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Whitson Elementary School
White Salmon, WA
School Type: Public
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School Setting:
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Level: Elementary
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School Design: Traditional
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Content Presented By:
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Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL)
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Northwest Educational Technology Consortium (NETC)
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Summary
The practice: Multiple Learning Strategies
Technology-enhanced lessons and activities should represent a variety of learning strategies that include active learning strategies, constructive learning strategies, authentic learning strategies, cooperative learning strategies, and intentional/reflective learning strategies.
- second graders use technology in appropriate ways to enhance learning
- active learning strategies extensively evident that focus on exploration, with learners interacting with the environment
- cooperative (collaborative/group) strategies take advantage of and build upon shared individual knowledge
- technology team guides acquisition and use of technology throughout the school
Diann Beseda's second grade classroom is alive with activity. Few of the children sit at desks. On the carpet a child sews up a paper quilt. At the computers, children try a new software program -- at one computer two children work together, one child using the mouse, the other the keyboard. In another area children are spread out on the floor using pattern blocks to build shapes with symmetry. They take pictures of each other's shapes using a digital camera. In the midst of all this activity, one of the guinea pigs in the center of the room (in a cage) lets out an excited squeal, and some children come over to see why. The learning environment is child-centered, with evident displays of multiple learning strategies in use. These include active learning that focuses on exploration, with learners interacting with the environment, and cooperative (collaborative/group) strategies that take advantage of and build upon shared individual knowledge.
Beseda's classroom echoes the culture in the school. Administrators and teachers have long understood that technology, if integrated wisely into the curriculum, can add to the variety of learning experiences they can offer students to ensure achievement. A technology team, including the principal and five teachers, thoughtfully plans the acquisition and use of technology and ensures that staff are comfortable with the tools and applying them to standards-based activities which are child-centered, active, and hands-on. In 2000, the school received a Gates Foundation Grant that will help expand this child-centered model to further a technologically-enriched educational experience in every classroom for every student.
This site also exemplifies the following practice(s):
- Assessment
Each learning activity should be accompanied with well-defined indicators of success. 
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