Fourth Reflection

THE IMPORTANCE OF USING COLORS IN CREATING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.

At the time teachers create materials to use on their classes, it is very important that they include colors on them, as colors are not only important to motivate the students, but colors have a side effect on students’ learning.

The students who are instructed with colorful materials get better results than the ones that are taught using black and white materials because the brain tends to be stimulated more and remember more the things when they are in colors.

Some colors have an effect in learning. For example, the color blue is useful to transmit a feeling of relaxation to students; the color red tends to make the students feel more concentrate when teachers use this color in activities. Orange also helps students to remember the things and to think clearly. That is why some tests are printed in orange color.

As a conclusion, colors have a powerful effect in the students’ brain and in their learning. Teachers need to know how to apply the colors in the learning environment to improve the students’ learning. Some colors have a positive effect when they are used with measure; however, when they are used in excess they can have a bad effect, too.

References

https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Science-of-Learning-Blog/2015/04/How-Color-Can-Affect-Learning

Third Reflection

The Elements of art

 

The elements of art are used to create artistic drawings; however, these elements also have a connection with education, as education is an art, too.

The first element is point. In art, a lot of small points can be used to create drawings. In education, a lot of little pieces of information form knowledge. When people go to school or university, they learn something new every day and that is how learning is formed.

The second elements is line. Lines are used in art to create the borders of the objects of people in drawing. In education, teachers also can use lines to stablish the rules in a class. For example, students cannot use their cellphones and if they do, they ''cross the line''.

The third element is shape. Shapes are objects or things that do not have a volume, but they have a form. Shapes in education can be used to stimulate the visual learners. Pictures and videos contain shapes that can represent a new vocabulary word or can be used to explain something.

The fourth element is color. In art, colors are the elements that painters use to give life to their drawings. In education, colors can be used as materials for the students and to create a positive environment. Often, teachers use colors to decorate their classrooms.

The fifth element is texture. The artists try to make their drawings look as if they had a texture, and teachers use texture to transmit knowledge on the tactile activities. At some topics, it is important that teachers use all the senses of the students to help them to remember.

The sixth is a principle of art and it is used to create drawings which look like if the objects on it were really moving. In education, teachers could use these effect to create stories or as a didactic material that represents a verb (an action).

The seventh element is space. It is the effect of the drawings where people can appreciate how far something is and how near an object is. In education, the space of a classroom is really important; therefore, teachers opt for the sitting arrangement that is the best according to the space of the classroom.

Finally, the eight element is value. Teacher can use ‘’values’’ to determine how good or bad is the performance of the students as artists can use values to determine how light or dark is a color. Teacher measure it through different kinds of evaluations.

Reference

http://www.oberlin.edu/amam/asia/sculpture/documents/vocabulary.pdf

Second Reflection

Application of gestalt theories in education

As the webpage graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu (n.d.) states the concepts of gestalt theories, I consider these theories can be used in education for many purposes.

I think similarity principle has a relationship with education, especially with concepts. Some concepts can be very similar in English and considered as the same, like false cognates.

 

In the case of proximity, it also has a relation with education and the English language learning because some concepts have to be taught as groups, like family members, colors, animals, etc. They are learned as a group of words that have a relationship. They cannot be isolated.

Moreover, closure happens with words. People read texts and if a letter is missing a word, they do not notice. This helps at the time of learning a language, as people are capable of understand the main idea despite of the mistakes.

Next, I consider continuation happens when people are teaching a language. They can relate topics that are similar, so one topic can be the base to the others.  For example, math has a relationship with science.

Based on the concept of Rutledge (2009) about the common fate, I think that this principle can be used when learning a language when teachers use kinesthetic activities. Students are in movement and so are the materials used in the class. This learning tends to be more significant.

Based on Busche (2005), who explain what simplicity is, in education, it is better to explain concepts in a simple way and provide simple examples than to use very complicated things. Students learn things when they consider they are not too difficult for them.

References

http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm

http://www.andyrutledge.com/common-fate.php

https://designschool.canva.com/blog/gestalt-theory/ 

First Reflection

TECHNOLOGY AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN EDUCATIONAL

Technology is so important for education not only for homework or creating classroom groups in social networks, but for making the learning process in a much better way. Education in the past was pretty different. Students worked with books and through memorization and speeches from the teachers. But, how significant was that learning? Nowadays, teacher have a variety of available materials that they can use thanks to technology. They can use videos, music, pictures, piktochart presentations, internet games, etc. When students learn by these methods it is better because the students learn information and they never forget it. It is completely significant for them. Some students have visual learning styles, so when they learn a new word and the teacher presents a picture that represents that word, they never forget it because they relate that word with the picture. The same happens with songs and videos. However, the learning process becomes more interesting and moderate. Students enjoy the moment that they spend learning in the classroom, and they feel motivated. Motivation is another very important element for education because students need to be motivated to learn more every day.

Instructional Technology

We are going to use this blog as a practice in which we can type our personal quotes.