Final Learning Log

WHAT:
I scored an 88 on the quiz.
Piaget's Cognitive Development
- I like that Piaget splits his cognitive theories into four groups. But, I find his separation intersting, and somtimes confusing.
Vygotsky's Cognitive Development
- I like the idea of scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development. His cognitive tools are also something i believe to be very helpful in the classroom.
Erikson's Psychosocial Development
-Erikson's stages were interesting to learn about, but not the throey i agree with the most. I do like the ones relating to the age I will be teaching, and believe they can help me as a future teacher.
Kohlberg's Moral Development
-I did not enjoy learning about Kohlberg and his theory. I t was my least favorite, and very vague. It was hard to distinguish what stage a person was in because they all seemed to overlap.
Goleman's Emotional Intelligence
-I liked Goleman's ideas for intelligence, and how it's important to know your own emotions ans manage them before venturing into relationships. I believe this is very important.
Information Processing
-Learning about where and how memory is stored is something that as a teacher will be very important. The information needs to be stored in the long term memory, otherwise it will soon be forgotten.
Knowledge Construction and Higher-order thinking
-I liked learning about social constructivism and individual constructivism and the differences and advantages between the two. I think they are both very important for the learning environment of the classroom.
Behaviorism
-Though this section was difficult for me to fully understand, once I did get it, I learned a lot. Reinforces and token economy are things that are used in many classrooms, and things I plan to use in my classroom.
Social Cognitivism
This chapter taught me much about the different types of punishments, and the good and the bad. I like the idea of modeling. I think it's important for the student to see a good example of what is expected of them.
Group and Individual Differences
-It was interesting to learn about the differences among individual learning and group learning. I think each student is different in the type of learning they like or are best at, so it's important to use a variety of types in the classroom.
Motivation
-I never really knew that the two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. I found them both interesting and know they will be important in my classroom.

SO WHAT:
I believe that every student learns differently. There are many different factors that attribute to how students learn effectively and i believe that it is important as a teacher to use as many variations as possible, while being consistent in the teaching, to allow each students to feel that they can truly understand the subject
matter. I believe Vygotsky has many key points in his theory, and I will definitely use many of his ideas in my classroom.

NOW WHAT:
-I will use my theory in my classroom by knowing the students ZPD and using scaffolding methods to help the students be the best they can be. I will also be positive and reinforce my students to hopefully increase their behavior and perfomrance in the classroom.
- I would like to learn more about the latter chapters that we touched briefly upon in our class. For example, the theories on intelligence, and the chapter on motivation. I need to improve upon the RSVP section.

Case Study 7/8

1. Describe two similarities between the traditional lesson and the constructivist one as described above.
-In both lessons, the teacher was trying to teach the students about measurements. Also, the students needed to use measurement tools to find the measurement of either the whale or the ship.

2. What are two benefits and two drawbacks of the constructivist approach as described above? Why? In your opinion, are the benefits worth the costs? Explain your response.
-Benefits: It allows children to really think and find solutions to problems. It also allows for much discussion to take place so all are included in the learning.
-Drawbacks: It takes up a lot of time waiting for students to come up with the solutions. Also, you risk the students coming up with a wrong solution, and them thinking it is right.

3. How does the constructivist lesson described above promote critical thinking? Give specific examples of critical thinking from the case study to support your response.
-It promotes critical thinking by allowing students to have time to come up with solutions that work. The children in the case study came up with many different solutions before coming up with one that worked. This proves they were able to think about many aspects, discuss with one another, and then find a solution that finally worked.

4. Would the constructivist activity be considered an authentic activity? Why or why not?
- I believe it would be considered an authentic activity because in the real world, people need to know measurements of certain things. Maybe not boats, and the king won't need to know, but measurements come up in different areas of everyday life.

Course Contract #3

1. I am understanding the material and am able to apply it to the material and to test. I am taking in what I am reading as opposed to having to re-read the material multiple times.

2. I am having a hard time remembering material from the first test. I remember a lot of it, but I need to spend more time on the RSVP characteristics to fully understand them helping me remember them.

3. I believe I am making progress on my goals.

4. I still need to focus on all the material instead of what I find the most interesting or easy to understand.