EDS300 Term Test Notes PDF

Term Test Notes Part A: Lecture Notes Lecture 1: Learning Learning Defined Learning involves a change in behaviour or understanding that endures over time as a result of experience. Novice Vs. Experts Learning involves a change. ○ Cognition: Changes betw...

Term Test Notes Part A: Lecture Notes Lecture 1: Learning Learning Defined Learning involves a change in behaviour or understanding that endures over time as a result of experience. Novice Vs. Experts Learning involves a change. ○ Cognition: Changes between states of knowledge. ○ Behaviour: Change in the rate, frequency of behaviour. ○ Novices to experts: 1. Notice features and meaningful patterns of information. 2. Possess familiarity and knowledge of a subject. Integrated knowledge (not sets of isolated facts). 3. Retrieve important knowledge. Relevant knowledge with little effort. 4. Apply knowledge to familiar situations. And new situations easily. 5. Hold a degree of content knowledge. ○ Experts are not necessarily able to teach others. Learning involves a change that endures overtime. ○ Excludes temporary changes. ○ For example., slurred speech resulting from factors such as drugs, alcohol and fatigue). Learning occurs as a result of experiences. ○ Requires a stimulus or interaction (excludes development). Lecture 2: Engagement Three Types Of Engagement Behavioral Emotional Cognitive Levels Of Engagement Authentic Engagement Embrace of expectations, outcomes, and activities as important and personally beneficial. Desire to exceed requirements and expressed pride in work. Ritual Engagement Adherence to the demands and expectations of a curriculum demand necessary as a precursor to an alternative (extrinsic) goal. Little perceived meaning or value in material or task. Passive Engagement Completion to the minimum task requirements and behaviour expectations to ensure acceptable results and/or avoid negative attention or censure. Little attention to detail or interest in additional involvement. Retreatant Engagement Non-compliance to procedures or expectations, expending little effort in activities or assignments. Disinterest in curricular goals or outcomes. Rebellious Engagement Challenge rules, pedagogy, and assessment practices by seeking alternatives such as cheating or requesting less demand requirements. Types Of Motivation Extrinsic Motivation How do we boost engagement? When someone feels motivated to do something to gain a reward or avoid a punishment. Limits Of Extrinsic Motivation Immunity Reinforcement does not typically function. Subjects grow accustomed to stimuli. Need to escalate rewards and punishments over time pose problems. Unsustainable Edward Deci has 2 groups of college students play a puzzle called Soma. One group was paid for each puzzle solved; the other wasn’t. The paid group stopped solving puzzles when payment ended. The unpaid group kept solving puzzles even after the experiment ended. Futile And, therefore, calculation and geometry and all the other elements of instruction, which are a preparation for dialectic, should be presented to the mind in childhood; not, however, under any notion of forcing out the system of education. Why not? Because a freeman ought not to be a slave in the acquisition of knowledge of any kind. Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind, do not use compulsion, but let early education be a sort of amusement; you will then be better able to find out the natural bent. Intrinsic Motivation Intrinsic learners initiate and direct their own learning. The doing of an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some consequence. Types Of Reinforcement Positive Reinforcement: Behaviour that is reinforced tends to be repeated. Negative Reinforcement: The removal of an unpleasant experience can strengthen behaviour. Operant Conditioning Operant Conditioning: A learning method that uses rewards and punishments to modify behaviour. ○ Positive Punishment: Something is added to decrease the likelihood of behaviour. ○ Negative Punishment: Something is removed to decrease the likelihood of a behaviour. ○ Positive Reinforcement: Something is added to increase the likelihood of a behaviour. ○ Negative Reinforcement: Something is removed to increase the likelihood of a behaviour. Flow Flow requires: 1. Activities with clear goals. 2. Timely and unambiguous feedback. 