Final Learning Log
What?
According to the quiz, I agree with Piaget's theory of teaching and learning as I scored a 42. The second theory I agree with is behaviorism, which I scored 39. The theory I least agreed with was social cognitivism, in which a scored 35. This quiz does seem mostly true; nonetheless, I would have expected my personality to like behaviorism theory over cognitive theory since I personally learn better through behaviorism.
* Piaget's Cognitive Development - I like his theory of taking prior knowledge, and then using assimilation or accommodation to help us form new mental schemas.
* Vygotsky's Cognitive Development - This is one of my favorite theories. I think we learn most effectively when we are function within our ZPD, and receiving help through higher level peers in scaffolding and guided participation.
* Erikson's Psychosocial Development - His theory of psychosocial development is very accurate and describes life's psychosocial stages very well. However, I do agree with the critics and I feel that he estimates role confusion to be too soon. I never though about my career or role at the ages of 13 through 16. Also, I feel that his estimate of the intimacy stage is too late. There are many young teens that only seek intimacy and don' think about much else.
* Kohlberg's Moral Development - This theory does have some logic to it, yet, I feel that the stages listed are not so accurate. One could feel strong about law and order and still never pass through the individualism stage. I do not like how he has organized pre-conventional, conventional, and post conventional.
* Goleman's Emotional Intelligence - We barely covered this theory. From the little we did cover, I have to say that I do find his first four stages to be out of order. I could recognize others emotions before being able to manage my own emotions.
* Information Processing - Great theory! This model that shows us how our minds work when we are learning. It is vital to get info past sensory memory and into working and long term memory.
* Knowledge Construction and Higher-order thinking - I like that this teaches that learning is an active process in which learners construct their own meaning based on prior knowledge and experience. I learn best when I compare things to past experiences. High level thinking is a good teaching model, yet, I do not agree that it is beneficial for all.
* Behaviorism - This theory is very intriguing and true. We are conditioned to learn many things. Thus, as a teacher we should take advantage of this and use reinforces to promote activity towards our desired outcomes.
* Social Cognitivism - I felt that this was an obvious theory. In my opinion almost everyone knows that two minds are better than one.
* Group and Individual Differences - We never covered this category.
* Motivation - Very true theory. Generally speaking students are very motivated by rewards or in order to avoid punishment.
So what?
People learn in many diverse ways. Some learn cognitively, others through the aid of other more able sibling, others through behaviorism and others by constructivism. Nevertheless, no matter how what one’s learning style might be, everyone learns through the information processing model. We all need to catch incoming stimuli in our sensory memory. From there we need to pay attention or the info is lost. Then we must apply the info in our working memory and prevent it from getting lost by storing it through means of repetition. Then info then goes to our long term memory in which we must occasionally recall upon so that it does not decay. In my opinion, people learn best through observation, visual aids, cognitive and constructive experience, and social constructivism. In order to process new info, I feel that these three tools are used to help one form new schemas and then practice and modify frequently and continuously.
Now what?
(1) As a teacher I need to understand that not everyone will learn such as I do. Thus, I must try to accommodate my teaching theories for diverse learners. I must try to make my instruction cover as many theories as possible. Nevertheless, due to the fact that I feel most people learn through observation, visual aids, cognitive and constructive experience, and social constructivism; my future teaching strategies will involve much retrieval of prior knowledge, and peer experience. I will have students work in groups in which the can recall prior knowledge together, and then work as peers to form personal schemas. Also, observation will be used a lot. The students will be able to do much observational learning from their peers, as they will see how I react to students abilities’ to form Spanish sentences and pronounce. The information processing model must be considered, thus, repetition will be a must. It will be my job to keep students attention so that they can get info though the full memory process. Hence, I will actively keep the class participating by randomly making students say aloud new vocabulary, and write on the bored new grammar principles.
