Essay I created for my Sociology Class related to the subject of Multiple Intelligences

Jeff Price 11-28-05

How daycare and video games teach our children.

In looking at two different learning situations one can see the benefits of using one over the other or maybe even using the two together to help a children develop their multiple intelligences. The two learning situations that I have chosen to observe in this project are the teaching of children in a daycare and the use of video games to teach children. Both of these situations are considered two different agents of socialization. The teaching of children in a daycare is classified as the school agent and the video games teaching children are considered a form of the mass media agent. These two socialization agents fall within the childhood stage of socialization. Although the two learning situations use different agents of socialization, they both help to teach important cognitive development skills, motor skills, and the development of “how to” thinking.

According to Jean Piagets’s Theory of Cognitive Development there are four stages of cognitive Development. When it comes to children in both in daycare and children using educational video games are usually between the ages of 3 to 5 years, and in the stage where both agents of socialization focus on the preoperational stage, or the stage in which the children begin to first use language and other symbols. Through exercises in which the students practice reciting and writing letters in their names, simple number sentences and even learning letters in classmates’ and teachers’ names, help the students to recognize and identify letters and numbers. The different educational video games available for children of the same ages also use similar exercises on an interactive and animated level to help children develop their recognition of symbols associated to letters of the alphabet and numbers. The video games often are more on an independent level of teaching then the group of students in a day care, but can be used as a tool for the student to work with outside of class.

When it comes to developing motor skills daycares and preschool teachers have their young students engage in such activities that require the use of scissors, glue sticks, and crayons. This type of activity helps to develop the child’s fine motor control to help them make legible b’s and d’s in kindergarten. (Solomon, Barbara) Even the pushing around a joystick or a mouse can help in the development of these fine muscles. Building blocks are another kind of activity that daycares use to help develop the child’s spatial skills or skills we use to understand directional concepts to organize our visual space (McMains, Mary) and give them hands on math experience. Using building blocks and other 'manipulatives' such as those commonly found in preschool educational video games help the child to learn to sort and classify objects.

The “how to” of thinking generally happens as children gets better at sorting and classifying objects. In the case of a toddler trying to fit a square into a shape sorter, the child will probably start off with a trial and error approach of trying to fit the square into different holes until he finds the one it goes in. After a while the child will then start to use a more sophisticated method of comparing shape of the hole with the square. (Today’s Parent) In video games, children begin to learn the “how to” of doing things in a game as they play. Children learn with video games the “how to” of making the various pieces, characters, or anything else, move and how the objects interact with their environment. Unlike television and movies, computer and video games give the child control of what goes on in the screen. These types of “real world” learning can help children to continue the development of spatial skills as well as their ability to think a little more critically at a younger age.

By utilizing both of these agents (the daycare school and the video game mass media), within the childhood stage of socialization, one can see the positive impact they have on the teaching of important cognitive development skills, motor skills, and the “how to” of thinking. The cognitive development skills from both daycare and educational video games have a positive effect on the preoperational stage of helping children to recognize and identify letters of the alphabet and numbers. In developing motor skills, both areas help to develop the child’s fine motor control as well as help them to be able to learn how to sort and classify objects. Finally, through the development of the “how to” of thinking, the two agents work hand and hand to help the children to learn how to think more critically at a younger age as well as the further development of their spatial skills.

Resources:

McMains, Mary. “Vision and Learning – Visual Skills Page Two.” 2000-2002.

“Parties, Crafts, & Activities.” Today’s Parent. July 2000.


Prensky, Marc. “What Kids Learn from Video Games.”
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Solomon, Barbara. “What Kids Really learn in Preschool.” Parents magazine. September 2000. Meredith Corporation. 2005.
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Connectivism and Learning Objects

One thing that I have realized about Connectivism and Learning Objects is that the two can go hand and hand. By creating a Learning Object using the Connectivism Learning Theory one could greatly enhance the effectiveness of the overall learning object itself.

Creating a learning object using Flash to teach the program Flash using a multitude of learning styles is a good start to demonstrating how the program works and could appeal to many users. By incorporating Connectivism into the program by providing links to different sites that also offer insight and different way of using the Program through the use of tutorials could be of great value to the end user. Especially when the learning object also gives them some great information on where to go to find additional information on what they want to get out of using the learning object.

The Four Learning Theories

Behaviorism is an approach to psychology and learning that emphasizes observable measurable behavior.

Cognitive learning is knowledge acquisition measured by what learners know, not necessarily what they do.

Constructivism learning is learning by creating meaning from experiences.

Social/Situated Learning is learning as it normally occurs is a function of the activity, context and culture in which it occurs.


