Unit 3: Overview

With two units completed, we are beginning to hit our stride as teams, pods, and a course community. We are all now familiar with the three general themes of the course: broad insights into how people learn; specific perspectives on instructional design, and connections these insights and perspectives with instructional design approaches and tools. We also have completed the first application and case analysis assignments as well as general proposals for the course final project (i.e., stage 1 theoretical application project). These themes and assignments provide a common set of independent resources and a repeating set of social activities. Both will serve you complete the course, expand mastery across the program, and impact individuals and organizations beyond ASU.  Building on the ideas in units 1 and 2, unit 3provides insights into how children learn and how the brain works, building on prior readings about expertise and learning transfer. It also features seven additional specific theoretical perspectives and applications:

• Piaget’s Constructivism

• Cognitive Apprenticeship (+ 3 subsection)

• Cognitive Tools

• Situated Cognition

• Reciprocal Teaching

• Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles

• Information-processing