1. Performance on assignments and tests as well as involvement in class discussions has been academically satisfactory. All assignments are completed and submitted. Concept understanding has improved and is in the stages of cognitive transfer to other fields of experience and understanding.
2. Procrastination is always the downfall. 5:00 in the morning comes early when I am trying to finish those last minute assignments. Yuck!
3. For the semester, my goals have been completed. Extended goals of transferring learning to other brain compartments is ongoing.
4. I need to use psychology terminology in other faucets of my education in order to gain permanent retention and more complex understandings.
5. Motivation is excellent. I love meeting my goals, it is a rewarding feeling.
Extra: The goal now is to develop practical implementation strategies to extend my learning in this course to my field experiences. Developing assessment tools by applying learning theories is the next step in my journey.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Social Cognitivism Case Study
Ms. Yamashita demonstrates vicarious reinforcement as she encourages Robin to continue creating concept maps and asks for permission to share her fabulous idea with the whole class so that they can benefit from her learning practices as well. Robin was learning a form of vicarious punishment from Mr. Kessinger. This form of punishment was already occurring as he would engage in bursts of anger with other students for their lack of preparation.
Mr. Kessinger was not considering reciprocal causation. He seems to lack the understanding that he plays a direct role in Robins environment. His incongruent behavior (anger) led to Robin obtaining false attributions relating to her own learning. Her self-efficacy has been squelched because her outcome expectancy was inconsistent with the real outcome, and her experience in his class is carrying over into other environments.
In creating concept maps, Robin is engaging in a process of self-instruction. She has created a way to remind herself of the connections that are occurring in her history class. This helps her identify cause and effect relationships between events. The more she is able to identify connections the more likely she will be in retaining information.
Robin has obviously been trying to raise her level of self-efficacy by creating an learning pattern that works for her. She believes that if she can grasp the connections between the information that she will be more likely to retain it. This is the purpose of concept maps in helping students find an alternative way to conceptualize information. Self-efficacy practices build positive outcome expectancies. When Robin was demoralized by her teacher for her learning strategy her outcome expectation was significantly altered. This can be seen as she fears being caught with her concept map in her next class. Her behavior in the next class suggests that she was a participant in enactive learning, which is interesting considering that she was trying to avoid such an experience by being prepared because she had already experienced vicarious learning from her peers in that class.
Mr. Kessinger was not considering reciprocal causation. He seems to lack the understanding that he plays a direct role in Robins environment. His incongruent behavior (anger) led to Robin obtaining false attributions relating to her own learning. Her self-efficacy has been squelched because her outcome expectancy was inconsistent with the real outcome, and her experience in his class is carrying over into other environments.
In creating concept maps, Robin is engaging in a process of self-instruction. She has created a way to remind herself of the connections that are occurring in her history class. This helps her identify cause and effect relationships between events. The more she is able to identify connections the more likely she will be in retaining information.
Robin has obviously been trying to raise her level of self-efficacy by creating an learning pattern that works for her. She believes that if she can grasp the connections between the information that she will be more likely to retain it. This is the purpose of concept maps in helping students find an alternative way to conceptualize information. Self-efficacy practices build positive outcome expectancies. When Robin was demoralized by her teacher for her learning strategy her outcome expectation was significantly altered. This can be seen as she fears being caught with her concept map in her next class. Her behavior in the next class suggests that she was a participant in enactive learning, which is interesting considering that she was trying to avoid such an experience by being prepared because she had already experienced vicarious learning from her peers in that class.
Final Learning Log/ Personal Learning Theory
Piaget believes children learn in a vacuum. This happens as children assimilate and/or accommodate new information into existing schemata to absolve cognitive disequilibrium. He believes children progress through 4 stages: Sensorimotor (goal-oriented), Preoperational (perception not logic, symbols, egocentric), Concrete Operational (solving concrete problems, conservation, transformation, reversibility, classification, serration, and transitivity), Formal Operational (hypothetical reasoning, probability, deduction).