3. Perceived balance of challenge and skill Self-Efficacy Theory Too much or too little-efficacy is sub-optimal. At or slightly above true capacity is the ideal. People are motivated to act when they believe themselves capable of carrying out a specific task or of reaching a specific goal, not whether you believe that you are intelligent in general. Is self-efficacy enough to engage students? ○ Answer: Students’ choice of tasks, persistence, and achievement depends on two factors;, their’ belief about the probability of success and the perceived value of the task. Expectancy-Value Theory Expectancy (Flow) x Value = Motivation Self-Determination Theory Expectancy: Desire to feel effective in interacting with the environment. Relatedness: Desire to feel connected and accepted as a member of a group. Concerned about social status and saving face can suppress the desire for task-mastery. Autonomy: Desire for a sense of control when carrying out an activity can take priority over task mastery. Lecture 3: Retention Encoding “The aim of all instruction is to alter long-term memory. If nothing has changed to long-term memory, nothing has been learned” How do we make sure learning endures? ○ Encoding and recall. Encoding: The act of getting information into the memory system through automatic or effortful processing. Cognitive Overload How do we address capacity? Is less more? Cognitive Overload: When the amount of information or demands on working memory are too much for the brain to process. It can make it difficult to learn, concentrate, or make decisions. Schemas Schemas: Categories of knowledge that help interpret the world. Schema affects memory by: 1. Guiding attention to relevant information for encoding. 2. Assisting in interpreting new information by providing the relevant prior knowledge. Prior knowledge influences memory formation and retrieval. Forgetting Curve Forgetting Curve: Most forgetting occurs within an hour. ○ Hermann Ebbinghaus. ○ Came up with nonsensical words and wanted to see how much he can remember. The brain is designed to forget things. Mnemonics “What most mnemonics do is to impose meaning and structure to material that would otherwise be meaningless and unstructured.” Mnemonics: A memory aid that helps you remember things by making them more accessible and meaningful. ○ For example., phrases, poems, and acronyms. The Method Of Loci The memory palace. The Method Of Loci: A memory strategy that uses mental visualization to help recall information. Law Of Exercise Practice increases the efficiency and durability of responses. When practice is discontinued, the connection is weakened (forgotten). ○ Edward Thorndike. Intermittent Practice Intermittent Practice: A teaching method that involves making lesions into short, temporary periods to teach curricular objectives. Massed and Spaced Spacing Effect: Intermittent spacing of learning over time increases recall. The spacing effect applies across: ○ Settings: Laboratory, sport, and academic context. ○ Disciplines: Humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.  ○ Content: Definitions, facts, and procedures. ○ Assessment Formats: MC, short answer, essay, and performance. Massed Practice: Massed practice occurs when an individual attempts to learn material with practice crammed into one or two long sessions. Interleaving Practice What to do in practice sessions? ○ Any item encoded into memory must be both stored and retrieved. ○ Retrieval over repetition has a greater impact on long term retention of information. ○ Thordnike’s (1914) original law of disuse proposed that without continued use, memory traces decay as a function of time. Chunking Miller observed that memory span of a list of items (for example., digits, letters, and words) in young adults is approximately 7 chunks. Chunking helps with memory. Chunking: A teaching strategy that involves putting information into smaller pieces and presenting it in a logical order. Retrieval Vs. Recall Retrieval: The general process of accessing information stored in memory. Recall: A specific type of retrieval that involves accessing information without a cue. Elaborative Interrogation Prompt learners to generate an explanation for explicitly stated facts. Lecture 4: Curriculum Definition Of Curriculum Curriculum is the ‘permanent’ subjects that embody essential knowledge. Curriculum is those subjects that are most useful for contemporary living. Curriculum is all planned learnings for which the school is responsible. Curriculum is the totality of learning experiences so that students can attain general skills and knowledge at a variety of learning sites. Common denominator is content. Types Of Curriculum Planned Curriculum Intended goals, guidelines, and objectives. Enacted Curriculum Implementation of curated knowledge. Learned Curriculum Interaction with course content. Types Of Knowledge Declarative Knowledge Know about something. ○ Facts ○ Concepts ○ Principle Procedural Knowledge Know how to do something ○ Skills ○ Procedures ○ Strategies Conditional Knowledge Know when to apply knowledge. ○ Rules ○ Consequences ○ Expectations Purpose Of Curriculum Perennialism Important Certain knowledge that you should just know. What two