Principles of Learning
MEANING
Test Your Memory
Test Your Memory
Test Your Memory
Timed-Pair-Share
What made the first set of objects difficult to
remember?
What made the next two sets progressively
easier to remember?
MEANING!!!
So, what really happened here?
Students have trouble
remembering,
struggle to take the
learning from one
context to another,
and learn slowly.
MEANING
Increased retention,
transfer,
and rate and degree
of learning.
Definition
Meaning is a principle of learning that
creates a relationship between
the learner and the material.
=
Meaning continuum
Low Buy-In High Buy-in
1 10
No Little A lot of Tremendous
meaning meaning meaning meaning
Ways to Add Meaning
Create purpose, use and
value
Link to past experiences
Provide clear organization
Global Mind Change- Willis Harman, 1988
Two stone cutters…were engaged in similar
activity. Asked what they were doing, one
answered, “I’m squaring up this block of stone.”
The other replied, “I’m building a cathedral.”
The first may have been underemployed, the
second was not. Clearly what counts is not so
much what work a person does, but what he
perceives he is doing it for.
“What are you learning today?”
Do you see the difference?
“We are learning how to “We are calculating the area
multiply length times width” of this room to figure out how
much carpet we need”
“We are learning about the “We are writing letters to
formatting of business local businesses to get
letters” donations for our class
project”
“We are learning how to “We are doing a Web Quest
research on the internet”
to determine if the new
“healthier” cigarettes are
really less dangerous”
The brain learns almost effortlessly when
there is sensible reason to learn.
Creating purpose, use and value
Why do I have to know this?
When will I ever use this?
What good is this going to be
for my future?
We need to help our students
find these things in what we
are asking them to learn.
“To Do”
Think of one lesson you’ve taught or that you will
teach and write down some ideas about how
you could make that learning more authentic,
more purposeful for students.
Clock Partner Share
Ways to Add Meaning
Create purpose, use and
value
Link to past experiences
Provide clear organization
Constructing Meaning
The questions that p_______ face as they raise
ch_______ from in_______to adult life are not easy
to an_______. Both fa_______ and m_______ can
become concerned when health problems such as
co_______ arise any time after the e_______ stage
to later life. Experts recommend that young
ch_______ should have plenty of s_______ and
nutritious food for healthy growth. B_______ and
g_______ should not share the same b_______ or
even sleep in the same r_______. They may be
afraid of the d_______.
Constructing Meaning
The questions that poultrymen face as they raise
chickens from incubation to adult life are not easy to
answer. Both farmers and merchants can become
concerned when health problems such as
coccidiosis arise any time after the egg stage to
later life. Experts recommend that young chickens
should have plenty of sunshine and nutritious food
for healthy growth. Bantees and geese should not
share the same barnyard or even sleep in the same
roost. They may be afraid of the dark.
Link to Past Experiences:
Connecting “New” to “Known”
Past Experiences New Learning Future Situation
to which Learning
is to be transferred
“Have you ever…? Did you ever…?”
Can you remember a time when…?
Link to Past Experiences:
If teaching about velocity or slope, use playground slides or
skateboard ramps…even better, have them learn in context
by designing a model of one (or a real one!)
Trying to teach the concept of overconsumption or waste?
One college professor (but it could certainly be done in
middle or high school) had students carry all the garbage
they generated (including recyclables) around with them for
a week
How about water conservation? Have students find a leaky
faucet in the school or in their house (or let one drip for a
minute or two as if it were leaky), measure the water loss
over a certain time period and then calculate the waste over
the course of a year. Hopefully this will make them turn off
the water while they are brushing!
What if my students don’t have
much prior knowledge?
Build Concept
Provide experiences: examples, models,
field trips, movie clips, news, internet sites:
pictures, experts
Use similes, metaphors, and analogies
Use real-life motivators to connect to
student’s lives
Bringing the students’
world into the
classroom is the most
relevant act a teacher
can perform.
“To Do”
Write down one concept you teach for which
students have little or no past experience with
and one way you could build the concept for
them.
Write down one concept for which your students
do have past experience with and one way you
could capitalize on that experience.
Clock Partner Share
Ways to Add Meaning
Create purpose, use and value
Link to past experiences
Provide clear organization
How does this system of organization effect one’s
ability to retrieve and use needed information?
What are some things that might help the user of
that desk to retrieve and use needed information?
How about this?
Provide Clear Organization:
Graphic Organizers
Chunk information:
Adults- 7 chunks
Children- 3-5 depending on age
Provide Clear Organization:
Mnemonic Devices
Acrostic sentences: EGBDF
Acronyms: ROYGBIV
Rhymes: 8x8 fell on the floor – picked it up
and it was 64
Phrases: The principal is your pal
“To Do”
Think of a piece of essential learning from your
content area or grade level and try to recall an
existing or develop a new mnemonic for that
learning.
Clock Partner Share
•Use, purpose and value
Is this meaning ? •Past experiences
If so, label which type ? •Clear organization
A high school health teacher, at the beginning of a unit on
communicable diseases, asks his students if they have ever
been in the hospital, or had to stay out of school for any
length of time.
A 2nd grade teacher, during a unit on weather, had her class
look at a weather map on the Internet each week, discuss
what happened in the past 24 hrs., observe outside in
morning and afternoon, and then make predictions about
what would happen between the end of school that day and
the start of school the next.
A 6th grade ELA teacher designed his own story map and
hands the same one out to his students to use each time
they read a new story.
Don’t get caught in the trap of
covering ground. If you do,
cover it with dirt and lay it to
rest, because without meaning,
it is dead anyway.
-Madeline Hunter
RSVP
R- Respond to this statement
“It is part of a teacher’s job to create meaning
for students.”
S- Summarize several different ways to add
meaning to your classroom.
V- Viewpoint- Present your viewpoint on this
statement: In the midst of all the academic
rigor, we overlook the very purpose of
learning; to provide meaning in our lives.
P- Puzzlers (questions)- What questions do you
still have about meaning ?
Timed-Pair-Share
Now, talk with your elbow partner about how
this relates to providing clear organization of
information to students.