(2) In order to become a better teacher, I need to learn better classroom management skills. During my teaching experiences that I have had, I have struggled to keep the whole class disciplined. It would be to my benefit to learn how to better use classical and operant conditioning with my students. This would allow me to reinforce the desired outcome I have for my students’ behavior. I need to better my positive and negative reinforcement strategies, and also better my punishment strategies.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Behaviorism and Social Cognitivism Case Study Ch. 5 & 8
Behaviorism (Ch. 5) Questions:
1. Does Mr. Kessinger's class represent a community of learners as defined in Constructivist theory? Why or why not?
No it does not represent a community of learners. His class does not work together in the design of their learning environment and curriculum. The teacher seems to be a lecturer that does not allow constructive discussions and criticisms among members. Its his way or the highway, and his way requires students to learn on their own.
No it does not represent a community of learners. His class does not work together in the design of their learning environment and curriculum. The teacher seems to be a lecturer that does not allow constructive discussions and criticisms among members. Its his way or the highway, and his way requires students to learn on their own.
2. Does Mr. Kessinger utilize presentation punishment or removal punishment with Robin? Justify your response using definitions and evidence from the case.
He uses both forms of punishment. He utilizes presentation punishment as he presents an aversive stimulus when he notices the note using behavior, and yells and accuses Robin of cheating. He also utilizes presentation punishment removal as removes the stimuli to try to stop an undesirable behavior, by
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?
Robin is now classically conditioned to cringe up and be in fear and hurt whenever a teacher picks up her work. Thus, due to the terrible experience with Mr. Kessinger, she is involuntarily conditioned to be in fear and feel like she is in trouble when, the UCS happens, a teacher picks up her work. The UCR reaction is to freeze up and feel fear.
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.
She can overcome the classical conditioning or Robin's reaction, by implementing operant conditioning. The teacher can shape Robin by the use of positive presentation reinforcements. The teacher can say to robin, This is lovely! If you let me make a study copy for everyone else, I will give you extra credit. However, the teacher should not touch the paper until it is handed to her by Robin. The teacher grabbing the paper could trigger Robin's classical condition of fear. From here on out Ms. Yamashita can give Robin a treat of candy as a reinforcer, every time she makes up a concept map and shows it to her. The teacher can also use negative reinforcement to shape the creation of Robin's concept maps, by removing the actually assignment if Robin makes a concept map instead for the material.
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.
Ms. Yamashita demostrates vicarious reinforcement. She made known to the class that Robin's behavior was desired. She did this by praising Robin. By this other students are able to observe that making a concept map is a desired behavior and thus, the probability that other students will make concepts map will increase. The other students learned vicariously through Robin's experience.
2. Is Mr. Kessinger considering reciprocal causation in his class? Explain your response, including all aspects of reciprocal causation in your reasoning.
No he does not. He does not consider that his actions can have negative causes on the student's environment. The teacher's hurts Robin's learning environment by yelling at her and making her feel fear. The teacher's damage on behavior then causes Robin's behavior component do be hurt, as she is now scared and no longer persistent in her effort in this class. Also the teacher's damage on Robin's behavior effects Robin's personal component as her outcome expectancy is now negative, and she does not believe that she can perform well in the class.
3. Which self-regulated learning process is Robin engaging in when she creates her concept maps? Explain your reasoning.
3. Which self-regulated learning process is Robin engaging in when she creates her concept maps? Explain your reasoning.
She is in the performance phase. She is focusing on the material at task and uses the self records the use of a concept map to organize the material for herself, and let her see what she has learned/accomplished. The concept map is means of self-instruction that reminds her the theories learned. The concept map makes her reflect and ask herself questions on what was learned
4. How do you think Robin's self-efficacy has been affected by this experience. Be specific about which self-efficacies have been affected and justify your response with examples from the case study.
Her self-efficacy in world history is now low. This experience has caused her to feel that she is not capable to do well in world history. Also it is possible that now she does not believe that she is capable of performing note taking well. Mr. Kessinger made her feel fear for taking and using notes in class. Thus, she probably feels that she can no longer take and use notes well. Like mentioned, Robin never took notes again in his history class after being embarrassed. The teacher had placed a scar on this student. She now feels like if she is caught using notes, she will then be doing wrong. Therefore, her self-efficacy for note taking, and use of notes is very low. She no longer feels that she is good at taking and using notes since she got yelled at and embarrassed for doing so. This will also be reflected on her world history capabilities. She will always remember this experience and grow to hate history, and feel that she is no good at history.
