INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MEETING May, 2013 Dbrowa Górnicza, Poland Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland Durable Knowledge - Key to the Future

valuable and useful knowledge helps to develop and fulfil the personality literacy and competence are separated strongly: - literacy: the knowledge of the culture we live in - competence: psychological processes organizing skills and abilities into a system instead of frontal teaching the new method is based on competence

communication in the mother tongue communication in a foreign language mathematical competence science competence digital competence effective, individual learning social and civic competence initiative and enterprising competence aesthetical, art awareness, and expressiveness

our school: students of the preparatory class have a lesson that deals with individual learning techniques training, not a subject aims: - survey and development of abilities - get to know and improve the students learning habits in practice - to reach efficient ways of learning for each student - to change the students attitude to learning - to realize the effect of learning on the development of the personality

areas (curriculum): attitudes, motivation ideal learning conditions improving concentration skills memory techniques logical thinking reading techniques communication practice

learning habits are surveyed and discussed e.g. some items of the learning style questionnaire: - I can remember peoples voices very well. - When I have a lot to do I make a list. - I like working with tools, instruments. - I would rather listen to a good lecture than read about it. - I rarely forget the faces of people I meet. several games are played to improve concentration skills

reading comprehension tasks in the mother tongue scanning for information, reading for gist the art of speaking: correct articulation (e.g. tongue twisters: Mit sütsz, kis szűcs, tán sós húst sütsz, kis szűcs? ) reading aloud / presentation skills widening the range of vocabulary in the mother tongue lots of short texts and poems to learn by heart

mathematical as well as spatial skills are also developed in the pictures: mental rotation task from the course book (to the right); searching for errors in easy maths tasks (down)

biological needs: you cant learn if you are hungry / thirsty - sleep: how many hours you require + when you are the most alert and can concentrate the best (morning / evening people, night owls): individual preferences have an orderly place to study: a neat and tidy writing desk (instead of mess and chaos) have enough light a calm and quiet room to study in is essential no music, radio or TV should be on!

we are capable of both selective attention and divided attention BUT! our ability to pay attention is limited concentration requires a lot of energy regular breaks are necessary attention can easily be averted by external stimuli psychological experiments: - doing two tasks at the same time: achievement is significantly lower in both - information-processing happens even if we try to ignore something (e.g. cocktail party-effect) - the meaning of what we dont pay attention to (but process subconsciously) interferes with the meaning of what we are concentrating on LEARNING: - music with lyrics is definitely worse than classical music - the radio and TV have the same drawback, as well as computer usage / chatting while studying

you have to concentrate on the colour of the words (not their meaning!) naming the colour of a word takes longer if it means another colour (you might make a mistake, too) information processing takes meaning into consideration, even if we want to exclude it RED GREEN BLUE PURPLE

make a list of what you have to learn + an order of importance schedule your learning activities have clear, realistic short-term aims reaching your goals gives you a sense of self-efficacy and maintains motivation set and keep (!) deadlines dont postpone tasks for too long try to learn from lesson to lesson serious problem: secondary school students lack of regular studying (they learn occasionally, before an important test, but not from lesson to lesson)

TYPEMEANINGLEARNING STRATEGIES visuallearning by seeing - taking notes: underlining, highlighting, using colours and emoticons - writing down everything - reading techniques: scanning, skimming - pictures, drawings – real or imagined (e.g. foreign language vocabulary on picture cards; imagining things / places / events etc.) - sticky notes, reminders all over the house - mind map, visual memory techniques - watching films, videos about the learning material auditorylearning by hearing - reading aloud - processing the information by asking questions about a text - self-testing, testing by parents / sisters / brothers in speaking - rhyme and rhythm for easier memorizing - recording a lesson and listening to it repeatedly - listening to the radio, watching films, videos - discussing a topic with others kinaestheticlearning by moving - changing your position often, walking up and down - rhythm; tapping with ones fingers, counting on fingers - using gestures a lot, pointing at important facts in the text - expressing emotional reactions to the topic (e.g. nodding in agreement, shaking ones head if somethings not clear or unexpected) - matching movements to material to be remembered - creative manual tasks, using tools - when taking a break: walking, moving, doing some exercise, dancing

