4-2

1. Week 4-2: Leave a 30-word micro session summary.

2. In the article (p. 262), the authors mentioned the importance of supporting higher-order thinking skills in undergraduate education since business and industry appeals for flexible and creative employees who can look beyond the numbers and the given information. For that reason, the authors advocated pedagogical approaches that strive to develop students’ abilities to (1) synthesize disconnected pieces of information, (2) associate facts received from different sources and (3) evaluate the importance of information.

As a student, how would you evaluate your overall college classroom learning experience in terms of developing your higher-order thinking skills? Do you think your college courses have sufficiently supported you to develop the three -(1), (2), and (3)- abilities so far? If so/not, why do you think so?

Yes, my college classrooms have helped me to develop all these skills through a variety of exercises however it also depends upon the class. In many of my science classes, they are still taught in a very teacher centered way however many of my other classes for electives such as literature classes in which the learning is very much student centered, and one must synthesize information from many different sources.  This has allowed me to take my education, learning, and communication up to the next level.

3. On page 268, Bonk and Smith (1998) suggested that students in a consultative classroom encounter a wide range of classroom activities and assessment practices. Do you think consultative teachers are more likely to incorporate various instructional strategies into instruction than traditional teachers? Read page 267 and 268 and tell me your thoughts.

 I think that they are much more likely to use alternative strategies for a variety of reasons. The main being that it is simply necessary for them to employ more strategies as they have more diverse goals than that of teacher centered instruction. I think that this has alot of benefits not only for the students but for the teachers as well.

4. From a consultative teacher’s perspective, name one instructional strategy that you find the most effective for 1) designing a student-centered instruction and 2) developing students’ creative thinking skills among the alternative instructional strategies for creative thought (p. 269-275) that the authors suggested. Back up your choice by

- applying your knowledge of student-centered instruction

- referring to the definition and the characteristics of creative thinking suggested by the authors on p. 263, 264.

- briefly describing how this strategy will support college students to develop their creative thinking skills

 I really think that Role Playing is a great way to develop students creative thinking skills as the students must not only be creative to act the part, but must apply all of their knowledge in order to accurately play the part and decide what the role is going to do next. The student also must take ownership of the area that they are acting in. These all together lead to a far deeper understanding of the material than a teacher centered approach.

5. From a consultative teacher’s perspective, name one instructional stagey that you find the most effective for 1) designing a student-centered instruction and 2) developing students’ critical thinking skills among the alternative instructional strategies for critical thought (p.276-284)  that the authors suggested. Back up your choice by

- applying your knowledge of student-centered instruction

- referring to the definition and the characteristics of critical thinking suggested by the authors on p. 264, 265.

- briefly describing how this strategy will support college students to develop their critical thinking skills 

The other method that I enjoyed was the jigsaw method. Using this students must actively work together to work towards a common knowledge by talking to one another, synthesizing new ideas together.

6. Do you have any questions or concerns about course learning? 

No questions or concerns yet.

7.

	Modules	Topics  & Activity	Check ✓ if Completed
Week 4	Week 4-1 *Due by August 8 at 10:59 am	1) Week 4-1 Reading Quiz	✓
		2) Week 4-1 Discussion Forum: one initial response & two peer feedback replies	✓
		3) Week 4-1 Personal Blog Reflection	✓
	Week 4-2 *Due by August 8 at 10:59 am	1) Week 4-2 Reading Quiz	✓
		2) Week 4-2 Discussion Forum: One initial response & two peer feedback replies	IP
		3) Week 4-2 Personal Blog Reflection	✓

8.

Marissa Morris:

 I really enjoyed your post, especially the table that was put into the post. This is a great visual to distinguish the two methods. I also whole heartedly agree that role playing is a very effective method to encourage student learning as there is a performance based piece of this, not only in front of others either in a small group or as a class, but also a synthesis of knowledge that must occur for this to happen. Great Post!

Sadie Robinson:

 
I really enjoyed your post as you and I have differences in our learning styles and I enjoy reading about them. I have never been one much for free writing, or using writing exercises. I think that this does not work for me, as it seems almost pointless to have no structure. Very nice post, really nice to see our differences in learning.