A new technological world. ICT in Education.

The technological advance is something that goes along with humanity development from their existence start, in order to provide quality and comfort in daily life.

In the period in which we live the novelty is digital technology that is expanding into various sectors. One of them is Education. More and more schools choose to introduce ICT in their curricula for many reasons: first for the necessity to teach children to use these new technologies, because in the future it will be an indispensable requisite in order to adapt to society; second for the benefits that provides in the learning process of the students.

What is ICT in education?

ICT in education means use the Information and Communication Technologies for teaching and learning in the schools.

Many studies show that the use of TIC improves the student’s school performance in various areas, especially mathematics, sciences and social competences. This is because the high degree of motivation for the use of interesting materials such as computers, tablets, cameras, whiteboards, etc. allows students to focus on their learning more easily.

Why integrate ICT in curricula? Advantages.

The use of ICT supposes benefits for both students and teachers.

For children:

- Increased attention on the activities prepared by teachers.

- Learning is more meaningful.

- Develop keyboarding skills and fluency in the use of various tools offered by PC. also improves learning of spelling, grammar and reading comprehension.

- Encourage independent learning.

- They promote the development of creativity

For teachers:

- It is easier to create an environment conducive to learning, because of the interest that arises naturally in students by new technologies.

- Improved quality of teaching. ICT helps put more visual examples to help in student learning.

Families can also enjoy the benefits of ICTs. They can improve the relationship between the family and the school, especially in interviews, and that ICT can make non-face interview, for example. And they can participate more actively in the learning process of their children.

The future of Education

Links

http://ict-adv-disadv.blogspot.com.es/

http://ncca.ie/uploadedfiles/ECPE/ICTEnglish.pdf

http://www.elmoglobal.com/en/html/ict/01.aspx

Learning communities

1. What is a learning community?

The learning communities are transformation projects to change the education and eliminate the school failure. 

2. What kind of pedagogic method is used in a learning community?

Dialogic method. This method was introduced by Paulo Freire and it is about an interactive dialogue between students, to get the equity of opportunities. Doesn't mind the social position of the student or his story at school, the most important are his contributions to the dialogue. 

3. An example. 

There was an African woman who never participated in the school meetings, where all families were invited. She didn't participate because she couldn't understand the Spanish language. One day, the director decided to change his speaking language to French, and suddenly the African woman started to talk, she coul speak Freanch fluently because she was from an African country where they spoke this language. 

From this meeting a course of French was created and the teacher was the African woman. 

"Everybody has something positive to show". 

4. Participation

Learning Communities are open places and spaces, which invite all the people from the community, school, neighborhood... and all kind of professional people related to education. 

The main goal of this kind of work is to create a really strong community, where learnings are real and developed in their own context; as families participate, also poor families or those with less resources can learn and share their knowledge and experiences with others. 

5. Activities

Dialogic Gatherings, this kind of activity consists on choosing a book between all the participants, reading some pages or parts of the book and then, all together, to talk and to discuss about what they have read and their personal impressions and opinions. 

Original article:

https://www.innova.uned.es/webpages/educalia/las_comunidades_de_aprendizaje_una_apuesta_por_la_igualdad_educativa.pdf

Ways of choosing true learning Educational Toys for your kids

What will be your criteria to decide whether you are choosing a good educational toy after seeing one? Educational videos, software, Chemistry Kits, Telescope, flash- cards all are known to be the science toys, so which will work more appropriately for your child? According to the theoretical aspects followed by experts, the easiest way to know the solutions is to find out whether the toys are promoting any convergent or divergent thought process of the children? If you are not aware of the two terminologies, then let’s have a discussion for the same.

Convergent Thinking

Ability to tackle things having only one predefined answer by learning the facts and guidelines to move upon for reaching to that answer! This is to develop fundamentals of your child by making them learn the way of reaching to a unified solution, with the help of the given instructions. This will create opportunities related to education in children for giving their best performances in the tests and multiple choice exams.Some Examples can be given here for proving my point: Jigsaw puzzles are designed to have only one correct solution and that can be solved in one way only, mathematical flash- cards are defined to have one correct answer, coloring of the pink pig as seen in the pre schools educational videos is always shown to be pink, and many others.

