Digital storytelling is a great way to really get students involved. They have to tap into their creative skills to create a storyboard, a camera to shoot the video, and some type of software on a computer to edit their video. In order to create a digital story, students have to really use their critical thinking skills in many different ways. I think this is a really great idea for students. Not only does it help them learn necessary skills, but it allows them to be creative and have fun while still learning. To be completely honest, I am not quite sure how I could use this type of activity in my classroom. There is not a lot of room for creativity in math unfortunately. I would definitely love to sit down and really try to come up with a way to make this work for a mathematics class. It could be used to help other students learn concepts that they might be having trouble with. I think students sometimes feel pressure to try to understand immediately if they ask the teacher to explain something again whereas if they ask a fellow student, they don’t feel that pressure. An activity like digital storytelling may very well be a very good tool for those struggling students. As I said, I would really have to think about a way that digital storytelling could be used for mathematics.
Personally, when it comes to math, I am a very visual learner. I have to see how it is done before I can understand. I am the kind of person that you can’t just simply tell how to do it. You have to show me. Math is a very visual subject. Theorems and formulas are explained and then examples of how to use them are shown. That is how math works. You can’t just tell someone a theorem or formula and expect them to know how to use it. In the chapter, they talked about four different methods that would help make math more real for students. The first method suggested was graphing calculators. Graphing calculators are a great way for students to see representations of ideas. As was said, “Students often have difficulty distinguishing important features of functional relationships.” (p. 198) I, as a student, still have a hard time sometimes when I try to visualize those types of things in my head. When that happens, it is nice to have that calculator to give me the visual that I need. Being able to see that visual greatly enhances the understanding of the material. Students are able to understand the many representations of the relationship. The second method suggested was data sets. Allowing students to “tinker”, as the book says, with data helps them to analyze and interpret it in a way that they understand. They are able to develop understanding of the attributes, logical relationships, place value, and more.
Like data sets, Fathom Dynamic Statistics Software allows students to analyze and interpret on a much larger level. Not only does this help further their understanding of the material, but it also helps students develop those key abilities. The last method that was suggested was visual geometry. I think this is very important. A lot of the time, students are intimidated by geometry because there are so many formulas and rules that have to be used and followed. Most of the time, they have no idea why they need to use or follow them in the first place. They just do it because the teacher told them to. I think if students were able to visualize these rules and formulas, they would better understand the reasoning behind them and be better able to use them when necessary. As I said before, being able to have visuals when it comes to mathematics is never a bad thing. It only furthers the students’ understanding of the material they have to learn.
In a way, I do think it is possible to learn from watching TV instruction, but I also think that there has to be some kind of interaction to really understand what you are learning. For example, you can watch a TV program on how to do certain exercises, but you don’t fully understand how to do those exercises until you do them yourself. The same could be said for math. You can watch an instructional video on how to solve a problem, but you are not going to understand that problem until you go through the steps yourself. So no, I don’t think it is possible to learn from TV alone. I think you can get a good idea on what you need to do by watching it, but you can’t fully understand until you have done it yourself.
Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R., & Crismond, D. (2008). Meaningful learning With Technology (3rd Edition). Columbus, OH: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
I agree the best way to learn anything is by trying it yourself. Sort of trial and error.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the best way to learn how to do anything is to do it your self. If at first you don't succeed you have to try again until you are successful. There are also many ways to do one thing. Just because its not the way you were taught doesn't make the way that you do it wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree that in order to learn through television one has to have some type of interaction. Just as we learned how to create various projects in this class, we had to work hands on along with the youtube video.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Learning from a video or television is possible in conjunction with something else. It is difficult to learn a concept by simply watching. Application is so important.
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