Daren's IPT 301 Questions 5

1. Describe the two most helpful instructional strategies explained in Module 11 and how you see them as being useful to you in your teacher.

-The first strategies that is important is meaningful learning. When a student is just listening to something that has no meaning to them, they are not going to remember it. By making the topic more important to them by finding ways that it connects or is of interest to them will help students not only remember the lesson better, but will motivate them to learn more about the subject on their own.
- The second useful strategies to use is to provide visual imagery. A teacher that just talks and does not use any examples or items to demonstrate what they are saying is not going to have that big of an impact on their class. By having items for children to look at, students will not only once again be more interested in the lesson, but may be able to make connects visually that they would not be able to make by just listening to the lesson.

2. Define and give two examples of low-road transfer and high-road transfer not used in the textbook.

-Low-road transfer- the spontaneous, automatic transfer of highly practiced skills, with little need for reflective thinking
-Ex 1- a child learning to ride their bike to the point where they need no training wheels
-Ex 2- a student learning to type, gets to the point where their fingers move automatically
-High-road transfer- is when an individual purposely and consciously applies general knowledge, a strategy, or a principle learned in one situation to a different situation
-Ex 1- Use their knowledge of building a chair in class to repair a table leg at home
-Ex 2- Having knowledge on when a baseball is going to get to their glove, can determine how long a car will take before it passes on the road

3. Explain what kind of transfer, if any, you see most often used in public education and how it is used (ether from observation or from personal experience).

-To me it seems that the kind of transfer most teachers try to use is low-road transfer. Many teachers try to get children to do things automatically weather it is spelling or math problems. The problem I see with this is that it does not always seem like the best course to take. Although it may be good for students to be able to do their math problems automatically, if they are only able to do that and not understand the math behind it, they will not be able to use that knowledge in real life because they only have the low-road transfer and not the high-road transfer.

4. In what situations have you used an algorithm to solve a problem? When have you used a heuristic?

-well I have used algorithms in math all the time to solve problems, but I have also used many algorithms to help me build furniture in woodshop. In order to build a strong cabinet, you have to use an algorithm (or sequences of steps), otherwise your project will ether turn out ugly or not stable.
-a time when I have used a heuristic was when I started working at Subway. At the beginning, I was not told all the things I need to know in order to make the sandwiches. Because of this, I had to use a strategy and common sense in order to make the sandwiches. After awhile, I was corrected on a lot of things, yet I was never highly condemned for the sandwiches that I came made using my heuristic strategy.