Recent research has
consistently shown that each student has a different learning style (Evans,
Cools, & Charlesworth, 2010). Some learners achieve more when hearing the
material, others achieve more when seeing an example, and others achieve more
when they have the opportunity to handle the material. Educators today are encouraged to find ways
to meet the needs of all learners, and technology gives educators multitudes of
different ways to adapt lessons to meet the needs of learners. This paper will discuss and support this
author’s understanding of the importance of designing to support the needs of
all learners and will then redesign a prior MATLT activity to demonstrate attainment
of Program Learning Outcome 3 to “design learning opportunities that apply
technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the needs of all
learners.”
Importance
of Addressing Different Learning Styles
Over time, educators have come to the realization that
each learner has a different style of learning.
Just as every person is different, so are the learning styles. Some learners retain material best when they
hear it, others when they see it, and others when they have the opportunity to
practice it (Felder & Brent, 2005).
And still other learners do best when they have the material presented
in multiple different formats. Educators
today are able to meet the needs of different learners by using
technology. Lessons can be created or
modified to incorporate websites, presentation software, and learning
resources. By incorporating technology
into a lesson, an educator is able to more easily present the information to
the learners using different formats in an attempt to match the material
presentation to the needs of the student (Hall, Strangman, & Meyere, 2003).
Original
Lesson: EDU648
In
this lesson, the students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of
commercial fishing on the seal population of the Alaskan Maritime National
Wildlife Refuge. A research report and
discussion on the topic will determine if the lesson goals have been accomplished. Before proceeding with the lesson, it is
important to know what the students already know that will assist in learning
this task. A question and answer session
can be conducted prior to the lesson about the topic to assess student
understanding of the information. It is
important to determine what resources, facilities, and equipment are available
and accessible. This school has Smart
boards in each classroom which can be used to show pictures of the fishermen in
action and the seals that are affected.
Before starting the lesson, the educator must decide what
instructional material or activities should be included. This lesson will include all relevant
information about the activities of fishermen in the Alaskan Maritime National
Wildlife Refuge and about seal life. The
information will be presented in lecture format with the Smart Board engaging
learners by showing pictures of the seals at risk and showing examples of how
the seals’ lives have changed as a result of fishing. The most effective, efficient, and appealing
manner this information can be acquired by the students is through the use of
multiple teaching styles to appeal to the different learning styles. The use of lecture appeals to learners who
learn best through hearing the information, and the Smart Board will appeal to
learners who learn best when seeing information. A combination of both methods is likely to
maximize the learning of all students because having the information presented
in multiple ways increases the likelihood of retention (Lever-Duffy &
McDonald, 2011).
The learning activities should be ordered as they would
occur in the wild. The lives of the seals before commercial fishing can be
explained followed by a description of the commercial fishing industry and its
desire for the fish in this refuge. The
information can then be presented about the impact of fishing on the
seals. Students can be assisted in
learning this new information by having it presented in multiple formats to
appeal to the learning styles of the different students (Evans, Cools, &
Charlesworth, 2010). Visual learners will appreciate the Smart Board, and
auditory learners will enjoy the lecture.
Redesigned
Lesson
This lesson already addresses some of the needs of the
auditory and visual learners because it incorporates lecture and Smart Board
usage. The lesson will be redesigned to
better use technology to meet the needs of all students. The Smart Board technology will be used to create
and present a Prezi presentation that clearly goes over each animal and its
characteristics. Prezi is an
versatile program that works well with
Smart Board technology, although an educator could use another program if he or
she so desires. Pictures will be shown so that students understand the
differences that exist between the animals.
It is also important in this lesson for students to gain a better
understanding of the relationship between fishermen and the wildlife. In order to teach this material and engage
the kinesthetic learners, the instructor will create a virtual pond and have
students practice “fishing” in the pond without harming the wildlife. This virtual pond can be created using Smart
Board programming, and students can come up to the board and take turns
“fishing.”
Students will also be engaged in this lesson through the
use of technology by being instructed to create a homework project of their
choice. They will be encouraged to use
technology, but ultimately each student will be able to choose the method that
they prefer to present their final project.
Students will be instructed to research the life cycles and
relationships between the animals and humans and will present their learning. Students can write a research paper, create a
Power Point presentation or Prezi to show what they have learned. They will also be encouraged to create
dioramas or virtual pictorial presentations.
The use of lecture combined with Smart Board usage and Smart Board
“play” along with the myriad of choices the students will have in presenting
their final project will work to meet the learning needs of all students.
Challenges
The biggest challenge in redesigning this project
revolved around finding one more, different way to meet the needs of the
different learners. The lesson already
incorporated lecture and Smart Board usage which appeals to auditory and visual
learners. So it was necessary to address
the needs of the hands on or kinesthetic learners. This was also a challenge because the material
lends itself more to presentation or lecture format. After much thought, it was recognized that
the students could conduct a hands on analysis of the material by actually
practicing “fishing” in order to see the interactions that occur between humans
and animals and the animals with each other.
Conclusion
Educators today can work to meet the needs of their
different students by using technology to present information in auditory,
visual and even kinesthetic ways.
Students who are given the opportunity to see material presented in
different formats are going to be much more capable of understanding and
retaining information. The lesson above
that was prepared for a previous class did address the needs of some learners
but it was not completely thorough and received a revision that better met the
needs of the kinesthetic learners. A
final project was added that allows every student to choose the type of project
that best suits their learning style and desires. This will ultimately increase student motivation
and learning.
References
Hall,
T., Strangman, N., & Meyer, A. (2003). Differentiated instruction and
implications for UDL implementation. Wakefield, MA: National Center on
Accessing the General
Evans,
C., Cools, E., & Charlesworth, Z.M.
(2010). Learning in higher
education – how cognitive and learning styles matter. Teaching in Higher
Education, 15(4), 467-478.
Felder,
R. M., & Brent, R. (2005). Understanding student differences. Journal of
Engineering Education, 94(1), 57-72. Retrieved from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Understanding_Differences.pdf.
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