things should all people know? ○ Essential skills ○ Enduring truths ○ Eternal knowledge Essentialism Useful Useful knowledge Practical skills What 2 things do you wish school taught you to prepare you for life? Progressivism Interesting Engaging content What two things did you always want to learn? Hidden Curriculum An implicit curriculum is often expressed and communicated in words and actions that deliver the official curriculum. ○ Philip Jackson. Hidden Curriculum: A set of lessons, values, and behaviours that are learned in school but not explicitly taught. Null Curriculum What is missing from our children’s curriculum? ○ Null curriculum. Null Curriculum: The set of objectives or skills that are not taught, either intentionally or unintentionally, in a school curriculum. Lecture 5: Assessment Assessment Vs. Evaluation Assessment: The process of gathering evidence of student learning to measure progress and inform instruction. ○ Focuses on student learning outcomes, such as what students know and can do, and areas of difficulty. ○ Can help teachers identify strengths and weaknesses, and provide personalized feedback. Evaluation: The process of judging the quality of student learning and assigning a value to that quality. ○ Focuses on making a judgement about the effectiveness of a program or individual’s performance. ○ Can help inform strategic decisions and policy development. Types Of Assessment Diagnostic: Assessment for learning. ○ Create a baseline for instruction (Enacted Curriculum). Formative: Assessment as learning. Summative: Assessment of learning. ○ Judge proficiency of learning (Learned Curriculum). ○ Formative. ○ Improve student understanding of learning goals. Triangulation Triangulation: The combination of two or more data sources for assessment. Products What learners create. ○ Posters, infographic, and slide decks. ○ Essays, scripts, and responses. ○ Drawings and photo stories. ○ Podcasts, videos, and documentaries. Can they make it? Why did they make what they made? Behaviour What learners do. ○ Dance, performance, and gameplay. ○ Logs, notes, journals, and portfolio. ○ Graphic, organizers, and revisions. Can they demonstrate it? Why do they do what they did? Conversations What learners say. ○ 1 on 1 conferences. ○ Self-assessment and peer feedback. ○ Exit cards (For example., Google Forms). ○ Overheard conversations. ○ Discussions, questions, prompts, and chat. Can they explain it? Why did they say what they said? Norm Vs. Criterion Assessment Norm Who is the best? What’s the average? Norm referenced. The Bell Curve. Criterion Referenced Robert Glaser Judged against criteria. A person is thinking critically when she assesses or judges the merits of possible options in light of relevant factors or criteria. ○ Must make a decision. ○ Quality of reasoning. ○ Multiple acceptable responses. Backward Design Curriculum: Identify desired results. ○ What should they Do? ○ What should they Say? ○ What should they Make? Assessment: Determine acceptable evidence. Instruction: Plan learning and instruction. Washback Assessment communicates our knowledge priorities. ○ Perennialism, Essentialism, and Progressivism ○ Conditional, Procedural, and Declarative Washback: Educational assessment of learning is normative; it is intended to affect the attribute being assessed. ○ It is testing, not the ‘official’ stated curriculum, that is increasingly determining what is taught, how it is taught, what is learned, and how it is learned. Lecture 6: Instruction Sequencing Sequencing: The process of organizing information in a logical order so that students can build on prior knowledge and develop new understanding. Direct Instruction What does instruction look like? 1. Transmissive instruction of knowledge to learners. 2. Teacher centric activities 3. Minimal learner participation 4. Monological speech Learn by talking and sharing. Elaboration Theory What does direct instruction look like? Lecture ○ Take notes on instruction. ○ Telling what to do. Model ○ Do something after watching. ○ Showing what to do. Deliberate practice ○ Continue practice. Why use direct instruction? 1. Efficiency: Deliver a lot of information in short periods of time;. 2. Consistency: Control over content covered - few tangents. 3. Clarity: No ambiguity in content or skills. How do we use direct instruction? Elaboration theory goes from simple to complex. ○ When we structure learning, we try to go from simple to complex. Scaffolding Scaffolding: A teaching method where a teacher provides support to students as they learn new concepts or skills. Zone Of Proximal Development Zone Of Proximal Development: Students must accept the teacher’s invitation to step outside their comfort zone and risk failure. ○ Comfort zone to anxiety zone. ○ How to foster trust. Bloom’s Taxonomy Benjamin Bloom ○ Sought to classify objectives in hierarchical order by cognitive complexity. ○ Bloom’s Taxonomy: Is often used as an instructional guide in which lower-order tasks become necessary precursors to higher-order thinking. Spiral Curriculum 1. Students revisit the topic, them, or subject. 