Habits of Mind: Application of Knowledge
Governor Mifflin Middle School believes that the development of "Habits of Mind" should be an integral part of every child's education. Habits of Mind skills help build the foundation for learning and reaching one's potential for learning and develop the disposition for problem solving and thinking critically. This week we will take a look at Applying Past Knowledge.
Unless you are an educator, you may not have heard of Bloom's Taxonomy. Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchal organization of cognitive skills used to guide educators in determining useful skills in students to direct their instruction and assessments. The components of Bloom's Taxonomy include Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Creating, Evaluating, and Analyzing. These components, originally developed in 1956 and later revised in 2001, are shown to represent different levels of cognitive ability in learning. In comparison with 16 habits from The Institute for Habits of Mind, we find crossover in some of these skills. In this case, application of learning is examined. Applying prior knowledge to new situations, also known as transfer of learning, is when one can take something they previously learned and apply it in a new context. Applying prior knowledge is an important skill in the problem solving process, as well as taking learning to higher levels. Simple memorization of information, while useful for naming, describing, and identifying things, needs to be built upon to become a more meaningful skill.
The YouTube video below is a good demonstration of the understanding the difference between knowledge and application.
"Success is the uncommon application of common knowledge" - Ivan Misner
In today's job and career market, we need to be aware of developing higher order thinking skills in our kids to better prepare them for life after high school. While this has traditionally been an area focused on primarily in school, there are some ways parents can support these skills at home with their kids.
Although intended for an audience of educators, the suggestions provided in this Education Week article, Response: Ways to Promote Transfer of Learning, provide some ways to support the transfer of learning that would be beneficial in some home situations as well. They are summarized below in a context for parents:
* Questioning - Ask kids open-ended questions that they have to think about and apply previous experiences to be able to answer. At first, you may need to prompt them to consider specific events or information to teach them this process.
* Collaboration - Working with others allows children to learn to work with others and also learn different ways to apply knowledge and problem solve various kinds of issues.
* Assessment - Most parents probably don't think they give assessments to their kids. However, while they may not resemble traditional, formalized school assessments, parents really assess their kids a great deal. Whether it is from the completion of a chore or a more direct evaluation of a concerning behavior, parents assess and evaluate their kids often. A suggestion would be to identify strengths and areas of potential improvement, and provide tasks that are just outside of the child's comfort zone and encourage them to work towards applying previous knowledge to successfully complete the task.
* Reflection - Kids learn from memorable experiences. Explicit time for reflection provides an opportunity for kids to think about things that worked and didn't work well. When reflected upon, kids are more likely to use experiences as learning opportunities and make the necessary adjustments in the future.
* Project and Problem Based Learning - These are practices that are more suited specifically to school, but if you are a parent who does projects and solves problems with your kids at home, using the project-based learning and problem-based learning models are great ways to get your kids to explore real-world problems and work to find solutions. In addition to using application skills, PBL's promote the development of communication, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. To learn more about project-based and problem-based learning and the differences between them, click here.
* Think-Alouds & Modeling - Talking through and modeling your thought process of applying past knowledge to solve problems is an excellent way to teach kids these skills.
The teachers at Governor Mifflin Middle School regularly apply these strategies to their lessons. Hopefully they will also be helpful for you to try at home!
Additional resources and what's on the horizon for flex period!
Additional Resources
Flex Period Schedule
Days 1 & 4 - SSR - Silent Sustained Reading - Learn More Here
Days 2 & 5 - iReady - Family Resource Page
Days 3 & 6 - SEL - Social Emotional Learning Schedule
* April 30th - Stress and How to Deal With It
* May 5th - Mini-THON Lesson
* May 7th - Wellness and Unity Day
As always, thank you for your continued support and partnership in education!
Sincerely,
Chris Killinger
GMMS Associate Principal