Divergent Thinking

This defines the way of thinking in the sense of exploring more than one possible answers, creating newer conceptions, and solving conceptualized problems. This is actually the way of thinking of leading personalities in the fields of designing, engineering, and managing the similar operations. They are experts of their work because of the strong thought process habited by their minds, for thinking quietly out-of-the-box.Science toys used for the promotion of this type learning process includes arts-kits and crafts, scientific and musical conceptualized teaching toys, role-playing and different type of costumes, encouraging your child for developing the imagination and socializing skills.

Construction Educational Toys

Best option for the promotion of Both Convergent and Divergent Thinking Process.

For simultaneous setting of the platform for creativity of both convergent and divergent thinking, with the help of the guidelines follow-ups written on the box of the game to reach the making of the modeled sample by the children, constructional toys are the best option. With the follow-ups of the instructions, the required expertise can be acquired

with the help of construction-pieces.A pride and enjoyable feeling gets developed in the child with the accomplishment of the challenging-tasks, just like after completing the LEGO-model building or completion of a puzzle. All of the ideas are for harnessing the emotional energies and moving the kids to THINK!

CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING

CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING
This article was written by Emel Ültanır and was published in the International Journal of Education in July 2012. International Journal of Instruction is a journal of education and is published twice a year (in January & July). The aim of this journal is to publish high quality studies in the areas of instruction, learning, teaching, curriculum development, learning environments, teacher education, educational technology, educational developments. Studies may relate to any age level - from infants to adults.

The main objective of this article is to examine the development of the constructivist theory of knowledge through history and analyze with  the opinion of John Dewey, Jean Piaget and Maria Montessori on this topic because they are the founders of constructivist theory.

The article begins with the definition of constructivism. Constructivism is a study that provides an explanation of how humans learn. This study says that the true knowledge is built on the experience of each individual. The children construct their own knowledge and he teacher is a guide, encourages students to build their own ideas i Reviews. Students must actively participate in the construction of meanings. 

"Knowledge is not passively received but built by the knower" (Glassersfeld, 1995). Therefore, constructivists understand knowledge as a process.

Semantic analysis of the Constructivist Theory of Knowledge.

The foundation of the constructivist theory of teaching philosophy goes back to the idea of ​​" the only way to know something is do this" ( Giambattista Vico , the eighteenth century).

Constructivist theorists believe that knowledge is a reflection of a representation , a portrait, or an objective world . The individual does not see that the reality is most than he perceives . For example we think that we see the "colors " of the world and in reality we see our own chromatic domain. When we say the sky is blue we really mean that we see the blue sky.  (Maturana and Varele , 1990)

The article also tells about cognitive constructivism. This is social constructivism and in this the individuals construct our own reality with to our social circle. In studies of neuro - biological and neurophysiological , scientists define the world as it really is. In the constructivist field the term "reality" is used in a relative manner.


The most prominent authors who have worked on knowledge are Dewey, Piaget and Maria Montessori. And this is a summary of his ideas:

  +
DEWEY (1859-1952) PIAGET (1896-1980) MONTESSORI (1870-1952)

For Dewey the knowledge is never a representation of reality. The relationship between knowledge and reality is the result of individual and social experiences.

This is the summary of the article of Emel Ültanır  if you want to read the entire article falls into this page: http://www.e-iji.net/dosyalar/iji_2012_2_11.pdf

Montessori educational program is known by thousands of schools worldwide. This program was developed through his work with children who suffer from various health disorders . In Montessori education process is based on "self - direction" and work independently. Montessori education fosters creative problem solving skill.

Piaget believes that the development of the intelligence of a person is formed through adaptation and organization. Adaptation is the process of assimilation and accommodation and this assimilation occurs when children acquire new knowledge. The accommodation occurs when children should change their schemes prior to "accommodate" the new knowledge.

5 TYPES OF TEACHING STYLES IN CLASSROOM

5 TYPES OF TEACHING STYLES IN CLASSROOM

Any person who has ever taught in a classroom setting will quickly confess that their style of teaching is different from other teachers. Having a different teaching style makes it essential for teachers to be able to adapt to their students’ various learning abilities. Below are five teaching styles methods in classroom that the teachers use to better connect with their students.

5     TEACHING STYLES THAT ARE USED IN THE CLASSROOM

1. Authority Figure: One of the most popular and widely used teaching style is that of an authority figure. This teaching style puts the teacher as the center of attention and all the students must focus on what the teacher is doing. The information that the students receive comes directly from the teacher. Any type of misbehavior that appears must be dealt quickly by the teacher. The teacher will often maintain control by using a loud voice or some other type of tactic to get attention. This style of teaching only produces short-term results with students and once the student moves on, the teachers influence is forgotten.