4. How do you think Robin's self-efficacy has been affected by this experience. Be specific about which self-efficacies have been affected and justify your response with examples from the case study.
Her self-efficacy in world history is now low. This experience has caused her to feel that she is not capable to do well in world history. Also it is possible that now she does not believe that she is capable of performing note taking well. Mr. Kessinger made her feel fear for taking and using notes in class. Thus, she probably feels that she can no longer take and use notes well. Like mentioned, Robin never took notes again in his history class after being embarrassed. The teacher had placed a scar on this student. She now feels like if she is caught using notes, she will then be doing wrong. Therefore, her self-efficacy for note taking, and use of notes is very low. She no longer feels that she is good at taking and using notes since she got yelled at and embarrassed for doing so. This will also be reflected on her world history capabilities. She will always remember this experience and grow to hate history, and feel that she is no good at history.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Constructivism
1. Describe two similarities between the traditional lesson and the constructivist one as described above. What are two differences?
In both lessons, the teacher guides the students to use some sort of common way to measure an object. It seems that in both approaches, the teacher does not feel that the students completely understood the specific lesson points she was trying to teach.
The lessons differ as the teacher tells the students exactly how to measure the object in the first case, but in then the second case the teacher does not give any clues whatsoever of how to measure. Due to the information given, the students were easily able to solve problem in the first case, however, in the second case they took days together trying to figure out how to make an accurate measurement and still never came up with a efficient result.
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.
The two benefits are the following: the students are able to experience a bit of concrete and formal operations as they are required to use analogical reason; the students are able to learn a more profound lesson then just how to measure, they learn that its important to measure using the same metric system in order to get an efficient result.
The two drawbacks are the following: Instructional time took 3 times longer in the constructivist approach; this approach did not result in a quick easy efficient result.
In my opinion, for this lesson the benefits are not worth the costs. In order to learn measuring, it should not take 3 days. This should be a quick lesson that students should be able to get a good understanding from just telling them to use a ruler. It is inefficient to obligate students in the pre-operational level , to function at the concrete and formal operational levels. As a result of the teacher trying to get them to operate at a higher level than what they are at, much time was used and the teacher did not see the students solve the problem as she had desired.
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.
The constructivist approach promotes critical thinking as it causes the students to reason, logic and test and hypothesis through the scientific method. Critical thinking is a skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of observations, communications, information, and argumentation. In the case the students demonstrated critical thinking as they evaluated many different ways of measurement. Upon evaluating these different ways, they would communicate and debate whether or not a certain way is efficient. After observing many different methods, by means of critical thinking the students were able to come up with an analysis. They learned that it is vital to use the same type of measurement when trying to measure something.
4. Would the constructivist activity be considered an authentic activity? Why or why not?
Yes it would be considered an authentic activity. An authentic activity is when a learner solves a problem that is realistic. The learner does this by forming his/her own solution by actually thinking through the problems themselves and using their own work knowledge to solve the problem, not through lectures. This constructivist activity uses authentic activity as the teacher gives the students a real life problem and then lets the students figure out how to solve the problem themselves, and does not give any help. This method allowed for more profound learning, analyzing and thinking.
In both lessons, the teacher guides the students to use some sort of common way to measure an object. It seems that in both approaches, the teacher does not feel that the students completely understood the specific lesson points she was trying to teach.
The lessons differ as the teacher tells the students exactly how to measure the object in the first case, but in then the second case the teacher does not give any clues whatsoever of how to measure. Due to the information given, the students were easily able to solve problem in the first case, however, in the second case they took days together trying to figure out how to make an accurate measurement and still never came up with a efficient result.
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.