especially younger (14/15-year-old) teenagers are very hard to motivate their interests: computer games and social networking sites school-leavers, being more mature, set up goals and work for them BUT! current crisis: many young people think they have no opportunities in Hungary (pessimistic attitude both to future and learning) concentration skills: most students are not used to focusing on one subject persistently impatience; they want to express their thoughts and feelings immediately, whether adequate in the situation or not reluctance to do the homework lack of regular learning learning techniques cant work few students take part in extracurricular activities (museums, theatre, lectures etc.) – sport events and competitions might be an exception

problems: difficulties in reading comprehension reason: the majority of students do not read books differentiating between more and less important information is a problem they dont understand words harmful effects of the media: vulgar expressions on TV poor vocabulary and lots of abbreviations in online communication solutions interest must be raised (e.g. choice of set books – but limited) creative, imaginative tasks presentations by students essays written from different points of view watching film adaptations of literary works of art (organizing film clubs) going to the theatre acting at school (organizing drama groups)

Acting Film club

problems arise mainly from the lack of interest difficulties: - making generalizations - understanding links between historical events - connecting history to periods of art (literature, architecture etc.) solutions: teachers often visualize information pictures, charts, timelines outline on the blackboard films visiting museums, historical exhibitions students active participation in commemorations of important historical events

all the difficulties of learning ones native language affect foreign language learning too crucial: - memory skills (vocabulary) - logical deductions (grammar rules) solutions: - learning short texts, dialogues, poems by heart - drill exercises - translations - presentations about various topics - language games (e.g. word chains, looking for words in grids, bingo, team competitions etc.) - real-life situations to use the language (e.g. exchange students)

difficulties: abstract thinking logic combination skills spatial skills Mathematics is perhaps the most problematic subject for our students.

Practice (as many maths exercises as possible) is probably the most important. There are also a lot of games that develop logical, tactical, reasoning or spatial skills, e.g.: mathematical riddles puzzles and mosaic games labyrinth games Nine Mens Morris Sudoku Science subjects (biology, geography, physics, chemistry): project work is popular with both students and teachers

There are 4 cards on the table. A S 8 3 Each has a letter on one side and a number on the other side. Which cards do you have to turn over to check the truth of this statement: If the letter is a vowel, there is an even number on the other side. ? You are the wizard of a small tribe. Its your task to check that people keep the rules. The rule is: You can eat cassava root only if you have a tattoo on your back. There are 4 people: 1) facing you, eating the root 2) facing you, not eating 3) standing with his back to you, he has a tattoo 4) standing with his back to you, no tattoo Which of them do you have to check whether they keep the rule?

we organized a game class on Vásárhelyi Day (27 March) the aim was to involve students in playing (board) games that develop logical thinking skills, memory and concentration it was extremely popular some of the games: - chess - a 160-piece puzzle - labyrinth board game - Sudoku - Nine Mens Morris - geometric jigsaw - noughts and crosses (a special version with rotation)

Experiment: creating 1) one-to-one tutorials 2) remedial courses in different subjects: M aths, German, English, Hungarian grammar elder students teach younger ones the teachers can do it as voluntary work since students are required 50 hours in order to get their certificates

Young teachers good practice for the young teachers develops their personalities (patience, empathy) strengthens their knowledge Students understand each other better dont feel ashamed because of their ignorance the atmosphere is more relaxed (lack of testing)

Sources: gabriella.pdf - Simon Gabriella: Kompetencia-alapú oktatás, kompetencia-alapú tanítási, tanulási programok (Competence-based teaching and learning programmes) gabriella.pdf core - The National Core Curriculum core Oroszlány Péter: Tanulásmódszertan (2007) (Learning Techniques) Dr. Dúll Andrea, Dr. Varga Katalin: Általános pszichológiai gyakorlatok II. (Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 1992) (Cognitive Psychology Course Book) Tanulási stílusok (Learning styles) – home essay by Zsuzsanna Benkő, 2006 Learn to Learn – Solutions – article written by Szvobodáné Pataki Zsuzsa Lecture by Dr. Berkics Mihály at Pszinapszis conference ( Budapest) Sources of downloaded pictures: brain brain Composed by: Bagyarik Erika Benkő Zsuzsanna Orosz Viktória Podolák Zsófia