2. Complexity of the topic increases with each revisit. 3. New learning relates to old learning. Simple - once concept - complex Level up the idea and review it over again with more complexity. ○ Deeper understanding and more of a theoretical approach. Increasing complexity of one topic. Discovery Learning What Is Discovery Learning? If direction instruction is: ○ Transmissive ○ Teacher centric ○ Monological speech A.Students construct meaning. B.It integrates student knowledge and experience. C.Employs dialogical learning. D.Just-in-time instruction. ○ Learning right before you do it. ○ Self directed. Concept Attainment: Given ideas and figure out the connection Problem-Based Learning: Given a problem and find a solution Inquiry Process: Ask a question and figure out what it is. Just-In-Time Instruction Learning right before you do it. Self directed. Mastery Learning In mastery learning, time rather than performance varies. Given sufficient time and the perseverance to complete the task, students should be able to reach a criterion level of achievement. Achievement distribution for students under conventional, mastery learning, and tutorial instructions. Gestalt Each learning stimulus is perceived in its simplest form. Microteach Learning Goals Declarative ○ Know the difference between direct instruction and discovery learning. Procedural ○ Know how to use direct instruction and discovery learning. Conditional ○ Know when to use direct instruction and discovery learning. Success Criteria Success Criteria: A set of measures that help students understand what it takes to achieve learning goals. Lecture 7: Climate Maslow Over Bloom Self-Actualization: The desire to become the most that one can be. Esteem: Respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, and freedom. Love and Belonging: Friendship, intimacy, and sense of connection. Safety Needs: Personal security, employment, resources, and health. Physiological Needs: Air water, food, shelter, clothing, and reproduction. Teacher Expectancy Theory 1. Climate: Teachers create warmer interactions or those with greater perceived potential. 2. Effort: Teachers spend more time with those deemed to succeed. 3. Response: Teachers provide more opportunity, select them more often, and speak longer. 4. Feedback: Teachers offer greater reinforcement and more detailed feedback on work. School Connectedness School Connectedness: The extent to which a student feels accepted, valued, and supported in their school environment. It is a protective factor that correlates with: ○ Mental health ○ Academic motivation ○ School performance ○ Prosocial behaviour Cognitive Apprentice Learning is positively affected by relationships with others who are more capable, knowledgeable, or expert than the learner. They perform better if accompanied and helped by an expert than if performing alone. What makes a good mentor? Trust Equation Self-Orientation: Focuses on their own needs and interests (lack of attention). Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy = Self Orientation ○ Does not prioritize your needs, interests, or problems. ○ Does not express anger or frustration when students struggle. ○ Does not compare student concerns or experiences to your own. Lecture 8: Universal Design Myth Of Average No such thing as an average pilot. Every pilot found that no one is the same in every dimension. Differentiation Differentiation is a framework to enable students of all levels to attain their full potential. Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence If adult and child learners learn differently, they should be taught differently. Crystallized Intelligence: Relies on information derived from long-term memory. ○ Your ability to reason using words and numbers improves over time. ○ Experiences in your lifetime contribute to the growth of crystallized knowledge. Crystallised intelligence. Fluid intelligence. Age: ○ The brain's ability to change in response to experience s  ○ The amount of effort such change requires Pedagogy and Andragogy Pedagogy Assumes: ○ Unprepared To Learn: Unable to divide what is necessary to learn. ○ Malleable: Children are easily manipulated. ○ Inexperienced: Lack requisite skills, such as self regulation for learning. ○ Externally Motivated: Willing to accept knowledge that is not immediately useful. Andragoy Assumes: ○ Ready To Learn: Adults are ready to learn relevant to everyday life. ○ Self Directed: Adults resent and resist being imposed upon. ○ Experienced: Adults possess a volume and quality of experience. ○ Self-Driven: Adults are intrinsically motivated by goal attainment and self esteem. Waterline Of Visibility Looking at students. Universal Design Of Learning Universal Design: Is design usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. Principles: 1. Different means of representation 2. Different ways of engagement 3. Different means of expression Which we prioritize is informed by why we teach Curriculum focuses on what to teach students. Differentiation considers the importance of who you teach. Lecture 9: Space Educational Architecture Architecture carries the belief that our physical environment shapes us, and hence that a building can powerfully influence its users. The physical environment and behaviour are co-related as students affect and are affected by their surroundings. The architecture by learning spaces started to be looked at in the middle of the 19th century. Before that, the school is where the teachers are. There are no dedicated spaces to learn. Architectural Impact Space impacts: 1. Student Success: Improvements in curriculum attainment. 2. Engagement: Attention, more on-task behaviours, decreased distraction. 3. Self-Esteem: Improved self-concept, mood, and motivation. 4. Attendance: Instances of lateness or absenteeism. 5. Well-being: Impact physical self, less discomfort and major ailments. Layout Semi-circular seating arrangements result in significantly higher levels of question-asking in fourth graders. An increased number of children in class increased aggression and destructive behaviour. High-density situations (too many children or too little space) lead to excess levels of stress. Imagined Spaces One of the easiest things to alter in the classroom is the arrangement of the students’ desks and chairs. What classroom is best for learning? Why? User Centered Design Students do not always experience a learning environment in the way it was intended by the designers. Student (user)-centered should be: 1. Functional 2. Safe: No design should be harmful. 3. Usable: Purpose and operation should be obvious and require little to no training. 4. Psychological Appealing: Learners should feel motivated to use the design repeatedly. 8 Ideas In 5 Minutes How might we make classroom design better for learning? Be visual. Draw your ideas, as opposed to just writing them down. Stick figures and simple sketches can say more than many words. Brainstorm Ideas 1. Fold paper into 8 squares. 2. Draw one idea per square. 3. You have 40 seconds per square. 4. Wait to begin the next square. 5. No speaking.  6. No writing. Pictures only. One Idea In 5 Minutes Be visual. Draw your ideas, as opposed to just writing them down. Stick figures and simple sketches can say more than many words. Be visual. Draw your ideas, as opposed to just writing them down. Stick figures and simple sketches can say more than many words. Expand your best idea: 1. Select your best idea. 2. Turn your paper over. 3. Flesh out this idea. 4. No words. 5. No speaking. 6. Give it a ‘catchy title.’ 7. Hang up yours on the wall. Vertical Non Permanent Surfaces Only one marker per group Take turns with the marker Be a team - the group is responsible for everyone’s learning. Asynchronous and Synchronous Spaces Shared Space Synchronous Asynchronous ○ Extends time How do these spaces differ? Flipped Classroom Multi Space Flipped classroom ○ Content at home ○ Application in class Distance education ○ Expands space Lecture 10: Learners Constructivism Assimilate ○ New information is adapted to existing schema. Schemas ○ Categories of knowledge that help interpret the world. ○ New information. Accommodation ○ Existing schemas are adapted or developed to accommodate new information. We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. Monological Interactions Monological Interactions: Closed conversation where the teacher is the dominant speaker and students are passive recipients of information. Dialogical Learning Dialogical Learning: If an answer does not give rise to a new question from itself, it falls out of the dialogue. Initiation-Response-Feedback Teacher initiates ○ What did we learn last week? Student responds ○ Trust ○ Teachers diagnose needs and devise learning tasks to enhance understanding, assess progress, and assist students. Teacher follows up ○ Very good, what creates trust? ○ Follow-up questions ○ Elaboration ○ Reformulation ○ Confirmation ○ Recaps Student ○ Credibility ○ Reliability ○ Intimacy Teacher centric instruction focused ○ Great Fixed and Growth Mindset Growth Mindset: Abilities are skills that they can improve through learning. Fixed Mindset: Abilities are fixed traits over which they have little control. Neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity: The brain’s ability to change and adapt based on experiences, and it can be a key factor in education. Heutagogy Level 1 ○ Pedagogy (engagement) Level 2 ○ Andragogy (cultivation) Level 3 ○ Heutagogy (realisation) ○ Growth mindset Never before has the access to knowledge, skills, and competencies been easier. Heutagogy is the study of self-determined learning and was developed as an extension to andragogy. Double Loop Learning Doing the right thing. Reflecting on the assumptions and beliefs. Change methods to improve meeting established objectives. Doing things right. What is the problem ○ Assumptions (need a bench) - Techniques (did it work)? - Results Holistic Processing Holistic Processing: The ability to process different features as one unit. It’s a perceptual skill that’s important for recognizing objects and faces. In education, holistic processing can be applied to learning in a few ways. Unlearning Riding a bike SMART Goals Specific ○ Learning goals What will be accomplished?  What actions will you take? Measurable ○ Success Criteria How will I know I am progressing? Provide benchmarks of success? Attainable ○ Universal Design Set doable goals. Is it within the ZPD? Relevant ○ Value Expectancy Theory Why is this goal important? Does its aim align with long-term objectives? Time-Based ○ Elaboration Theory Why is this goal important? Does it aim to align with long-term objectives? Dialogical Spaces ○ Elaboration Theory Part B: Short Answer Questions 1. Is expectancy-value theory or self-determination theory better for student engagement? Both expectancy-value theory and self-determination theory contribute to student engagement, but they focus on different aspects. Expectancy-value theory emphasizes that students’ motivation depends on their belief in the probability of success and the perceived value of the task. Self-determination theory highlights the importance of competence, relatedness, and autonomy in driving motivation. 2. Should diagnostic assessment be norm-referenced? They should not be norm-referenced. Diagnostic assessments are usually criterion-referenced, comparing a student’s performance to specific learning standards rather than to other students. Diagnostic assessments aim to identify individual student knowledge and learning gaps to inform instruction, making criterion-referencing more useful. 3. Does Generative AI better support Mastery Learning or Flow? Generative AI appears to have more potential for supporting mastery learning than flow.  Mastery learning emphasizes that students should achieve a high level of proficiency before going onto new content, which aligns with the ability of AI to provide personalized, adaptive content and assessments. Flow requires a balance between challenge and skill level that may be more difficult for AI to consistently achieve. 4. Does the forgetting curve impede scaffolding? The forgetting curve does not impede scaffolding but emphasizes the need for reinforcement in learning. Scaffolding provides structural support to help students build knowledge and skills, and incorporating strategies like spaced practice and retrieval practice within scaffolding can counteract the effects of the forgetting curve. This ensures that learning endures over time and supports long-term retention. 5. Does mastery learning make universal design unnecessary? Mastery learning does not make universal design unnecessary because they both aim to improve student learning outcomes by focusing on different aspects of the educational process. Mastery learning emphasizes achieving a high level of proficiency before going onto new content. Universal design focuses on creating flexible learning environments that accommodate diverse learner needs. Universal design principles, such as providing multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression, can actually complement mastery learning by ensuring that all students have equitable access to the learning process, regardless of their individual differences or learning styles. 6. Should the spiral curriculum be based on Bloom’s taxonomy? The spiral curriculum and Bloom’s taxonomy can complement each other, but they are not dependent. The spiral curriculum involves revisiting topics with increasing complexity over time and focuses on deepening understanding and building on previous knowledge. Bloom’s taxonomy classifies learning objectives in a hierarchical order of cognitive complexity. The spiral curriculum could incorporate elements of Bloom’s taxonomy to ensure a progression from lower-order to higher-order thinking skills, but it is not necessary. The primary focus of the spiral curriculum is revisiting and expanding topics. 7. Is a growth mindset best taught as part of the hidden curriculum? Teaching a growth mindset is not best suited as part of the hidden curriculum.  