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.

Addressing Cultural and Socioeconomic Diversity

Chapter 5 Summary:

Culture describes how a group of people perceive the world; formulates beliefs; evaluates objects, ideas, and experiences; and behaves. It can be thought of as a blueprint that guides the ways in which individuals within a group do such important things as communicate with others, handle time and space, express emotions, and approach work and play.

A culturally aware teacher will emphasize the ways in which American society has been enriched by the contributions of many different ethnic groups and will not schedule a major exam or field trip for a day when certain students are likely to be out of schoo in observance of a religious holiday. They also should seek to foster an understanding of and mutual respect for the values, beliefs, and practices of different cultural groups. This is called multicultural education.

The Rise of Multiculturalism

1. Melting pot phenomenon- the assimiliation of diverse ethnic groups into one national mainstream
2. Cultural pluralism (cultural diversity)- a society should strive to maintain the different cultures that reside within it; that each culture within a society should be respected by others; and that individuals within a society have the right to participate in all aspects of that society without having to give up their cultural indentity.

Ethnicity and Social Class

1. Culture provides a set of norms that guide what we say and how we say it, what we feel, and what we do in various situations. There are two factors that distinguish one culture from another: ethnicity and social class.
2. Ethnic group- a collection of people who identify with one another on the basis of one or more of the following characteristics: country from which one's ancestors came, religion, language, values, political interests, economic interests, and behavior patterns.
3. Christine Bennett identified 5 aspects of ethnicity that are potential sources of student-student and student-teacher misunderstanding: verbal communication, nonverbal communication, time orientation, social values, and instructional formats and learning processes.
4. Classroom discussions may not go as planned if teachers have students who do not understand- or feel overly confined by - the mainstream convention of "you take a turn and then somebody else takes a turn".
5. Because of differences in clutural experiences, some students may be reluctant to speak or perform in public, whereas others may prefer exchanges that resemble a free-for-all shouting match.
6. Ethnic group members differ in verbal and nonverbal communication patterns.
7. They may also hold different values.
8. Ethnic group members may favor different learning arrangements and processes.
9. Some may prefer small-group learning centers over independent seatwork. Others may favor learning tasks that allow for interpersonal interaction, multiple activities, and the use of multiple sensory modalities. To teach math to these students you might involve them in problems that deal with buying, trading, or borrowing.
10. Teachers may need to wait longer for students to answer questions because some may be accustomed to longer periods of silence between speakers.
11. Some may prefer collaborative learning, open-ended questioning, inductive reasoning, whole-to-part sequencing of lessons, emphasis on visual learning strategies, and emphasizing students' cultural identity.
12. Social class is an indicator of an individual's or a family's relative standing in society. It can be determined by factors such as annual income, occupation, amount of education, place of residence, types of organizations to which the family members belong, manner of dress, and material possessions.
13. Socioeconomic status is determined by the first 3 things above by the federal gov't.
14. Minority students have lower levels of motivation, lower self-esteem, and weaker academic skills and they also more impulsive.
15. They also often score lower on tests and drop out of school sooner.
16. Acheivement gap between low-SES minority students and white students due to living conditions, family environment, characteristics of the student and classroom environment.
17. Low-SES children more likely to live in stressful environment that interferes with studying.
18. Middle-SES parents expose their children to a wider variety of experiences than Low-SES parents such as buying them more books, educational toys and games, to take them on more trips that expand their knowledge of the world, and to talk to them more.
19. Need for achievement is a drive to accomplish tasks and is thought to be one of the main reasons that people vary in their willingness to invest time and energy in the achievement of a goal.
20. Classroom atmosphere, teachers' approaches connected with achievement levels of Low-SES students. (a list on page 153 explains more attitudes and approaches that are included)
21. Pygmalion effect (the self-fulfilling prophecy, or teacher expectancy effect)- the expectations that teachers have for student performance and how those expectations affect the quality and quantity of work that students exhibit. Students come to behave in a way that is consistent with what the teacher expects.
22. There seem to be a limited effect on teacher expectancy and IQ scores, but a strong effect on achievement and participation.
23. Teacher expectancies influenced by social class, ethnic background, achievement, attractiveness, and gender.

