STEM Skool, Inc.

Comparing Learning Theories

Please view my comparison of learning theories below:

Week One: Your Learning Environment.

Please view my responses to the Personal Learning Experiences assignment here.

Week Two: Learning Theory: Behaviorism.

Please view my essay on behaviorism here.

Week Three: Learning Theory: Constructivism.

Please view my Constructivism Infographic below:

Week Four: Learning Theory: Cognitivism & Connectivism.

Please find my Cognitivism Infographic below:

Week Five: Learning Theory: Andragogy. 

Please find my Andragogy Infographic below:

Week Six: Learning Approach Models: Authentic Assessment, Experiential Learning & Project Based Learning.

Implementing Project Based Learning:

Here at STEM Skool, we incorporate Project Based Learning into all of our courses by asking students to apply the engineering design process to a final design. To complete their final engineering designs, students must draw from all of the scientific and mathematical knowledge they have gained throughout the session.

In our Fall 2020 session, we studied plant biology, animal science, and agricultural engineering. For their final projects, students had to construct vertical farms for a fictitious city, Greentown. Students' final projects are in Column 5 of the Padlet below.

Why Project-Based Learning Over Other Assessment Types?

We employ project-based learning in our program over traditional quizzes, essays and exams, for several reasons:

1 - Our program serves homeschooled and after-school students. We do not offer academic credit for our course. Therefore, as an enrichment program, it would not make sense for us to issue grades.

2 - With our curriculum, we have a unique opportunity to allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of the content through presentations, lab reports and engineering design projects.

3 - When we moved to an online format during the pandemic, we wanted to establish an egalitarian system or assessment and evaluation. Even if we had decided that quizzes and tests were the best modes of assessment, ensuring equal access to learning materials and conditions were impossible. Allowing students to create their projects at home using their own materials and ingenuity allowed each student to showcase his or her capabilities and understanding of the material.

Benefits and Challenges of Project-Based Learning:

In addition to the points mentioned above, the main benefit of project-based learning, as I have witnessed it in my program, is that students gain a real understanding and affinity for the course material.

During the pandemic, I have had several STEM educators wonder how to make science and engineering engaging and hands-on in a distance learning environment. We did not experience this problem. We allowed our students to enjoy lots of hands-on learning by completing projects at home and used our class time to share projects and insights. The students were always so excited to share their work. We never had a dull moment in class and usually went over by 30 minutes to an hour, because the students were just that excited to share their work.

The leading challenge to project-based learning is that, particularly with our engineering design projects, it is difficult for facilitators to clearly distinguish a student's effort towards the project versus a true understanding of the material. In the vertical farms example, some students constructed beautiful farms with the help of their parents or grandparents. As facilitators, we had to questions students quite a bit and also had to correct misunderstandings during their presentations.

In this way, project-based learning feels open-ended instead of summative.

Also, some students did not have access to elaborate materials or help from adults and, therefore, did not create extravagant projects. However, some of these students had a firm grasp of the material we covered during the session. Just as with the more stellar projects, we had to question students to ascertain their understanding, since the project did not give us a full understanding of what the student did or did not know.

Learning Theories Used to Design This Activity:

We base all or our courses on the constructivist learning theory. Constructivism provides an excellent framework for teaching and learning science.

Students experience dozens (if not hundreds) of scientific phenomena in and around them everyday. They already possess a wealth of knowledge about the world and how they are experiencing it.

For our vertical farms projects, we talked about familiar experiences - grocery shopping, eating locally-farmed foods versus food that had to travel a long distance. We talked about our feelings about food shortages and projections for a growing population. The students are already passionate about many of these issues before they come to us.

Constructivism allows us to respect their knowledge and then facilitate their construction of new knowledge rooted in how they weave our course material into their own lives. 

Week Seven: Microlearning. 

This week, I chose to highlight one of my favorite Microlearning tools: Thinkific.com, which is the platform on which I host this website. Please read my reflection here: LDT 100X_ Microlearning Project and Reflection.pdf

Week Eight: Your Learning Theory Approach to Design.

Please view my application of Constructivism and Andragogy to the middle school anatomy course I am currently developing: LDT 100X_ Learning Theory Utilization.pdf