By taking all four of these learning theories and combining them into a learning exercise one can benefit from the positive aspects of each of the theories. Using a class that has very repetitive elements like XHTML, one can create a kind of memory repeating exercise similar. After reviewing the different XHTML tags earlier and what order certain tags have to fall under the instructor could then use a similar method of behaviorist learning to teach the order and different tags to the class. Probably a good way of doing this would be to start off with a simple web page presented on the overhead that uses the basic elements of XHTML. Then by starting at either the front of the class going back or the back of the class going up, each student in order can naming a tag and where it falls on the web page. For example, the first student would start by saying the opening "html" tag and what it does, then the next student would repeat what the first student said and then add the opening "head" tag and what it does.

To help the students a little, the Instructor could have a list of opening and closing tags next to the web page example to use as a database but not in the order that they fall in. As the students add another tag the Instructor can put a check next to each of the tags that have been named as a visual cue that the tag had already been used. After the last student names the last tag in the page, the Instructor could then erase the databank of tags from the board and have the first student repeat the list of tags that the last person stated and go in order again repeating the same list of tags in the correct order. When the last student is finishing naming the tags in order and what each does, the Instructor can write down the list that the students named in the order that they named them in. When finished writing down the tags that the students named, the Instructor could then go to the web page and display the source to see how close the students were. The students could then have an open discussion with the Instructor as to how close they were with both their tags and their definitions. They could also take this time to reevaluate the information that they had gone over and make changes to any of the definitions that were given on the list that they acquired by going around the room.

Empathic Design Models

Empathic Design Models are a more dynamic way of designing learning environments than its predecessor the ISD (Instructional Systems Development) ADDIE and ADDIE-M model. The ADDIE model is a structured based learning model that relies on learning by design and applying the same in-depth and out dated learning structure to every problem. Into the digital age of e-learning many designers have found that not every problem has the same answer and with that in mind many designers wanted a more dynamic learning model. One that didn't just try to implement the non-digital techniques of page turning in a text book over the internet, but one that took advantage of the digital domain and to apply it to real world situation. Unlike the ISD ADDIE models that take a textbook approach to learning, the Empathic Design Models try to use techniques that can be dynamic enough to apply to any type of media.

One of the types of Empathic Design models out there is the IIGE model. The IIGE model stands for Immersion, Incubation, Generation, and Evaluation. By immersing oneself into a situation one can generally find unexpected issues and hidden problems or information. Incubation allows for one to reflect on all the information gathered. The generation process is where one starts putting the information together and generating or brainstorming ideas for implementing their overall ideas. The Evaluation state is where one explores the different solutions and evaluates the best ideas to see which ones pan out.

There are a several types of Empathic Design models out there but they all use some of the steps or ideas used in the IIGE model. The main focus on using Empathic Design models is to come up with a more practical way of coming up with a product or teaching a course that is more up to date and realizes that not every situation has the same textbook answer.

Results of Learning Style Questionnaires

After Taking the Kaleidoscope Inventory and the VARK Questionnaire I got some varied results about the type of learning style they said I used the most.

Kaleidoscope Inventory Results:

Under Sensory styles, the questionnaire scored me at a 7 for visual, 5 for Kinesthetic, 2 for Tactual, and 1 for Auditory. The Perceptual and Organizational Styles I was scored a 6 for Concrete, 5 for Sequential, 5 for Global, 3 for Abstract, and 11 under Concrete-Global and Conscrete-Sequential. The Personality Style section rated me 6 for Sensing-Judging, 5 for Sensing-Perceiving, 5 for Intutive-Thinking, and 2 for Intutive-Feeling.

The VARK Questionnaire Results:

The VARK Questionnaire scored me a 4 for Visual, 5 for Aural, 6 for Read/Write, and 4 for Kinesthetic.

After looking at the two different inventory results I can see how it came up with some of the results. I agree with the VARK results as far as how I learn information more than the Kaleidoscope Inventory. After looking over what each of the different learning styles mean and looking back on my learning habits I feel I learn differently depending on what I will need the information for. For example, I learn information both temporarily and long term. One of methods that I use extensively is the Read and Write style to store information into my temporary memory long enough to pass a test or the course. Usually after taking the test that I stored the information for I find myself not being able to remember a large chunk of the information after the course. So when it comes to learning information for the short-term I agree with the VARK results. When it comes to storing information for the long-term, I find that I use more of a Visual Style in combination with a Concrete style. If I am constantly using the information and seeing how it works I find myself being able to remember information longer. For example, when it comes to learning a particular software program like Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Director, I find it easier to get the basic knowledge of how to use then experiment on my own and use the help section to look up what ever it is I need to know about how to get the program to do what I want it to. Then later on, if I haven't used the program in a while, I can usually open up past projects and remember what I did to get certain results. So when it comes to retaining information for the long term I feel that the Kaleidoscope results are more accurate. There one more learning style that I use when I determine whether the information that I need know for a course should be stored temporarily or long term, and that is by using the Global style to see the "big picture" to determine which route I should go.