Piaget's Cognitive Development
Like: I like the different stages that Piaget's has outlined. They make sense to me, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete and formal all seem to go in accordance with what I understand.
Dislike: I dislike the confusion I have between assimilation and accommodation. They're so closely related and it's hard for me to differentiate between them using examples. I also have some frustration knowing which stage applies to some examples we've gone over. Concrete and Formal seem very similar to me.
Vygotsky's Cognitive Development
Like: I like the Zone of Proximal Development, it is easy to understand and explain. I can see how students and all people move up and down in this learning development theory. It's simple, what we can and can't do on our own and what we can do with help.
Dislike: I also have trouble with the definitions for scaffolding and guided participation. From my loose understanding, the only difference is that scaffolding is help from a superior and guided participation is more with groups and people from a peer group.
Erikson's Psychosocial Development
Like: I like Erikson's theory because it goes into more depth than Piaget's or anyone else. The 8 stages are easy to understand and are adequately explained to help me see where people fall into categories. I can also see where I have been at stages of my own life and see what stage I might be in right now.
Dislike: There are so many of them! They all make sense, but some of the definitions are explained differently then what I'm used to. I have a hard time remembering all of them. If I can' tremember all of them off the top of my head, the odds that I actually think of them and use them while teaching are slim.
Kohlberg's Moral Development
Like: I don't like anything about Kohlberg's theories, mostly because I don't understand them, I did worst on the test on these sections.
Dislike: The reasoning behind each theory was confusing to me and I didn't understand how he came to the justifications and explanations that he did. Each of the stages seemed interchangeable to me and that's why they were confusing on paper.
Goleman's Emotional Intelligence
Like: The idea that it is something that I can recognize and manage. And being able to do so with others is beneficial in the "real world."
Dislike: There is nothing I disagree or dislike about emotional intelligence.
Information Processing
Like: Making the analogy between learning and computers makes sense to me. Information can be input, stored and retrieved later is broken down into simple enough steps that it makes following it easier. I also liked doing the visual model in class, that helped me understand it's process too.
Dislike: The two different lost stages were confusing at first, I couldn't understand how there could be two or where they'd fit. The different categories that fall into long term memory were also a little confusing in order to try and find where new information would be stored.
Knowledge Construction and Higher-order Thinking
Like: I liked the community of learners, spiral organization and problem-based learning definitions and examples from this section. These ideas made clear sense to me and helped me understand how I can implement them in my future classroom, especially creating a community of learners.
Dislike: Bloom's Taxonomy gave me all kinds of trouble throughout the semester. I disliked the different verbs and how I was expected to remember them all or at least under which category they fall. Especially in curriculum, they killed me. However, I understand that it will be important for me to utilize them correctly in my classroom in order to test and evaluate students most appropriately.
Behaviorism
Like: Token economy hit home for me because it was my fifth grade teacher, through token economy, that taught me to be responsible. He would give out "bucks" for assignments and we would use them for just about anything, parties, prizes and whatever else we could think of. It taught me responsibility. It worked behavior on me.
Dislike: I'm pretty sure the majority of the class feels the same about negative and positive reinforcement and removal and presentation punishment that I do. They are confusing!
Social Cognitivism
Like: This one also helped me understand better the way I learn. I learned about self-efficacy and vicarious reinforcement as well as self-regulated learning. All of these summarize how I learn and it made things more clear for me. In my future classroom, I need to be a good enough teacher to encourage students and help them develop a positive self-efficacy.
Dislike: Reciprocal Causation has been muddy for me since the beginning. I can't tell if it's something that we are supposed to manage as teachers or if it's something the students are supposed to be aware of as learners.
Group and Individual Differences
Like: There was nothing I like about group and individual differences.
Dislike: I disliked the stereotypes that come with groups and then placed on individuals.
Motivation
Like: I liked learning about all the different ways to motivate myself and my future students. I think this one is important because with all the different students will come different ways of motivating them. Learning the differences will help me help them. Specifically, intrinsic motivation helps me and is clear
Dislike: There is nothing I dislike about motivation.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Course Contract #3
What are you doing well? I'm feel like I'm staying up to date on most of the assignments. I don't necessarily get them done early, but I know what is expected and although it is a lot of work I feel like I'm able to stay on top of it. If I have questions I ask those around me and study well with a few others in the class.
What are you not doing well? I'm not doing very well at remembering and memorizing all the theories. When we discuss them in class they all make sense and flow nicely, but when I am asked to recall the information it begins to get fuzzy.
Are you making sufficient progress on your goals? I do feel like I'm making progress on my goals. I feel like all of the things I'm learning and am able to remember are going to really help me become a better teacher.
List specific things you need to change in order to meet your goals. I need to try to be even more on top of getting assignments in on time. If I do this it will help me to prepare sooner for the exams and give myself more time to study for them.
