I’m constantly torn with what I feel are the most effective strategies for teaching students and the methods in which students should be showcasing what they have learned. As a History teacher, I want students to be able to memorize facts, understand how the events of history are connected, and how those events and decisions impact our world today. I want students to memorize facts as that seems to be a skill that is disappearing with the ability to search for basic info with a moment’s notice. Some may argue that if something can be “Googled” in seconds that it isn’t worth remembering, but our brains have a fairly significant storage size. Being able to recall information exercises your brain and also comes in handy for any future trivia nights or Jeopardy appearances. 

While reading through The Nature of Knowledge and Implications for Teaching, I felt my teaching style follows cognitivism fairly closely. Cognitivism, for the most part, follows the philosophy of internalizing new information and making assumptions and decisions based on the combination of prior knowledge and the new information. Memorizing names, events, dates and what happened in the past allows students to take that prior knowledge and apply it when given information about current events. 

When I coach volleyball, applying Bloom’s taxonomy and cognitivism comes more naturally. Players are put in situations constantly where they need to analyze the game situation, other’s emotion and abilities, and make a decision. These decisions require athletes to understand their own ability to execute a skill and when to take a risk or play it safe. The game of volleyball is a great example since there is no clock to kill and teams must work together as a unit to earn every point by identifying their strengths, their opponents weaknesses, and use all available information to make a decision. Less skilled teams who understand how the other team is set up and how to be deceptive consistently beat more skilled teams. 

Over my teaching career, spanning a quick 12 years, my course content has changed little, but delivery and purpose has changed significantly. The more I coach, the more I try to emulate that in the classroom. The shift from binders and photocopiers to Chromebooks and Google Classroom has been a welcome change in the sense of organization and class presentation. I’ve now shifted to trying to provide the information and having students analyze why the decisions were made in the past, how the people were impacted, how they responded, and whether the decisions made could be justified. With the polarization of politics today, it’s important that students can critique the information they are seeing and make a decision that’s in the best interests of society. 

Educational technology is an ever evolving tool which has been introduced as an innovative way to improve education for centuries. My understanding and experience with educational technology has largely changed over the past five years with the increased use of Google Classroom and Chromebooks. During my school experience, and the first half of my career, technology was clunky, largely unavailable, and Microsoft/Windows based. A group of 25-30 computers were available for the entire rural school and teachers took turns booking the computer lab. Further, projectors and tvs with connections to computers have replaced the tv carts, which too, were available in a similar manner to a computer lab. I am nostalgic thinking of the excitement of seeing the tv cart being rolled into the classroom as a youngster. That’s a thrill only those born in the 80s and 90s recall. 

Over the past five years, Rouleau School has been 1:1 with each student having access to a Chromebook in the Grade 3-12 class and iPads in the Kindergarten to Grade 2 class. This has been a dramatic shift in our 7-12 classrooms as teachers organize and deliver all content through Google Classroom. While convenient, it has had some unexpected results. Students attendance has decreased as material is available on the Google classroom and it has become a crutch for the urgency to attend class. Again, mixed feelings as those who are away for excused absences are able to work on their material while away. Further, we have struggled with students accessing Artificial Intelligence sites like ChapGPT to complete their work for them. Although it’s great that they have learned to use these tools, we have noticed some academic misconduct through their use. After these five years, my thoughts on the effectiveness of  academic technology ebb and flow daily. 

Based on my experience as a teacher, administrator, and now parent, my understanding of educational technology has evolved. Through Neil Postman’s (1998) writing on five ideas about technological change, I surmise a contemporary definition of education technology is something that is added to classrooms and adapted to, not adapted for. Each of these educational technologies, from the time of written language to the widespread use of Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, and personal devices has completely reshaped how students are taught and show evidence of their learning. In many ways, we have enhanced education by with technological changes likes robotics courses, computer science classes, and other hands-on technology for Practical and Applied Arts courses. In many ways though, we have stopped teaching simple computer skills (typing, document organization, spreadsheet skills), and simply moved courses online. Lastly, distance education through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre has opened opportunities for many students to take courses they wouldn’t otherwise have, but has reduced the amount of time students spend face to face with a teacher and their peers. For every positive, there are drawbacks. 

Postman, N. (1998) Five Things We Need to Know about Technological Change.

Having been an educator for a decade, and putting a halt on teaching to pursue a PhD, I believe that my teaching philosophies guides who I am as an educator. This is essential for the success of the students, and how they understand the topics being taught to them.

I have been used to giving lectures in the classroom, which is still the case most of the time. Lectures are important in order to impart what I know to the students. However, that is not always the case. Aside from giving lectures, I believe that Project-Based Learning (PBL) can bring out the best in students. This is one philosophy that I use in the classroom; PBL makes the students more responsible in their learning. According to an article by Marcus Guido (2022), PBL or project-based instruction is a student-centered teaching method that encourages learning through engaging, real-world, and curriculum-related questions. This encourages students to apply skills and knowledge they’ve developed inside the classroom, and also allows them to have their own approaches to develop an answer.

PBL goes beyond teacher-led instruction, and it makes the students to think more critically.  Guido adds that PBL helps teach students creative problem-solving skills and how to build independent learning, not just depending on the teacher for the lectures. Thus, I use PBL most of the time in order for my students to gain skills that they can use even beyond the classroom. Aside from giving them lectures, I allow them to think critically, usually through brainstorming within themselves about a certain topic we are discussing in class. This makes them more active in the learning process, as they interact not only with me during lectures, but also among themselves.