2. Authority Model: Another teaching model that a student may find in the classroom is an authority model. Here the teacher models or demonstrates certain behaviors that are beneficial to the students. Lessons are taught like the authority figure that demands obedience, except that the model is shown by example and not by demanded. The teacher finds satisfaction in the strides that the students make each day. In return, the students begin to build a trusting relationship with their teacher that lasts beyond the classroom year.

3. Student-Centric: A student-oriented teaching style is focused on each particular student, as this style assumes every student learns in a different capacity. Teachers must spend more time with each student, accommodating the lesson plans to fit the student’s needs. This teaching style is ideal in smaller settings, but may not suit a larger classroom.

4. Delegator: The fourth teaching model consists the students learn the material themselves. The teacher sometimes prepares complex situations or problems that students must resolve individually or as a group. Group activities allow students to learn to work together to complete the assignment, and reinforces the friendships and relationships amongst the students. The teacher is there to provide guidance and support to students.

 

5. Facilitator: The last teaching style is one that presents a self-employment method. The students read alone the book and complete the material that is given in an outline format. The teacher is usually in the classroom but only available for questions. Students work through their books in an attempt to complete the material and pass the tests that are given by the teacher.

Every student has a different learning style, and teachers should vary their teaching methods to accommodate the students’ learning habits. For students and teachers succeed, they must learn to adapt to each other. Only in the end, with both sides working together, students will learn and teachers have success teaching their students.

 

http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/teaching-strategies/5-types-of-classroom-teaching-styles/

Advantatges & disadvantatges of homeschooling

Homeschooling 

 Advantatges of homeschooling

Home education is a wonderful way to stay close to your children while helping them become well-rounded teenagers and adults. It offers you the opportunity to tailor your children’s education to suit your children, your lifestyle, and your beliefs. Education at home also gives you a safe ‘home base’ for your children while they explore the people and places around them. With the ability to individualize your child’s education, you can truly foster a lifelong love of learning.

A home school is a school in which parents teach their children an academic curriculum at home instead of sending them out to a public or private school. Home schooling is legal throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America, Hong Kong, and South Africa. Home schooling is most popular in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Home schooling is legally accepted in all 50 states of the U.S., but each state has its own laws that a family must adhere to.

Currently, it is estimated that over one million families school their children at home. Most of these families include a breadwinner and a stay-at-home parent who does most of the teaching, although there are single parent families and dual career families who home school. Home schooling education models range from unschooling to traditional classroom schooling. Unschooling is based on interest-based learning in which the child expresses interest in a particular subject, and the parents take steps to provide the materials for that subject. Most parents who home school, however, have a traditional setting in which the children are taught subjects such as math, reading, history, science, grammar, and spelling within a structured schedule created by the parents. 

Home school support groups

In most communities, the home school family can take advantage of a local support group. A home school support group organizes monthly meetings in which new and existing home school families discuss different home schooling issues. The group may also arrange for cooperative teaching in which parents with different skills teach a group of home schooled children once a week in a rented or donated building. In some places, the home school group shares in hiring a professional teacher to teach a particular subject. The group may also arrange field trips and sports activities. A number of home school groups field sports teams that compete against each other or with local private schools. These activities are intended to provide socialization skills for the students.

 External support schools

The home school movement is getting the attention of private and public schools. In response, some schools are providing support and materials such as books, videos, educational software, science kits, computers, field trips, workshops, and special classes.

Home schooling occurs when parents take charge of their children’s education organizing subjects, teaching lessons or arranging for tutors, evaluating progress, and supervising social contacts. Home school parents believe that one-on-one attention and individualized study produce the best education possible; most also think that peer groups are NOT the best “socializing agent” for their children.

Disadvantages of homeschooling

There are disadvantages as well. For instance, home schooling is often lonely because children aren't socializing with other children their own age. They don't get to commiserate with their peers about things like parents and homework, and they do not get to participate in school sponsored extracurricular activities. Parents are also isolated socially as days are spent teaching children, rather than communicating with other adults in a work environment or neighbourhood groups. In addition, students may not get the benefits of many of the services and programs available to those within the school system.

http://www.wikihow.com/Homeschool-Your-Children

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/what-is-home-schooling/

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-home-schooling.htm