Multicultural Education Programs

1. James Banks describes 4 approaches to multicultural education: Contributions approach (historical figures whose values are consistent with American mainstream culture are studied and any that challenge those views are ignored), Ethnic additive approach (an instructional unit composed of themes, points of view, and accomplishments are added to the curriculum), Transformation approach (there is no one valid way of understanding people, events, concepts, and themes, and Decision Making and Social Action Approach (it incorporates all of the components of the previous approaches and adds the requirement that students make decisions and take action concerning a concept, issue, or problem being studied).
2. Multicultural lessons are organized around key concepts such as immigration; culture; identity; perspectives; ethnic institutions; demographic, social, political, and economic status; racism and discrimination; intraethnic diversity; and acculturation.
3. On page 161 the book discusses several characteristics that contribute to the success some teachers have in teaching students from culturallyt diverse backgrounds that were developed through research by Eugene Garcia.
4. 3 instructional tactics that are recommended most often by proponents of multicultural education: peer tutoring, cooperative learnin, and mastery learning.
5. Peer tutoring- involves the teaching of one student by another. When children with different cognitive schemes are forced to interact with each other, cognitive conflict results which then causes growth to occur because they try to resolve this conflict by comparing and contrasting each other's views.
6. Cooperative learning- by working in small, heterogeneous groups (of 4 or 5) and by helping one another master the various aspects of a particular task, students will be more motivated to learn, will learn more than if they had to work independently, and will forge stronger interpersonal relationships than they would by working alone.
7. Mastery learning- an approach to teaching and learning that assumes that most students can master curriculum if certain conditions are established: they have sufficient aptitude to learn a particular task; have sufficient ability to understand instruction; are willing to persevere until they attain a certain level of mastery; are allowed whatever time is necessary to attain mastery; and are provided with good-quality instruction.
8. The basic mastery learning approach is to specify clearly what is to be learned, organize the content into a sequence of relatively short units, use a variety of instructional methods and materials, allow students to progres through the material at their own rate, monitor student progress in order to identify budding problems and provide corrective feedback, and allow students to relearn and retest on each unit until mastery is attained.
9. Textbooks are just a starting point. A teacher who is committed to providing students a strong multicultural experience will have to seek out high-quality supplementary materials.
10. These multicultural programs are justified in several ways on page 165.
11. The basic purpose of multicultural education is to give students the opportunity to learn about the characteristics of people from different cultures and to try to understand how those individuals view the world.
12. Telecommunication projects allow students from different places and varied backgrounds to interact with one another, sharing ideas, and experiecnes and learning new points of view.
13. They can also allow more questioning and interaction than occurs in face to face settings with some groups.
14. Email exchange programs can also be used.

Page 167 some ideas to use technology to bridge the gap

iEARN (www.iearn.org) a program that allows teacher and students to work together online on various education projects

Interactive Forums and Learning Circles (interactive project-based partnerships which lasts 14 weeks)

4Directions Project (http://4directions.org)

Reading Upgrade- web-based program which uses music adn video within an interactive environment to maintain student attention to and interest in lessons that focus on decoding, phonemic awareness, fluency and comprehension

Bilingual Education

1. 3 approaches that are used: Transition program (their is a rapid shift to English proficiency), Maintenance Programs (focus on maintaining native-language comptenence), and Two-way bilingual TWB (features instruction in both languages) features of this is included on page 175.

Life experiences:

I have not ever lived in an area where bilingual education or multicultural education was a large part of education. The biggest thing that I have run into with this would be children who are Jehovah witness and can not participate in parties at the holidays or saying the pledge of allegiance. These are then just dealt with on an individual basis with the parents and teachers. Now I do live in an area where low-SES can become a factor many times. We do have many students who may not have the money for trips, supplies or etc. The teachers have always been great about finding away to help each of them if possible. We have various groups that help give school supplies before school starts for students who do not have the money for these. The teachers have also been very good about helping the students if they do not have the supplies for a project by giving them to them or by helping them during or after school.

Blog:

This blog is still helping me to be able to organize my thoughts, ideas, or important information. I think it has been great to be able to have a place to write down those neat ideas that you read about in the lesson book.