The hidden curriculum is an implicit curriculum often expressed and communicated in words and actions that deliver the official curriculum. Growth mindset is described as the belief that abilities are skills that they can improve through learning. This concert is too important to be left to implicit teaching. The significance of growth mindset in relation to neuroplasticity and heutagogy suggest that growth mindset should be an explicit part of the curriculum. Teaching growth mindset aligns better with dialogical learning approaches and the principles of heutagogy, which focus on self-determined learning and reflection. 8. Does trust or teacher expectancy have a more significant impact on learning? Teacher expectancy has a more significant impact on learning. The teacher expectancy theory outlines for specific ways in which teacher expectations influence student learning: ○ Climate: Create warmer interactions ○ Effort: Spend more time ○ Response: Provide more opportunities ○ Feedback: Offer greater reinforcement to students they deem likely to succeed Trust is important too and is presented as part of the broader concept of school connectedness and the cognitive apprenticeship model. 9. Does discovery learning impede the triangulation of assessment? Discovery learning does not impede the triangulation of assessment. Triangulation involves using multiple methods to gather a comprehensive picture of student learning including products, observations, and conversations. Discovery learning, as an instructional approach, can provide rich opportunities for triangulation. During discovery learning activities, teachers can observe students’ problem-solving processes, engage in conversations about their discoveries, and evaluate the products of their explorations. This aligns well with the principles of triangulation, allowing for a more holistic assessment of student learning through various means. 10. Does flow depend upon backward design? Flow does not depend on backward design, but the two concepts complement each other. Flow requires activities with clear goals, timely and unambiguous feedback, and a perceived balance of challenge and skill. Backward design focuses on identifying desired results, determining acceptable evidence, and planning learning experiences.  The key is to create an environment where students’ skills match the challenge level of the task, regardless of how the curriculum was designed. 11. Is gestalt limited to procedural knowledge? Gestalt is not limited to procedural knowledge. Gestalt states that each learning stimulus is perceived in its simplest form. This principle applies to perception and learning in general, not just procedural knowledge. Gestalt theory emphasizes how the mind forms a global whole with self-organizing tendencies, which can be applied to various types of knowledge acquisition, including declarative and conditional knowledge. The theory’s focus on perceiving patterns and wholes suggests it has broader applications beyond procedural learning. 12. Is direct instruction based on the myth of average? Direct instruction is not based on the myth of average. Direct instruction is a teacher-centric approach involving transmissive instruction of knowledge to learners, with minimal learner participation and monological speech. ○ Can be efficient for delivering a lot of information in short periods of time and providing clarity and consistency in content coverage. There is a more nuanced approach than teaching to an “average” student. 13. Should schema inform chunking? Schema should inform chunking. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help interpret the world. Chunking is a process of making information into smaller, manageable units. Schemas affect memory by guiding attention to relevant encoding and assisting in interpreting new information by providing relevant prior knowledge. Existing schemas can help inform the way that new information is chunked, as they provide a framework for organizing and understanding new content. Aligning chunks with existing schemas can allow learners to more effectively process and retain new information, making the chunking process more meaningful and efficient. 14. Does emotional engagement ensure school connectedness? Emotional engagement does not ensure school connectedness. School connectedness is the extent to which a student feels accepted, valued, and supported in their school environment,nt. Emotional engagement is important for overall student engagement and school connectedness encompasses a broader range of factors. School connectedness involves more than just emotional engagement.  Elements such as relationships and the trust equation contribute to school connectedness beyond emotional engagement.