How is your motivation? Are you focusing on mastery or performance goals? Does anything need to change? To be completely honest, my motivation is slacking. This semester is a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be and I beginning to become more worn out. The assignments and projects are not extremely difficult, but the work load has been rough. I still do really enjoy my classes, and the things I'm learning are extremely applicable to teaching and I will use them in my classes. I think that if I can get my TWS and other observations done before spring break then I can relax and come back ready to learn again.
What are you not doing well? I'm not doing very well at remembering and memorizing all the theories. When we discuss them in class they all make sense and flow nicely, but when I am asked to recall the information it begins to get fuzzy.
Are you making sufficient progress on your goals? I do feel like I'm making progress on my goals. I feel like all of the things I'm learning and am able to remember are going to really help me become a better teacher.
List specific things you need to change in order to meet your goals. I need to try to be even more on top of getting assignments in on time. If I do this it will help me to prepare sooner for the exams and give myself more time to study for them.
How is your motivation? Are you focusing on mastery or performance goals? Does anything need to change? To be completely honest, my motivation is slacking. This semester is a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be and I beginning to become more worn out. The assignments and projects are not extremely difficult, but the work load has been rough. I still do really enjoy my classes, and the things I'm learning are extremely applicable to teaching and I will use them in my classes. I think that if I can get my TWS and other observations done before spring break then I can relax and come back ready to learn again.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Behaviorism and Social Cognitivism Case Study
Behaviorism (Ch. 5) Questions:
1. Does Mr. Kessinger's class represent a community of learners as defined in Constructivist theory? Why or why not? Not at all, the student was trying to learn from other students and she went beyond what was asked by creating the concept map. The teacher completely shattered her motivation to learn on her own.
2. Does Mr. Kessinger utilize presentation punishment or removal punishment with Robin? Justify your response using definitions and evidence from the case. He used Presentation Punishment. The new stimulus was presented in response to a behavior in an effort to decrease the behavior.
3. Explain Robin's reaction in Ms. Yamashita's class from the perspective of classical conditioning. Which stimuli are paired and how does that condition her response? By using notes in one class and getting in trouble for it, Robin automatically thinks that she will get in trouble for using notes in every class.
4. How might Ms. Yamashita encourage Robin to create concept maps in the future? Include behavioral concepts such as shaping, reinforcement, etc., in your response. Changing a behavior or idea that someone has been trained in can be really difficult to do. Shaping could be used to form an existing response by gradually changing across successive trials towards a desired target behavior by rewarding exact segments of behavior. Reinforcement can be used with a reward system being pretty consistent in the beginning, and then taper off slowly as the student becomes more consistent with the behavior.
Social Cognitivism (Ch. 8) Questions:
1. Which teacher in the scenario demonstrates vicarious reinforcement? Justify your response with definitions and an example from the case study. I would probably say that Mr. Kessinger is demonstrating that. He probably had an experience before that where someone else got mad at him for using notes and then in turn used that same philosophy with his students.
2. Is Mr. Kessinger considering reciprocal causation in his class? Explain your response, including all aspects of reciprocal causation in your reasoning. His actions toward her using notes in his class cause her to shut down even more, and to probably try less to succeed in his class, which in turn makes him more frustrated with his students. The learning environment that he has created will affect the behavior of the students in his class.
3. Which self-regulated learning process is Robin engaging in when she creates her concept maps? Explain your reasoning. Performance stage: because she was self-recording, keeping a journal/log book and making a concept map. She was also using self-instruction to remind herself about the material.
4. How do you think Robin's self-efficacy has been affected by this experience. Be specific about which self-efficacy's have been affected and justify your response with examples from the case study. She will most likely have a hard time being able to really apply herself in learning. That one experience will make her afraid to go the extra mile and really try to learn material. She won't do anything on her own, most likely she will wait to be told what to do in a situation so that she doesn't get in trouble.
1. Does Mr. Kessinger's class represent a community of learners as defined in Constructivist theory? Why or why not? Not at all, the student was trying to learn from other students and she went beyond what was asked by creating the concept map. The teacher completely shattered her motivation to learn on her own.
2. Does Mr. Kessinger utilize presentation punishment or removal punishment with Robin? Justify your response using definitions and evidence from the case. He used Presentation Punishment. The new stimulus was presented in response to a behavior in an effort to decrease the behavior.
3. Explain Robin's reaction in Ms. Yamashita's class from the perspective of classical conditioning. Which stimuli are paired and how does that condition her response? By using notes in one class and getting in trouble for it, Robin automatically thinks that she will get in trouble for using notes in every class.