On pages 144-145, 156-158, and 168-170 there are great ideas or suggestion for teaching in the classroom. I will come back later and add these to my blog.

Discussion Boards:

I liked what one student put in the discussion board. We are not just a melting pot but a salad bowl. This is so true because we are not always melted together but just mixed up in an area and we tend to keep our own individualized ideas, values and customs.

Most of us had the same ideas about teaching these student. It is just another part of teaching students in and individualized way just like learning styles. We need to be aware of their values and where they come from so that we can incorporate it into our teaching strategies.

We also all seemed to feel the same way about students not having all the supplies or materials needes sometimes. We all would help them out to the greatest extent possible.

Educational Blog:

I had a tough time trying to find a blog that went along with what I want to do, but Ms. Graff helped me out. She found a really great blog for speech language patholgist. I really enjoy it. There is alot of neat ideas and great information. It is located at http://tinyeye.wordpress.com/ . It is called TinyEye: Mind over Meltdown. She describes that we all need to sit back and relax sometimes. Her quote "Next time you feel a meltdown sneaking up – revisit the battery chargers. Also, grab that old hair brush and start singing." What a great idea that we all need to remember. She also talks about Telepractice, tips for parents, ASHA's public policy for Speech, and so much more. I can't wait until I can have a few spare moments to completely read through each of her blogs and add more great information to my blog.

Question of the Week: How will you become an effective multicultural teacher? What teaching methods will you use to guarantee you are effective with your students?

I think it is just like incorporating learning styles into teaching, we must also incorporate a multicultural education into our classroom. Even if we do not have students from other cultures, all students need to be given information about other cultures, areas and religions. Our ideas and values are not the only thing that is important. We need to have a vast knowledge of information. I want to be able to use technology to the greatest extent possible because we are in area that is not abundant with people from other cultures. So by using technology such as internet, email, and other web-based programs I can allow ny students to interact with a variety of children from around the world.

Understanding Student Differences

Chapter 4 Summary

Differentiated Instruction- the practice of using different learning materials, instructional tactics, and learning activities with students who vary along such dimensions as intelligences, learning style, gender, ethnicity, and social class

The Nature and Measurement of Intelligence

1. Intelligence test scores are closely related to school success, not job success, marital happiness, or life happiness. So it is asked to do something that it was not meant or designed to do. (Some say should have been called test of scholastic aptitude instead of IQ test)
2. "g" factor- general factor affects performance on all IQ tests; "s" factor- specific factors affects performance on only specific IQ tests (2-factor theory of intelligence)
3. There are limitations to IQ tests (what we test is only a sample of IQ capabilities, scores can change with experience or training)
4. Wechsler's defines intelligence as the global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment
5. Assessment of intelligence in everyday setting would be highly subjective and would take a great deal of time.
6. Robert Sternberg believes that most of the researhc evidence supports the view that intelligence has many facets and that traditional mental ability tests measure just a few of these facets. Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence (theory of successfull intelligence) has 3 main parts: practical ability (applying knowledge to everyday situations, using knowledge and tools, and seeking relevance), creative ability ( inventing, discovering, imagining, and supposing), and analytical ability (breaking ideas and products into their component part, making judgments, evaluating, comparing and contrasting, and critiquing). Also big part is how they use practical intelligence to adapt to their environment.
7. Students who complete homework and assignments that use analytical, creative and practical abilities outscored students who just used recall and learning factual info.
8. Howard Gardner's Mulitple Intelligences theory- logical mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetics, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. (Individuals with a high level of a particular intelligence may use it in different ways)

Using the New Views of Intelligence to Guide Instruction

1. Triarchic theory suggests that instruction and assessment should emphasize all types of ability. ( Teaching and testing can be designed to emphasize the 3 abilities: analytical, creative, and practical--as well as memory) Figure 4.2 p. 117
2. Gardner believes that teachers should use MI theory as a framework for devising alternative ways to teach subject matter. (It is a mistake to think that every lesson has to be designed to involve all 8 intelligences) Neat example p.118
3. Using technology to develop intelligences can allow children to "think outside of the box". Various technology tools may strengthen different intelligences.
4. Hypermedia -a marriage of multimedia (a communication format integrating several types of media such as text, graphics, animation, sound, images, and video) and hypertext (a system of linking text in a nonlinear way, thereby enabling users to jump from one section of text to another section of the same document or to other documents, often through highlighted words).

