M. Nelson - Ed Psych, EDSC 3000

Cognitive Development One thing that I've recognized regarding the student's cognitive development is that they still need a fair amount of help in organizing new information into schemata , as Piaget explained. Often times all the information they need is there in their brains! They've learned it all, they've even retained most of it. However, they don't connect the dots until the teacher really helps them assimilate information. I've also noticed that there does seem to be a connection between readiness, or maturation , and development . There are some students that have a difficult time understanding some of the more complex issues or applications regardless of how much the teacher tries to help them. Sometimes I can tell just by listening to their thought processes that it might be a maturation issue. One other thing I've really noticed is that sometimes students in  disequilibrium  are easy to recognize, but often times they're not. There were ...

What evidence do you see of specific  teacher behaviors  that are geared toward Vygotsky's theories of cognitive development? Cite specific examples and make clear connection to Vygotsky's work.  Be thorough in your coverage of the theory , addressing multiple concepts to demonstrate your understanding.  Be su re to  underline the concept's vocabulary  in your response. (Use your study guide as you go!) One of the things that I've noticed in the classroom is that the students have already learned or i nternalized concepts about freedom, democracy, and their rights. They don't have a full understanding of how these work according to the law, but that they've learned from social interactions and culture is evident when my cooperating teacher is trying to discuss other types of governments and what life would be like. I've found it really interesting that without much formal education about equality, justice, and liberty, most the students have such a firm ...

At which of Kohlberg's levels of moral development are the students in your class functioning? Cite specific evidence and explain your reasoning for selecting these levels. What did the teacher do, or what  might  be done, to help the students advance to higher levels  with regard to the examples you supplied above ?  Be su re to  underline the concept's vocabulary  in your response. (Use your study guide as you go!) I think most of the students I'm observing fall into convention level of moral development. Most of them seem to really want the approval of the teacher and other students. A lot of them are the class clowns or "teacher's pet" during the class activities. They're participating and not causing problems, but they're definitely doing it for the approval of others. Some of them still demonstrate some instrumental orientation . One student was caught cheating and his justification was that the material was too hard--he thought it was unreas...

What evidence do you see of specific  teacher behaviors  that are geared toward Piaget's theories about cognitive development? Cite specific examples and make clear connection to Piaget's work.  Be thorough in your coverage of the theory , addressing multiple concepts (e.g., stage(s) of development, process of adaptation/equilibration) to demonstrate your understanding.  Be su re to  underline the concept's vocabulary  in your response. (Use your study guide as you go!) One way I've seen my cooperating teacher help the students organize new information into schemata is by discussing how new concepts are similar to other ideas they're already familiar with, but then explaining how this new concept is also different. She recently did this on her "Road to Revolution" unit when covering all the different ways in which Britain tried to gain control over the colonies. She would introduce a new series of acts or taxes and then, on the board help the students ...

1. How did you do on the Unit 1 Quiz? Why? 2. Which note-taking strategies worked well for you? Which didn't? Why? 3. Which study methods (e.g., textbook, videos, websites, interactive presentations, etc.) worked well for you? Which didn't? Why? 4. What do you need to do differently to (a) master the concepts that you missed from Unit 1 and (b) do better in Unit 2? 5. How can I help you to learn the course content better? Are there things in Unit 1 that could be improved? What should I do differently in Unit 2? 6. What have been the major takeaways from your field experience regarding the content in this unit (i.e., brain function and development, assessment, metacognition and self-regulation, intelligence, and motivation)? 1. I got 100% on my second try but missed two on my first. I had a good overall knowledge.  However, the questions that were looking for specific answers proved that I hadn't studied the specifics as well as generalities.  2. I liked bits ...

Metacognition Through my observations, I've noticed that the students don't seem to be too engaged or accountable for their own learning. I think they're unaware of what metacognition is and how it can affect their learning. It feels as though many of them are looking for the teacher or textbook to give them an exact answer that they can memorize. They don't seem to use the daily/unit objectives to guide their study habits (even though they're written on the board and discussed daily)--rather, they fully depend on a study guide and hope the test will be multiple choice. If this was for my own class, I'd start the year/semester by spending some time on metacognitive knowledge so they would have a better understanding of  declarative and procedural knowledge . Knowing how they learn best and strategies for learning would help them develop metacognitive knowledge.  However, since it will be one lesson, I'd like to make sure I begin with clear objectives so...