Multiage

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Multiage

• Theory

http//www2.marksandspencer.com/
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John Dewey

• cooperative learning

www.columbia.edu
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Piaget

• How children develop the concepts of number and
  conservation
• Hands-on learning constructs own knowledge,
  learning is a product of independent discovery
• Not rigid about ages and stages but be concerned
  with the sequence

arbeitsblaetter.stangl-taller.at/.../ piaget.jpg
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Piaget (cont)

• Provide concrete and representational experiences
• Assimilation (modify reality to fit existing
  schemes)
• Accommodation (new information does not match
  existing knowledge)
• Connecting new information with what we already
  know

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Piaget (cont)

• Stages of cognitive development - Primary
  classroom is in the preoperational stage
• Primary classroom has egocentric children (unable
  to assume a fellow students viewpoint)
• Emotion and cognition work together in the
  process of learning
• Learning is a product of independent discovery
  with the teacher providing the environment and
  materials, but very little else

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Vygotsky
www.sk.com.br/ vygotsky.jpg

• Social nature of learning
• Internal speech the importance of talk in
  learning
• Zone of proximal development lots of capable
  peers, assisted discovery

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Vygotsky (cont)

• Scaffolding assistance, usually through social
  interaction
• Learners are active in social contexts and
  interactions
• Cognitive development is social, cultural, and
  language experiences

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Bandura

• Students acquire behaviors by observing and
  imitating a social model
• Modeling

rcswww.urz.tu-dresden.de
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Gardner

• Multiple Intelligences

www.theatreinmotion.com/ howard.gif
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Modern Multiage Philosophy

• Mixed ages
• Continuous continuum of learning
• No retention
• Focus on family unit
• Child centered
• Autonomous learners
• Authentic assessment

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References

• Pardini, Priscilla. (March, 2005). The Slowdown
  of the Multiage Classroom. The School
  Administrator.
• Bingham, A. (1995). Exploring the multiage
  classroom. York, ME Stenhouse Publishers.
• Stone , S. (1996). Creating the multiage
  classroom. Parsippany, NJ Good Year Books.