CONSTRUCTIVISM AND MULTIMEDIA LEARNING
Desislava Georgieva, Ph.D. University of Ruse, Ruse, Bulgaria, dmgeorgieva@uni-ruse.bg Emiliya Velikova, Assoc. Prof., Ph.D. University of Ruse, Ruse, Bulgaria, evelikova@uni-ruse.bg Ion Mierlus Mazilu, Assoc. Prof., Ph.D. Technical University of Civil Engineering, Bucharest, Romania
mmi@utcb.ro
Abstract: In this paper the authors present the integration of constructivist principles and multimedia lessons in mathematical training with purpose optimization of the learning process for forming and developing of mathematical knowledge and skills. For that purpose an experiment was conducted with fifth grade students at the High School with the Study of European Languages “St.
Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher” – Ruse, Bulgaria. It is given one example of the multimedia usage – a lesson on the theme Division of Common Fractions, developed with MS PowerPoint.
Keywords: constructivism, multimedia lessons, mathematical training, division of fractions
1. INTRODUCTION
It is well known that the student’s cognitive interest is prerequisite for high achievement in learning process. This determines the role of the teacher and his task to motivate students to do exploration in solving problems and to make them attractive practice for stimulating cognitive activity (Grozdev, p. 63). It is necessary the learners to be actively involved in the learning process.
The constructivism is a theory of active learning subject in social environment which is successfully applied in the teaching and learning processes. The principles of constructivism are legalized in a number of developed countries, such as England – 1989 (Boaler, 1998), USA - 1989 (NCTM) and Canada -1996 (Alberta Assessment Consortium).
The traditional methods of teaching do not satisfy the needs of the new generation, growing up in highly developed and used ICT (Georgieva, 2017, p. 14). This imposes the using of multimedia lessons to introduce new concepts (Velikova, 2008).
2. CONSTRUCTIVISM AND MULTIMEDIA LESSONS
J. Bruner (Bruner) concludes that the application of constructivism in education is an active process, in which learners construct new ideas and notions, based on their previous knowledge, as new cognitive structures (mental logical constructs) provide an acquisition of new experience and allow the person to take “action beyond the available information”.
The ideas of cognitive constructivism have been described by J. Piaget (1969) and E. Von Glasersfeld (1983, 1984). Piaget claims that at the appropriate stage of the student’s development they build own mental constructions while perform practical tasks. In the process of accumulation of experiences, adolescents move from the concrete to more abstract ideas (1969).
Findings of L. Vygotsky (2005) are based on ideas of social constructivism. He claims the social interactions play important role in notion building. After numerous activities in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) implemented in the social environment, the area of the current development of the learner – Actual Development Level (ADL), is expanded with new knowledge and skills (Ganchev, et al, p. 37). The social constructivism focuses on the importance of all aspects of social context, such as negotiation, collaboration, discussion, and interpersonal relationships, interactions between teacher-learner and learner-learner in studying situations, the role of language, texts and semiosis (sign process) in the teaching and learning mathematics (Ernest, 2010, p. 44).
The constructivism is the pedagogical philosophy, in which the main idea is locked into that knowledge must not be transmitted in a ready-made form to learners. It is important to create the conditions for a successful self-construction and self-development of the learners (Georgieva, 2014, p. 177).
Researches in cognitive psychology show that the learning process is improved when information is perceived through more sensory channels and when concepts are defined by different representations. The hypothesis is experimentally confirmed, when the same information is presented in different ways, it is perceived more fully by a larger number of people (Arokszallasi, 2014, 29-42; Panasuk, Beyranevand, 2010). Learning based on multivariate representation enhances pupils' ability to solve problems, deepens the understanding of mathematical concepts and relationships (Beyranevand, 2014, pp. 382-385; Akkus, 2004, p.
151). The visualization of mathematical objects (their representation through symbols, tables, graphs, etc.) is very important for learners who are not so good in mathematics (Leikin et al., 2013, p. 163). The founder of the theory of multimedia education is R. Mayer, a specialist in psychology and training. Initially, it defines multimedia learning as a combination of texts and paintings (Mayer, 1997). With the development of computer equipment information has been added and sound.
