Social Cognitive Theory

Chapter 9: Summary
Social Cognitive Theory (social learning theory)- learning was based on the premise that neither spontaneous behavior nor reinforcement was necessary for learning to occur; new behaviors could also be learned by observing and imitating a model; this theory incorporate elements of both operant conditioning and information processing, and emphasized how behavioral and personal factors interact with the social setting in which the behavior occurs

Albert Bandura is generally considered the driving force behind social cognitive theory. He explains how learning results from interactions among 3 factors:

1. personal characteristics such as the various cognitive processes from information processing, self-perceptions, and emotional states
2. behavioral patterns
3. the social environment such as interactions with others

Triadic reciprocal causation- the process of interaction among these 3 elements; one's internal processes, behavior, ans social environment can affect one another to produce learning.

Bandura was interested in using social cognitive theory to describe how people become self-controlled and self-regulated learners.

The Triadic Reciprocal Causation Model: 3 elements

1. Personal characteristics- goals, anxiety, understanding of one's own cognitive processes such as planning and monitoring in learning, and self-efficacy
2. Behavioral patterns- self-observation, self-evaluation, creating productive study environments, and making changes in behavior to overcome or reduce perceptions of low self-efficacy, anxiety, and ineffective learning strategies
3. Environmental factors- individual's social and physical environment

Self-Control, Self-Regulation, and Self-Efficacy

1. Self-control- the ability to control one's actions in the absence of external reinforcement or punishment
2. Self-regulation- the consistent and appropriate application of self-control skills to new situations; self-regulating individuals set their own performance standards, evaluate the quality of their performance, and reinforce themselves when their performance meets or exceeds their internal standards
3. Self-regulation is both a cyclical and a dynamic process. Cyclical because the results of prior performance are used to guide and refine current efforts. Dynamic because personal, behavioral, and environmental factors are constantly changing.
4. Self-regulation is important because students are expected to become increasingly independent learners as they progress through school
5. Self-efficacy- how capable or prepared we believe we are to handle particular kinds of tasks; it helps influence whether people think optimistically or pessimistically
6. Students who believe they are capable of successfully performing a task are more likely than students with low levels of self-efficacy to use such self-regulating skills as concentrating on the task, creating strategies, using appropriate tactics, managing time effectively, monitoring their own performance, and making whatever adjustments are necessary to improve their future learning efforts.
7. Factors that affect self-efficacy: performance accomplishments, verbal persuasion, emotional arousal, adn vicarious experiences.
8. Types of behaviors affected by self-efficacy: selection processes (the way the person goes about selecting goals and activities), cognitive processes (using higher level thought processes), motivational processes (perseverance), and affective processes (emotions)

3 categories of self-regulatory processes: forethought processes, performance processes, and self-reflection

Forethought Phase: goal setting, strategic planning to achieve those goals, and motivational beliefs

Developmental Limitations in the forethought phase (younger children are more likely to be limited on these things than older children)

• attend to a model, such as a teacher, for long periods of time
• distinguish relevant model behaviors and verbalizations from less relevant ones
• encode a model's behavior as generalized verbal guidelines
• formulate and maintain well-defined long-term goals

Performance Phase: focus on task, process information meaningfully, and self-monitor

Developmental limitations in the performance phase (primary grade children will be more limited in these areas):

• ignore both external and internal distractions (such as self-doubts and thoughts of prior difficulties)
• perform the steps of a task more slowly and deliberately in order to avoid making mistakes
• provide themselves with verbal reminders of the steps needed to carry out a task
• select appropriate tactics for a particular task

Self-reflection phase: evaluate their performance, make appropriate attributions for success and failure, and reinforce themselves (self-satisfaction and adaptive inferences)

4 ways to self-evaluate:

1. students can adopt what is called a mastery criterion
2. students can compare their current performance against their own previous performance
3. students can use a normative standard
4. students can use a collaborative standard

Developmental limitations for the self-reflection phase (primary grade children may be more limited in these areas):

• compare themselves to peers as a basis for judging their own capabilities
• make appropriate attributions for their successes and failures
• accurately assess the leve of their own capabilities

Helping students become self-regulated learners

Self-regulating learning: thoughts, feelings, and actions purposely generated and controlled to maximize a learning outcome (may also be called self-directed, autonomous, or strategic learners)

Examples:

• prepares for an upcoming exam by studying for 2 hours each night for several nights instead of trying to cram all the studying into one or two nights
• uses memory-directed tactics, such as mnemonic devices, to accurately store and recall information for test items that will demand verbatim recall
• uses comprehension-directed tactics, such as concept maps and self-questioning, to deal with test items that will require comprehension, analysis, and synthesis of information
• creates self-tests to monitor the effectivement of study efforts and takes some time off from studying if the results of a self-test are satisfactory

Learning strategy- a general plan that a learner formulates for achieving a somewhat distant academic goal (such as getting an A on the next exam)

Learning tactic- a specific technique (such as a memory aid or a form of note taking) that a learner uses to accomplish an immediate objective

Types of tactics: (memory-directed tactics: contain techniques that help produce accurate storage and retrieval of information; comprehension-directed tactics: contain techniques that aid in understanding the meaning of ideas and their interrelationships)

• rehearsal: not a very effective memory tactic (rote rehearsal); cumulative rehearsal (involves rehearsing a small set of items for several repetitions, dropping the item at the top of the list and adding a new one, giving the set several repetitions, dropping the item at the head of the set and adding a new one, rehearsing the set, and so on) is a little more advanced
• Mnemonic Devices (memory directed tactic that helps a learner transform or organize information to enhance its retrievability
• self- and peer-questioning: self-questioning improves comprehension and knowledge integration
• note taking: taking notes and reviewing notes aid retention and comprehension
• concept mapping: helps sutdents identify, visually organize, and represent the relationships among a set of ideas