Learning Styles

1. A learning style can be defined as a consistent preference over time and subject matter for perceiving, thinking about, and organizing information in a particular way.
2. These styles are referred to as preferences. They are set in stone.
3. Reflectivity and Impulsivity: Impulsive students prefer quick action; reflective students prefer to collect and analyze information before acting
4. Field Dependence and Field Independence: Field-independent students prefer their own structure; field-dependent students prefer to work within existing structure.
5. Mental Self-Government Styles: Legislative style prefers to create and plan; executive style prefer to follow explicit rules; judicial style prefers to evaluate and judge (5 categories of Sternberg's theory: function, forms, levels, scope, and leaning) Figure 4.3 p. 123 describes these styles
6. Teachers should use various instructional methods to engage all styles of learning at one time or another (good ideas p.122)
7. Teachers should also use various test formats to expand students' repertoire of learning styles and measure accurately what students have learned. This may also stimulate students to expand their own repertoire of learning styles.
8. Amy Benjamin has written many books on differentiated instruction and argues that technology not only is an effective tool for accommodating student differences but also offers a unique opportunity for collaboration among novice and veteran teachers.

Gender Differences and Gender Bias

1. Males tend to outscore females on the following tests: visual-spatial ability, mathematical reasoning, college entrance.
2. Females tend to outscore males on the following tests: memory and language use.
3. The Mathematical acheivement differences between boys and girls was nonsignificant in most countries.
4. No one knows for sure why gender differences in cognition and achievement exist. There is hormonal differences, differences in brain structure, differences in cognitive processes, and socialization differences are all thought to play a role in it.
5. Duckworth and Seligman found that females demonstrated more self-discipline than males
6. You should be aware of the gender differences, but we should take steps to try to reduce them.
7. Gender Bias- responding differently to male and female students without having sound educational reasons for doing so.
8. Gender Bias can affect course selection, career choice, and class participation of male and female students
9. Loss of voice- students suppress true beliefs about various topics in the presence of parents, teachers, and classmates of opposite sex
10. P. 131 gives great examples of how to work toward gender equity in the classroom
11. There is not a real difference in which gender has access to computers, but what they use those computers for. Females use more for word processing and completing school assignments and males playing games.

Suggestions for Teaching in Your classroom p.133-135 GREAT EXAMPLES

1. Design lessons and test items that call for memory, analytical, creative, and practical abilities.
2. Design lessons that emphasize different intelligences
3. Recognize that different styles of learning call for different methods of instruction
4. Help students become aware of the existence of gender bias
5. Encourage girls to consider pursuing a career in science
6. Recognize that you will not be able to address the various abilities and cognitive styles of all of your students all of the time.

Comparison:

This chapter just insured what I already knew about learning styles. In every education class I have taken, the teachers always instruct us to think about these learning differences and make sure and take them into consideration when developing our lessons. Each lesson needs to have multiple learning styles incorporated into each one if possible. We will never be able to use all of them, but we can use some.

Discussion Boards:

This week's discussion boards were great ones to find new ideas for our teaching careers. I intend on going back through everyone's posts and saving all the different ideas. Everyone did such a great job developing lessons using multiple intelligences.

Blog:

Every week we learn more and more important ideas to help us to be better teachers in the future. I think continued education is a very important part of being a great teacher. We can never stop learning new ideas and new information. By keeping this blog we are able to place all those great ideas that we see, hear or read about in a safe place for future reference. I save everything from every education class and any other class that I think I might use in the future. One day I am going to go back through that stuff and add it to my blog so that it is all together. When we finish we might have enough information to write a book, who knows.

Question of the Week: We have looked at the different theorist, the age-level characteristics, and now student differences. Putting these concepts together, how is your "classroom" being built in your mind? Are you beginning to form an idea of how you might want it to look? What does it look like? What other information do you need before you start instructing?

