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Learning research has shown that students learn
best by actively “constructing” knowledge from a combination
of experience, interpretation, and structured interactions with
peers and teachers.14,15 When students are
placed in the relatively passive role of receiving information from
lectures and texts (the “transmission” model of learning),
they often fail to develop sufficient understanding to apply what
they have learned to situations outside their texts and classrooms.
16 In addition, children have different learning
styles. The use of methods beyond lectures and books can help reach
children who learn best from a combination of teaching approaches.
Today’s theories of learning differ in some details,18
but educational reformers appear to agree with the theoreticians
and experts that to enhance learning, more attention should be given
to actively engaging children in the learning process. Curricular
frameworks now expect students to take active roles in solving problems,
communicating effectively, analyzing information, and designing
solutions—skills that go far beyond the mere recitation of
correct responses.
Although active, constructive learning can be
integrated in classrooms with or without computers, the characteristics
of computer-based technologies make them a particularly useful tool
for this type of learning. For example, consider science laboratory
experiments. Students certainly can actively engage in experiments
without computers, yet nearly two decades of research has shown
that students can make significant gains when computers are incorporated
into labs under a design called the “Microcomputer-Based Laboratory”
(MBL). As illustrated by the description of an MBL in Box 1, students
conducting experiments can use computers to instantaneously graph
their data, thus reducing the time between gathering data and beginning
to interpret it.
Students no longer have to go home to laboriously
plot points on a graph and then bring the graphs back to school
the following day. Instead, they instantaneously can see the results
of their experiment. In fairly widely replicated studies, researchers
have noted significant improvements in students’ graph-interpretation
skills, understanding of scientific concepts, and motivation when
using the software. For example, one study of 125 seventh and eighth
graders found that use of MBL software resulted in an 81% gain in
the students’ ability to interpret and use graphs. In another
study of 249 eighth graders, experience with MBL was found to produce
significant gains in the students’ ability to identify some
of the reasons why graphs may be inaccurate.
Using technology to engage students more
actively in learning is not limited to science and mathematics.
For example, computer-based applications such as desktop publishing
and desktop video can be used to involve students more actively
in constructing presentations that reflect their understanding and
knowledge of various subjects. Although previous media technologies
generally placed children in the role of passive observers, these
new technologies make content construction much more accessible
to students, and research indicates that such uses of technology
can have significant positive effects. In one project, innercity
high school students worked as “multimedia designers”
to create an electronic school yearbook and displays for a local
children’s museum. The students participating in the project
showed significant gains in task engagement and self-confidence
measures compared with students enrolled in a more traditional computer
class.
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