Conclusions to learning tactics

1. students need to be systematically taught how to use learning tactics to make connections among ideas contained in text and lecture, as well as between new and previously learned information
2. learning tactics should not be taught as isolated techniques, particularly to high school students, but should be taught how to use tactics as part of a broader learning strategy

Components of a learning strategy:

1. metacognition
2. analysis
3. planning
4. implementation of the plan
5. monitoring of progress
6. modification

Mnemonic devices include:

• acronym: word made from first letters of items to be learned
• acrostic: sentence made up of words derived from first letters of items to be learned
• Loci method: visualize items to be learned stored in specific locations
• keyword method: visually link pronunciation of foreign word to English translation

Mnemonic devices work so well because they meaningfully organize information, and provide retrieval cues. (Excellent example on page 289)

Observational learning (modeling)- observing and imitating the behavior of a skilled model

• observation- learners pick up the major features of a skill or strategy, as well as performance standards, motivational beliefs, and values, by watching and listening as a model exhibits the skill and explains the reasons for his behavior
• emulation-learners reproduce the general form of the model's behavior (inhibition- when we learn not to do something; disinhibition- when we learn to exhibit a behavior that is usually disapproved of by most people; facilitation- whenever we are prompted to do something that we do not ordinarily do; true observational learning- when we learn a new behavioral pattern by watching and imitating the performance of someone else)
• self-control: marked by the learner's being able to exhibit the modeled behavior in the absence of the model
• self-regulation: attained when learners can adapt the modeled behavior to changes in internal and external conditions

Why would they observe and try to emulate:

• if they are unfamiliar with the task at hand or if they feel incapable of carrying out the task
• if they admire, respect, and perceive them as having knowledge, skills, and attributes that they themselves would like to have
• if they judge their behavior to be acceptable and appropriate
• if they see that the model is reinforced for exhibiting the behavior and anticipate that they will be similarly reinforced (vicarious reinforcement)

Research on Social Cognitive Theory

1. self-efficacy, self-regulation related to each other and to achievement
2. Modeling is seen as an effective means of enhancing self-efficacy

Observing a peer model improves student's self-efficacy for math problem solving and math problem-solving ability.

Observing a peer model improves the quality of students' writing more than simply practicing writing.

Reciprocal teaching by Palincsar and Brown (RT): students learn comprehension skills by demonstrating them to peers (summarizing, self-questioning, clarifying, and predicting).

RT produced 2 general beneficial effects:

• the quality of students' summaries, questions, clarifications, and predictions improved
• the RT-trained students scored higher on tests of comprehension than before

TWA: how to think before reading, while reading, and after reading

Reciprocal questioning:

1. the teacher and students silently read a passage
2. the teacher closes his or her book
3. the students ask the teacher questions which the teacher answers
4. the students close their books
5. the teacher asks the students questions which they answer

TWA and RQ are both taught using modeling, direct instruction, and guided practice

Using Technology to Promote Self-Regulated Learning

Modeling: computers can help if teachers do not have time by providing a computer-based video model (Ex: Alien Rescue)

Providing Cognitive and Metacognitive Feedback: Summary Street can help teachers offer feedback precisely when it is needed by improving student's ability to summarize text by giving them many opportunities to summarize different types of text, by providing feedback, and by having them revise their summaries as often as necessary until they meet the standards built into the program

Providing Scaffolded Instruction: Decision Point! was used on 11th graders; it included 4 types of scaffolding such as interactive essays, a set of recommended documents, a student guide that provided categories to help them organize and synthesize information, and a journal in which students could note the effectiveness of their daily information-gathering strategies, the problems they encountered, and the progress they had made toward completing the task (it helped them to monitor their efforts). Of this 4 interactive essays was used the most and hyperlinks much less frequently

Computer programs that let students control access to information work best with those who have some self-regulatory skills

Summary of computer technology and self-regulated learning:

Computer-based instructional programs can play a productive role in the development and support of students' SRL skills, they can provide them with concrete examples of self-regulations skills and strengthen the skill of self-monitoring by reminding students at critical points to think about the nature of the problem being solved, similar problems encountered in the past, and appropriate problem-solving tactics, and provide a variety of scaffolds. So in short they can do many of the things that teachers can do, and then give teachers more time to work individually with the students who need additional help.

Suggestions for Teaching in Your Classroom

1. Include the development of self-regulated learning skills in your objectives and lesson plans: (1) emphasize the importance of SRL skills to learning and when they should be used (2) model SRL skills, including the standards you use to evaluate your performance and reinforce yourself (3) provide practice and corrective feedback for the SRL skills you want students to learn
2. Teach students how to use both memory and comprehension tactics and to take notes: (1) teach students how to use various forms of rehearsal and mnemonic devices (2) teach students how to formulate comprehension questions (3) teach students how to take notes
3. Establish the foundation for self-regulated learning in kindergarten and the primary grades
4. When teaching SRL skills, bear in mind the developmental limitations of younger students
5. Embed instruction in SRL in interesting and challenging classroom tasks
6. Help students develop a sense of self-efficacy for SRL
7. Use such effective strategy training programs as reciprocal teaching, but be prepared to make adaptations to fit your particular circumstances (1)strategy use problems (2) dialogue problems (3) scaffolding problems

Life experiences: (this also comes from my discussion board I felt it fit both areas)

Self-regulating is such an important part of speech therapy. The student must be taught how to recognize the appropriate way to articulate sounds. This is not something that they learn in a short period of time. It takes quite awhile for some students to ever be able to thoroughly grasp the idea of monitoring their own progress. Really young children can not do this; they are still in the teaching stage. Whereas, 2nd graders and up are more likely to have grasped the basic concept if taught correctly. With young children, I use a “speech phone”. This is a plastic piece of pipe that is shaped like a telephone. It is hollow so when the student places one end at their mouth and the other at their ear they can hear what they are saying much better than just regular speaking and listening. I use this technique to begin to teach the younger children how to listen to themselves. But as the kids get older, I switch to a different format. The students will read a selection to me from a book and I tape them as they read. This tape is then played back to the student so that they can hear the sounds that they made. I will then ask them to tell me the sounds that they did not articulate correctly. After they begin to grasp this technique, then I have them to continue this process by on their own at home when they read each night. By them continuing this process they are able to determine how they are progressing much better and they are also much better at correctly themselves when they are speaking to others because they have learned to actually listen to themselves talk. This process teaches them that self-regulation can help them to be better speakers.

