Saturday, January 22, 2011

Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky.
A theorist that believed that children actively construct their own knowledge.

Vygotsky's Assumptions:
      1. Learning occurs according to a developmental pathway.- It must start with a strong foundation which builds over time.
      2. Cognitive Skills are structured by Language- Through language we think, learn, and know, and without language there is no cognition.
      3. Cognitive skills are originated social relations and are embedded in a socio-cultural backdrop.- One cultural way of learning might not be the same as another culture.
      4. Learning is situated and collaborative - That people learn based on an apprenticeship relation. Teacher to Student, Coach to Player.

Zone of Proximal Development:
This is the space or skill level that is set just beyond the level that which the student knows, and the student can do it but only with the help of the mentor. This is important because if the bar is set too low the student is never challenged and doesn't learn new material. They will only get better at what they know to be true.

Scaffolding:
Is the support the Teacher provides in order for the student to reach the Zone of Proximal Development. As the students reaches and understands the new material, the scaffold can then be raised to a new zone of proximal development, in this way the student will always be challenged but has the support of the teacher or master.

Dialogue and Rational Organization:
With the use of language our thoughts become more organized. What we think can be pieced into what we say, being able to have an idea and explain what we know. Dialogue can give the mentor a background to the students level they are at, and can intern decide the Zone of Proximal Development. Teacher's can guide students in the right direction, because for an example if the student doesn't know addition the teacher will not make the student learn multiplication.

  • This point really interests me, because we don't always say what we believe to be true, our thoughts are always picked apart and scattered. It's almost reversed in a way, the ability to speak disorganizes our thoughts because we think about every detail that comes out of our mouths and try to figure out how it will be taken. The more we think about what we want to say, lots of the mental organization is lost. Sometimes it is hard to put together what are mind and mouth are saying in uni-sen. What people are saying is not always what are mind is thinking, it is as if it's a lie. Might have gone off on an idea there, but i hope its of some relevance, but what i was trying to say is that dialogue can also leave people with rational disorganization.

Comparison between Vygotsky and Piaget.
Piaget who I have mentioned in the previous blog and Vygotsky have very distinct ideas about how students and children learn. Both theorist agree that the student cannot advance from one stage of learning or skill till they have completed the previous one. The age limitations of Piaget can be hard to believe but they in fact make sense when thinking of the average age, some may grow learn faster and others slower but in general true. While in the case of Vygotsky he states that cognitive skills are structured by language, and with out it there is no cognition this point is one which needs clarification, does Vygotsky mean only the verbal language? If so why doesn't it include body language or any other form of recognition. Just because one person cannot speak does not mean they cannot think, reason, or remember. Piaget's theory is not very detailed in this way because he does not incorporate the use of language into his theory. Both theory's have there good point and bad points, Vygotsky seems to be more modern, while Piaget is more concrete and to the point. There is not right or wrong path to follow but we might want to take all of it and use it simultaneously. One can use the idea of cognitive stages but at the same time use the scaffolding technique and if the time comes where the student reaches an age but Piaget thinks at that point they cannot succeed, the teacher can still push the to success and maybe past the boundaries set out. All people are different so each person has there own path of development no matter what Piaget or Vygotsky may think, the only thing to worry about is reaching your potential.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Jean Piaget's Theory

Jean Piaget.
Cognitive theorist (thinking, reasoning, and remembering)
Piaget states there are two processes for which information can become incorporated into a person's schema,which is the framework of beliefs and how each person thinks.

    1. Assimilation.
    This is the first process at which new information fits perfectly into what we know without challenge.
    2. Accommodation.
    This is the second process where new information does not fit, your schema will have to rearrange things to accommodate it.
    To me the second process is more meaningful, it allows our schema's to branch out and grow as new information becomes available. This transformation allows people to pick apart every detail, whether we agree with one thing and disagree with the other, we manage to expand our minds as new branches and connections are made to what we know and what is new. If new information fits perfectly into what people think of the world, how is it able to stand out, it is information that we may never really think about again because we agree with it. One piece of new information can change everything we think we know, and in turn become new people. The world was never really flat, that is just what people knew to be true, to find out that it was round must have changed what they thought of alot of ideas.
Piaget's Four Stages of Development.
Another Idea of Piaget's was that all development happens in four distinct stages, that it is a progression from a lower (simpler) understanding to a higher more complex level of understanding.