4. How might Ms. Yamashita encourage Robin to create concept maps in the future? Include behavioral concepts such as shaping, reinforcement, etc., in your response. Changing a behavior or idea that someone has been trained in can be really difficult to do. Shaping could be used to form an existing response by gradually changing across successive trials towards a desired target behavior by rewarding exact segments of behavior. Reinforcement can be used with a reward system being pretty consistent in the beginning, and then taper off slowly as the student becomes more consistent with the behavior.
Social Cognitivism (Ch. 8) Questions:
1. Which teacher in the scenario demonstrates vicarious reinforcement? Justify your response with definitions and an example from the case study. I would probably say that Mr. Kessinger is demonstrating that. He probably had an experience before that where someone else got mad at him for using notes and then in turn used that same philosophy with his students.
2. Is Mr. Kessinger considering reciprocal causation in his class? Explain your response, including all aspects of reciprocal causation in your reasoning. His actions toward her using notes in his class cause her to shut down even more, and to probably try less to succeed in his class, which in turn makes him more frustrated with his students. The learning environment that he has created will affect the behavior of the students in his class.
3. Which self-regulated learning process is Robin engaging in when she creates her concept maps? Explain your reasoning. Performance stage: because she was self-recording, keeping a journal/log book and making a concept map. She was also using self-instruction to remind herself about the material.
4. How do you think Robin's self-efficacy has been affected by this experience. Be specific about which self-efficacy's have been affected and justify your response with examples from the case study. She will most likely have a hard time being able to really apply herself in learning. That one experience will make her afraid to go the extra mile and really try to learn material. She won't do anything on her own, most likely she will wait to be told what to do in a situation so that she doesn't get in trouble.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Special Needs Case Study Analysis
1. What classic symptoms of a learning disability does Nathan exhibit?
He knows the material, but he doesn't stay focused enough to complete the assignments. He is better verbally then he is when it comes to writing, and he "forgets" to turn in his work.
2. What accommodations has Nathan received in the past?
It said he received medication, which I don't know if that is counted as an accommodation or not. And he also was in several resource classes in elementary school.
3. What strategies would you recommend to help Nathan work with his learning disability? Why?
May give him a schedule for each day and maybe give him tests verbally instead of written. Or possibly a project would keep him more interested and be able to show what he really knows.
4. How many students like Nathan will you likely have in your classes? Justify your response by summarizing the information from a link or reference (include the link/reference).
According to (http://www.bsu.edu/web/PGPBSU/exceptionalities/Phase1/high%20incidence.html#ld) approximately 52% of students have a learning disability. I never realized that number was so high. That means that I'll be catering to the majority of the kids in my class that have learning disabilities. It shows the extreme need for differentiation with the material I teach.
He knows the material, but he doesn't stay focused enough to complete the assignments. He is better verbally then he is when it comes to writing, and he "forgets" to turn in his work.
2. What accommodations has Nathan received in the past?
It said he received medication, which I don't know if that is counted as an accommodation or not. And he also was in several resource classes in elementary school.
3. What strategies would you recommend to help Nathan work with his learning disability? Why?
May give him a schedule for each day and maybe give him tests verbally instead of written. Or possibly a project would keep him more interested and be able to show what he really knows.
4. How many students like Nathan will you likely have in your classes? Justify your response by summarizing the information from a link or reference (include the link/reference).
According to (http://www.bsu.edu/web/PGPBSU/exceptionalities/Phase1/high%20incidence.html#ld) approximately 52% of students have a learning disability. I never realized that number was so high. That means that I'll be catering to the majority of the kids in my class that have learning disabilities. It shows the extreme need for differentiation with the material I teach.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Constructivism Case Study Analysis
Questions:
1. Describe two similarities between the traditional lesson and the constructivist one as described above. What are two differences?
Both of the lessons provided the students a chance to get out of their seats and learn kinesthetically. They also got to participate in their learning by physically seeing how large something was that they needed to measure. They were both active and engaged in each lesson.
2. What are two benefits and two drawbacks of the constructivist approach as described above? Why? In your opinion, are the benefits worth the costs? Explain your response.
Benefits - The students were actively participating in constructing new knowledge. It was not only teaching them about this specific topic, but it gave them the tools they needed to problem solve for themselves in other topics or life situations.
Drawback - The constructivist approach in very time consuming. As it was mentioned, it took the class 3 days to come up with a conclusion. From a teachers perspective 3 days is a really long time to cover one concept when you have a whole list of objectives we need to cover every semester/year. Occasionally I think some teachers have good intentions when using this model. However sometimes the material or inforamtion that is provided may still be too difficult for students to work through. They then could be come very frustrated and cut themselves off from wanting to participate and learn.
3. How does the constructivist lesson described above promote critical thinking? Give specific examples of critical thinking from the case study and include a definition of critical thinking to support your response.
