Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences', the encyclopedia of informal education, Retrieved May 21, 2007 from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm
Smythe, Kevin, and Halonen, Jane, (2007) Using the New Bloom's Taxonomy to Design Meaningful Learning Assessments, Applying Assessment Strategies In Psychology, Retrieved May 22, 2007 from: http://www.apa.org/ed/new_blooms.html
Hein, Prof. George E., (1991) Constructivist Learning Theory, The Museum and the Needs of People CECA (International Committee of Museum Educators) Conference, Jerusalem Israel, 15-22 October 1991, Retrieved May 22, 2007 from http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/constructivistlearning.html
The Song file that I have chosen from Sonific is a Church Hymn sung by the Benedictine Nuns in France. This ICT supports the following learning styles, as presented by Gardner in his theory of Multiple Intelligences:
Musical/Rythmic: the melody, back round instruments and sounds attract students who have an appeal to learning through music and rhythm. Interpersonal: listening to the audio as a class and then having an open group discussion on Church music and its significance in their own spirituality. Interpersonal: students can also have time to listen to the audio individually and reflect on how they understand it to tie into their own spirituality. (Smith, 2002)
This ICT is an engaging way of bringing the lesson to life and exposing the students to a variety of Church music as a part of the Christianity unit in Studies of Religion. Moreover, in line with Bloom's Taxonomy, this ICT can also be used as an evaluative task where students can contrast and compare the value of Church music to secular music. (Smythe, 2007)
Students can also develop their own thoughts and create personal connections to Church music and its relevance to their own spirituality. Implementing audio into the classroom is a great cognitive tool which encourages higher order thinking in that learners are utilising their thinking to evaluate the role of Church music in the expression of their faith. Similarily, just as described in Vygotsky's constructivist theory students can bring their own knowledge and experiences into the classroom discussion and recreate new meaningful knowledge from the social interaction of the students.
The slide show of Christian Art visually shows important elements of our faith in the Gospel. This ICT supports the following learning styles in relation to Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences: Visual and spatial: the visual art and pictures will capture the learner’s focus and flair their thoughts. Linguistic: the written texts from the Gospel and the titles on each of the slides will assist the learner to personally connect the visual pictures in to the Gospel context and furthermore into how they are significant in their own spiritual lives. Interpersonal: the slide show can be viewed and afterwards discussed in an open forum style. Intrapersonal: the slide show can also be viewed in the student’s own time where they can individually reflect and write about how the images in the slide show personally relate to them in their faith journey. (Smith, 2002)
Graphic /images can be implemented as a good cognitive tool for learning as visuals are an effective way of helping students to connect their knowledge and experiences with an important concept. This ICT can stimulate them to personally reflect and think about how they are living out their faith in their family, social and work lives. In the constructivist theory, an important point is made and that is, we need to reflect on our practice in order to understand and build upon the new knowledge and ideas presented to us. (Hein, 1991) So, whilst showing the students this slide show, I will encourage them to take time to reflect on and examine their own lives and how they can welcome these Gospel values in to living a good Christian life.
Online Games are a versatile teaching tool which can effectively encourage students to extend their learning and development. They can motivate students to want to learn, think and apply their knowledge in a fun, social and interactive way. I would implement this high- interest activity as a Trivia class activity for my students to collectively learn more about the Word of God in a more enjoyable and informal way. In line with the Vygotsky’s Constructivist theory, learning is a social and interactive process where individuals construct meaning based on their previous knowledge, experiences and social setting. (Hein, 1991)
I believe this online game is a good cognitive tool in the learning environment as it would stimulate and engage the students to interact and extend their knowledge of the faith as a ‘community of learners’. On a personal level, students can reflect on what they do and don’t know in the Bible and how they can better understand and live the word of God in their own personal lives. Specifically this ICT, in relation to Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences would mostly support the linguistic, Interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. (Smith, 2002) Learners would be using words and language to communicate and answer the questions within their Trivia groups. Furthermore, this ICT would encourage learners to use their higher order thinking skills to analyse, self- examine and evaluate their own spirituality and its priority in their daily lives.
This Video is a talk given by Fr Corapi about the Role of the Christian Family. Video clips are a valuable tool in facilitating and enhancing Learning and development for students. This ICT provides a more dynamic and motivating focus in the lesson more than traditional resources for this subject area. It supports a number of learning styles as presented in Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences:
Visual/Spatial: these learners are attended to through the visual of seeing people, in this case Fr Corapi speaking to them in person.
Linguistic: these learners are attended to though the important verbal message Fr Corapi presents on the video.
Interpersonal: when the video is viewed and afterwards discussed as a collaborative group then these learners would be supported.
Intrapersonal: when the video is watched individually and reflected upon in their own time then these learners would be supported. (Smith, 2002)
According to Vygotsky’s theory of constructivism, learning is a social activity that is intimately associated with our connection to others. (Hein, 1991) In essence, the utilisation of this ICT in a collaborative way engages the students to interactively learn and build upon their previous knowledge and experiences.
This ICT is an excellent cognitive tool to implement in the classroom as a part of the Christianity unit. This video is highly relevant in encouraging and enhancing the student’s understanding of the crucial role Christian families’ play in our society today. Furthermore, the implementation of this ICT will stimulate students to engage in higher order thinking as described in Bloom’s Taxonomy. (Smythe, 2007) After the video is shown, a collaborative discussion will follow and students will be asked the following: - to analyse and evaluate the possible reasons for the breakdown of the family unit in our society today - to brainstorm and create possible ideas in groups (using the video as a reference) of ways of rebuilding the family unit
Noteworthy, the teacher plays a crucial role in successfully implementing this ICT in making it relevant and useful to the student’s learning and development. Accordingly, Hattie states that teachers are the most imperative factors in the achievement of a student’s learning. (Hattie, 2005) In utilising this ICT, I also perceive the importance of presenting it in an engaging way where students can think and relate to the value of the knowledge they are being shown and apply it meaningfully into their own knowledge building and experiences.
Graphic organisers such as this mind map created in Inspiration supports students to visually structure and better understand a flow of ideas and their possible connections. The mind map I have attached is a personal reflection on why I want to become a teacher? This ICT appeals to the following learning styles, as presented in Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences:
Linguistic: these learners are attended to by the written text on the mind map Visual/Spatial: these learners are attended to by the visual illustration of meaningful ideas, thoughts, words and pictures incorporated and interrelated with one another Interpersonal: these learners are attended to when graphic organisers are constructed and discussed in a collaborative groups or when they are made individually and then considered in a group Intrapersonal: these learners are attended to when they in their own time examine their personal ideas and reflections through a graphic organiser. (Smith, 2002)
Graphic organisers can be applied as a good cognitive tool within the social learning environment, as they visually stimulate students to dynamically extend their own thoughts and recreate connections between their prior knowledge and acquired knowledge. (Hein, 1991) Specifically, mind maps can be implemented in the classroom to visually depict a reflection of ideas relating to a particular question or issue. This great cognitive tool can also be effective for essay planning in a classroom setting and/or in giving the students an illustrative overview of important concepts covered in a topic area.
