Annotated Bibliography: Learning Theories, Educational Technology

and Mathematics all in one Flourishing Classroom

Angie Kruzich
EdTech 504 Module 3 Assignment
Due March 18, 2013
Introduction: The focus of my research is around past and present theories of learning
and the relationship between the theories and the impact on mathematics education in the
classroom. Also, I want to integrate the ideas behind incorporating educational technology in the
mathematics classroom while utilizing the learning theories. The idea is to include both
traditional theories and more modern constructivist ideas in the final learning theories paper.
Bush, G. (2006). Learning about learning: From theories to trends. Teacher Librarian, 34(2), 1418. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/224878283?accountid=9649
Within this write up, gives a more generalized idea behind multiple learning theories. It discusses
the rational for the behaviorism theory. Then the article discussed the paradigm shift and why
scientists needed it to happen. The shift went from behaviorism in the early 1900's to a more
cognitive approach followed by information processing and constructivism. This article further
discusses cognitive ability, brain research and how teachers should further learn about learning
because there are possible future changes that will be imposed upon a school. This article also
emphasized the significance of John Dewey's book, Experience and Education.
Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., Scarloss, B. R., & Arellano, A. R. (1999). Complex instruction:
Equity in cooperative learning classrooms. Theory into Practice, 38(2), 80-86. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/909852737?accountid=9649
To begin, this article explain the issues surrounding cooperative group learning in a mixed ability
level classroom. It goes into detail how to organize cooperative learning using a technique called
complex instruction (CI). Although this article does a great job summarizing the process, like the
learning theories suggest, reading about the process is not nearly as powerful as experiencing the
process. The article gives a great social studies activity example, then summarizes from Cohen's
book how the CI technique addresses student achievement, when to use CI for a group task, how
it helps with status problems. A status issue within a classroom can be about a student that has
been labeled poor or less smart, and therefore other students tend to leave them out of a group
activity and/or the student with a predetermined status label, voluntarily does not participate. The
article discusses ways to stop this from happening including using a multiple-abilities
introduction, writing tasks that are open-ended and not doable by a single person, and assigning
competence.
Delen, E., & Bulut, O. (2011). The relationship between students' exposure to technology and
their achievement in science and math. TOJET : The Turkish Online Journal of Educational

Technology, 10(3), n/a. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1288354455?accountid=9649
This particular article was a write up about the research done on student achievement when
exposed to ICT versus not so much. It clearly proves that there will be an achievement gap,
specifically in math and science when technology is not provided in the home. The research
looked at 4996 students in Turkey from 170 different schools. The analysis measured PISA
scores (Programme for International Student Assessment), technology scores, socioeconomic
status, ICT use at home, confidence in using computers, school size and ratio of computers at
school with school size. The results concluded that the strongest indicator was exposure to ICT at
home. Another thought mentioned in this article was the correlation between a previous study
showing no significance and Turkey's revamping of curriculum to utilize a more constructivist
approach since 2004 that included a higher amount of ICT in the classroom.
Jonassen, D. H. (1991). Objectivism versus constructivism: Do we need a new philosophical
paradigm? Educational Technology Research and Development, 39(3), 5-14. doi:
10.1007/BF02296434.
This article goes into depth to explain the differences between the two learning theories
objectivism and constructivism, but also describes how thinking about learning has changed over
the last century, basically shifting from objectivism to a more constructivist approach. However,
the theories may have shifted but the actual practice in the classroom has not followed as much
so. It also draws from the ideas of behaviorism and cognitive theory to explain the differences
and the evolution of objectivism towards constructivism. In addition, the article cites how IST
(instructional systems technology) is affected by these theories. This article would be an
excellent resource to compare the two philosophies.
Liu, C. C., & Chen, I. J. (2010). Evolution of constructivism. Contemporary Issues in Education
Research, 3(4), 63-66. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/196354565?accountid=9649
The purpose of this paper, as stated by the author, is to summarize the evolution of
constructivism and put a focus on social constructivism. The author describes the beginnings of
constructivism, as developed by Piaget, as trial constructivism. This lead to radical
constructivism founded by Glaserfeld. Then social constructivism was developed because people
learn when interacting with others as extended by Vygotsky. Although the article concludes by
stating there are two different major strands of constructivism, social and cognitive, however
there isn't any mention of the true meaning of cognitive constructivism. So I think I would need
to do another search on cognitive to be sure I fully understand its theories.
Moursund, D. (2007). Constructivism, Situated Learning, and Other Learning Theories.
Retrieved from http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~moursund/Math/learning-theories.htm

This article from Dr. Dave Moursund out of the University of Oregon has fabulous ideas about
the connections between learning theories and the teaching of mathematics in the classroom. He
quotes from Richard Elmore article about the prevailing theory of learning and teaching math is
not a developmental problem but one of aptitude. This indicates, not everyone can learn math.
However, Moursund states some great points about the constructivist learning theory and that
this learning theory is "particularly applicable in mathematics education". It also gets into the
ideas of nurture and nature which explains a lot about achievement gaps in mathematics. This
article did not actually contain the information about situated learning and other learning theories
as the title indicated, but did contain links to them. The article also mentions ICT, Information
and Communications Technology, and contains a link about the connections with teaching math.
These links will be helpful when writing my final paper.
Woodward, J. (2004). Mathematics education in the united states: Past to present. Journal of
Learning Disabilities, 37(1), 16-31. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/194228235?accountid=9649
This article gives a great historical perspective of how teaching mathematics has changed over
the years. As stated by the author, the article discusses three main themes in math education
beginning from the 1950's. It talks about the broad sociopolitical forces involved, trends in
mathematical research and theories of learning and instruction. It starts by discussing massive
federal funding in the 1950's and 1960's as a response to compete globally. It also includes the
"new math" era which faltered. This article also includes discussion about students with learning
disabilities and the developing ideas about how to assist those students. The article does connect
the learning theories with the various eras and trends for the United States over the past 60 years,
so that should be helpful to my learning theories paper theme.