Saturday, April 30, 2011

New Header Design 2


How do you like my new header? I changed it and removed my name on the title just to make my blog emphasize its content and not only me. The child playing with blocks obviously symbolizes learning which is actually the center-point of this blog. Hope you like this...
Btw, my next post will be LET tips regarding David Ausubel's Subsumption Theory. Watch out for it...

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Applications: David Ausubel's Subsumption Theory

1. Integrate or link the new lesson to the previous lesson. Relate what the new lesson is all about with the previous lesson by compare or contrast (finding similarities and differences, giving examples, analogies/metaphors,etc). This way, learners can have a foundation to the new learning that is about to take place. This is the reason why we have "reviews" or activities related to the previous lesson before we present the new lesson, or teachers' cliche like "Do you have an idea about...What is your idea about...Do you know about..."

2. Utilize advance organizers when presenting a concept. This should be done preferably at the beginning part of the lesson that will guide the learners throughout the learning process. Through this orderly and logical fashion, learners can easily keep on track with the lesson. Don't forget to indicate short descriptions of the key concepts as well as the learning objectives.

3. According to this theory, it is advised to teach the general idea of the lesson then progressively differentiate (LET alert. This comes out in the exam) this by specific topics. This can be done by pointing out the similarities of the topics as well as how are they different. For example in teaching Science like the topic about Weather and Climate. Instead  of teaching first "all" about Weather, then proceed to "all" about Climate,  a teacher might discuss first the general or the overall  ideas about these two topics. As the lesson progresses, the teacher can elaborate and the discuss comprehensively the particularities and details of each topic; how are they similar or different.

4. Avoid rote learning. Rote learning, in contrast with meaningful learning, is a "non-substantive incorporation of new knowledge into cognitive structure". In short, avoid making the learners memorize all the facts and terms without making them realize the essence of what is being learned. Emphasize more on the concepts and ideas rather on isolated information.

5. Don't forget to wrap up the lesson by giving summaries or giving them reviews of the major points that were discussed in the lesson.

5. The last but not the least, to sum up all these applications, from David Ausubel himself, " Tell them [the learners] what you are going to tell them; then tell them; then tell them what you told them."

Holy Week

          This week is Holy Week for us Christians. This is the week in which we commemorate the passion, death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hope this week will make us reflect our lives not only as Christians but as well as being children of God. How are we as a person, as a friend, as a son/daughter, a sister/brother, or even as a stranger? Let us make this week a meaningful week for everyone. And let us always bear in our minds and our hearts how great Jesus's love for us. Amen.

Monday, April 18, 2011

New Blog Design

How do you like my new blog design? I hope this made my blog more "respectable" and "reputable" (no hehehe...). My blog is already a year old so I think it deserves a new look right?

Friday, April 15, 2011

Comments comments comments

hmmm...I don't know how to say this...but I will repeat this again...I was a bit surprised as I  read "ALL" the comments in my blog (I am actually not aware that I can monitor the comments in my posts until recently). In almost a year of posting about education topics, I wasn't aware that there really are comments and suggestions being posted in some of my posts. Some of them were suggestions, some of them were "request" for posts and some were compliments and thank you's. Honestly, I am a bit guilty that some of the suggestions were not followed, or some of the requests were not granted, or just to say thank you and your welcome. Sorry for the negligence on my part. I didn't know that some people were actually looking forward for my posts yet I failed to post that often.  hmmm...I really hope that God will give me more time and perhaps more resources (until now I don't have my own laptop...hehe) to pursue and continue posting about education topics. I hope that I can make this blog improve a bit and extend help to more people whether they are into teaching or not. (One of the most striking comments I have received is that I must avoid my usual "hehe"...because it questions the credibility of my posts...hmmm...I don't want to avoid this since it's a part of my personality. I think I will consider avoiding this perhaps in posting education topics and will be just doing this in my "About Me" posts....Whatch think???
My next post will be my continuation about Ausubel's Subsumption Theory.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

David Ausubel's Subsumption Theory

Ausubel receiving (or giving?) an "i dont know" award...hehehe...He is wearing glasses...
     
          It is a consensus among educators that experiential learning or hands on approach to learning is a very effective teaching strategy. John Dewey's "learning by doing" phrase had been used gazillion times especially by education students if asked what the best teaching strategy is. However, I just would like reiterate that to use this approach in teaching requires preparation and materials. And we can't just utilize this on everyday basis, as well as on simple objectives that do not necessarily require "experiential" activities. This is where expository teaching comes in.
          Expository Approach in teaching is the most common teaching strategy wherein the teacher explains the lesson to the pupils. This is different from Discovery Approach where the pupils discover for themselves what the concept is. Some refer expository approach as teacher-centered, traditional and "spoon-feeding". That this kind of approach is just giving the students everything and does not give them the chance to think. Perhaps this approach is sometimes blamed with low mastery and academic level of pupils.

        On the other hand, David Ausubel presented an idea that makes expository approach more meaningful using verbal or textual presentations. He proposed the use of?....of?...of?...any guess? hehehehe...Advance Organizers to aid for a more meaningful learning (LET alert: This always comes out in the exam). "These organizers are introduced in advance of learning itself, and are also presented at a higher level of abstraction, generality, and inclusiveness; and since the substantive content of a given organizer or series of organizers is selected on the basis of its suitability for explaining, integrating, and interrelating the material they precede, this strategy simultaneously satisfies the substantive as well as the programming criteria for enhancing the organization strength of cognitive structure." (1963 , p. 81).Tsk tsk tsk,,,why do I have to quote this, I'm having a nosebleed...hahaha... Seriously, in simpler terms, advance organizers are used preceding or prior to teaching/learning a new content that can be used by the learner to learn and understand the new content. It is a means of preparing the learner's cognitive structure for the learning experience about to take place. It is a device to activate the relevant schema or conceptual patterns so that new information can be more readily "subsumed" into the learner's existing cognitive structures.
      This is where "subsumption" comes in.David Ausubel's  Subsumption Theory is a theory which suggests that learning "is based upon the kinds of superordinate, representational, and combinatorial processes that occur during the reception of information." When new knowledge is created that is substantive and non-verbatim, and is related to existing knowledge, retention and learning are primed. Forgetting occurs when new knowledge becomes integrated into existing knowledge, and loses its individual identity. (Ausubel, 2010). Again, in simpler terms, subsumption theory is incorporating a new material to one's existing cognitive structure (sounds familiar uhuh? yes the answer can be found below), from the word itself "subsumption" or to "subsume". And order to do this, there has to be an existing material that provides a framework into which the new learning is related, to the previous information or concept the learner has. In simplest term, it represents learning as somewhat like a ladder. In order to learn a new material, there are prerequisites. You can't learn how to write if you don't know what the letters are. You can't cook sushi if you don't know about Japanese cuisine in the first place ( I included this because I'm hungry..hehehe). If no previous knowledge is available, advance organizers are presented in order to give learners a framework in order for the new information to be meaningful and be retained for recall and transfer.
          This theory is somewhat similar with some known concepts like Piaget's "schema" as well as Bruner's "spiral curriculum". 
        Ausubel is a proponent of deductive and expository teaching methods. That is why this theory is also called as Meaningful Verbal Learning.
        On my next post I will discuss further about advance organizers and specific examples of these organizers as well as the applications in classroom teaching and instruction.