Most recent public comments by Ms Colleen Farris https://nowcomment.com/users/147381 https://nowcomment.com/documents/377482?scroll_to=3329432 https://nowcomment.com/documents/377482?scroll_to=3329432 Hey Colleen! Drawing from the text "How People Learn," there's immense potential for enriching your Culinary Arts classes. Let's stay focused on your key questions: "Using students' preconceptions is a good way to start my lessons. How can I assess whether students retain and use new learning? When students retain preconceived notions, how can I reteach effectively?" **Assessing Retention and Use of New Learning:** **From the Text:** “A metacognitive approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them” (p. 18). **Application:** In your classroom, after introducing a new skill like "Knife Techniques," have students set personal learning goals and periodically self-assess their progress. They could use a reflective journal or a digital portfolio to document their journey, noting any improvements or persistent challenges. This aligns with the recommendation to help students "organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application" (p. 16). You could also employ practical assessments where students demonstrate the skill they've learned in various contexts. For example, evaluating their knife skills not just in a controlled environment but during the preparation of a complex dish. Observing their consistency and comfort with the technique would indicate whether the learning has been retained and internalized. **When Students Retain Preconceived Notions:** **From the Text:** “If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught” (pp. 14-15). **Reteaching Strategy:** When you notice students reverting to their initial misconceptions, consider deeper, contextualized re-engagement. For example, during the "Sanitation and Food Safety" unit, if students still believe that washing hands with water alone is sufficient, set up a demonstration comparing bacteria counts before and after washing with just water versus soapy water. Another approach is to use peer instruction. Pair students who have mastered new concepts with those who haven’t. This strategy leverages the concept that “experts and novices solve problems differently” and can aid in knowledge transfer through peer teaching. **Practical Reteaching Tactics:** - **Immediate Feedback:** During cooking labs, give immediate, constructive feedback when mistakes linked to preconceived notions occur. This helps to correct them on the spot, reinforcing correct practices. - **Conceptual Discussions:** Following practical assessments, hold group discussions reflecting on what went wrong in tasks linked to retained misconceptions. Encouraging students to voice their thought process and correcting it in a supportive environment can help reshape their understanding. **Connecting More Dots:** To further link the text's recommendations to your pedagogy, consider the emphasis on “learner-centered” environments (p. 23). You could adapt this by tailoring lessons to the specific social and cultural backgrounds of your students. For instance, integrating family recipes can make learning more relatable and engaging, fostering deeper personal connections to the content. **Next Steps:** Try re-reading Chapter 1, especially the segments on engaging preconceptions and developing a conceptual framework (pp. 14-20). See if you can identify additional specific preconceptions in various culinary topics you teach and strategize on how to systematically address them. **Reflection:** How do you currently measure the retention and application of new learning in your class? Could blending these evidence-based recommendations with your existing practices amplify students' understanding and skill retention? Your culinary arts class operates in a dynamic, hands-on domain that naturally aligns with many of these educational psychology principles. Let's build on this synergy to create an even more engaging and effective learning environment! Tue, 09 Jul 2024 06:50:32 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/377482?scroll_to=3329424 https://nowcomment.com/documents/377482?scroll_to=3329424 Hey there! I can see how the ideas presented in "How People Learn" could be quite rich for your high school Culinary Arts class. Let's look at one specific suggestion from the text that could be bridged to your hands-on, project-based learning environment: **Quote:** "Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught" (pp. 14-15). **Application:** Before diving into a new unit like "Baking Techniques," you could start by asking students about their own experiences and thoughts on baking. Maybe have them share what they believe are the essential steps or common mistakes. Capture these preconceptions through a quick survey or group discussion. **Why Use This Approach:** Engaging students' preconceptions can reveal misconceptions or gaps in their knowledge. It sets a baseline and ensures that everyone starts the new lesson knowing what's expected and what needs to be learned or corrected. **Importance:** By addressing students' initial understanding, you lay a strong foundation that can help achieve a deeper grasp of new concepts. This is especially critical in subjects like Culinary Arts where incorrect preconceptions (like the importance of precise measurements) could lead to real-world failures. To deepen the learning, you might then have the students apply this revised understanding immediately in a hands-on activity. For instance, let them experiment with baking a simple recipe twice—once following their initial understanding and once using the corrected approach. This way they can clearly see (and taste!) the difference. What do you think about using students' preconceptions as a starting point for your lessons? Do you see other ways these theoretical ideas could be bridged into activities in your culinary arts classroom? Tue, 09 Jul 2024 06:50:32 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/141493?scroll_to=3326791 https://nowcomment.com/documents/141493?scroll_to=3326791 The organizational structure of note taking or graphic organizers, if correctly designed might help with this! Tue, 02 Jul 2024 08:46:05 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326626 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326626 One could argue that experts are actually expert LEARNERS because of their ability to remember core concepts (big ideas), organize knowledge accordingly (into identifiable patterns), recognize when their knowledge and understanding are incomplete (metacognition), and locate and learn missing knowledge and understanding. Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:31:17 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326625 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326625 This is the call-to-action of this chapter. Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:19:42 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326624 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326624 This is the core concept of this chapter. Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:15:21 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326623 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326623 Is this what we mean by "life-time learner"? Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:14:31 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326622 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326622 This process of "self monitoring" would be worth tracking. The current "students monitoring their progress" goal of my school district is much shallower. Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:13:04 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326621 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326621 If we value innovation, then we must rethink most curricula. Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:04:52 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326619 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326619 Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:58:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326618 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326618 What are the condition-action pairs in my curriculum? How can I teach this differently? Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:57:25 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326617 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326617 How do we assess inert versus active knowledge? Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:56:02 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326616 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326616 Heavy emphasis on math and language skills provided people born in the early twentieth century with an excellent education that equipped them for life, even if they only attended school up to eighth grade. What have we lost by introducing so many additional topics of study in lower grades? Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:53:28 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326615 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326615 Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:46:01 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326614 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326614 Question: Is this a "Fish is fish" problem? When students know formulas but not principles, do they actually know the content? Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:42:43 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326613 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326613 Question: How can teachers teach students to see the forest AND the trees, or the big picture and the concepts that are component parts of it? Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:36:39 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326452 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326452 Explicit instruction about recognizable patterns in a particular content area will help students begin to organize what they are learning. They will begin to think like experts as they build their knowledge base. Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:32:44 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326447 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326447 Teachers must check in with students to ensure that they are noticing what is important to learning. Experts cannot assume that novices will respond to new knowledge in the same way they do. Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:32:21 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326445 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326445 Experts are susceptible to overlooking innovative connections due to conditioned responses based on their expertise. Experts may need to work to retain flexibility in applying their learning to new problems. Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:30:46 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326444 https://nowcomment.com/documents/319239?scroll_to=3326444 Experts learn differently than novices because of they draw on well-developed content, context, and the connections between them. Novices must be taught/learn how to structure and store their knowledge for effective retrieval and application. Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:29:38 -0400