Journal 8

Some challenges with inquiry based approach is that students can't design meaningful or "driving questions and so it doesn''t need much investigation. Also teacher have trouble understanding and carrying out the method. Therefore they don't scaffold or assess properly. Students have trouble developing logical arguments and finding evidence to support their claim. Students have trouble with working together and time mangement. Inquiry approach is tough on teacher because of all the role the have to play.

Simulations and games

Like project based learning, simulations and games add variety of ways for the students to learn. the more students use multiple systems of representing knowledge, the better they are able to think about and recall what they have learned (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). Simulations often provide students with a real world experience. They get the chance to visualize and model what they are learning. Games and modeling activities can elicit curiosity, create a demand for knowledge, and enable students to discover knowledge through exploration (Edelson, 1998). Games becoming more geared to a goal rather than pure excitement. I have alsways believe games help the student want to learn so they can be better players of the game and at being a teammate.

Cooperative Grouping

Cooperative learning is similiar to project based learning because the student have to do more than just know the information they have to share it with their students. Effective cooperative learning occurs when students work together to accomplish shared goals and when positive structures are in place to support that process (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). The teacher must put the student in a group that they will succeed in order to do the teacher must examine different aspect of the childs learning style, gender, friendships, and possible things that could go wrong. Students need to be in groups with a variety of learning levels and each student has been assigned a task. If one student fails they all fail or don't do as well. This drives student to break barriers and help without one person ending up with all the work which often happens in group work.

Cues, questions and Advance organizers

This is a much different approach to learning. This is one that is already in place and with a little bit of fine tuning can be very effective. Cues and questions are a way of prompting students responses. The article for advanced organizers give k-w-l charts. I disagree with that example but there are several other graphic organizers that help students. Such a alphabet vocabulary, making a book or magazine, making 3-d trinagles and cube and then writing about them on the shape. Asking questions and prompting students' replies with cues are strategies that come naturally to most teachers. In fact, some 80 percent of student-teacher interactions involve cues and questions (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). This should definitely not be the only strategy in your classroom.

It takes a lot of stragegies to make a successful classroom. These are just a few to look through but you have to find ones that work for you and your students.