I do not remember much about being taught SRL skills when I was in school. They probably did in some form but it was different. I was always a very good student and I taught many of my other classmates because the teacher just couldn't help everyone. I knew how to study just by teaching myself I guess. I do not now and did not then study way ahead of time so I guess in some ways I am not a self-regulated learner. My studying style is different than what the book suggests. But I do try to now help my children by showing them how to self-regulate their learning.

Journal:

Some chapters have more information that I want to remember for future reference than others. So I am able to just post the information that I want and the small details can be not included. It also allows me a way of studying. I type my blog as I read the chapter, by doing this I am able to remember the information much better. I used to write it down or highlight it but each of those caused problems sometimes. When I wrote it down, I either had to type it too or try to read my handwriting later. If I highlight the information, I have to go through every page to find the important ideas when I go back to study. So this blog as helped me in other ways than just saving information.

Weekly question: Find a school district's website outside of your hometown and/or Springfield (or the city you reside in). Copy and paste (or type) the link into your blog. Answer the following questions about the school district in your blog:
1.) Would you want to teach in this particular school district?
2.) What makes this school district stand out from others that you found on the Internet?
3.) Are there specific features that this school district has to offer that you hadn't thought of before? What are they? If not, what would you like?
4.) Would you ever consider applying for a job at this school district? Why or why not?
5.) Based on what we've learned so far in this class, how does this school district measure up?

Salem, AR at http://salem.k12.ar.us/

No I would not want to teach in this school. There are so many on the internet, but I choose this school not by how it stood out on the internet but by how close it is to me. I love where I live and do not intend on ever moving again. So determining where I would work depends on how close the school is to me, besides other qualities. This school does have a better technology program than we do in some areas but they are a much bigger school than where I currently work. I would not ever apply for a job there unless absolutely necessary because I like working where I am today because I grew up there and I know most of the kids and parents associated with the school. I also went to school with many of the other teachers or had them as teachers myself. It is a smaller school but I has a more closely knit atmosphere in so many areas. Salem school is a good school too, but just does not have the things that I am looking for.

Information-Processing Theory

Chapter 8: Summary





Information-Processing Theory: seeks to understand how people acquire new information, how they store information and recall it from memory, and how what they already know guides and determines what and how they will learn.





The Information-Processing View of Learning


Theory rests of 3 assumptions:

1. Information is processed in steps or stages.



2. There are limits on how much information can be processed at each stage.



3. The human information-processing system is interactive.

Learning results from an interaction between an environmental stimulus and a learner.

A Model of Information Processing

1. 3 memory stores: sensory register, a short-term store and a long-term store



2. Control processes help determine the quantity and quality of information that the learner stores in and retrieves from memory, and it is the learner who decides whether, when, and how to employ them.



3. The Sensory Register: the first memory store, the information it stores is thought to be encoded in the same form in which it is originally perceived; PURPOSE: to hold information just long enough (1-3 seconds) for us to decide whether we want to attend to it further



4. Recognition: involves noting key features of a stimulus and relating them to already stored information. Due to elementary school students' limited store of knowledge, they need more structured learning tasks than middle school or high school students. They must be provided with clear, complete, explicit directions and learning materials.



5. Attention: the selective focusing on a portion of the information currently stored in the sensory register. Information in long-term memory influences what we attend to.



6. Short-term Memory: (Working Memory) the second memory store, which holds information that has been attended to. It can usually hold about 7 unrelated bits of information for approximately 20 seconds. It is called working memory because it holds information we are currently aware of at any given moment and is the place where various encoding, organizational, and retrieval processes occur.



7. Rehearsal: Maintenance and elaborative



8. Maintenance Rehearsal: (rote rehearsal or repetition) only purpose is to use mental and verbal repetition to hold information in short-term memory for some immediate purpose but it has no effect on long-term memory storage.



9. Elaborative Rehearsal: (elaborative encoding) we use information stored in long-term memory to add details to new information, clarify the meaning of a new idea, make inferences, construct visual images, and create analogies. Elaborative rehearsal is based on organization and meaningfulness.



10. Organization: reduces the number of chunks and provides recall cues



11. Meaningful Learning: occurs when organized material is associated with stored knowledge



12. Visual Imagery Encoding: like pictures. images can be said to be worth a thousand words because they contain a wealth of infomation in a compact, organized, and meaningful format; The more concrete a passage is the more easily understood it is.



13. Dual coding theory: concrete material and concrete words are remembered better than abstract words because the former can be encoded in two ways, as images and as verbal labels, whereas abstract words are encoded only verbally



14. Long-Term Memory: permanent storehouse of unlimited capacity



15. Information in long-term memory is organized as schemata (an abstract structure of information)



16. Students remember much of what they learn in school, especially if mastery and active learning are emphasized. Less forgetting occurred among students who learned the material to a higher level before moving on such as making a high grade on an exam before progressing forward or by having to teach other less knowledgeable students. It also occurred in classes in which students were more actively involved in learning such as went on a field trip where the students had to observe, sketch, record and answer questions.

Metacognition

1. Metacognition: our own knowledge of how we think; cognition- describes the way in which information is processed (attended to, recognized, encoded, stored in memory for various lengths of time, retrieved from storage, and used for one purpose or another)


2. 3 part classification scheme: 1.) Knowledge of person variables (knowing that you are good at learning verbal material but poor at learning mathematical material, or knowing that information not rehearsed or encoded is quickly forgotten); 2.) Knowledge of task variables (knowing that passages with long sentences and unfamiliar words are usually harder to understand than passages that are more simply written); and 3.) Knowledge of strategy variables (knowing that one should skim through a text passage before reading it to determine its length and difficulty level)


3. Vygotsky strongly suggests that providing children with opportunities to regulate their own and others' behavior, as in peer tutoring, is an excellent way to help them increase their metacognitive knowledge and skills and to improve the quality of their learning.


