Qualities of Meaningful Learning

A. Intentionality: Uses clearly articulated learning goals to design learing tasks and the assessment of learning progress.

B. Content centrality: Aligns learning goals and tasks with the big ideas, essential questions, and methods of inquiry that are central to the discipline.

C. Authentic work: Constructs multifaceted learning tasks that represent the challenges, problems, and thinking skills required outside the classroom.

D. Active inquiry: Uses a disciplined inquiry process for learning that builds on students' own questions and develops habits of mind that foster high levels of thinking.

D. Construction of mental models: Embeds the articulation of cognitive models o fcontent within the learning tasks.

E. Collaborative work: Learning tasks are designed so that students working together adds value to achieving learning outcomes.

From: Meaningful Learning Using Technology: What Educators Need to Know and Do, Elizabeth A. Ashburn and Robert E. Floden (Eds.) , Teachers College Press, New York , ISBN: 0807746843

Resources

Constructivist Learning http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Teachers_Page/Language_Learning_Articles/constructivist_learning.htm

Meaningful, engaged learning
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/engaged.htm

Meaningful learning model
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.10.html

Meaningful learning research group articles
http://www2.ucsc.edu/mlrg/mlrgarticles.html

Meaningful Learning: Can We Have it Anywhere and Anywhile?
http://www.designingforlearning.info/present/meaningful/