Vygotskii takes a socio-cultural perspective on cognitive development. He believes that children have a zone of proximal development where they are able to learn through mediation by scaffolding and guided participation with an apprenticeship which leads to internalization. He believes that self-talk and inner speech play a significant role in the cognitive process.
Erikson believes in a strong connection between an individual’s emotional needs and their social environment. He believes that individuals progress through the following stages: Trust v. Mistrust (birth to 1yr, trusting or mistrusting the ability to rely on the care of another person), Autonomy v. Shame & Doubt (1yr-3yr, learning to be self-reliant and autonomous leads to high confidence in ability to control one's environment), Initiative v. Guilt (3yr-6yr, finding purpose in life by planning and achieving, follows with greater self-regulation and goal setting), Industry v. Inferiority (7yr-14yr, developing competence in learning new things, leads to more and more challenging tasks), Identity v. Role Confusion (teen, exploring gender roles, politics, religion, developing an integrated self reinforces confidence instead of confusion), Intimacy v. Isolation (Young Adult, ability to feel unselfish love, reciprocate intimate feelings, failure leads to isolation), Generativity v. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood, need to contribute to society and benefit family to avoid stagnation and helplessness), Integrity v. Despair (Late Adulthood, coming to grips with life, evaluating decisions, resolving mistakes to avoid despair).
Kohlberg’s theory says that there are 6 stages of moral development at 3 different levels- Pre-conventional, Conventional, and Post-conventional Reasoning. These range from no internalization of moral values to conforming of values to internalization of values acting without regard to societal conventions.
Goleman developed the theory of emotional intelligence which includes the following traits: Self-awareness (the ability to read one's emotions and recognize their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions), Self-management (involves controlling one's emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances), Social awareness (the ability to sense, understand, and react to others' emotions while comprehending social networks), Relationship management (the ability to inspire, influence, and develop others while managing conflict).
The information processing theory focuses on the mental structures that are developed as a result of learning. The brain learns information as it senses, stores, encodes and retrieves information. The brain encodes information in different ways: Declarative Knowledge (semantic, episodic), Procedural (automatic), and Conditional (knowing when and why). Strategies such as mnemonics, dual processing and advanced organizers help with retention.
Knowledge construction and higher order thinking use principles of spiral organization and methods of Bloom’s taxonomy to engage learners in discovery-learning and inquiry-based learning. An authentic activity within a community of learners yields to cooperative learning. Transfer of previous learning build new or expanded schemata but can create misconceptions if transfer is negative.
Classical and operant conditioning are examples of behaviorist theories. Classical conditioning happens when automatic responses are paired with new stimuli. Operant conditioning happens when reinforcement and token economy are used to coax a new behavior. Negative reinforcement removes distractions or negative feelings to increase desired behaviors. Removal punishment removes desired stimuli to increase desired behavior. Presentation punishment uses an adverse stimulus when undesired behavior is manifest. Shaping, fading, and cueing assist in developing desired behaviors.
Social cognitivism relies heavily on principles of self-efficacy: self-regulated learning, self-recording, self-instruction, self-evaluation, and self imposed contingencies. This kind of learning comes through cognitive modeling, vicarious punishment and vicarious reinforcement.
Group and individual differences allows stereotyping and biases to be identified. These can occur in the forms of culture, SES, gender, race, and exceptionalities. Knowing your worldview allows you to work with cultural mismatches and create an inclusive classroom with a least restrictive environment for all students.
Motivation can be described intrinsically or extrinsically. To create motivation, interest (dispositional or situational) must be initiated. Motivation allows for goal setting and self-determination. Motivation also helps develop a sense of autonomy instead of learned helplessness and assists with creating facilitating anxiety rather than debilitating anxiety. Motivation is hard to obtain when psychological needs are not met or when basic physical needs are neglected.
I believe that aspects of all of the learning theories are valid. Piaget’s theory on assimilation and accommodation seems particularly relevant in how we process and encode information. His stages of learning seem too conclusive and I believe there is a large overlap among these stages and that different aspects of ones life can place a person in all of the stages at one time. Intelligent people who are immature would be one example.
Vygotskii’s theory on the ZPD is extremely relevant for students in our classrooms. I do believe however, that children can learn some things purely through discovery.