Complementing PBL, my teaching philosophy mainly subscribes to constructivism, which explains that knowledge is subjective in nature. Learning and knowledge goes beyond memorizing textbooks and lecture  notes. Through interactions with teachers and their fellow classmates, students will be able to learn in a more holistic manner. Furthermore, constructivism also means that students actively participate in discovery-based learning, which is essentially PBL. The students discover some more knowledge on their own, and not just from the teachers’ classroom lectures. Students can be more motivated to learn this way, when they take an active role in learning; they construct their own knowledge and meaning, rather than passively taking in the information.

Through constructivism, the students can analyze what is being taught to them on their own, in a more independent manner. In my case, I provide guidelines to my students. Even though I want them to learn independently through PBL and the constructivist approach to teaching, I still believe that as a teacher, I am responsible for the students’ learning in many ways. Through guiding the students, I am able to supervise their learning in the classroom; since students learn at different levels (some are fast learners compared to others, for example), I have to ensure that no one is left behind in the classroom. Therefore, I believe that, through my teaching experience the past decade, both Project-Based Learning and constructivism complement each other when teaching my students.

My evolving philosophy of education is that all students are unique. They all have their own experiences and socio-cultural background that influences their learning styles. I aim to provide an environment that provides enrichment and growth in a holistic way that all students deserve. I believe my role as a teacher is to facilitate, to offer guidance, to promote individuality and creativity through different modes of teaching. Thus providing a safe environment for my students to share their opinions and ask questions. However, the knowledge and learning theories that underpins my philosophy is a combination of all three.

Initially, I utilized a Constructivist Approach where I truly believed learning is the responsibility of the learner. I, the facilitator, will guide students to build on their prior knowledge through inquiry and engagement. As mentioned in class, this way the process of learning takes into consideration the students individuality, uniqueness and own understanding. I however had to deviate from a constructivist approach to a cognitive approach while teaching at a school where the majority of the school’s population were reading way below their grade level. Sadly, the focus was to complete the curriculum despite the students’ learning challenges. So since our focus is narrowed by empirical data, the product rather than the process, the Constructivist approach was not producing the product in a timely manner. A. William (2015) highlighted that the nature of knowledge is constantly changing, unlike decades before, skilled-based jobs require both academic and skill-based requirements. As this technological era evolves, teachers’ instructions too, must align with this era but each faces his/her own unique situation.

Lastly, while Skinner’s theory on Stimuli- Response to Behavior theory has its cons, it has had a positive impact on my students behavior over the years especially my male dominated classes. I use a positive and negative reward system that is unique to each of my classes. For example, a reward as simple as receiving a star on a chart each time required behavior is displayed, and the reverse when the student displayed unacceptable behavior. What was even more interesting was learning that Skinner’s non-traditional learning approach gave birth to the Adaptive approach that is now being encouraged. Both approaches focus on the individuality of each learner, which was the aim of Skinner’s Teaching Machine. Now we have individual assessment and teaching tools that allow students to learn at their own pace and level. This Adaptive approach I too used as a teacher and I am currently utilizing it as a student.

I had been a high school teacher in India for five years where I always resorted to an approach that made learning an engaging and interactive experience. Now, as I am doing my graduate studies I can see that my teaching philosophy has evolved over the course of my career and it has been heavily influenced by various theories of knowledge and learning. In my view, effective teaching and learning can be attained through constructivism combined with insights from play-based learning.

Constructivism: Learning Through Active Engagement

Exploring this article on Constructivism, I discovered that I have always tried to in-cooperate constructivism in my teaching philosophy as it involves the active role of the learner in constructing knowledge. Students are not just considered as passive recipients of information, rather it emphasises that students learn best by actively engaging with content and building on their prior knowledge and experiences. This idea has been further reinforced by Vygotsky’s theory asserting the significance of social interactions.

Being a science teacher, I have applied constructivist principles in my classroom by encouraging discussions and peer -to-peer learning. For instance, I organize students into groups to explore a topic and present their findings in front of the class, when teaching complex concepts in science. This methodology resonates with inquiry based learning where students take ownership of their own learning, build up-on pre acquired knowledge and collaborate to construct new understandings.

Incorporating Play-Based Learning

My teaching practice saw a significant shift after taking  the course “Play and Learn” as a part of my MEd program. Despite the fact that Play-based learning is normally associated with early childhood education, I envisioned that play can be an effective medium for engaging young learners even in secondary education. I look forward to introducing games, role-plays and invitations with materials into my lessons to kindle creativity and deeper understanding which in turn will make learning more dynamic and engaging. This very much aligns with constructivist ideas that promote social interactions and experiential form of learning.

Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing Engagement

All along my teaching career, I have been keenly interested in using technology, like smartboards or educational apps and platforms to alleviate student engagement and learning outcomes. I was quite fascinated by the idea of teaching machine by Skinner in 1954.This was one of the primary steps of introducing educational technology, making learning more engaging for students.I have found that technology allows me to provide a wide range of resources before,during and post lessons thereby creating an interactive learning environment. However, Constuctivist theory also asserts that technology should be used as a tool to facilitate deeper learning and not as a replacement for traditional teaching methods.

The Role of Play and Technology in My Evolving Philosophy

Creating a more student-centred and interactive classroom environment based on Constructivism combined with play based learning and thoughtful use of technology has become my priority in the recent years and this marks a significant shift in my beliefs about teaching and learning.As an educator I am committed to refining my teaching practice based on the theories of knowledge and learning that will lead to a dynamic, collaborative and student-centered environment.