It is easier when the teachers and students use multimedia lessons because every material object can be visualized and the manipulations can be shown by computer animation. These lessons save time and resources. Some teachers create digitalized lessons, as some of them use ready-made. On the basis of the analysis of scientific and experimental literature and our experience, we synthesize the following rules for preparing multimedia lessons:
From a meaningful point of view:
a) The content should be divided into easily assimilable units and structured logically (Ganchev, Kuchinov, 1996, p. 32).
b) The information must be presented in a clear and unambiguous manner as it should facilitate understanding of the content.
c) The systems of tasks in the multimedia lesson mustn’t be solved in the textbook (Galabova, 2012, p. 419).
d) It is necessary to generalize knowledge and skills in order to increase their durability (Ganchev, 1999, p. 158).
From a technological point of view:
a) The multimedia lessons should be developed with software – easy, familiar and accessible to the educators.
b) The multimedia presentations should be created with ready-made templates with non-serif fonts because they contain suitably selected nuances that can accentuate important information without irritating the eyes.
c) The lessons that are meaningfully unified should be developed with the same template, and the different themes – with different templates.
d) The multimedia lessons should be interesting and attract the attention of learners.
e) It is necessary to remove disturbing and distracting objects.
f) Drawings, if it is possible, should be dynamic.
g) It must be visualized the context closest to the learners' life experiences and allow the direct application of new knowledge and skills.
3. EXAMPLE – DIVISION OF COMMON FRACTIONS
A Model of Multimedia Formation of Mathematical Skills was developed on the base of the constructivism theory and it was approbated with school fifth grade students at the Secondary School with the Study of European Languages “St. Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher” – Ruse, Bulgaria. The psychological and pedagogical experiment was organized with two groups: the experimental group, consisting 52 students, was trained in a computer laboratory with multimedia lessons; the control group, consisting 52 students, was trained in traditional conditions. The main question of the experiment was: if the mathematical training with multimedia lessons would optimize the forming and the development of mathematical skills and knowledge.
One of the multimedia lessons was Division of Common Fractions.
To focus student’s thinking on the theme, on the first slide is written only the title, with big letters. In whole presentation is used one non-serif font.
The lesson starts with a task which contains context related with everyday life: Anton has had half sandwich. He has divided it into two equal parts and has given one of them to his dog, which was very hungry. What part of the sandwich did the dog eat? Pupils know how to add fractions . The teacher has to work in the students’ Zone of Proximal Development. He/ she recalls dividing is a reverse action of multiplication, so from , follows . The students turn back to the real situation: The dog has eaten a quarter of the sandwich.
The group solves similar task with another context (Fig. 1): Every quarter of the whole umbrella is consisted of two triangles. What part of the whole umbrella is one triangle?
By clicking a mouse on the slide or pressing the button Right arrow from the keyboard the students compare their answers with the given solution.
In the first two tasks students divide fractions with a numerator 1, by natural numbers. In the next task they divide natural number by fraction .
After that the students have to solve a little harder task .
Fig. 1 Dividing fraction with a numerator one by natural number
Fig. 2 Dividing natural number with a fraction
The context of the next task is different (Fig. 3). With the teacher assistance the students make conclusion that .
The tasks are getting harder (Fig. 4) – dividing natural number by fraction , which solution is a natural number and remainder.
Fig. 3 Different context Fig. 4 The solution is a natural number and remainder
Teacher together with students summarize all examples (Fig. 5).
Fig. 5 Summary and conclusions
In this way the teacher assists constructing of the new students’ skills and knowledge from the Zone of Actual Development.
4. CONCLUSIONS
Through the integration of the constructivist principles and multimedia lessons the students supported form and develop their mental mathematical cognitive constructs. This type of lessons corresponds to the way that young people learn the information.
The qualitative analysis of the experimental results shows that the students from experimental group are more motivated to learn and realize the importance of the mathematical theory for the real life. The actively involving in the multimedia learning process contributes to formation more positively attitudes toward mathematical knowledge and the perceived knowledge and skills are more lasting. The inductive summary of the constructed knowledge and separating the supporting points of the learned skills contribute to formation the ability to apply learned knowledge and skills in new real life situations. This ability is very important for the development of the competitive personality.
The experiment proved that the mathematical training with multimedia lessons optimizes the forming and the development of mathematical skills and knowledge.
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