Creating Connect Type Activities

 

Ponder Activities:

 

These activities require the learner to think deeply and expand on the subject (Horton, 2012). The learner assessing what information they have already learned through questioning and learning. These include: rhetorical questions, mediation activities, cite-example activities, evaluation activities, summary activities and extend peer ponder activities (Horton, 2012).

 

Questioning Activities

Learners fills the gap by asking questions (Horton, 2012). When the learning is curious or has not made full connections to the subject they can ask questions to the teacher, instructor, presenter and research to find their answers.

An example of questioning that could lead to research would be “Do any other animals or insects transform like butterflies?”

Stories by Learners

The learner recalls events from their own life to make connections to the subject. These are great ways to evaluate the learner’s storytelling, recalling of information, writing skills and asses how the learners are creating and making connections to the learning activities.

Job Aids

These are tools that help learners apply what they have learned to real world tasks such as glossaries, calculators, and e-consultants (Horton, 2012). This would be prevalent in an activity after learning interest to do activities teaching how to calculate interest rates for mortgage or finding out how much a purchase will be with a high interest rate.

Research Activities

Requires learners to discover and use their own sources of information and can be scavenger hunts and guided research (Horton, 2012). Geocaching is a great tool to use with learners of all ages.

Original Work

Learners complete their own genuine work to be submitted for critique such as decision activities, work-document activities, and journal activities (Horton, 2012). The teacher has an opportunity to find out how the learners are creating their own connections to the learning, what areas there are still unclear of and can be used as an assessment to their skills and knowledge level of the subject.

 

Connect Learning Activity: Tummy Tales

 

Age: Pre-K through 3 Grade Students

Activity Type: Stories by Learners

Materials Needed: Writing Materials

Teacher Preparation: Prepare for the unit by printing page inserts.

Description of the Activity: Students will create their own stories by answering the question what caused their stomach ache. The children will reflect on their own experiences and remember when they experienced an upset stomach. The children will make connections from the story to their own real world experiences. The children will brainstorm reasons why they think the food items gave them a tummy ache. Then the class will discuss food options that would not have given them an upset stomach and other healthy food choices.

 

Here is an example of the page documents. The teacher will create or allow a student to design the title page. Each page with be left blank for the students to add their name, food choices and draw pictures of the foods that cause them a tummy ache.

Reference: Horton, W. (2012). E-Learning by design (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Wiley