroom and on the job.
Benefits–Discover how your organization can benefit from improving the way your employees, members, or students learn.
Education Reform–See what our nation’s most progressive thinkers in education are up to.

We welcome your links to relevant websites. If you’ve got a topic you’d like to share–either inside or outside the learning realm, please use our feedback form to let us know.