THE LEARNING CYCLE

Question 1

Which is the traditional teaching sequence?

Answer 1

1. The teacher exposes a set of ideas.
2. Students make questions and doubts.
3. Students make activities to practice.
4. Teacher tests student’s learning

Question 2

Is there a universal model for the learning cycle?

Answer 2

There is no single or universal model that can be applied to any teaching unit or learning situation

Question 3

Which is the constructivist basis for defining a learning cyle?

Answer 3

That students are not tabula rasa which means that students use their mental models to explain phenomena and that these mental models are influenced by spontaneous reasoning, everyday language,… Also, this basis says that knowledge is constructed through social interaction which means that learning implies participation in a way of doing, talking and thinking in community, and also that regulation is essential for leaning.

Question 4

Which are the four phases of the proposal of learning cycle?

Answer 4

1. Exploration.
2. Introduction of new points of view.
3. Structuring.
4. Application.

Question 5

Which are the aims of the exploration activities?

Answer 5

1. Focus the attention on the topic.
2. Promote the verbalisation of individual view point and also to facilitate students awareness on their viewpoints.
3. Formulate questions to focus on context relevant for the individual, the science and also society.
4. To communicate the learning objectives to other students allowing them to take ownership of the aim of their work.

Question 6

The activities of exploration…

Answer 6

The activities are related to read situations so that students can recognise the learning objective and the utility and also so that they can express their ideas and precious knowledge.

Question 7

Which can be the example of activites that can be used in this phase?

Answer 7

Initial conversations and gathering questions
Making drawings to express initial models
Questionnaires/ KPSI to identify the starting point.
Exploring problems and situations to elicit reasonings and ideas
Reading news
Doing school trips.

Question 8

Which are the roles of the teachers in the exploration phase?

Answer 8

To create contexts.
To motivate.
To communicate the objectives.
To organise the classroom

Question 9

In the phase of introduction of new points of view …

Answer 9

The activities that are at the beginning are intuitive and manipulative and progressively become more abstract. And also students construct new knowledge.

Question 10

The introdoctions activities are aimed to:

Answer 10

1. Introduce a concept of a new point of view, regularities and generalisation.
2. Represent actions and ideas using different languages.
3. Provoke the discussions and the exchange of explanations among all classmates.
4. Anticipate and plan the tasks to carry out and their conditions.
5. Search for new information.
6. Regulate students learning.

Question 11

Which are the roles of the teacher in this phase?

Answer 11

Introduce indideaseas
Provoking dilemmas
Exchanging explanations
Setting contradictions

Question 11

Which are different examples of activities for this phase?

Answer 11

Make experiments
Searching for information
Constructing mock-up
Going on a field trip
Carrying out a reading,
Inviting an expert in a particular field.

Question 12

For the phase of structural activities…

Answer 12

They are activities that aim at organisation and structuring new knowledge in order to facilitate its use and to share assessment criteria

Question 13

Studturing activities are aimed to …

Answer 13

1. Re-structuring ideas.
2. Synthesizing and summarising.
3. Identifying what is important.
4. Communicating what has been learned.
5. Regulating students own learning

Question 14

Which are the different expamples of activities that can be made in this phase?

Answer 14

Completing a learning diary.
Designing orientation bases.
Writing conceptual maps.
Drawing structured diagrams

Question 15

Which are the roles of the teacher in this phase?

Answer 15

Generate consensus and common points of views.
Reviewing mistakes and confusions
Generalising ideas.

Question 16

For the phase of application the activities…

Answer 16

Activities aimed at applying the new point of view to real situations which can be either simple or more complex. It allows students to: Confirma and enrich the new ideas, interpret reality and also to know how to se the new language

Question 17

The activities of applications are aimed to:

Answer 17

1. Applyiny what has been learned to a new situation or context.
2. Comparing the new knowledge and point of view with the old ones.
3. Recognising the changes in the new ways of thinking, feeling and doing.
4. Formulating new questions.
5. Self- and co- assessment of the learning outcomes.

Question 18

Which are the examples of this phase activities?

Answer 18

Role playing and decision making
Idenitfying new questions.
Take actions and problem solving.
Exhabitions and explain to others.
Building artifacts.
Doing debates
Performancing reporta
Self- evaluating ourselves.