4. Insight into one's learning processes improves with age

Ways in which you can encourage your students to develop their metacognitive skills

1. By thinking about the various conditions that affect how they learn and remember


2. Young children should be told periodically that such cognitive behaviors as describing, recalling, guessing, and understanding mean different things, produce different results, and vary in how well they fit a task's demand.


3. For older elementary and middle school children, explain the learning processes, and focus on the circumstances in which different learning tactics are likely to be used.


4. Have students keep a diary or log in which they note when they use learning tactics, which ones, and with what success.


5. Encourage greater use of tactics among students whose performance and reported use of them are below average.

Technology as an Information-Processing Tool

1. This idea explains how technological tools help students process and represent information, so that they can acquire important knowledge and skills from different subject areas, and provide multiple representations of knowledge to regulate their own thinking.

Writing

1. When computers are networked, teachers can use Electronic Read Around (sitting at separate computers, each student writes on a topic the teacher gives; then each student clicks on an icon representing another student's computer, reads what that student wrote, and provides feedback in a different font at the end of the document; this process is repeated until each student has read and commented on every student's text; they then use the comments to revise and edit their own pieces)


2. Online synchronous chats (a student can share ideas in real time with one or more classmates on the topic they are writing about; basically like instant messaging)


3. The World Wide Web: weblogs (blogs); Weblogs in Education site (http://www.schoolblogs.com/)


4. Kidforum (www.kidlink.org/KIDFORUM/collaborative_writing.htm)


5. Through Our Eyes (www.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ)

Reading

1. Reading a story from a CD-ROM where they can click on words for pronunciations and definitions, caused reading comprehension scores to improve.

Science and Math

1. Marcia Linn and other researchers argued that students should spend less time manually calculating and plotting data and more time using technology to summarize and interpret data, look for trends, and predict relationships.


2. They created the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) Project (http://www.wise.berkeley.edu/). It contains a variety of science projects that teachers can adapt to local curricula and to state and national standards. This project can help students make connections among science ideas rather than learn by rote isolated facts whose relevance is not understood and that are soon forgotten. SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT IDEA


3. Calculator-Based Laboratory (CBL): provides a data-collection system that uses probes, such as temperature, light, and voltage probes, to gather data into a graphing calculator. Students taking a math class might use this tool to represent and manipulate quadratic equations in algebra, visualize statistics and other information in geometry classes, and better understand derivatives and inequalities in calculus.


4. National Center for Health Statistics www.cdc.gov/nchs , National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration http://www.noaa.gov/ , and the National Geophysical Data Center http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ can be used to find data to make relationships more concrete and have more meaning and then use graphing calculators and spreadsheets to create graphic representations of the data.

Art and Music

1. Draw and paint modules of Appleworks and Microsoft Works can be used to alter images.


2. Digital oscilloscopes help students to understand relationships between pitch and wavelength.


3. Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) and Formal Instrumental Music Tuition (FIMT) allows students to compose at the keyboard, play a musical instrument and record it on a computer, and play one part of a multi-instrument piece while the program plays the other.

Multimedia Tools

1. Multimedia encyclopedias, databases, and libraries provide students with a wide variety of information sources. They offer multiple views on difficult concepts. They also provide more than one way to retrieve or visit the information.

Hypermedia Tools

1. This exists when multimedia information can be nonsequentially accessed, examined, and constructed by users, thereby enabling them to move from one information resource to another while controlling which options to take.


2. Scholastic's The Magic School Bus Explores in the Age of the Dinosaurs (1st - 5th grades): students can explore multiple locations in different parts of the world and in 3 prehistoric time periods. It also offers a dozen games and activities that involve dinosaurs.


3. Habitat Management and Monitoring: interactive science modules developed for high school students by the EPA and Purdue University

Multimedia and Hypermedia Technology Information

1. These programs that make appropriate use of animation and interactivity improve learning.


2. When students select topics and associated terms for a Web search and then evaluate the results, they are engaged in metacognition: making decisions about what information to read, thinking about knowledge interrelationships, and engaging in extensive self-questioning and note taking.


3. When they create databases of related ideas or link information in multiple formats, they are making decisions and elaboratively encoding information. These are all important metacognitive skills.

Suggestions for Teaching in Your Classroom: Helping them to become efficient information processors

1. Develop and use a variety of techniques to attract and hold attention, and give your students opportunities to practice and refine their skills in maintaining attention. (print keywords or ideas in extra-large letters, use colored chalk, present ideas with intensity and emphasis, teach basic skills as part of class projects that relate to student's natural interests, and institute games that depend on maintaining attention)


2. Point out and encourage students to recognize that certain bits of information are important and can be related to what they already know. (give students the opportunity for them to express ideas in their own words)


3. Use appropriate rehearsal techniques, including an emphasis on meaning and chunking.


4. Distributed practice: short study periods at frequent intervals


5. Serial position effect: tendency to remember items at beginning and end of a long list


6. Massed practice: learn by way of a few rather long study periods, spaced infrequently


7. Organize what you ask your students to learn, and urge older students to organize material on their own


8. Make what students learn more meaningful by presenting information in concrete, visual terms

Life Experiences:

The idea of short and long term memory is something that we all "think" about. When trying to study for tests we have to place that information in our long term memory. We also have to place all of the strategies and techniques that we are taught in our long term memory so that we can use them when we become teachers. Our short and long term memory is both so important. I have to teach my students how to say certain sounds correctly. They must place that information into their short term memory while we are working on it but as time passes we have to teach them how to continue using that information by placing it into their long term memory.