I agree with Erikson in that we are always trying to find equilibrium in our lives and that we seem to be fighting against a negative force that pulls us away from success or our perception of what we consider success to be.
Kohlberg’s theory is an interesting one. I think that people fluctuate back and forth between stages as they are progressing toward higher levels of moral autonomy. It would require some form of expiation for an individual to reach the highest stage, and that still seems improbable to do in every situation confronted with. I do believe that there are significant differences in how people morally reason their decisions in life.
Emotional intelligence is a required trait for making it through the day. People who are deficient in this area are often socially inept or awkward. It is definitely an essential characteristic for leadership.
It doesn’t seem logical that any of the learning theories would be possible without information processing. I am not as agreeable with the idea of decay, however. I think that information that is accessed often is more accessible… it is like the pile of papers in one’s backpack, the ones that never get used are at the bottom, but they are still there.
Authentic learning is a fascinating concept and very engaging, but I’m not sure that it is necessarily practical for constant use. I think that direct instruction incorporated into spiral learning can lead to periodic authentic learning in the classroom. I do believe that authentic learning should be used as often as possible.
Behaviorist theories work, but I’m not sold on the moral integrity of using behaviorist tactics as a primary form of motivation. I think all students have the desire to learn, we just need to arouse their faculties.
Social cognitivism seems to be a theory that would be greatly applied to Vygotskii’s ZPD theory. When students can recognize their own ZPD, they will be more likely to work with mentors in relative learning activities. Although allowing students to only experience self-analysis without teacher feedback does not seem effective.
Failure to recognize group and individual differences will spell disaster for any learning theory you choose to embrace. Students will be highly unmotivated if they feel their teacher holds biases against them.
Motivation is mandatory for learning. I think that teachers can create situational interest, and that can lead to dispositional interest, but I believe that students must first have some experience with intrinsic motivation before this can occur.
My personal learning theory is: Do whatever it takes! Not any one theory is going to meet the needs of every student. I believe that each student has their own ZPD which will require multi-structured lessons to satiate their thirst for knowledge without drowning them. Students must be able to work within a group framework and evaluate their own contributions. This will have a different outcome for each child depending on their moral development as well as how effectively their environment corresponds with their social needs. Teachers can model effective behavior and take opportunities to embrace moral and emotional learning. By using several different models of instruction, hopefully I can keep all of my students engaged. I don’t believe in plowing through instruction just to complete the curriculum. Instead I think that concrete understanding of principles allows students to scaffold their learning without building superficial concepts that will blow away before the next unit of information begins. This corresponds directly with the results of my teaching philosophy quiz. I scored very close to the same in regards to all of the theories: B=39, C=45, H=41.
This semester has given me a very broad view of several concepts. It would be nice to really expand my understanding of each of them so that I can more fully incorporate appropriate principles into my teaching framework. I feel like I only have a general and basic understanding of the learning theories we have discussed. I would like to focus on each idea separately so that I have the opportunity for flow to occur.
Vygotskii takes a socio-cultural perspective on cognitive development. He believes that children have a zone of proximal development where they are able to learn through mediation by scaffolding and guided participation with an apprenticeship which leads to internalization. He believes that self-talk and inner speech play a significant role in the cognitive process.
Erikson believes in a strong connection between an individual’s emotional needs and their social environment. He believes that individuals progress through the following stages: Trust v. Mistrust (birth to 1yr, trusting or mistrusting the ability to rely on the care of another person), Autonomy v. Shame & Doubt (1yr-3yr, learning to be self-reliant and autonomous leads to high confidence in ability to control one's environment), Initiative v. Guilt (3yr-6yr, finding purpose in life by planning and achieving, follows with greater self-regulation and goal setting), Industry v. Inferiority (7yr-14yr, developing competence in learning new things, leads to more and more challenging tasks), Identity v. Role Confusion (teen, exploring gender roles, politics, religion, developing an integrated self reinforces confidence instead of confusion), Intimacy v. Isolation (Young Adult, ability to feel unselfish love, reciprocate intimate feelings, failure leads to isolation), Generativity v. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood, need to contribute to society and benefit family to avoid stagnation and helplessness), Integrity v. Despair (Late Adulthood, coming to grips with life, evaluating decisions, resolving mistakes to avoid despair).
