Final Learning Log

What?

It's hard for me to declare a theory of how kids learn when I have just been introduced to all of the theories and theorists. What I do find extremely interesting is how each theory plays a role in one's learning. I don't think that someone learns strictly the way the Behaviorists or Cognitivists believe, because I think that it takes a little bit of everything to complete the learning cycle. Without memory you can't repeat a behavior, or without social/peer interaction you can't develop your own ideas and concepts. I do feel like one of the most important things that was included in most of the theories is group work. We need to teach our students how to learn from each other and how to teach each other as well. But, while this is important, there are many other aspects of learning that has to come into play. It seems like the whole point of this class was to show us how each theory plays an essential role in our students' learning processes. Each theory has its pros and cons, but they all have important areas that offer an idea of how learning truly takes place. 

So What?

In order for me to be a great teacher, I need to understand how my students learn. Whether it be through the multiple intelligences, behaviorism, or social cognitivism, all of my students will be learning in a unique yet similar way. It will be vital for me to be able to change and adapt for different learning styles and to try different ways of teaching. I want to be able to reach as many students as I can and show them that learning can be fun if they know what works best for them. I also want to show students that they can learn a lot from each other so they will experience plenty of group/peer interaction in my classes.

Now What?

Educational Psychology really intrigues me and I want to continue to study and learn more about how psychology plays a role in our students' learning and education. One of the things that I really want to learn more about and improve on is how to incorporate the multiple intelligences into my teaching. I think our students would be much more successful and motivated if we are using different strategies and different teaching styles to meet all of our students' needs. It is going to be really hard at first, but with more knowledge and experience, I will be able to really utilize what I have learned in this class and what I will learn with further studying.

Group Differences Learning Log

What?
In this chapter we learned about how different types of groups learn differently. We discussed the common myth about gender differences impacting learning in many areas. As far as cognitive ability, language, etc., there are no differences in regards to gender. The only area where there is a slight difference is spatial/visual reasoning, in which typically boys are slightly better. We also talked about socioecomic status and how that can have an impact on learning as well. There were many stressors that were associated with lower economic status: exposure to violence, depression, instability/chaos, watch more TV, fewer books in the home, crowded living space, exposed to crime and street danger, and poor healthcare. In order to help these students, we need to help them identify with their schools and try to find ways to motivate and engage them with their schoolwork.

So What?
If we are going to become effective teachers, we have to be able to understand all of our students. There are many things that we can do to help students be successful in our classes, but learning about the different groups and how we can help them individually/specifically is going to be vital to their success.

Now What?
As I was reading about the different stressors that fall on students who are from a low socioeconomic status, I realized that school is one of the only safe places that they have. If they feel like you really care about their well-being, they will be more willing to learn and make an effort in your classes. As teachers, we have the opportunity to be a positive influence on students who may not have a chance otherwise. It may be unrealistic to think that we can "save" every struggling student, but we sure better try.

Individual Differences Learning Log

What?
In studying Chapter 5 in class this week, we learned about individual differences in education, including special needs and multiple intelligences. We discussed IDEA and the benefits that this act provides to students that need additional assistance. It addresses each student on an individual basis with an IEP and the classroom teacher uses the student's accommodations to help encourage their success in the class. We also talked about the different kind of intelligences that there are and how we can use many different types of strategies to help reach our students that learn in different ways. In Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, there are 8 different types: linguistic, logic/math, spatial/visual, music, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. By using differentiation to incorporate the different types of intelligences, we can better assist our students through the learning process. Another interesting theory about intelligences was developed by Sternberg. He believes that Environmental Context, Prior Experience, and Cognitive Processes all influence how we learn. It wouldn't matter if we were a linguistic learner or a spatial learner, we would still need all three of these components in our learning process.

So What?
In a classroom with 30+ students, there are bound to me many different types of learners. We must understand each type of Gardner's Multiple Intelligences so we can differentiate our curriculum to better fit the needs of our students. The more differentiation we use, the more our students will take away from the lesson. Also, it is important to remember that inclusion is going to be taking place in our classrooms, so we need to be familiar with the IDEA and our individual students' IEPs in order to be a more effective teacher. We can help all of our students succeed if we are willing to put forth the effort that it will take.

Now What?
In class we answered the question,"How do you feel about the movement toward inclusion in today's public schools?" I find myself hesitant and concerned, mainly because I don't feel like I know enough to be able to help those students. With further education on different types of disabilities and how to work with students that have the disabilities, I think that I would be much more comfortable with the idea of inclusion. I think that it is very important for us to teach our students how to be more compassionate and caring towards others that have disabilities, and inclusion is a good way to start the process.

Social Cognitivism Learning Log

What?

In Chapter 10, we talked about social cognitivism and how it is a combination of cognitivism and behaviorism. They believe learning is an internal process that may or may not lead to a behavior change. Just because someone doesn't exhibit the behavior, doesn't mean they didn't learn. Social cognitivism is based almost solely on learning through observation. The visual metaphor for this theory is a camera. It is recording information and than it may or may not play it back.

We talked about self-efficacy, which is the way you feel about yourself and how you can accomplish things; modeling, which is when you are demonstrating what you want your students to be doing; vicarious learning, which is when you are watching a behavior and then you do the same behavior; and self-regulation, which is how we are able to set goals for ourselves and accomplish things that we want to.

The Reciprocal Causation is a process that the social cognitivists believe has to be present or else learning won't occur. All parts of the circle must be there at all times.

So What?