Critical Thinking - (book definition)the process of systematically examining available information and coming up with conclusions that are based on evidence. But to me it just means knowing how to think through difficult situations and being able to problem solve.
The teacher in the second example required the students to apply past knowledge to their current situation to figure it out on their own. He never flat out gave the students the answers they were looking for, but he made sure he guided them to the correct conclusion.
4. Would the constructivist activity be considered an authentic activity? Why or why not? I would absolutely consider the activity authentic. It measured the students performance on the ability to complete something that would apply to a really life situation.
1. Describe two similarities between the traditional lesson and the constructivist one as described above. What are two differences?
Both of the lessons provided the students a chance to get out of their seats and learn kinesthetically. They also got to participate in their learning by physically seeing how large something was that they needed to measure. They were both active and engaged in each lesson.
2. What are two benefits and two drawbacks of the constructivist approach as described above? Why? In your opinion, are the benefits worth the costs? Explain your response.
Benefits - The students were actively participating in constructing new knowledge. It was not only teaching them about this specific topic, but it gave them the tools they needed to problem solve for themselves in other topics or life situations.
Drawback - The constructivist approach in very time consuming. As it was mentioned, it took the class 3 days to come up with a conclusion. From a teachers perspective 3 days is a really long time to cover one concept when you have a whole list of objectives we need to cover every semester/year. Occasionally I think some teachers have good intentions when using this model. However sometimes the material or inforamtion that is provided may still be too difficult for students to work through. They then could be come very frustrated and cut themselves off from wanting to participate and learn.
3. How does the constructivist lesson described above promote critical thinking? Give specific examples of critical thinking from the case study and include a definition of critical thinking to support your response.
Critical Thinking - (book definition)the process of systematically examining available information and coming up with conclusions that are based on evidence. But to me it just means knowing how to think through difficult situations and being able to problem solve.
The teacher in the second example required the students to apply past knowledge to their current situation to figure it out on their own. He never flat out gave the students the answers they were looking for, but he made sure he guided them to the correct conclusion.
4. Would the constructivist activity be considered an authentic activity? Why or why not? I would absolutely consider the activity authentic. It measured the students performance on the ability to complete something that would apply to a really life situation.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Cognitive Psychology/Information Processing Case Study Analysis
1. After participating in this activity, what do you think the students will remember? How might those memories differ from those students would have if they only read about the Civil War in their textbook? The differentiation that those students got to experience while learning are drastically different than those of the students that read it from the textbook. Its hands on and not only will the students remember what happened but they will mostly likely remember the people that experienced those conditions too.
2. How does Mr. West’s use of a Civil War re-enactment engage students’ emotions? What is the relationship between emotions and learning? It evokes emotions from the students about the topic that they didn't know before that experience. They learn that those people were real and can put a face and name to them. They can relate in some way to all of those people. Emotions make up our memory. Every memory I have can be related to an extreme emotion that I experienced at that time.
3. Based on the principles of dual-coding theory, what activities would be effective for Mr. West to use as a follow-up to the re-enactment? Mr. West can be effective for the students to read about the events as well. It is combining their visual knowledge/experience with a reading assignment and then a discussion.
4. Who do you think provides better instruction for his students? Support your answer from an information processing perspective. I believe Mr. Richards provides better instruction. His method allows for differentiation for all learning types and keeps the attention of more of the students. He actually requires the students to think and use their minds. In Mr. Dunkin's class students are simply taught what to think and how to memorize facts, not to think through problems and come to their own conclusions.
5. How would you expect the students’ learning outcomes to differ depending on which teacher they had? Like I said above, students will have an array of methods to process information and reach their own conclusions rather then only being able to act based on what they have been told by others.
2. How does Mr. West’s use of a Civil War re-enactment engage students’ emotions? What is the relationship between emotions and learning? It evokes emotions from the students about the topic that they didn't know before that experience. They learn that those people were real and can put a face and name to them. They can relate in some way to all of those people. Emotions make up our memory. Every memory I have can be related to an extreme emotion that I experienced at that time.
3. Based on the principles of dual-coding theory, what activities would be effective for Mr. West to use as a follow-up to the re-enactment? Mr. West can be effective for the students to read about the events as well. It is combining their visual knowledge/experience with a reading assignment and then a discussion.
4. Who do you think provides better instruction for his students? Support your answer from an information processing perspective. I believe Mr. Richards provides better instruction. His method allows for differentiation for all learning types and keeps the attention of more of the students. He actually requires the students to think and use their minds. In Mr. Dunkin's class students are simply taught what to think and how to memorize facts, not to think through problems and come to their own conclusions.
5. How would you expect the students’ learning outcomes to differ depending on which teacher they had? Like I said above, students will have an array of methods to process information and reach their own conclusions rather then only being able to act based on what they have been told by others.
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