Lois+Kelley

 Advanced Educational Psychology FNDS 6170 - Fall 2009 Lois Kelley

As educators, our goal is to help our students feel a purpose for and find value in learning. We want them to find success in their efforts, and use their mistakes as learning tools. Accomplishing that is easier said than done.

The work of many psychologists have paved the way for educators to understand "what happens when someone teaches something to someone else." (Woolfolk, 10) The psychological theories of Vygotsky, Bloom, Piaget, Erikson, and others have provided insight for teachers as to how children learn best. There is much to be gained from the behaviorist and the constructionist. We have learned that it is important for students to be engaged and active in the learning process. Applying these theories is a gradual process that teachers will continue to perfect throughout their careers.



The author, Daniel Pink, wrote about our brains, the left and right hemispheres, in his book, //A Whole New Mind.// He talks about the left hemisphere; the analytical, logical side, and the right hemisphere; the instinctive, nonlinear side. Our society has relied for years on the left brain to run our lives, but the time has come for the right brain to take charge. Pink suggests that the only way to accomplish that is to develop six new senses which he calls, Meaning, Play, Design, Story, Symphony, and Empathy.



In this project, I have described six new technologies that can be used easily in a classroom, with little or no expense, to help students of this new era to develop these six senses. Each technology will provide active engagement, helping to be a more effective means of teaching concepts. Hopefully, by developing and using their right hemispheres, students will be ready to meet the challenges of this new millenium with success.

Ancestry.com Ancestry.com is a wonderful website that helps one learn about their family history by putting historical records into organized family trees. This website makes genealogy research easy, by eliminating the time consuming drudgery of searching through records and documents. The website instantly searches through countless collections of historical data from around the world.

In a classroom, this website could prove to be a valuable resource to help students find out about their own families and develop the sense of Meaning, as described in Daniel Pink's book, //A Whole New Mind.// A great way to illustrate non-materialistic values is to help students feel more connected to their heritage. They will surely feel amazed as they learn that ancestors who preceded them were individuals who faced life's challenges and enjoyed life's blessings just as we do today. As Pink states, "Meaning has become the central aspect of our work and our lives." (Pink,219).

Timez Attack​ Timez Attack is an educational computer game that can be downloaded free for basic use, or purchased for a more in-depth version. This game teaches multiplication by giving students a high quality, stimulating video game. The player will visit an ogre in a dungeon, mastering different levels of the game using self-assessment. The student is in control of their own learning and progress, as the game does not move forward until they have mastered each level.

Using this game in the classroom would add a great element of fun to math class. Students would have an opportunity to develop the sense of Play, as described in Daniel Pink's book, //A Whole New Mind.// Contrary to popular belief, there is value to playing video games. Children are learning to manipulate and connect concepts, rather than just memorizing (Pink, 193).

Dabbleboard Dabbleboard is a drawing application that is available online. It is essentially a digital whiteboard that can be used in collaboration with students in other locations. This interactive program is free to use, which makes it an appealing tool for teachers. Students can interact directly with each other while creating pictures, drawings, charts, and diagrams, creating a live chat situation with the added benefit of visuals.

In Daniel Pink's book, //A Whole New Mind,// he suggests that drawing, or learning to see, is an important way to develop the sense of Symphony. This practice helps one to learn to "see the big picture," and to learn to "distinguish between what really matters and what merely annoys." (Pink, 143)

Using Dabbleboard in the classroom would not only provide an effective way to allow students to develop Symphony, but it is also fun, allowing a sense of Play as well. Students could work collaboratively on projects, adding illustrations and visual effects. A great feature about an online digital art program is the fact that there is not the usual clean-up associated with classroom art activities.

Picnik



Picnik is an online photo editing program that allows the user to restore, enhance, and design eye-catching photography. Photos can be downloaded, then edited in countless ways, then used to create albums, projects, photo stories, slide shows, and much more. In some ways, it could be considered to be a digital scrapbooking program.

In a classroom, students could find opportunities to express their sense of Design, as described in Daniel Pink's book, //A Whole New Mind.// Pink says that it is "personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging." (Pink, 65) This is a great way to accomplish that.

StoryCorps StoryCorps is non-profit project devoted to recording personal stories of any person to be preserved and archived in the Library of Congress to provide inspiration to those who hear them. It is one of the largest oral history organizations, that values every person's life story.

Daniel Pink describes in his book, //A Whole New Mind,// the value of stories. He says that stories are the most effective way to learn, because "most of our experience, our knowledge, and our thinking is organized as stories." (Pink, 101)

In a classroom, students could make a project out of participating in the StoryCorps project, by recording a personal story to be donated to the story bank. Just the same, students could enjoy listening to stories of all kinds of individuals from around the globe, giving them the opportunity to develop the sense of Story.

Skype Skype is a software application that makes voice calls possible on the Internet. A person can use their home computer to talk to landlines, as well as cell phones. If the person being called has the same setup, both parties can see each other while carrying on a conversation.

In a classroom, the use of Skype would provide opportunities for students to carry on conversations with anyone around the world, provided that the other party is also using Skype. In Daniel Pink's book, //A Whole New Mind,// he emphasized the development of the sense of Empathy. He suggests that it is important for us to learn to sense "what it would be like to be that person." (Pink, 159) If students had an opportunity to forge relationships with children of their age, in very differing situations, they may develop that kind of Empathy, and understand the value of other cultures and lifestyles.

Pink, D. (2006). //A Whole New Mind.// New York: Penguin Group Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational Psychology (11th ed.).// New York: Pearson Education, Inc.