Jonassen Chapter 5

Thoughts and Reflections of Chapter 5

Concept Maps:

Although I am sure that many of my teachers have used them, I can remember concept maps being most helpful in high school. My anatomy and physiology teacher would draw a concept map at the beginning of every unit. And as he taught he would walk us through the concept map each step of the way. When it came to the exams, he always encouraged us to create our own maps. When I actually did that, my learning was most meaningful.

I would agree with Jonassen that concept maps are most effective when they are created by students, not only prepared for them. They require the organization and true understanding of facts, concepts, and generalizations.

Systems Dynamics Tools:

Jonassen points out that Stella probably cannot be used effectively with elementary students. In all honesty, as a college student, and a pre-service teacher, systems modeling really intimidates me. This is probably because the examples given seem over my head. The good thing about Stella and Model-it is that they can be as complicated or simple as desired.

When it comes to using these modeling systems in my classroom, I don’t think that I would. This is partly because of the age appropriateness, and partly because I don’t know how I would use them. I am definitely not opposed to introducing these kinds of systems to my students; because I would not want them to be deprived on the account of my lack of understanding or creativity.

Spreadsheets:

When I typically think of spreadsheets, I think of Microsoft excel, keeping track of grades, finances, and displaying other quantitative data. I never used spreadsheets until the EME 2040. Even then, I only created one using grade book. When I think of spreadsheets I think of how they can profit the organization and facilitation of my classroom. They help behind the scenes but not really for the learning process. Jonassen recognizes that spreadsheets are most consistently used as management tools, but continues to emphasize their support of high-order quantitative thinking. I did not know that they could be used for simulation modeling tools.

In class our class discussion of different educational programs, my partner and I analyzed the Graph Club. While there were many great qualities of the program, students can easily use spreadsheets to do some of the same things. They can make graphs and charts, however kid-unfriendly they may be.

Like all of the Mindtools listed in this chapter, spreadsheets have the most potential when students use and create their own. There is benefit to using simulations and graphs that I develop, but when learning is made meaningful through the creation of a project, students experience great intellectual gain.

Expert Systems:

This was the coolest section to read. Although I feel that I am left with lots of questions about Expert systems. I am not sure about how exactly they are created or used. I understand that their purpose is to aid in decision making, problem solving and reasoning. I think I understand the interaction of facts, rules, conditions and decisions, but I still do not know how the programs work.

I think that this is so neat because I am a person who greatly values the counsel of others, and this just creates another way for me to solve problems and receive counsel. I am learning how crucial it is for children to develop problem solving skills, and these expert systems are a great aid for that.

The biggest flaw I see a flaw of these systems is that all of the outcomes seem to be pre-determined (from my understanding). Any solution that is given has been programmed into the system as an automatic response to a certain combination of calculations. Life is not that linear; and good decision making may not always be formulated. Often times the best solution has yet to be imported into a system.

On the positive side, these systems can help students see the factors and processes involved in problem solving. Also, when students become experts they engage in “deeper-level” thinking.

Databases:

As I read this section I kept visualizing my del.icio.us site. It is a database that I have created. I add materials, tag them and eventually organize them. While it is not the most in depth database, I think it is a great way that elementary students could learn to organize, categorize, index, and search. When I add a website, I experience a very mild dose of stress when I have to tag it. I am very much inclined to use many tags. I think that I may use excessive tagging, but I cannot think of the downside as of yet (not that I think that hard about it).

I never really thought of having students create databases in order to manage or organize information. I think that I would use del.icio.us in order to introduce students to databases.