Everytime I think I have an idea of what I want my classroom to be like, I find something else that I want to add. I do know that I want my classroom to be a fun but educational place for children. I want it to have different areas for children to work while I work with others individually. I want to be able to incorporate the different learning styles into these areas. My time with students is so limited that I have to be able to get the most out of a small amount of time. I like using things that allow children to get up and move around. Most of the children that I see are also students that have problems in school (behavior or educational) so they need something different. I want to be able to have a classroom that is very organized where the students know exactly where things are and what they are responsible for when they come in. I already incorporate student notebooks. When my students come in they are responsible for finding their notebook. These notebooks contain all the information about them (when they were last evaluated, when they are to be re-evaluated, what their disability is, and notes that I take during each session showing what we worked on). These notebooks give them something to bring them right in and get busy instead of wandering around the classroom. After I have been given their notebooks then we begin our activities for the day. These notebooks also give me something to show parents at conferences giving them information about their progress and what we have been doing. We save some worksheets and projects inside their notebooks too. I use this for all age levels because all children even 3 year olds know what their name looks like even if they can not read it. I try to also develop a theme for my classroom. Right now we are using "Charlotte's Web". All activities and projects revolve around this theme. I have also been reading this story to them throughout our sessions when time allows. At least by Christmas we will change themes to something else. I have been thinking about caterpillars and butterflies. (But who knows)

Age-Level Characteristics

Preschool and Kindergarten (3, 4, and 5 years)
Physical Characteristics:

1. Very active
2. Need frequent rest periods
3. Large muscles more developed than fingers and hands (may need assistance with buttons and tying shoes)
4. Eye hand coordination may be imperfect
5. Bones that protect the brain are still soft
6. The gender differences in physical development and motor skills are usually not noticeable

Social Characteristics:

1. Most have 1 or 2 best friends but they may change rapidly; preschoolers usually will play with most anyone, but they are usually of the same gender
2. They exhibit different types of play behavior which may vary from social class and gender
3. They are aware of gender roles and gender typing

Emotional Characteristics:

1. They tend to express their emotions freely and openly and anger outbursts are frequent
2. Jealousy among classmates is common

Cognitive Characteristics:

1. They begin to develop a theory of mind (being aware of the difference between thinking about something and experiencing that same thing and to predict the thoughts of others)
2. Kindergartens are quite skillful with language, especially in front of a group
3. They do not accurately assess their competence for particular tasks
4. Competence is encouraged by interaction, interest, opportunities, urging, limits, admiration, and signs of affection

Primary Grades (1, 2, and 3; six, seven, or eight years)

Physical Characteristics:

1. Extremely active and energy may be expressed in nervous habits
2. They need frequent rest periods
3. Large muscle control is still superior to fine coordination (boys may have trouble using a pencil)
4. Quite a few may be farsighted because of the shallow shape of the eye (have trouble focusing on small prints or objects)
5. May be extreme in their physical activities (accident rate is at a peak for 3rd grade)
6. Bone growth still not complete (can not stand heavy pressure)

Social Characteristics:

1. May be more selective in their choice of friendships
2. Often like more organized games in small groups (overly concerned with rules and team spirit)
3. Quarrels are frequent (words used more than physical aggression, but boys may indulge in punching and wrestling)

Emotional Characteristics:

1. Sensitive to criticism and ridicule and difficulty adjusting to failure
2. Eager to please teacher
3. Becoming sensitive to the feelings of others

Cognitive Characteristics:

1. They understand that there are different ways to know things and that some are better than others
2. Begin to understand that learning and recall are caused by particular cognitive processes that they can control
3. They still do not learn as efficiently as older children due to their neurological development still continuing to develop and their limited experiences
4. They may talk aloud to theirself

Elementary School (4th and 5th grade; 9 and 10 years)

Physical Characteristics:

1. Girls and boys both become leaner and stronger
2. Obesity can be a problem with some children
3. Gender differences in motor skill performance may be apparent
4. Physical development is relatively calm and predictable

Social Characteristics:

1. Peer groups become powerful and begin to replace adults as the source of behavior and recognition of achievement
2. Friendships are more selective and gender based

Emotional Characteristics:

1. They are developing a more global, integrated, and complex self-image (self-description, self-esteem, and self-concept)
2. Disruptive family relationships, social rejection, and school failure may lead to deliquent behavior