Social cognitivism is one of the theories that makes perfect sense to me. With all of the theories before, I agreed somewhat but it just didn't seem like they answered all of the questions. I think that the reciprocal causation shows that all of these pieces are needed in order to complete the learning cycle. This will be very useful when teaching my own students. If we can understand their motivation and their beliefs, we will be able to create a good classroom environment that will meet those needs. Then we will be able to see the behaviors from the students that exhibit what we are encouraging them to do.

Now What?

The hardest part of this theory will be getting to know each of our students and understanding what their motivating beliefs are. This is vital to the learning process, so it will take some time to really get to know your students in order to be a great teacher. I will have to make time in an extremely busy schedule in order to understand my students. It is going to be difficult, but it is an essential piece to the puzzle.

Chapter 9 Learning Log

What?
This week we studied Behaviorism and how we could use it in the classroom. The definition of learning, according to Behaviorists,is a semi-permanent change in behavior. They focus more on the outward manifestation of learning through the behavior. If you have learned, than you will exhibit the behavior. We talked about the differences between classical conditioning (Pavlov) and operant conditioning (Skinner). Both theories are very unique, but I will probably use more operant conditioning in my own classroom, which is using reinforcers to create behavior. We talked about the different types of reinforcers that could be used in the classroom, such as a token economy, activity reinforcement, self-reinforcement, social reinforcers, etc. Another important topic that we discussed was the misconception of what a "negative reinforcer" is. All reinforcers INCREASE behavior. It doesn't matter whether it is a positive or negative, it still should increase the behavior. A "punishment" is meant to DECREASE behavior. An example of a negative reinforcer is the seat belt noise that dings until you put your seat belt on.

So What?
This is an important topic because we will continually be trying to help get our students motivated in our classroom. It's really interesting to look at all of the different types of reinforcers and see which one is something that I can see working. Because our students have been trained to be "rewarded," we will need to help them see WHY they are doing what they're doing and how it can apply to the real world. I liked the example of the inner-city school token system that Dr. Cox gave us in class because it was applicable to real life and the students could see the link between the two.

Now What?
Now I have to decide what kind of reinforcers I want to use in my own classroom. I think if I'm teaching in a younger grade, such as 7th or 8th, I wouldn't mind using a modified token economy. I think it could be turned into something that would make them motivated to learn but it could also teach them about life in general. I will be sure to be careful about over-reinforcing because I think that can be detrimental to their learning. As long as we keep the students' learning as a priority, reinforcers can be used positively and productively.

Knowledge Construction Learning Log

What?
This week we studied chapter 7 and learned about contructivism. Constructivism believes learning to be an active process in which learners construct their own meaning based on prior knowledge and experience. We compared learning to the root system of a tree. The roots gather the nutrients (or memories/experiences) that they need and then shoot out more and more roots. Because they are building off of older roots, we can see the resemblance between how we learn. Our knowledge continues to grow as we form new schemas based on prior knowledge and experiences.

In the chapter, it also talked about how we need to help students make multiple connections when teaching them new information because it will help them store it in their long term memory. By working in groups to solve problems, social constructivism, they will be able to get a larger view of the world and its perspectives, and they will also be able to gain a better understanding of the content.

So What?
We obviously want our students to remember what we are teaching them, so each of the theories that we are learning will help us along the way. Constructivism focuses on making multiple connections and building off of prior knowledge which is extremely feesible to do in the classroom. We should strive to help our students organize the information that they are learning into the correct schema by giving positive and negative examples of the content. We should also strive to create a community of learners; a class in which the teacher and students actively and collaboratively work to help one another learn.

Now What?
In my field experience for this class, I'm excited to see these theories at work. It will be interesting to see if the cooperating teacher implements activation of the students prior knowledge in order to help them learn the material. It will also be interesting to see whether or not the teacher uses group work to engage the students. Social constructivism is important for students to experience so it would be fascinating to see how teachers use it in the classroom.

Memory Learning Log

What?
This week we studied Chapter 6, "The Learning and Cognitive Processes." We focused a lot of our attention on memory and how we remember things. In the three component model, we can see how memories are processed and how they are eventually stored or lost. (see image below)



I learned a lot of new things about memory that I didn't know before. For instance, I didn't realize that all of our memories are tied to emotions or senses. As I thought back to some of my earliest memories, this theory held true. I remembered mostly traumatic events or things that were tied to a smell or feeling. We also talked about how one's prior knowledge and beliefs play a major role in the meanings and memories that people construct. We used the idea of a filing cabinet as a visual metaphor for how the things that we learn and remember are stored. We also talked about the different ways we can help our students to "encode" or access prior knowledge in order to help them remember the new knowledge. Some ideas are: Rehearsal, Meaningful Learning, Prior Knowledge, Organization, Elaboration, Visual Imagery, Enactment, Mnemonics, and many other strategies.

So What?
This information will come in very handy in teaching. If we expect our students to actually remember what we are teaching them, we need to use different encoding strategeis to help them connect to the material. The more connections we assist our students in making, the more they will remember what we have taught them. It is our responsiblity as teachers to assist in this process and not to assume that our students can do it on their own. We should use different methods in order to help students discover which works best for them as an individual.

Now What?
I would be interested in learning more about how we can help our studnets make more connections with our content. Many students have absolutely no interest in English but if I can help them engage in the content, they will not only enjoy the material but they will also be able to remember it. I'm also curious at what age students can figure out what method helps them recall information. It seems like the concept of actually "remembering" could be a complex one.