Kohlberg’s theory says that there are 6 stages of moral development at 3 different levels- Pre-conventional, Conventional, and Post-conventional Reasoning. These range from no internalization of moral values to conforming of values to internalization of values acting without regard to societal conventions.
Goleman developed the theory of emotional intelligence which includes the following traits: Self-awareness (the ability to read one's emotions and recognize their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions), Self-management (involves controlling one's emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances), Social awareness (the ability to sense, understand, and react to others' emotions while comprehending social networks), Relationship management (the ability to inspire, influence, and develop others while managing conflict).
The information processing theory focuses on the mental structures that are developed as a result of learning. The brain learns information as it senses, stores, encodes and retrieves information. The brain encodes information in different ways: Declarative Knowledge (semantic, episodic), Procedural (automatic), and Conditional (knowing when and why). Strategies such as mnemonics, dual processing and advanced organizers help with retention.
Knowledge construction and higher order thinking use principles of spiral organization and methods of Bloom’s taxonomy to engage learners in discovery-learning and inquiry-based learning. An authentic activity within a community of learners yields to cooperative learning. Transfer of previous learning build new or expanded schemata but can create misconceptions if transfer is negative.
Classical and operant conditioning are examples of behaviorist theories. Classical conditioning happens when automatic responses are paired with new stimuli. Operant conditioning happens when reinforcement and token economy are used to coax a new behavior. Negative reinforcement removes distractions or negative feelings to increase desired behaviors. Removal punishment removes desired stimuli to increase desired behavior. Presentation punishment uses an adverse stimulus when undesired behavior is manifest. Shaping, fading, and cueing assist in developing desired behaviors.
Social cognitivism relies heavily on principles of self-efficacy: self-regulated learning, self-recording, self-instruction, self-evaluation, and self imposed contingencies. This kind of learning comes through cognitive modeling, vicarious punishment and vicarious reinforcement.
Group and individual differences allows stereotyping and biases to be identified. These can occur in the forms of culture, SES, gender, race, and exceptionalities. Knowing your worldview allows you to work with cultural mismatches and create an inclusive classroom with a least restrictive environment for all students.
Motivation can be described intrinsically or extrinsically. To create motivation, interest (dispositional or situational) must be initiated. Motivation allows for goal setting and self-determination. Motivation also helps develop a sense of autonomy instead of learned helplessness and assists with creating facilitating anxiety rather than debilitating anxiety. Motivation is hard to obtain when psychological needs are not met or when basic physical needs are neglected.
I believe that aspects of all of the learning theories are valid. Piaget’s theory on assimilation and accommodation seems particularly relevant in how we process and encode information. His stages of learning seem too conclusive and I believe there is a large overlap among these stages and that different aspects of ones life can place a person in all of the stages at one time. Intelligent people who are immature would be one example.
Vygotskii’s theory on the ZPD is extremely relevant for students in our classrooms. I do believe however, that children can learn some things purely through discovery.
I agree with Erikson in that we are always trying to find equilibrium in our lives and that we seem to be fighting against a negative force that pulls us away from success or our perception of what we consider success to be.
Kohlberg’s theory is an interesting one. I think that people fluctuate back and forth between stages as they are progressing toward higher levels of moral autonomy. It would require some form of expiation for an individual to reach the highest stage, and that still seems improbable to do in every situation confronted with. I do believe that there are significant differences in how people morally reason their decisions in life.
Emotional intelligence is a required trait for making it through the day. People who are deficient in this area are often socially inept or awkward. It is definitely an essential characteristic for leadership.
It doesn’t seem logical that any of the learning theories would be possible without information processing. I am not as agreeable with the idea of decay, however. I think that information that is accessed often is more accessible… it is like the pile of papers in one’s backpack, the ones that never get used are at the bottom, but they are still there.