The two benefits are the following: the students are able to experience a bit of concrete and formal operations as they are required to use analogical reason; the students are able to learn a more profound lesson then just how to measure, they learn that its important to measure using the same metric system in order to get an efficient result.
The two drawbacks are the following: Instructional time took 3 times longer in the constructivist approach; this approach did not result in a quick easy efficient result.
In my opinion, for this lesson the benefits are not worth the costs. In order to learn measuring, it should not take 3 days. This should be a quick lesson that students should be able to get a good understanding from just telling them to use a ruler. It is inefficient to obligate students in the pre-operational level , to function at the concrete and formal operational levels. As a result of the teacher trying to get them to operate at a higher level than what they are at, much time was used and the teacher did not see the students solve the problem as she had desired.
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.
The constructivist approach promotes critical thinking as it causes the students to reason, logic and test and hypothesis through the scientific method. Critical thinking is a skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of observations, communications, information, and argumentation. In the case the students demonstrated critical thinking as they evaluated many different ways of measurement. Upon evaluating these different ways, they would communicate and debate whether or not a certain way is efficient. After observing many different methods, by means of critical thinking the students were able to come up with an analysis. They learned that it is vital to use the same type of measurement when trying to measure something.
4. Would the constructivist activity be considered an authentic activity? Why or why not?
Yes it would be considered an authentic activity. An authentic activity is when a learner solves a problem that is realistic. The learner does this by forming his/her own solution by actually thinking through the problems themselves and using their own work knowledge to solve the problem, not through lectures. This constructivist activity uses authentic activity as the teacher gives the students a real life problem and then lets the students figure out how to solve the problem themselves, and does not give any help. This method allowed for more profound learning, analyzing and thinking.
Monday, March 29, 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 students will not only be placing informational knowledge in their memories, but they will be imprinting experiences into their memories. They will remember being at camp and engaging in the battle preparation and battle. The students in this experience will use their sensory memory greatly. The environment and use of many senses, such as visual, kinesthetic, auditory, will help the students memorize the details of the experience and Civil war much better than compared to one just reading about the war. Reading is not using sensory memory nor as many senses.
2. How does Mr. West’s use of a Civil War re-enactment engage students’ emotions? What is the relationship between emotions and learning?
This engages students emotions as it causes them to become loyal to a certain side. This causes the students to become more involved as the situation becomes more personal to them. The emotions cause one's cognitive changes in thoughts to be stronger and more profound. The emotions cause one to emphasize the mental processes of processing new information with more passion and with more relevance to one's own life, since the emotions cause the situation to be personal and of more importance.
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?
In order to follow-up using the dual coding theory, Mr. West could show a educational video of the Civil war. This way the students can visual and auditory understand the Civil war, and compare and contrast the actual experience with their own experience.
4. Who do you think provides better instruction for his students? Support your answer from an information processing perspective.
Mr. Richards instruction would best suit my learning style. Mr. Dunkin's style does not accommodate diverse learners. Even though it has the pros of being well planned and organized, one is obligated to try to learn one certain way and the the style would become very monotonous and boring. Mr. Richards involves memory on a different level as he provides instruction that engages many different types of learning styles. His method uses dual processing and sensory memory. His method is not only generating information to be learned, but experiences.
5. How would you expect the students’ learning outcomes to differ depending on which teacher they had?
Mr. Dunkin's style would be very effective for organized learners that can focus when reading. I would expect some students to do excellent through this method, and others that do not comprehend well from reading to suffer. Mr. Richard's method does accommodate for diverse learners, however those learners that learn from organized reading and tests will suffer. Both methods are very effective for some learners, and very ineffective for others. I would expect the learning outcome to be better for Mr. Richard's because his method accommodates a greater percentage of learners than compared to Mr. Dunkin's method.
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 students will not only be placing informational knowledge in their memories, but they will be imprinting experiences into their memories. They will remember being at camp and engaging in the battle preparation and battle. The students in this experience will use their sensory memory greatly. The environment and use of many senses, such as visual, kinesthetic, auditory, will help the students memorize the details of the experience and Civil war much better than compared to one just reading about the war. Reading is not using sensory memory nor as many senses.