Cognitive Characteristics:

1. They can think logically but can be constrained and inconsistent
2. Simple memory skill tasks often are equal to adolescents and adults but complex tasks are much more limited

Middle School (6, 7, and 8th grades; 11, 12, and 13 years)

Physical Characteristics:

1. Physical growth is rapid and uneven (early-maturing boys may be more popular and have a more positive self-concept; late-maturing boys may have lower self-esteem; early-maturing girls may be taller and heavier, lower self-esteem and more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and panic attacks; late-maturing girls may look more like the stereotypical model and have positive self-esteem and popularity)
2. Puberty development is evident in most all girls and in many boys
3. Concern and curiosity about sex

Social Characteristics:

1. The development of interpersonal reasoning leads to greater understanding of the feelings of others
2. The desire to conform is highest at this age level

Emotional Characteristics:

1. The period of "storm and stress" can be an exaggeration at this age
2. They are typically self-conscious and self-centered

Cognitive Characteristics:

1. They need a classroom environment that is open, supportive and intellectually stimulating
2. Self-efficiacy is an important influence on intellectual and social behavior

High School (9, 10, 11, and 12th grades; 14, 15, 16, and 17 years)

Physical Characteristics:

1. They reach physical maturity and all attain puberty
2. They become sexually active
3. The birthrate for unmarried adolescents is still high as is the rate of STD's

Social Characteristics:

1. Parents and other adults influence long-range plans and peers influence immediate status
2. Girls seem to experience greater anxiety about friendships than boys
3. Many are employed after school

Emotional Characteristics:

1. Many psychiatric disorders either appear or become prominent (eating disorders, substance abuse, schizophrenia, depression, and suicide)
2. The most common emotional disorder is depression
3. If depression becomes severe, suicide may be contemplated

Congitive Characteristics:

1. They are more capable of engaging in formal thought, but they may not always use it
2. Between 12 and 16 political thought becomes more abstract, liberal and knowledgeable

Technology

1. Kidlink (www.kidlink.org): a nonprofit organization that helps teachers and students arrange electronic exchanges with students from around the world
2. Adventure learning: a program that allows students to interact electronically with experts and explorers around the world (virtual field trips) (Ex: Global Online Adventure Learning Site www.goals.com/index.htm and ThinkQuest's Ocean AdVENTure site http://library.thinkquest.org/18828 )

Experiences:

I work with all age level students from 3 to 18 so I see each of these age-level characteristics quite often. I think it is important to know what your students are like and what they are going through when trying to teach them. By knowing each of these characteristics we can find more things to do with them that fit them individually. Every child learns at a different rate and matures at a different rate so we need to be aware of this when working with them. After reading this I will be able to think about these characteristics in a little different way when finding activities and assignments for my students.

Discussion Boards:

There were so many different ideas for using technology in the different age-level classrooms that I have decided that I will go back and right down the ones that I like the most and add them to this blog latter. I also found many different handbooks that were really informative. I want to do the same with them. At the school that I work at the only handbook is the one that is put out by the school as a whole (1 for elementary and 1 for high school). I think it would be great to come up with a handbook for the parents of the children that I serve that has a lot of information that they could use. I also want to have a section for the children that is written at their level. It may not be as age specific but it will have things in it that are specific for my area.

Weekly Question: (Based on the grade level that you will be teaching, how do the age-level characteristics for you age group help you to better understand your grade level? Knowing the age-level characteristics and the theories that we learned in chapter 2, how do you think this will help you become a better teacher?)

I work with such a variety of ages that it will give me a better idea of activities and assignments that I would use for each of my groups. These characteristics help me to understand what each age-level is capable of doing if gone about it in the right way. The theories will help me to find that right way of teaching each of them. Teaching is building on our knowledge and experiences and does not happen all at once it takes time to develop and mold into what we really want and need.

Theorists and their views

Summary: Chapter 2 tells us about many different theorists and their studies of psychosocial and cognitive development in people. Each one had different views and each over the years has been critisized by other individuals.

