Education Weekly #7

Do students learn better from their peers? That has been a question that has been addressed for the last few decades. Stanford University and Vanderbilt University have been working on this very question. They have come up with a tutoring program where students teach a virtual friend the material. In this program students build webs of information that connect information to a main theme. The virtual friend then asks questions and makes statements that lead the students to make more connections to the main concept to complete the web.

I feel that this idea that students learn better from their peers or by teaching the material to each other has some truth to it. It has been proven that students gain a deeper understanding from multiple perspectives. They also gain a deeper understanding from teaching the material because they are able to process the information and then regenerate it in how it relates to them. There can be some down sides to this also. Students can be teaching or hearing wrong information. It is our job as teachers to try and keep this to a minimum. I believe that this tutoring has its place in the classroom but with a close eye on the information being presented by the students.

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After blogging for the past 2 months I decided to use blogger and dabbleboard as my web 2.0 tools of choice. I feel that both of these programs will be helpful to me in my future math class. My blog will help me to reach my students; whether they were not in class, didn't get all the notes or homework assignment, or need more help. It will also allow me to post projects done in class that parents will be able to access and see their child's work. Dabbleboard is a great tool for math teachers. It is capable of making shapes fast and easy and gives you access to math symbols when using algebra. These 2 tools will also help me achieve Oregon's CIP requirements.

I cant wait to get into the CLASSROOM!!!!





MultiMedia Presentation