Knowledge and Reasoning

          Chapter five of How People Learn II is filled with observations about knowledge-growth and learning. The brain learns most effectively when multiple connections can be made and over time, knowledge is drawn in order to make sense of new information. Because of this, one major point is spaced practice. Through developing a base of knowledge over a period of time, students are able to consistently recall information rather than it being crammed over a short period of time. Students don’t want to just pick up information to have it dumped again. 

Another point which impacts curriculum would be in the amount of times students need to retrieve the information from memory. As long as students have a grasp of what knowledge they are recalling, students should be able to retain more effectively if they are put in a position in which they need to draw the information multiple times. 

Many theatre classes tend to have a variety of age ranges in the classroom. Allowing students to act as teachers  or leaders to younger students would help structure and deepen their own knowledge base. By having students summarize and synthesis their knowledge and speak clearly, they are able to make deeper connections.  

In Gura’s creative learning environment, students are encouraged to seek multiple outcomes to a situation. Not only that, but students are able to express their ideas in a multitude of ways. That relates to chapter five in How People Learn II by drawing conclusions in a variety of ways instead of having the students just summarize what they learn. Another way this is explained in the text is interleaved and variable practice, which goes hand-in-hand with spaced practice. There is downtime between students needing to draw upon information and the information is shared in varying ways. 

The connection between Gura and the reading in How People Learn II which relates to the ISTE standards is apparent in 1.1b. In this standard students are creating their own learning environment and are able to represent their learning in a multitude of ways which will help them make connections and build their knowledge base. This learning environment will be able to allow students to make connections socially and connect to their prior knowledge-base since the students will be able to craft their learning environment based off of what they already know. 

            In Chapter 5 of How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures, expertise is explored. The five benefits of expertise are expressed in the infographic below. By examining this graphic, viewers can see how knowledge-base can help individuals retain and complete more advanced tasks.

Resources

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2018. How People Learn II: 

Learners, Contexts, and Cultures. Washington, DC: The National Academies 

Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24