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__ Chapter 1 - What is meaningful learning? __ ​__Characteristics of Meaningful Learning__
 * 1) Active (Manipulative/Observant) - Humans learn better when learning about topics in their natural environment. Learners begin to construct their own interpretations and results of actions. A great example used in the book is about kids playing baseball for the first time. They don't know about aerodynamics or vector forces, they just start throwing, swinging, and chasing fly balls. They will eventually learn to let the ball go at a different point or change their swing in order to hit the ball in a certain direction. "Meaningful learning requires learners who are active-actively engaged by a meaningful task in which they manipulate objects and parameters of the environment they are working in and observing the results of their manipulations.
 * 2) Constrctive (Articulative/Reflective) - It is vital for learners to articulate and reflect on their activties and observations. By reflecting upon their new experiences, they will be able to combine them with the prior knowledge they have about the world in order to make sense about what they observe. Learners may then begin to construct their own mental models. The more experience they gain, the more complex the mental models become.
 * 3) Intentional (Goal-Directed/Regulatory) - Everything we do is to achieve some goal. It could be as simple as getting a drink because we are thirsty, or as complicated as going back to school in order to pursue a new career path. When learners are willfully achieving a cognitive goal, they will think and learn more because they are fulfilling an intention ([|Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994]). When learners use computers and other technologies to represent their actions and constructions they understand more, are better able to use the knowledge they have gained for future tasks, because they are learning meaningfully.
 * 4) Authentic (Complex/Contextual) - Traditional learning in schools is not meaningful because students understood the ideas as algorithmic procuedures, not in the context of real-world experiences. Most research states that learning as a part of a real-world or problem-based environment is not only better understood, but easily transfers to new situations.
 * 5) Cooperative (Collaborative/Conversational) - In the everyday world, humans naturally seek out other to help them solve problems, which is the way it should be in the classroom as well. Often educators promote collaborative efforts, yet still do the assessments individually. Learning in groups works best when conversation is involved. The new technologies we have have in place allow students to converse with others across the school, across the state, or even acros the world.

Though each of these characteristics is important, in order to achieve complete, comprehensive learning, all five of them must be used in unison.

__Learning From Technology__ It is unfortuante that whenever there has been technological advances in education, from chalkboards, to overhead projectors, to micrcomputers, educators have used those advances to teach students in the same way they had always taught them. We need to use the technology available today as productivity tools that the students can learn with, not earn from.

__Learning With Technology__ __Technology Fostering Learning__ __Technology Fostering Thinking__ Students don't learn from teachers or technologies, but from thinking and reasoning. There are 5 different types of thinking that are fostered by technology. . . __Probing Question__ This chapter stresses the fact that students learn best with technologies, not from them. Threfore we need to use technologies in ways other than delivery vehicles for the same information. So how can we implement all of these new technologies in the classroom and how can we force all teachers to use this technology in the productive ways outlined in the rest of this book?
 * Technology consists of designs and environments that engage learners.
 * Technologies use active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative learning.
 * Technologies support meaningful learning, they do not convey or communicate meaning.
 * Technologies should function as tool kits that build more personal representations of the world.
 * Learners and technologies should function as partners, where the cognitive responsibility is handled by the part of the partnership that can perform it better.
 * Technology should support knowledge construction.
 * Technology should be a tool for exploring knowledge to support learning by construction.
 * Technology should be an authentic context to support learning.
 * Technology should be a social medium to support learning by conversing.
 * Technology as an intellectul partner to support learning by reflecting ([|Jonassen, 2000]).
 * 1) [|Causal]
 * 2) [|Analogical]
 * 3) Expressive (See chaps. 4,5,6,7,and 9)
 * 4) [|Experiential]
 * 5) [|Problem Solving](Also see [|PSE])