Journal:

I have really enjoyed keeping this journal, especially for this chapter. There was so many different websites and good information in this chapter. If I did not keep this journal I would never be able to find the great things that I have learned so far. Unfortunately I am not a very organized person many times, my life is so crazy I just have to do things as I can. This journal has given me a way of keeping information a little more organized so that when I finish college I will be able to use it in the future.

Educational Blog:

She has begun posting quotes of the week, they are really great. Last week it was “Change your Thoughts and You Change Your World”-Norman Vincent Peale; and this week it is "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much" - Helen Keller. They are both really great quotes. I really like reading about how she is able to use technology to serve her clients better. She has used telepractice for quite sometime but with the addition of some new software she is able to play games with her clients online without having to make copies and play by watching each other. She can now link with her client and they can play the same game online together. By playing games while helping the individual they both are able to get so much more out of it. No one likes to just sit there are say words back and forth to each other but if they can play a game while talking you are giving them a better chance of carrying that information over into conversation. So many times when I work with kids I can get them to say it correctly if they are just saying one word at a time but if they are carrying on a conversation with me it just doesn't carry over. In today's society we are being pressured with so much financial concerns that people just do not travel as much as they did. By using telepractice, she is able to serve so many more individuals without them having to travel. She posted a really great YouTube video about how she uses the online games with her clients. It was very informational. She posted a website linking you to the ASHA website explaining what they require for using telepractice services. It was very informational especially for anyone who might use this as a form of speech therapy. Technology is evolving so much more everyday in our lives that we must begin to think of things like this because there are times we just can't meet with every client we may need to. I hope to be able to incorporate this into my services at some point in time. I want to work in the school atmosphere but I also want to be able to work with other individuals outside of the school setting. This may be away that I can be at home with my family at times and still be able to work.

Question of the Week: What are some specific techniques that you would like to incorporate into your teaching based on information processing? Why do you think these techniques will work?

I love the different sections about using technology as an information-processing tool. There was so many different and great ideas included in each of those sections. I love the technique of Electronic Read Around and online synchronous chats. Both of those techniques could help so many students when writing especially students with disabilities. I can't wait to check out the Kidforum and Through our Eyes projects, they both sound really great. The idea of using CD-ROM's with reading is a strategy that I used for my kids as they were learning to read. They played interactive book games on the computer and also used their LeapFrog which allowed them to interact while reading. After using blogs for this college class, I feel that so many students could benefit just like I have from it. Our school currently uses the Texas Instrument graphing calculators in the different math classes in high school, so why not incorporate the CBL's too and using those different sites of various statistics and information when using their calculators. I intend on telling our high school math teacher and science teacher about the WISE Project. Their students could benefit in so many different ways by using this project. Since I am going into Speech Language Pathology, many of these things cannot be as easily incorporated into my area like they can be in the regular classroom. I do want to inform my high school students and the other teachers about them so that they can use some of the information that I have learned through this chapter.

Kids learn so much more when they are interested in what they doing and they have some input into what they are studying. So by using these various strategies we allow the students to have some control over their education. No child likes to be told everything that they have to do, they like to be able to make some choices for themselves.

Behavioral Learning Theory: Operant Conditioning

Chapter 7: Summary

Operant Conditioning

1. Operant Conditioning (Skinner's theory): many of the voluntary responses of animals and humans are strengthened when they are reinforced (followed by a desirable consequence) and weakened when they are either ignored or punished. They learn to operate on their environment in order to obtain or avoid a particular consequence.
2. Basic principles of operant conditioning: Positive reinforcement (strengthening a target behavior by presenting a positive stimulus); Negative reinforcement (same as positive except a desirable stimulus is removed); punishment (weaken a target behavior by presenting an averise stimulus after the behavior occurs); time-out (weaken a target behavior by temporarily removing a positive reinforcer); extinction (weaken a target behavior by ignoring it); Spontaneous recovery (extinguished behaviors may reappear spontaneously); Generalization ( responding in similar wasy to similar stimuli); discrimination (responding in different ways to similar stimuli); shaping (complex behaviors are shaped by reinforcing closer approximations to terminal behavior)
3. Continuous reinforcement-learning proceeds best when every desired response is positively reiforced and every undesired response is ignored
4. Fixed interval schedule- reinforce after regular time intervals
5. Variable interval schedule- reinforce after random time intervals
6. Fixed ratio schedule- reinforce after a set number of responses
7. Variable ration schedule- reinforce after a different number of responses each time

Educational Applications of Operant Conditioning Principles:

1. 4 prescriptions about operant conditioning and education: (1) Be clear about what is to be taught (2) Teach first things first (3) Allow students to learn at their own rate (4) Program the subject matter
2. These ideas became the basis for 2 educational applications: (1) computer-based instruction (2) behavior modification (a set of procedures for helping students learn appropriate classroom behaviors)
3. Computer-Based Instruction (CBI) or computer-assisted instruction (CAI)
4. 3 CBI programs: Drill-and-practice programs (sets of relatively simple exercises and problems that they practice knowledge and skills learned earlier); Simulation programs (microworlds or problem-solving programs; artificial environments that mimic the real world); Tutorial programs (programs that mimic what a teacher does in class by teaching students new information and skills in a methodical, step-by-step approach)
5. Tutorial and simulation programs produce higher achievement thatn conventional instruction
6. Integrated Learning systems (ILS): software packages that combine tutorial programs based on operant conditioning principles with programs that keep track over time of student performance and provide feedback to both the student and the teacher (comprehensive, self-paced learning system)
7. Behavior modification- the use of operant conditioning techniquest to modify behavior
8. Contingency management- using these techniques to manage behavior by making rewards contingent on certain actions
9. Techniques applied to strengthen behaviors: shaping, token economies, and contingency contracts
10. Shaping: (1) select the target behavior (2) obtain reliable baseline data (3) select potential reinforcers (4) reinforce successive approximations of the target behavior each time they occur (5) reinforce the newly established target behavior each time it occurs (6) reinforce the target behavior on a variable reinforcement schedule
11. Reinforcers for elementary: stickers, verbal praise, smiles, classroom priviledges; reinforcers for middle school and high school: letter or numerical grades, material incentives, and privately given praise
12. Premack Principle: they are told that they will able to indulge in one of these activities for a stated period of time after they have completed a set of instructional objectives
13. Token economies: where something that has little to no value but can be used to "purchase" things that do have inherent value (a flexible reinforcement system)
14. Contingency contracting: reinforcement supplied after student completes mutually agreed-on assignment
15. Techniques that weaken behaviors: extinction and punishment
16. Extinction, time-out, and response cost: time-out works best with disruptive, aggressive children; response cost (it involves the removal of a stimulus and is often used with a token economy; a certain percentage of what has been earned will be taken away)
17. Punishment: research is unclear about strength of negative effects of coporal punishment

