Interactive is enjoyable and meaningful

Last Dec. 5 and 6, my grade five science students were doing interactive games: chain reaction  in relation to our lesson on food chain. The students were so engrossed with the activity. I provided them with answer sheet together with the guide questions that they need to do with their group mates.
 As a result, during the discussion after they did the interactive, there were many realizations that came up about food chain.. one is that they were able to realize how important is each organism in the chain. They learned it also while reading the feedback provided in the game. Truly, using interactive would enhance learning and would also enhance value formation among learners.

Interactive is fun

It has been a day since I asked my science class to try the interactive websites and learn more about our lesson on animal adaptation. The first section tried it. I noticed among the students that they are so engrossed with what they are doing. They are learning at the same time they had some fun while playing the game said a student whom I interviewed after playing with it. Truly, these blended learning is an aid to let these 21st learners learn more. It made more sense in our discussion as well. We had class interactions after they played. And there are more interactions in our discussion since the students are able to share more ideas which are not found in the book but they have learned those while playing the game. Aside from that, prior to the use of these interactive websites, we had film viewing. Though it may just be a substitution in a way, still comparing it with face to face, the film viewing aids the teacher in the discussion to make it more fun, enjoyable and at the same time rich with what the students are expected to learn in our lesson. I had fun and I felt I achieved something by using interactive in my class this week.

for the 21st century learners

We published our work for creating webquest for our 21st century learners. With the things that I've learned on eliciting the prior knowledge, having the students undergo the cognitive dissonance, using the POE approach in constructing new knowledge and checking if the students learned through the use of map of conceptual change, which is the ARG in our case, considering also the learners centered principles and seven goals for CLE.. I am optimistic that what we did will make our 21st century learners have fun and at the same time learn while going through the websites in our webquest. Hopefully they will have fun in their journey as they learn more about matter.

Fun of Gamifying

As I go through in venturing another technique in making lessons learner centered, I have realized that there's plenty of choices around to hook the learner's interest in the lesson in a less tiresome way on the teacher's side. That way I am referring to is using gamification in the classroom; which is not only useful in the classroom setting but also in other few ways namely in business wherein people are collaborating, in government projects like solving obesity program, and in education wherein it will result to a good behavior and in gamifying, efforts are rewarded consistently. I was able to come across the daily bulletin we read everyday. For me, gamifying is also used in it partly since, a portion of the announcement part is the commendation of those who submitted requirements ahead and on time. Doing such would boast once self esteem thus, it enable one to do same good behavior since it was recognize. A simple way of gamifying; "rewarding effort consistently" will yield more good behavior like a chain reaction of good vibes around.

DESIGNING A BLENDED LEARNING

I have come to realize that blended learning is not enough in a classroom. It has also be a learner-centered way. So, ideally , it will also be a Lasallian module in a blended learning done in a learner centered way. With this I come to think about the things I did in the classroom this week with my Lasallian students. I used the OPTICART with a film on the Respiratory system. In a blended learning environment, the learners shall be able to manipulate and at the same time be able to receive feedbacks in the interactives. Although the OPTICART is not something that students will really manipulate, I allowed them to go near to it and follow through the path for instance of where the air will pass through following the colored film since the passage way of the air has color for emphasis. The students were so engrossed and interested. How much more if the teacher would really be using the interactive games with technology? I guess that would be the challenge that I would be able to place interactive games in my learning module next quarter. But I should bear in mind the different framework that would guide me somehow. One of which is the SAMR( Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redifinition). Most of the interactives merely fall in substitution and augmentation. The next framework would be the TIM (Technology Integration Matrix) which would allow technology to be used by the learners to build understanding rather than simply receive information. Another framework is the Blended Learning Design, Learner Centered Principles, Seven Goals for the Design, Effective Use of technology,Characteristics of Application, Learning Goals and the UNESCO FRAMEWORK. With all of these, at lest the designer will be guided, and will not simply place technology with face to face, just for fun. Yet, today I had fun in using another learner -centered technique which is creating the the webquest using zunal.com. I hope we can make it thoroughly to help in changing the schema of our learners.

As I started the first day of this course on Technology supported learning environment, I tried to recall the technology I used to help me in my day to day routine in the classroom. But then as we move on from the exercise on Learner-centered lesson design to process questions for an interactive website, I realized that just using technology in the classroom for a mere fact of having fun and making my task light and easy are not the only reasons but there is a more significant one. I must admit, that there are really times that a person could not really do efficiently the task and it is that time that we need the assistance of technology. In face to face setting, learners can still learn and have fun. But nowadays, as I look at the kind of learner I have, I had to compete with technology. That is because, face to face has its limits and the limits can only lead me to the use of technology. But it's not enough to simply pick any among the choices of technology presented to us in the net. In a learner -centered class that I've learned today I should choose interactive games for instance, that must have the manipulative and feedback as well. What's the difference anyway? We'll I've tried it in my science class the Monday after I attended my Saturday class. I showed them a video about body systems. I thought it would just be a simple video since I only previewed a portion of which. But I also already prepared sets of questions anyway, but to my surprise at the end of the video, the students has to answer a quiz, part of the video itself. And in the middle of the video, there are instances where in the students are asked to point to the screen the specific parts being mentioned. Then I realized, that these are the two things needed in technology, a. the students can participate not just simply watching it and b. they can be given the feedback at the end to show learning. Now it made sense to me.In eliciting the prior knowledge; activities for cognitive dissonance; until the learner is able to reconstruct new knowledge; and in choosing the map of conceptual change; and lastly in choosing the kind of technology; all of these are really for the learner to have a well blended learning. Hopefully I can make it happen.