      1. The Sensorimotor Stage (Birth-2 yrs), at this point children understand the world by feeling, hearing, and moving through it. The world is only part of what they themselves have experienced, their is nothing outside of themselves.
      2. The Preoperational Stage (2-7 yrs), at this point the child is beginning to use Symbolic thought- to use signs and symbols and being able to relate them to physical objects, to be able to think through the use of language. Also the child begins to make predictions of the world. At this point in development it has two limitations Egocentrism and Animism. Egocentrism- is the inability to distinguish between one's own perspective and someone else's perspective. So in other words not being able to realize that although they are happy you are not. Animism- belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action. Like the swing doesn't like me it pushed me off. (Educational Psychology P41)
      3. The Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 yrs), at this stage the child is now able to preform conservation. Which is being able to distinguish that even though two portions may look different they can be the same, and example would be cutting a pie in three pieces vs cutting it into four pieces although one pies has more cuts the total amount is the same. A child who is at this stage can reason through the problem, and use logic, but has a limitation being that it must be tied down to physical object. They can also classify objects into categories. This is also the stage where a child can preform Seriation, and Transitivity. Seriation- a concrete operation that is being able to place objects into a series, such as varying lengths of sticks. Transitivity- the ability to transfer information and make decisions based on deductive reasoning.
      4. The Formal Operational Stage (11-15 yrs) at this stage a child can now preform abstract reasoning, they can now preform Hypothetical-Deductive reasoning which is asking what could happen if they did this, they make hunches to reach conculsions. They also develop another form of egosentrism meaning everyone is as interested in me as I am. This really resonates with me because I am living with my step-sisters who think the world revolves around themselves, that even though you might just be minding your own business you are ruining there life.
A video I found showing Piaget's Conservation.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o again I didn't create the video. My sources are my Education Psychology Class with Robert Christopher Nellis and Educational Psychology Textbook.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Being a Wise Consumer of Information About Educational Psychology

Wise Consumers of Educational Psychology
  1. Have to be cautious of what is reported in the popular media.
  2. Avoid drawing conclusions about individual needs based on group research.
  3. Recognize how easy it is to overgeneralize about a small or clinical sample.
  4. Be aware that a single study is usually no the defining word.
  5. Always consider the source of information and evaluate its credibility.

Yes the world needs to be aware of what is being said, and that not all studies are trustworthy especially in the world of educational psychology and education in general. First of all I wouldn't take in a lot of what is said in “popular” media because what they tend to report is what accepted by the general masses, how often in the news do they report potentially ground breaking material. Society wants to be able to blame someone or find an answer to a particular problem so the media chooses to report on what will get people to watch. Secondly say that all students in a class took a survey and the survey says that 27 of 30 say that their parents drive them to school, but the other 3 need to take the bus. We can we confirm that most students do not use the school bus, can and should the district cut funding to bus routes, in this way are we drawing conclusions about individual needs based on group research. It is very easy to overgeneralize a small clinical study, I myself can relate because I was part of one myself. The Focus Group Initiative was a full year project that involved students working with students to carry out their own learning, yes this project was a success in alot of ways, but it was also a failure, students were able to speak their minds and conduct projects, but there was little direction when it came to actual school subjects. Grades were not always up to snuff but cutting tough questions and extra marks were given to improve grades. Although the project worked in some ways, it was sensationalized, by being presented in a teacher conference by the students themselves, but these students were already great leaders and speakers. The group clams it is good for every student, but for me it didn't, yes sure I was able to speak my mind but I feel like I got shorted when it came to learning the actual material. But then again am I overgeneralizing my own experience, just because it didn't work for one student, in one class, in one school, in one community doesn't mean it won't improve other students way of learning. Lastly, when considering the source of information is it credible, is it coming from all points of view on the study. The work must be a collaboration of what the positive and negative aspects of the project and can you way each side evenly. There are alot of points to take into consideration when reading or hearing information on Educational Psychology, most importantly can you trust the information being presented.

