EDT 630 Post #2

In the past weeks, I have learned a lot about educational theory and how it applies to my development of lesson plans. We moved on from behaviorism, a simple stimulus and response system, to cognitivism, which is a teacher-centric approach that uses repetition to teach. I guess what’s pertinent to this class, though, is the question: How can technology be used to support a cognitivist approach to teaching? The answer to this question is probably most closely tied to the way teachers teach with technology. Powerpoint, flash, and other computer softwares can be used to help relay and repeat the information to students until they are comfortable with it. We have learned that graphic organizers are a good way to teach in a cognitivist way. To increase technology’s role in graphic organizers, teachers can use computers to help them design worksheets or they can use them to create games that allow students to draw words from a word bank and pair them with the category to complete their graphic organizers.

Cognitivism is strictly not student-centered, so during this approach, we should not do webquests or inquiry-based learning. The teacher is the source of all knowledge in the cognitivist classroom. Videos could also be incorporated into the classroom in the interest of adding technology, but the environment is still not student-centered. It sees the student as a sort of sponge that absorbs everything without regard to its significance, meaning, etc. This approach has been adapted in recent years to become a more student-centered approach.