Authentic learning is a fascinating concept and very engaging, but I’m not sure that it is necessarily practical for constant use. I think that direct instruction incorporated into spiral learning can lead to periodic authentic learning in the classroom. I do believe that authentic learning should be used as often as possible.
Behaviorist theories work, but I’m not sold on the moral integrity of using behaviorist tactics as a primary form of motivation. I think all students have the desire to learn, we just need to arouse their faculties.
Social cognitivism seems to be a theory that would be greatly applied to Vygotskii’s ZPD theory. When students can recognize their own ZPD, they will be more likely to work with mentors in relative learning activities. Although allowing students to only experience self-analysis without teacher feedback does not seem effective.
Failure to recognize group and individual differences will spell disaster for any learning theory you choose to embrace. Students will be highly unmotivated if they feel their teacher holds biases against them.
Motivation is mandatory for learning. I think that teachers can create situational interest, and that can lead to dispositional interest, but I believe that students must first have some experience with intrinsic motivation before this can occur.
My personal learning theory is: Do whatever it takes! Not any one theory is going to meet the needs of every student. I believe that each student has their own ZPD which will require multi-structured lessons to satiate their thirst for knowledge without drowning them. Students must be able to work within a group framework and evaluate their own contributions. This will have a different outcome for each child depending on their moral development as well as how effectively their environment corresponds with their social needs. Teachers can model effective behavior and take opportunities to embrace moral and emotional learning. By using several different models of instruction, hopefully I can keep all of my students engaged. I don’t believe in plowing through instruction just to complete the curriculum. Instead I think that concrete understanding of principles allows students to scaffold their learning without building superficial concepts that will blow away before the next unit of information begins. This corresponds directly with the results of my teaching philosophy quiz. I scored very close to the same in regards to all of the theories: B=39, C=45, H=41.
This semester has given me a very broad view of several concepts. It would be nice to really expand my understanding of each of them so that I can more fully incorporate appropriate principles into my teaching framework. I feel like I only have a general and basic understanding of the learning theories we have discussed. I would like to focus on each idea separately so that I have the opportunity for flow to occur.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Behaviorism Case Study
Mr. Kessinger's class does not represent a community of learners as defined by the Constructivist theory. Robin tried to construct her knowledge in a fashion that suited her learning style but was sharply rebuked from doing so. Mr. Kessinger requires that all students learn by rote memorization and be prepared to regurgitate information on the spot. He doesn't seem interested in creating a community of learners, only a community of memorizers.
Mr. Kessinger uses presentation punishment when he takes Robin's concept map and tears it to shreds. In this way he presents an adverse stimulus to stop the undesired behavior. Students will see the punishment and remember not to use notes when answering questions in class. In this way, Robin has been classically conditioned to associate notes with teacher displeasure. This presentation punishment carried through to Robin's Psychology class when she feared the consequences for having notes in class.
Robin has paired having notes in class with displeasing the teacher and being labeled a cheater. Robin could not handle the punishment that she received in Mr. Kessinger's class and instead of receiving the same punishment in Ms. Yamashita's class, she runs to the restroom and cries not knowing how she is going to learn the information that she needs to know for her classes. She has misconceived Ms. Yamashita's removal of her notes because of prior experience.
Ms. Yamashita has begun the reinforcement process by asking for permission to copy her concept map for the rest of the class. By shaping Robin's success in the class around the use of her concept map, she will encourage Robin to continue using this method for studying. As Robin sees the benefits of using the map and success, she will be able to be individually accountable for her learning abilities.
Mr. Kessinger uses presentation punishment when he takes Robin's concept map and tears it to shreds. In this way he presents an adverse stimulus to stop the undesired behavior. Students will see the punishment and remember not to use notes when answering questions in class. In this way, Robin has been classically conditioned to associate notes with teacher displeasure. This presentation punishment carried through to Robin's Psychology class when she feared the consequences for having notes in class.
Robin has paired having notes in class with displeasing the teacher and being labeled a cheater. Robin could not handle the punishment that she received in Mr. Kessinger's class and instead of receiving the same punishment in Ms. Yamashita's class, she runs to the restroom and cries not knowing how she is going to learn the information that she needs to know for her classes. She has misconceived Ms. Yamashita's removal of her notes because of prior experience.