Suggestions for Teaching in Your Classroom p. 237-241

1. Remain aware that behavior is the result of particular conditions (make sure you are not rewarding them for misbehavior)
2. Use reinforcement and use it approximately to strengthen behaviors you want to encourage (use the weakes reward available to strengthen a behavior, when possible avoid using rewards as incentives, reward at a high rate in the early stages of learning and reduce frequency of rewards as learning processes, reward only the behavio you want repeated, remember what works for one may not work for another, set standards so that success is a realistic possibility for each student, and an often-mentioned goal of teachers is to have students become motivated or to take personal pride and satisfaction in simply doing something well
3. Take advantage of knowledge about the impact of different reinforcement schedules to encourage persistent and permanent learning (when students first attempt a new kind of learning, supply frequent reinforcement and then supply rewards less often; if you want to encourage periodic spurts of activity, use a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement)
4. Give students opportunities to make overt responses, and provide prompt feedback (require students to make frequent, overt, and relevant responses; provide feedback so that correct responses will be reinforced and students will become aware of and correct errors)
5. When students must struggle to concentrate on material that is not intrinsically interesting, use special forms of reinforcement to motivate them to persevere. (select with student assistance a variety of reinforcers; establish in consultation with individual students an initial contract of work to be performed to earn a particular reward; once the initial reward is earned, establish a series of short contracts leading to frequent immediate rewards)

Using Computer-Based Instruction in Your Classroom

1. Recognize that out of the thousands of instructional programs that are on the market, most have such significant shortcomings in their design that they are not worth using
2. Websites to help you get started: www.epie.org/epie_tess.htm (The educational software selector); www.clrn.org/home (California learning resource network); www.lrt.ednet.ns.ca (learning resources and technology resources); www.kathyschrock.net/lcomputer (software evaluation tool and resources); www.worldvillage.com/softwarereviews/educational.html (World Village educational reviews)
3. Recognize that it cannot substitute for high-quality classroom teaching

Weekly Question: Looking at both positive (PR) and negative reinforcement (NR), think about how you remember these being used when you were going to school. Write those examples down. How will you use positive and negative reinforcement in your "classroom" when you become a teacher? Give examples of PR and NR as related to your "classroom" in the future - relate these examples to concepts that you can remember.

Weekly Question answer and Life Experiences:

I use operant conditioning and many of the principles that go with it everyday such as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, shaping, time-out, extinction, and others. I just have never thought of it that way until I read this chapter. We all do it if we work with kids or if we have kids of our own. We just think of it sometimes as bribery instead of positive reinforcement. When I was in school the teachers use it too. If we worked hard and were good then we received special priviledges or small rewards. Our schools now rewards our students who work hard all year and get good grades with awards and certificates. They used to reward with food but that has now changed due to nutritional guidelines. I reward my students with frequent praise and small treats. But they also do not receive those if they do not do as they are supposed to.

Blog:

In every chapter I find new ideas or new techniques to use with my students. This blog helps me to keep track of them. It also makes me be more dedicated to learning new information. I think that too many times after teachers have taught a few years they just get in a certain groove and never straw from it. I see teachers everyday that just will not go out of their way to help certain students because it just takes too much effort. I CAN'T STAND THAT!!! They are still using the same techniques that they learned when they went to college it seems like. So hopefully by working on this blog it will help me to never be like those teachers.

Educational Blog:

I just never cease to be amazed at all the wonderful information that I find in my educational blog that I am following. It is so great that I recommended it to the Speech Language Pathologist that I work with everyday. She has over 27 years experience and she still reads up on new things. She loved it too. I found a link on it to a great website by another SLP. This website contained some neat new strategies that I have never heard of to help students pick up certain sounds much quicker by fluctuating back and forth with sounds that are familiar (ex. hat/cat; bat/cat {working on /k/ sound}). Her blog for today deals with "supporting change" and what to do about it. Everyone needs to read it. She also had one yesterday about "embracing change". They were both really good articles to make you think. On October 6, she discussed a SLP's role in a child's education. If a student is having trouble with speech or language, their whole educational experience will also be affected if not dealt with correctly. Every SLP needs to read it because it really makes you think about how important an SLP's job is for a student to succeed in life.

Discussions:

Not everyone has responded or replied to the discussion boards so I will come back and add this part later.