2. How does Mr. West’s use of a Civil War re-enactment engage students’ emotions? What is the relationship between emotions and learning?
This engages students emotions as it causes them to become loyal to a certain side. This causes the students to become more involved as the situation becomes more personal to them. The emotions cause one's cognitive changes in thoughts to be stronger and more profound. The emotions cause one to emphasize the mental processes of processing new information with more passion and with more relevance to one's own life, since the emotions cause the situation to be personal and of more importance.
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?
In order to follow-up using the dual coding theory, Mr. West could show a educational video of the Civil war. This way the students can visual and auditory understand the Civil war, and compare and contrast the actual experience with their own experience.
4. Who do you think provides better instruction for his students? Support your answer from an information processing perspective.
Mr. Richards instruction would best suit my learning style. Mr. Dunkin's style does not accommodate diverse learners. Even though it has the pros of being well planned and organized, one is obligated to try to learn one certain way and the the style would become very monotonous and boring. Mr. Richards involves memory on a different level as he provides instruction that engages many different types of learning styles. His method uses dual processing and sensory memory. His method is not only generating information to be learned, but experiences.
5. How would you expect the students’ learning outcomes to differ depending on which teacher they had?
Mr. Dunkin's style would be very effective for organized learners that can focus when reading. I would expect some students to do excellent through this method, and others that do not comprehend well from reading to suffer. Mr. Richard's method does accommodate for diverse learners, however those learners that learn from organized reading and tests will suffer. Both methods are very effective for some learners, and very ineffective for others. I would expect the learning outcome to be better for Mr. Richard's because his method accommodates a greater percentage of learners than compared to Mr. Dunkin's method.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Cognitive Development (Ch. 3) Analysis Questions:
1. From the perspective of Piaget's theory, in which stage of cognitive development is Laura? Justify your response.
The formal operational stage. By choose, she uses her intuition and perception to understand the world and solve problems, and does not use logic nor reason.
2. How is Laura's reasoning affected by her knowledge base--that is, by what she does and doesn't know about pollution? Use terminology from Ch. 3 in your response.
Her knowledge base seems to be very closed and subjetive. She is stuck in a young stage of cognitive development. Her knowledge is based on opinon and she is very egocentric.
3. By posing a series of questions, Mr. Marculescu continually challenges Laura to reconsider her thinking about the pollution problem. What are potential benefits of this strategy? Use terminology from Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories in your response.
Mr. Marculescu uses the "encouraging you children's use of private speech" in this stage. He tries to get her to think and analyze other things instead of being so closed. Also, this method involves some scaffolding as he challanges her and tries to raise her to a higher level of thinking.
4. How does this scenario represent Piaget's and Vygotsky's conceptions of play?
Play is represented through the play of scene. The student is placed is a situation where she has to "play" by going up behind the podium and express her opinion to the class. Hence, she is in play as she is using props and being placed in a scenario.
Social and Moral Development (Ch. 4) Analysis Questions:
1. From a social development standpoint, how might we explain Laura's preoccupation with her appearance? In particular, consider this statement by Laura: "I don't want people to think I'm a geek!" Include information from Erikson's theory and social development in general in your response.
Laura is in the "Identity role confusion stage" in which she is trying to find herself through acceptance. She is experiencing some failure in this stage as she seems to be somewhat confused.
2. In suggesting that Laura join the debating class, Ms. Watkins is hoping to pique an interest in classroom subject matter by capitalizing on Laura's desire to be the center of attention. What two other strategies might the school faculty use to motivate students who seem to be more interested in social matters than in academic pursuits?
Theator and student body leaders are great ways to get non-acedemic students interested in acedemics. These options allow students to be very social and be expressive. By doing so, these students can learn that they de have great acedemic skills. For instance: the options prepare one to be a leader, manager, representative and so forth.
3. From the perspective of Kohlberg's theory, in which stage of moral development is Laura? Justify your response. How might Mr. Marcalescu help Laura to advance her moral reasoning?