Ms. Yamashita has begun the reinforcement process by asking for permission to copy her concept map for the rest of the class. By shaping Robin's success in the class around the use of her concept map, she will encourage Robin to continue using this method for studying. As Robin sees the benefits of using the map and success, she will be able to be individually accountable for her learning abilities.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Course Contract Review #3
1. I am still keeping up on assignments. I still have not missed any classes and I am still engaging in class participation, both voluntarily and involuntarily. I am still retaining information from previous units and am actually able to apply it to current learning both inside and outside of class.
2. My reading of the class text has become more of a skimming activity. I need to reserve more time to actually read the material.
3. My goals of mastery seem to be coming together. The information I am learning is applicable and useful in other environments which helps me gain better mastery of it. My performance goals are in line with my expectations.
4.I think that if I stay on track with the things that I am currently doing that I will be able to accomplish my goals. The study tactics that I have implemented seem to be working for me. I need to be better about reading the text.
5. Motivation is still increasing. I think that I am starting to focus more on mastery goals so that I have the information I am learning intrinsically within my grasp as a teacher. Now that the semester is coming to a close and most of my large projects are completed, it is easier to relax and absorb information.
2. My reading of the class text has become more of a skimming activity. I need to reserve more time to actually read the material.
3. My goals of mastery seem to be coming together. The information I am learning is applicable and useful in other environments which helps me gain better mastery of it. My performance goals are in line with my expectations.
4.I think that if I stay on track with the things that I am currently doing that I will be able to accomplish my goals. The study tactics that I have implemented seem to be working for me. I need to be better about reading the text.
5. Motivation is still increasing. I think that I am starting to focus more on mastery goals so that I have the information I am learning intrinsically within my grasp as a teacher. Now that the semester is coming to a close and most of my large projects are completed, it is easier to relax and absorb information.
Constructivism Case Study
In both approaches, the objectives were the same; the students were to gain an understanding of measurement and how it operates. In both approaches, instruments were used to determine how long an object was.
In the traditional approach students were explicitly told how long the whale was but the teacher wanted them to have an idea of just how long 100 feet actually was. In the constructive approach students were to figure out the length of the boat. Determining just how long it actually was came through comparisons to other real life objects that the students were familiar with. These same comparisons could have been made in the traditional approach, but they were not introduced. Another difference is that because the students in the traditional approach did not apply their information in another way, the internal processing of the information was limited. The students in the constructive approach could relate the lengths of several real world objects to the length of the boat helping them encode the information in more meaningful ways.
The students benefited from the constructive approach because they gained a deeper understanding of the concept. The retention of this information will most likely be easier to retrieve because it is attached to several prior schema's the children have in their lives. They had to draw from alternative resources which allowed for a large amount of creativity. The ability for the students to engage in this kind of thinking process will greatly benefit them the next time they are confronted with a challenge that seems impossible.
A significant drawback for this kind of instruction is that there is a lot of time involved. It took two days for the students in the constructive approach to accomplish what it took perhaps 20 minutes for those in the traditional approach to accomplish. This makes it difficult when the instructor must teach a significant amount of information in a limited amount of time.
Another drawback comes in the form of initial emotions experienced by the students and the teacher. It seemed difficult for the teacher to withhold information that she knew would be beneficial to the students. It also seemed very uncomfortable during those moments of silence when no one seemed to know how to handle the situation. The types of feelings can be huge stressors for students who are used to being provided with steps or a formula.
Looking at the benefits in comparison to the drawbacks, it seems that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks in the long run. The students seemed to have learned more and in the future it is likely that ideas will be more forthcoming more quickly. As students gain experience with comparisons in their surroundings they will have more tools to draw upon in future endeavors.
The constructive approach provided opportunities for critical thinking because it forced students to analyze their approach and determine what was working effectively and what wasn't. Questions directed from the teacher guided their thinking to evaluate better ways of collecting and conveying information. When students realized that their body parts were all different lengths and that the receiver of their message would not be able to identify with an one person in the class, they had to figure out a way to meet the criteria of length and sending an understandable message. Critical thinking is the ability to process information in a new way without having all of the steps clearly defined. This is exactly what the students were able to do.