Software Programs that range in drills, tutorials, simulations, and games: p.243

1. Operation: Frog (Scholastic)
2. My Reading Coach (Mindplay educational software)
3. Oregon Trail (the learning company)
4. Great Solar System rescue (Scholastic)
5. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (the learning company)

Accommodating Student Variability

Chapter 6 Summary

Historical Developments

1. 2 approaches to creating more homogeneous groups: Ability Grouping (involves the use of standardized mental ability or achievement tests to create groups of students who were considered very similar to each other in learning ability; elementary and middle school: low, average, or high groups; high school: placed according to what they would be doing after high school such as college, secretarial work, or vocational school) and Special Education (for students who were deemed to be incapable of profiting from any type of normal classroom instruction; IDEA can from this)

Ability Grouping

1. tracking is used more in middle school and high school than ability grouping
2. 4 types of ability grouping: between-class ability grouping, regrouping, the Joplin Plan, and within-class grouping
3. Between-class ability grouping (goal is for each class to be made up of students who are homogeneous in standardized intelligence or achievement test scores) There are typically 3 levels of classes in this grouping: high, average, and low. Students from one ability group do not usually have any contact with students in another group.
4. Regrouping (more flexible in assignments and narrower in scope than between-class groups; students of the same age, ability, and grade but different classrooms come together for instruction in a specific subject usually reading or math) 2 disadvantages: requires a certain degree of planning and cooperation among teachers, and many teachers are uncomfortable working with children whom they see only once a day for an hour or so.
5. Joplin Plan (a variation of regrouping; regroupings take place across grade levels) same advantages and disadvantages as regrouping; SUCCESS FOR ALL was patterned after this
6. Within-Class Ability Grouping (most popular; involves the division of a single class of students into 2 or 3 groups for reading and math instruction) One disadvantage: the teacher needs to be skilled at keeping the other students in the class productively occupied while working with the a particular group
7. Ability grouping assumes intelligence is inherited, reflected by IQ, and unchangeable and that instruction will be superior.
8. No research support for between-class ability grouping
9. Joplin Plan and within-class ability grouping for math and science produce moderate increases in learning.
10. Regrouping research for reading and mathmatics is inconclusive
11. Between-class ability grouping negatively influences teaching goals and methods. (best teachers assigned to highest tracks and lowest teachers assigned to lowest tracks) Low teachers expected and demanded less of their students and covered less and simplier material
12. Freedom of Choice programs- low track minority students are allowed to enroll in honor courses
13. 3 courses of action: (1) to discontinue the use of full-day, between-class ability groups or tracks (2) to use only those forms of ability grouping that produce positive results: within-class grouping and the Joplin Plan, especially for reading and math (3) to dispense with all forms of ability grouping, detracking
14. Techniques that can be used to get high achievement in students: making clear presentations, displaying a high level of enthusiasm, reinforcing students for correct responses, providing sufficient time for students to formulate answers to questions, prompting correct responses, providing detailed feedback about the accuracy of responses, requiring a high level of work and effort, and organizing students into small, heterogeneous learning groups and using cooperative learning techniques.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

1. Major Provisions of IDEA: A free and appropriate public education; preplacement evaluation (before placement, student must be given complete, valid, and appropriate evaluation; rules on p. 187); Individualized Education Program (IEP must include objectives, services to be provided, criteria for determining achievement; p. 187); Least Restrictive Environment (students with diabilities must be educated in least restrictive environment; Mainstreaming: policy of placing students with disabilities in regular classes)
2. Inclusion (or full inclusion): Inclusion policy aims to keep students with disabilities in regular classrooms for the entire day; Full inclusion refers to eliminating all pullout programs and special education teachers and of providing regular classroom teachers with training in teaching special-needs students so that they can teach these students in the regular classroom
3. Disabling conditions: autism, deaf-blindness, hearing impairment, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairments, other health impairments, emotional disturbance, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment including blindness.
4. Regular classroom teacher's responsibility under IDEA: referral, assessment (multidisciplinary assessment team: determines whether student needs special services), preparation of the IEP (classroom teacher, parents, and several specialists prepare IEP), implementation and evaluation of the IEP (if student is in the regular classroom, the teacher must put into practice the various instructional techniques listed in the IEP)

Students with Mental Retardation

1. Mental retardation: a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. It originates before age 18. (2 or more standard deviations below the mean)
2. Characteristics: frustrate easily, lack confidence and self-esteem, appear immature for their age; mild retardation: tend to oversimplify, have difficulty generalizing, smaller memory capacity, shorter attention spans, the inclination to concentrate on only one aspect of a learning situation and to ignor other relevant features, and delayed language development
3. Suggestions for teaching these students on Page 196-198

Students with Learning Disabilities

1. Learning Disabilities: disorders in basic processes that lead to learning problems not due to other causes
2. Characteristics: poorly developed social skills, ignore teacher's directions, cheat, use profane language, disturb other students, disrupt group activities, and start fights
3. Identifying students with learning disabilities: at least an average score on a standardized test of intelligence and a significantly below average score (1 or more standard deviations below) on a standardized achievement test
4. Students with learning disabilities have problems with perception, attention, memory, metacognition
5. Disorder of basic psychological processes: refers to problems with how students receive information, process it, and express what they have learned
6. Reading program tested on middle school students that teaches them how to use reading comprehension strategies contained the following components: word identification (using a first letter mnemonic to help them recall the seven steps involved in decoding multisyllabic words), partner reading (pairs of students modeled fluent reading for one another and helped each other decode unfamiliar words), and collaborative strategic reading (improved comprehension and combined two proven instructional techniques: reciprocal teaching and cooperative learning)
7. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: many children who have a learning disability also have ADHD; symptoms of ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
8. Treatment for ADHD: prescribed stimulant medication, school-based psychological/educational programs (Behavior management programs: the systematic use of reinforcement and punishment to increase the frequency of desired behaviors and decrease the frequencey of undesired behaviors; Cognitive behavior therapy programs: teaching students to remind themselves to use effective learning skills, monitor their progress, and reinforce themselves; Classroom environment restructuring programs: use techniques such as reducing classroom noise, assigning studnets permanent seats, seating students with ADHD at the front of the class, and providing frequent breaks between tasks), multimodal programs (invovle combinations of one or more of the earlier treatments
9. Suggestions for teaching these students on Page 202-203

Students with Emotional Disturbance

1. Emotional Disturbance: condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics: inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems
2. Schizophrenia
3. Behavior Disorder: focuses on behavior that needs to be changes, objective assessment
4. Characteristics: externalizing (aggressive, uncooperative, restless, and negativistic; tend to lie, steal, defy teachers, hostile, cruel, or malicious); internalizing (shy, timid, anxious, fearful, depressed, and lack self-confidence)
5. Suggestions for Teaching these students on Page 205-207

