Module 2.1

Meaningful Learning, Schema Theory, Situated Cognition

The process of constructing meaning & advance organizers

Goals and Outcomes

Outcomes

After completing this module, students will be able to:

  • describe Ausubel’s meaningful, reception learning theory
  • differentiate reception, discovery learning, and meaningful learning
  • identify constructs of memory structure and learning processes
  • describe situated cognition
  • identify elements of theory of situated cognition

Selected Readings

Required

  • Driscoll, M. (2005). Meaningful learning and schema theory. Psychology of Learning for Instruction (3rd ed.) (pp. 111-152). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
    (e.g. Chapter 4)
  • Driscoll, M. (2005). Situated Cognition. Psychology of Learning for Instruction (3rd ed.) (pp. 153-184). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
    (e.g. Chapter 5)

Recommended:

  • Mayer, R.E. & Pilegard C. (2014) Principles for managing essential processing in multimedia learning: segmenting, pre-training, and modality principles. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. (pp. 316-344). New York: Cambridge.
    (e.g. Chapter 13)

“To Do” List

Discussions

Activate Prior Knowledge

Meaningful learning and schema theories both emphasize prior knowledge. The question then becomes; how do you develop instruction that taps into what learners might already know about a domain. Driscoll (2005) calls this activating prior knowledge, and discusses the concepts of advanced organizers and schema signals. Advanced organizers help to bridge a gap between what the learners already know and need to know for meaningful learning. Schema signals are cues to enact appropriate or inappropriate behavior in instructional situations. In your daily teaching practice, please recall any strategy or method you used as advanced organizer or schema signal to activate students’ prior knowledge. Share your teaching strategy with others.

Make your initial posts before 11:59 p.m. U.S. EST/EDT on Day 5 of this module. After making your initial postings, review at least two of your classmates’ postings and reply to their threads.Complete your replies before 11:59 p.m. U.S. EST/EDT on the next Monday.

Discussion postings should always be thoughtful and courteous and include some references or direct evidence from the module’s content, readings, or assignments to support your statements. In order to ensure that postings are appropriate in length and substance, please limit your initial postings to 100 – 200 words and each of your responses to 25 – 50 words.

Assignments

Multimedia Product Critique Paper #1

Please read the Multimedia Product Critiques page for details about this assignment. 

Overview

Throughout this course, students will identify three multimedia products and compose a critique paper for each of them. This assignment is designed to sharpen your critical thinking in evaluating multimedia products.

Due Dates

  • Critique Paper #1: (Due: the 1st day on Module 2.2)
  • Critique Paper #2: (Due: the 1st day on Module 3.2)
  • Critique Paper #3: (Due: the 1st day on Module 4.3)
Annotated Bibliographies for Module 2.1

Please read the Annotated Bibliographies for Module Reading page for details about this assignment. 

Outcomes

After completing this assignment, you will be able to:

  • describe Ausubel’s meaningful, reception learning theory
  • differentiate reception, discovery learning, and meaningful learning
  • identify constructs of memory structure and learning processes
  • describe situated cognition
  • identify elements of theory of situated cognition.

Instructions

  1. Read all assigned reading carefully and thoroughly.
  2. Identify and read ONE additional theory/research paper of your interest related to the theories discussed in this module.
  3. Summarize the most important ideas and questions for ALL journal articles or book chapters covered in the week (including the one you find).
  4. For EACH journal article or book chapter, the summary should be between 150 – 300 words in length. This is not a reaction paper or an excerpt, but rather your synthesis of the main ideas and related questions. View an synthesis example at the Template page.
  5. Compose all of your annotated bibliographies in MS Word and check for spelling/grammatical errors.
  6. Post your synthesis text onto a Weebly page as online text (not file attachment) and label the page appropriately.

Submitting and Posting 

  1. To submit your work, copy and paste your synthesis text onto the corresponding link under Submissions inside Moodle before 11:59 p.m. U.S. EST/EDT on the following Monday.

Grading
Grades on the synthesis will be based on the requirement listed in the Annotated Bibliographies for Module Reading page. Read it carefully to get a sense of the instructor’s specific expectations.