This specific constructivist activity would definitely be considered an authentic activity because it has real life applications. There are several times in my own life when I have had to measure something without having standard measuring tools available. Knowing that I could use other objects to create equal measurements was extremely helpful. After engaging in this learning process, it is likely that these students would be able to accomplish the same feat I did because of the comparative understanding that they were able to gain. The same could not be said of those students who were taught in the traditional manner.
In the traditional approach students were explicitly told how long the whale was but the teacher wanted them to have an idea of just how long 100 feet actually was. In the constructive approach students were to figure out the length of the boat. Determining just how long it actually was came through comparisons to other real life objects that the students were familiar with. These same comparisons could have been made in the traditional approach, but they were not introduced. Another difference is that because the students in the traditional approach did not apply their information in another way, the internal processing of the information was limited. The students in the constructive approach could relate the lengths of several real world objects to the length of the boat helping them encode the information in more meaningful ways.
The students benefited from the constructive approach because they gained a deeper understanding of the concept. The retention of this information will most likely be easier to retrieve because it is attached to several prior schema's the children have in their lives. They had to draw from alternative resources which allowed for a large amount of creativity. The ability for the students to engage in this kind of thinking process will greatly benefit them the next time they are confronted with a challenge that seems impossible.
A significant drawback for this kind of instruction is that there is a lot of time involved. It took two days for the students in the constructive approach to accomplish what it took perhaps 20 minutes for those in the traditional approach to accomplish. This makes it difficult when the instructor must teach a significant amount of information in a limited amount of time.
Another drawback comes in the form of initial emotions experienced by the students and the teacher. It seemed difficult for the teacher to withhold information that she knew would be beneficial to the students. It also seemed very uncomfortable during those moments of silence when no one seemed to know how to handle the situation. The types of feelings can be huge stressors for students who are used to being provided with steps or a formula.
Looking at the benefits in comparison to the drawbacks, it seems that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks in the long run. The students seemed to have learned more and in the future it is likely that ideas will be more forthcoming more quickly. As students gain experience with comparisons in their surroundings they will have more tools to draw upon in future endeavors.
The constructive approach provided opportunities for critical thinking because it forced students to analyze their approach and determine what was working effectively and what wasn't. Questions directed from the teacher guided their thinking to evaluate better ways of collecting and conveying information. When students realized that their body parts were all different lengths and that the receiver of their message would not be able to identify with an one person in the class, they had to figure out a way to meet the criteria of length and sending an understandable message. Critical thinking is the ability to process information in a new way without having all of the steps clearly defined. This is exactly what the students were able to do.
This specific constructivist activity would definitely be considered an authentic activity because it has real life applications. There are several times in my own life when I have had to measure something without having standard measuring tools available. Knowing that I could use other objects to create equal measurements was extremely helpful. After engaging in this learning process, it is likely that these students would be able to accomplish the same feat I did because of the comparative understanding that they were able to gain. The same could not be said of those students who were taught in the traditional manner.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Cognitive Psychology/Information Processing Case Study Analysis
Case 1
1. This is an interesting approach to learning that allows students to understand the perceptions of those who fought in this battle by gaining their own perceptions through a mock experience. This type of information processing allows students to engage in meaningful learning as they apply their new information and experiences to their prior schema's. Chances are that the students will have some major accommodations made in their existing schema's. These students will remember the feelings they associate with experience. As they encode declarative knowledge through procedural and conditional means, they will have a stronger long term-memory because they will have a broader range of understanding when they need to retrieve the information.
Text book reading induces far fewer kinesthetic processes and the procedural technique of reading often precludes attentiveness. Thus, the hands-on experience is far more likely to be filed into long-term memory.