Although it is not my work, I would like to post a video created by one of the students from the Focus Initiative Group of North Delta Secondary School, the program has changed alot considering I was from the first batch of students. It's great ideas, and I hope it will work out for them.

I am also stating that this include some notes and ideas from EDPY 200, the professor is Robert Christopher Nellis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtGIFuF7Hk so this is the link. And I just want to repeat this is not my video, but a video of a project I was part of in Grade 11, in North Delta Secondary School.

Learning Blog #1 Effective Teaching

Effective Teaching

1.Teaching Involves Social and Ethical Matters.
As teachers they must be able to adapt to all walks of life. I understand that people come from different statuses, different religions, or cultures, but also these differences bring what people believe to be good or evil, right or wrong. When students or parents do not have the same ethics as yourself as a teacher how can they agree what is to you wrong? How can one decide the difference between abuse and discipline when a parent believes that they are doing is right, and that they have the right to smack their kid, yet you yourself have come from a non-violent household. As a teacher should you fight for what you believe in?

2. Teaching Involves Multicultural Students.
The world is being coming a multicultural place, and with that we must accept that “a person's a person, no matter how small” (Dr. Seuss), ethnicity, or culture. Society has come along way, but there are still intolerance's that need to be addressed. Some teachers cannot tolerate a cultural shift in a community or school. In my experience I have scene some of my most influential teachers leave my school for that very reason. The reconfiguration of the four High Schools in the North Delta School District, making them all 8-12 rather 8-10 and 10-12, brought on many cultural challenges, schools that had a mixture of culture became more dominate in others, made school a completely different environment which students and teachers were use to and in my opinion made it more difficult to learn, and provided a negative exposure to the earlier grades.

3.Teacher's Must Have Subject Matter Competence
Yes, this is a very important point and I cannot say that I do not agree with it but a teacher can know everything there is to know about a subject, but if they cannot make it meaningful and fun they are useless. I myself have dropped many classes because the teacher was drab, because they were only teaching it because they were asked to.

4.Teacher's Must Have Professional Skills
      1. Instructional Strategies, need to be varied, they must challenge what students have difficulties with, but also nurture what the students excel at.
      2. Goal Setting and Instructional Planning, is important because it allows the teacher see where they are and where they ought to be.
      3. Class Room Management, has to be the thing that frightens me the most in the teaching profession, how can you get kids who don't want to be there to listen and behave. I myself was not pleasant at times always getting sent to the office, but when a teacher started giving me positive attention I wanted to stop misbehaving. It's funny to think that it is almost easy to manipulate a child to do what is best, you just have to learn the right tricks.
      4. Motivational Skills to me is competition, it's the rewards, the grades and doing what the kids love. They may not always want to do Math or Socials, but they will knowing they have to in order to get their desired outcome.
      5. Communication Skills is being a to talk to the students effectively, but with the right body language.
      6. Working Effectively With Students With Diverse Backgrounds: everyone is different, so there isn't much I want to say.
      7. Technological Skills is important when teaching students from a technical age.

5.Commitment
Commitment to help students learn, has a huge effect on what they think of you of as a teacher and what they will ultimately think about their experience at school. Students will remember how you helped them study their multiplication tables, how you were at every event, and even coached the basketball team. As a teacher that is what I hope to be, because I will enjoy my job and when work is good it is easy to relax when your at home and not worry about what a terrible day you might have.

6.Professional Growth
1. Developing a Positive Identity: Self satisfaction, and a positive understanding of the work you do.
2. Seek Advice From Competent Teachers: Learn all you can and adjust it to make it your own.
3. Life Long Learning
4. Build up Good Resources and Support

7.Professional Learning Networks
Establish connections, with teachers, staff, administrators, anyone that can help in your professional careers, but there is that word “Professional” this means that is you are on a social networking site be professional no one from the school should see your head in a toilet after a night of hard drinking or see that you have students on your friends list.

So for my first blog assignment I decided to go over what we learned in class, and add my own thoughts, and experiences to it. My professor is Robert Christopher Nellis, and his class is Educational Psychology 200.