1. Erikson-Psychosocial Development: A). our personality development occurs from succussfull resolution of psychosocial crises B) and the personality of an individual forms as the ego progresses through a series of interrelated stages (8 stages of psychosocial development) C). He felt that crises occur when people feel compelled to adjust to the normal guidelines and expectations that society has for them but not altogether certain that they are prepared to carry out these demands completely. D). he did not believe in competition for a limited number of awards (grading on a curve) he felt that grades should be based on realistic and attainable standards that are decided on ahead of time and told to the students
2. Piaget- Cognitive Development: A) Humans inherit 2 basic tendencies: organization (the tendency to systematize and combine processes into coherent general systems) and adaptation (the tendency to adjust to the environment) B). children develop schemes or organized patterns of behavior or thought C). People organize schemes in order to achieve the best possible adaptation to their environment, equilibration D). Piaget felt that there were 4 stages to cognitive development E). He felt that peer interactions do more to spur cognitive development than do interactions with adults because children are more likely to discuss, analyze and debate their views with other children F). Some did feel that cultural differences may vary the rate at which children develop each of the 4 stages
3. Vygotsky- Cognitive Development: A) How we think is a function of both social and cultural forces B). Parents and schools shape children's thought processes to reflect that which the culture values. C), Psychological tools are the most important thing that is passed down through a culture because they are the cognitive devices and procedures used to communicate and explore the world around us. (Ex. speech, writing, diagrams, numbers, chemical formulas, rules, musical notations, and memory techniques) D). Children gain more from those that are more intellectually advanced E). Teachers should teach children how to use the psychological tools that they have been given F). Zone of proximal development (the difference of what a child can do on his own and what they can do with some assistance): a student with a wider zone is more likely to experience greater cognitive development when instruction is given just about the lower limit of their ZPD than will students with narrower zones because the former are in a better position to gain from the instruction G). Scaffolding (helping students answer difficult questions or solve problems by giving them hints or asking leading questions) helps students to acquire knowledge and skills they would not have learned on their own because as they learn the information the learning aids are slowly faded and then removed. (Ex. prompts, suggestions, checklists, modeling, rewards, feedback, cognitive structuring [labels, rules, categories], and questioning) H). Mark Tappan proposed a 4 component model that teachers can use to optimize the effects of scaffolding and students move through their ZPD: 1). model desired academic behavior 2). create a dialogue with the students (exchange of questions, explanations, and feedback between teacher and student) 3). practice 4). confirmation (focusing on what they can do with some assistance which creates a trusting and mutually supportive relationship between teacher and student)
4. Using technology to promotes cognitive development- due to distance, time, and cost we are kept from wider-ranging interactions and technology can greatly reduce these limitations and expand our range of experiences
5. Piaget on Moral Development: A). age changes in interpretation of rules (as a child grows older their ideas of rules begin to mature)
6. Kohlberg's Description of Moral Development: A). Moral reasoning proceeds through 6 fixed stages and moral development can be accelerated through instruction
7. Gilligan's View of identity and moral development: A). Erikson's and Kohlberg's views describe more of what occurs with adolescent males than with adolescent females B) females care more about caring and understanding and less about seperation and independence C). females use a caring orientation to a slightly higher degree than the justice orientation

Comparisons:

I feel that by using parts of each of their ideas an individual could profit more than if they tried to just choose one theory. So is so many important parts from each of them. As I think back, some of my best teachers had characteristics of each of these. Like a teacher that use peer tutoring but those students also learn for their teacher who is more intellectually advanced than they are.

Discussion board:

I really enjoyed the post about the Maria Montessori because I had heard of those schools but did not know where they originated from. That post gave me information to further research on. I also just enjoy reading everyone's views of why they chose what they did. I had a hard time making a choice for the theorist that I felt matched me more and it was good to see that I was not the only one. When reading the posts we all have the same goals in mind but we have different ideas of how to reach those goals which makes us unique individuals.

Blog importance:

Throughout this chapter I found a lot of good ideas and unique information that I want to remember for later use. Instead of writing down everything that I liked I decided to just record a brief idea and the page number so that I can go back to it in the future.