She seems to be entering the postconventional since she seems to make a stand for her own beliefs and thoughts. Also she is in an individualism stage as she is egocentrisc. The teacher can help her advance by helping her understand rules of interpersonal conformity, that teach logic and fairness.
4. In what ways might a debating class contribute to students' cognitive, linguistic, social, and moral development?
It contributes to one's cognitive level as it makes one analyze and think for oneselve. It does on an linguistic and social level as it causes one to be expressive in front of many people through means of persuasive speech. Morally it causes one to realize that one must understand others and respect them, in order to persuade them. Thus, one learns how to be ethically moral with others.
1. From the perspective of Piaget's theory, in which stage of cognitive development is Laura? Justify your response.
The formal operational stage. By choose, she uses her intuition and perception to understand the world and solve problems, and does not use logic nor reason.
2. How is Laura's reasoning affected by her knowledge base--that is, by what she does and doesn't know about pollution? Use terminology from Ch. 3 in your response.
Her knowledge base seems to be very closed and subjetive. She is stuck in a young stage of cognitive development. Her knowledge is based on opinon and she is very egocentric.
3. By posing a series of questions, Mr. Marculescu continually challenges Laura to reconsider her thinking about the pollution problem. What are potential benefits of this strategy? Use terminology from Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories in your response.
Mr. Marculescu uses the "encouraging you children's use of private speech" in this stage. He tries to get her to think and analyze other things instead of being so closed. Also, this method involves some scaffolding as he challanges her and tries to raise her to a higher level of thinking.
4. How does this scenario represent Piaget's and Vygotsky's conceptions of play?
Play is represented through the play of scene. The student is placed is a situation where she has to "play" by going up behind the podium and express her opinion to the class. Hence, she is in play as she is using props and being placed in a scenario.
Social and Moral Development (Ch. 4) Analysis Questions:
1. From a social development standpoint, how might we explain Laura's preoccupation with her appearance? In particular, consider this statement by Laura: "I don't want people to think I'm a geek!" Include information from Erikson's theory and social development in general in your response.
Laura is in the "Identity role confusion stage" in which she is trying to find herself through acceptance. She is experiencing some failure in this stage as she seems to be somewhat confused.
2. In suggesting that Laura join the debating class, Ms. Watkins is hoping to pique an interest in classroom subject matter by capitalizing on Laura's desire to be the center of attention. What two other strategies might the school faculty use to motivate students who seem to be more interested in social matters than in academic pursuits?
Theator and student body leaders are great ways to get non-acedemic students interested in acedemics. These options allow students to be very social and be expressive. By doing so, these students can learn that they de have great acedemic skills. For instance: the options prepare one to be a leader, manager, representative and so forth.
3. From the perspective of Kohlberg's theory, in which stage of moral development is Laura? Justify your response. How might Mr. Marcalescu help Laura to advance her moral reasoning?
She seems to be entering the postconventional since she seems to make a stand for her own beliefs and thoughts. Also she is in an individualism stage as she is egocentrisc. The teacher can help her advance by helping her understand rules of interpersonal conformity, that teach logic and fairness.
4. In what ways might a debating class contribute to students' cognitive, linguistic, social, and moral development?
It contributes to one's cognitive level as it makes one analyze and think for oneselve. It does on an linguistic and social level as it causes one to be expressive in front of many people through means of persuasive speech. Morally it causes one to realize that one must understand others and respect them, in order to persuade them. Thus, one learns how to be ethically moral with others.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Buenos Dias
My name is Jesse Blake and I am entering my senior year this semester. Currently I am perusing a Spanish Education Bachelors with a Minor in Business Management. This semester I am very busy and hope that I will be able to keep up to pace in this course. I am enrolled with 16 credit hours and I work 25 hours a week at an insurance agency and as a basketball official. Recently I had ACL surgery; so once a day I enjoy taking a mental break by going to the gym and trying to re-gain strength in my knee, and maintain myself in great shape.
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