Blog Entry #1

    Mrs. Hill seemed to use the learning theory of cognitivism the most. Cognitivism focuses on how information is received, organized, stored, and retrieved by the mind. A big emphasis throughout her lesson was that there are multiple ways to solve problems, but you still get the same, right answer. Whatever way that works best for the student in their mind is the way they should do it. Some students pulled from a more creative area of their mind and visualized the problems using models. Other students used the more logical area of their mind and did actual problem solving like multiplication and addition. One other emphasis during her lesson was to work and be able to share with her or the other students at their table on how they reached the answer.

    One example that I think best demonstrates this idea is when she was teaching them math. They had to find the surface area of 20 cubes pushed together to solve for how much fabric would be needed to cover them. Mrs. Hill helped them get started with the first 3 cubes: The first was 6ft^2, the second one pushed with it equaled 10ft^2, and the third being 14ft^2. After that she let the students work on their own to find the answer. Once she walked around and saw the students work and that they were mostly done, she had three students go up to show how they reached the answer. One student drew a model of the four sides of the 20 cubes and then one square on each side to represent the end piece. The next student used multiplication by using the 18 squares that only show 4 sides to get 72, then the 2 end squares by 5 to get 10 and adding them together to get the solution. The last student used both methods to check her answers.

    This shows us that the students have all received their information in the same way but they organized, stored, and retrieved it differently. They all learned about surface area in 5th grade and were able to recall what that meant and adapt it for their new 6th grade level, in their own unique way.