2. Students emotions are strongly engaged in this hands-on learning process. A lot of what they are feeling is processed through the Amygdala which is the processing center for emotion. It is interesting that post-traumatic stress disorder is an amygdalic condition. It is plausible that students might understand some of the fear that these soldiers experience many years ago in battle. Sensory memory receives input from our five senses, so when all five senses are being engaged in learning, we conceivable are five times as likely to remember the event. As we use our five senses we retrieve previous understandings of what we are experiencing, and the emotions that are associated with those previous experiences. Thus, our emotions become tied with the input that our five senses are extending to our sensory memory.
3. During this experience, Mr. West's class largely engaged their visual/spacial storage unit. This should be followed up with auditory input to complete the dual-processing mode of learning. In this way, the information the students learned is likely to be cemented in their memory for easy retrieval. An interesting way for Mr. West to supply an auditory rehearsal of their experience would be for the students to report on what they experienced and how it impacted them. In this way, students would not only get the perspectives of their peers, but the information would be processed again in an auditory fashion to compliment their visual/spacial experience.
Case 2
4. I would definitely prefer to be in Mr. Richard's class. Although the students do not know what to expect in advance of their arrival, they are supplied with an advanced organizer to help them get a vision for where the classroom learning will lead. Mr. Dunkin's students know exactly what to expect as far as learning style, but not necessarily according to learning content. Mr. Richards engages in dual-processing teaching to allow students to process information in a variety of ways. This allows the students to implement knew knowledge with existing knowledge by assimilation.
5. It is likely that Mr. Dunkin's students will retain information through maintenance rehearsal long enough to regurgitate it on the Friday exam they are expecting. Mr. Richard's students are using their long term memory to assimilate and accommodate the new information and are more likely to retain the new information in their long-term memory. This is beneficial for their pop quizzes because they are already prepared.
1. This is an interesting approach to learning that allows students to understand the perceptions of those who fought in this battle by gaining their own perceptions through a mock experience. This type of information processing allows students to engage in meaningful learning as they apply their new information and experiences to their prior schema's. Chances are that the students will have some major accommodations made in their existing schema's. These students will remember the feelings they associate with experience. As they encode declarative knowledge through procedural and conditional means, they will have a stronger long term-memory because they will have a broader range of understanding when they need to retrieve the information.
Text book reading induces far fewer kinesthetic processes and the procedural technique of reading often precludes attentiveness. Thus, the hands-on experience is far more likely to be filed into long-term memory.
2. Students emotions are strongly engaged in this hands-on learning process. A lot of what they are feeling is processed through the Amygdala which is the processing center for emotion. It is interesting that post-traumatic stress disorder is an amygdalic condition. It is plausible that students might understand some of the fear that these soldiers experience many years ago in battle. Sensory memory receives input from our five senses, so when all five senses are being engaged in learning, we conceivable are five times as likely to remember the event. As we use our five senses we retrieve previous understandings of what we are experiencing, and the emotions that are associated with those previous experiences. Thus, our emotions become tied with the input that our five senses are extending to our sensory memory.
3. During this experience, Mr. West's class largely engaged their visual/spacial storage unit. This should be followed up with auditory input to complete the dual-processing mode of learning. In this way, the information the students learned is likely to be cemented in their memory for easy retrieval. An interesting way for Mr. West to supply an auditory rehearsal of their experience would be for the students to report on what they experienced and how it impacted them. In this way, students would not only get the perspectives of their peers, but the information would be processed again in an auditory fashion to compliment their visual/spacial experience.
Case 2
4. I would definitely prefer to be in Mr. Richard's class. Although the students do not know what to expect in advance of their arrival, they are supplied with an advanced organizer to help them get a vision for where the classroom learning will lead. Mr. Dunkin's students know exactly what to expect as far as learning style, but not necessarily according to learning content. Mr. Richards engages in dual-processing teaching to allow students to process information in a variety of ways. This allows the students to implement knew knowledge with existing knowledge by assimilation.
5. It is likely that Mr. Dunkin's students will retain information through maintenance rehearsal long enough to regurgitate it on the Friday exam they are expecting. Mr. Richard's students are using their long term memory to assimilate and accommodate the new information and are more likely to retain the new information in their long-term memory. This is beneficial for their pop quizzes because they are already prepared.
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