1. Applying Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development p.33-34 A). play down comparisons and encourage cooperation and self-competition B). American school system has been described as a place where individual differences are either ignored or discouraged and negative feedback outweighs positive feedback C). promoting students to work toward short-term goals especially in the classroom
2. Science instruction programs called CASE p.42
3. Children who are in the process of developing the schemes for the next stage can be helped to gain those schemes faster through good-quality instruction. (teachers can teach the principles of conservation by using simple explanations and concrete materials and allowing children to manipulate the materials) p.42
4. An increase in formal operational thinking among 13 to 15 year olds may be due to teaching practices (creating tables to display information and using tree diagrams to clarify grammatical structure) p.43
5. Applying Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development p.44-46: A). focus on what a child can do at each stage instead of what they can not B). because of differing rates of intellectual growth, gear instruction materials and activities to each student's developmental level C). new concepts new to provoke interest and curiosity and be moderately challenging in order to maximize assimilation and accomodation D). Lesson plans should include opportunities for activity, manipulation, exploration, discussion, and application of information (Ex. small group science projects) E). Begin lessons with concrete objects or ideas and gradually shift explanations to a more abstract or general level F). Arrange situations to permit social interaction so that children can learn from one another
6. Technology applied to Piaget p.52-53: A). Geometer's Sketchpad B). Conservation of Area and Its Measurement (C.AR.M.E) C). Probability Explorer D). microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL)
7. Technology Applied to Vygotsky p.53-54: A).Reading Partner and Writing Partner software tools B). Telementor Program

Question of the Week: Looking at Erikson, Piaget, Kohler, Vygotsky, and Gilligan, which theorist associates most with the grade level you will be teaching and how? Please tell what level you will be teach along with what subject. Also, let me know how you believe the theory could be applied to the use of technology at your grade level.

When I first did my post for the discussion board I felt that you wanted a specific one and after your response I decided that I would rather for this blog take a more overall view. I do not want to choose just one theorist because I feel that I want to use information from each of them. I will be teaching Speech Language Pathology which covers preschool through grade 12. I also want to get my training for Special Services Coordinator which also covers the same age level. Because of this wide variety of age levels, I also feel that is another reason to use a more collaborative approach. I like Vygotsky's idea of that the more intellectually advanced help students, zone of proximal development and scaffolding and theoretical learning. I also like Piaget's idea of students learning through peer interaction, the 4 stages of development and what they each involve, and the idea of organization and adaptation. Erikson's views of motivating children instead of making them feel quilty or unsuccessful. His view of personality development through the resolution of crises is also important to me. I feel that by using parts of each that I can become a much better teacher and role model for my children. Technology can be used for any of these theorists. Piaget uses technology for displaying knowledge, fixing misconceptions and errors in thinking, and a source for same-age peers to debate issues such as Geometer's Sketchpad, Probability Explorer and chat rooms designed for same age peers that are watched by adults. Vygotsky uses technology as a tool to link learners to more knowledgeable peers and experts, and an expert peer or collaborative partner to support skills and strategies. (Ex. using a computer as a tutor for reading, writing, or mathematical tasks; using technology to research information)

Reflection: Why it is important?

Chapter 1 helped me to get a better understanding of exactly what educational psychology is and what it does for education. So much research is done using educational psychology everyday that we never think about where these ideas really came from and that they have been scientifically proven. One example from the book was brought up in the discussion board, "peer tutoring". This is a strategy that I really believe works if used properly. I also learned more about National Board Certification. We just recently had 2 teachers from our school to become Nationally certified but I really did not know what they involved until reading "Case in Print". It gave me a much more indepth knowledge about what it is and what it takes to reach that goal. It was also nice to read how many teachers nationwide have earned this level of education. Fads in education really concern me because we as teachers want to do our best but we must be careful of these fads.
I have a tendency when I journal to kind of jump around with my thoughts so I hope by doing it this way I can do a better job. Reflection and journaling is a way that I can write down the things that I feel are important to becoming a better teacher later. Everyday I read something or hear some idea that I really like but I have so much going on in my life that if I do not write it down I will never remember it later. This will be a way that I can save those ideas for future use. If I run across a lesson that I just really love I can put it in my journal to use later. I can also use this as a way to reflect on lessons that I have taught to determine if they were effective or not. We all live in such a busy society now days that we forget to "pause and reflect" on what we have done.