Pedagogy
Through this project, students will strengthen their reading and writing skills while working collaboratively with peers to publish a newspaper for a real audience. The learning theories that best fit the teaching of this content are both cognitivism and constructivism. With cognitivism, “the learner is viewed as a very active participant in the learning process” (Ertmer & Newby, 2013, p. 51). In order to support students under this learning theory, students’ prior knowledge must be taken into consideration, since new learning is built upon this prior knowledge and experiences. As a result, I must consider what students already know in regards to conducting research, reading and creating newspapers, and working collaboratively.
With constructivism, “the goal of instruction is not to ensure that individuals know particular facts but rather that they elaborate on and interpret information” (Ertmer & Newby, 2013, p. 56). Elaborating and interpreting information will be especially important for this project as students will be researching information and important events that they want to include in their newspaper. They will need the skills necessary to synthesize the information, facts, and stories that they are reading so they can create their own news articles.
In addition, collaboration is an important teaching strategy to include in this project, as students will be working together and fulfilling different roles throughout the learning experience. As Shulman (1999) states, “Learning flourishes when we take what we think we know and offer it as community property among fellow learners so that it can be tested, examined, challenged, and improved before we internalize it” (p. 2). By working collaboratively, students will be able to engage in this process so that their learning can transform.
With constructivism, “the goal of instruction is not to ensure that individuals know particular facts but rather that they elaborate on and interpret information” (Ertmer & Newby, 2013, p. 56). Elaborating and interpreting information will be especially important for this project as students will be researching information and important events that they want to include in their newspaper. They will need the skills necessary to synthesize the information, facts, and stories that they are reading so they can create their own news articles.
In addition, collaboration is an important teaching strategy to include in this project, as students will be working together and fulfilling different roles throughout the learning experience. As Shulman (1999) states, “Learning flourishes when we take what we think we know and offer it as community property among fellow learners so that it can be tested, examined, challenged, and improved before we internalize it” (p. 2). By working collaboratively, students will be able to engage in this process so that their learning can transform.