Students who are Gifted and Talented

1. Definition: children and youth who give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities
2. Identification: standardized test scores, especially IQ scores; alternate assessments are beginning to be used
3. Characteristics: excel on tasks that involve language, abstract logical thinking, and mathematics; faster at encoding information and retrieving it from memory; highly aware of how they learn and the various conditions that affect their learning; exhibit such high levels of motivation and task persistence that the phrase "rage to master" is sometimes used to describe their behavior; tend to be more solitary and introverted than average children; tend to have very intense emotional lives
4. Instructional Options: Accelerated Instruction (allowing students to skip one or more grades, curriculum can be compressed [complete work for more than one grade in a year], school year extended by the use of summer sessions, and students can take college courses while still in high school); Gifted and Talented classes and schools (these may aid achievement but may lower academic self-concept of some students); Enrichment and Differentiated Instruction (using different learning materials, instructional methods, assignments, and tests to accomodate differences in student's abilities, learning styles, prior knowledge, and cultural background)
5. 3 levels of enrichment: Type I (exploratory activities that are designed to expose students to topics, events, books, people, and places not ordinarily covered in the regular curriculum; this will stimulate new interests); Type II (instructional methods and materials aimed at the development of such thinking and feeling processes as thining creatively, classifying and analyzing data, solving problems, appreciating, and valuing); Type III (activities in which students investigate and collect data about a real topic or problem)
6. Websites mentioned: www.gnacademy.org; www.tip.duke.edu
7. Suggestions for Teaching these Students on Page 212-213

Using Technology to Assist Exceptional Students

1. Assistive technology: any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability. Ex: adapted spoons, joysticks, taped stories, adaptive switches, head-pointing devices, captioned programming, and communication boards
2. Technology for Students with Hearing Impairments: closed captioning, audio amplification, and cochlear implants
3. Technology for Students with Visual Impairments: Speech synthesizers, magnification devices, screen reader (software programs)
4. Technology for Students with Orthopedic Impairments: pointing devices held in the mouth, attached to the head, or voice activated; condensed or mini keyboards; touch sensitive expanded keyboards
5. Technology for Students with Speech or Language Impairments: computer software with a speech synthesizer and expanded keyboard
6. Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities: software programs for reading(computerized study guide, videodisc program, hypermedia study guide, software with synchronized visual and auditory presentation of text); writing software (word prediction software, e-pal program)
7. Technology for gifted and talented students: distance education (http://epgy.stanford.edu), web quest (www.webquest.sdsu.edu)

Life Experiences

I work with students with disabilities everyday so I see each of these kinds of kids. I see the differences that each of these students exhibit in learning and in social skills. So I understand that when discussing educational needs, instructional strategies, and grouping they need to be thought about and discussed in an individual basis. I do not agree with trying to mainstream all students with disabilities. Some children can succeed in a regular classroom if given the right instructional strategies and modifications, but so many others need that extra one on one assistance that a special education teacher can give them. If all schools had the money to hire a special education teacher for every classroom more children could be mainstreamed, but the federal government just keeps cutting our money so that just isn't possible. Even with this, the severely disabled still would not be able to function properly in a regular education classroom all day long. Too many times those who make these kind of decisions in government are not the ones who actually have ever worked in a classroom trying to teach students with disabilities and nondisabled students at the same time all by themselves.

Ideas:

I love reading the suggestion for teaching and finding all the neat websites full of new information that is in each chapter. By keeping this blog I am able to have a place to record this information and any new ideas that I read or hear about. I just wish I had a slower schedule for life so that I could put more information into my blog each week and read about new techniques or strategies that are coming about.

Discussion Boards:

It was real interesting reading everyone's view on students with disabilities and mainstreaming. There was a variety of perspectives given and a variety of reasons for these perspectives. I also liked the ideas that people shared about how they would deal with students in their classroom with learning disabilities, mental retardation, and emotional disturbance. I have not had to deal with a student that has a real prominent emotional disturbance, so this is something that I need more information about. So many students had great ideas of things that they would do in the classroom.

Educational Blog:

TinyEye had a lot of new information for this week. She had posted a video from ASHA about Speech therapy telepractice. It was a real informative video that I am going to share with the Speech Therapist that I work for. It gave me new information that I was not familiar with. She also posted a real neat statement about the importance of thinking differently. She said "“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” I really liked this statement because it is so true but we never think that way. There was also two posts about Breast cancer because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This really hits home to me because a year and a half ago my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has completed treatments and is doing very well. But it is always in the back of my mind if it will come back again. She had a whole blog concerning peoples thoughts about telepractice and how she is able to give her patients the same services online as if she was right in the room with them. She discusses all her different thoughts and ideas. Even if you do not use telepractice her ideas are great. Her website is so full of great ideas and new techniques, every speech therapist needs to read her blog. Even when this class is over I am going to continue reading her blogs and recording the information I find in my journal here. If she is half the speech therapist that she sounds like any person would be blessed to receive her services or advice.

Question of the Week: When looking at ability-grouped classrooms, how do you feel about this issue? Is this a technique that you would use in your "classroom"? Would it be beneficial - why or why not? Are there any parts of ability grouping that could be modified to work in your "classroom"? How?

I have mixed feelings about ability grouping. In some situations if used properly they could be productive but if not they could be detrimental to a students learning. The type of ability grouping that I might use would be a mix of abilities in a group such as 1 advanced, 2 average, and 1 low. By grouping this way, each student might be able to help another. The advanced student would be able to help all the students in the group and the average students could gain from the advanced and maybe help the low. Everyone would be able to prosper hopefully. A mix of ability groups is about the only way that I could use ability grouping in my classroom because I have limited students at one time. So many times the grouping I use has more to do with grouping by like disabilities instead of like abilities.