R8

Quote: "Relativist’s are less concerned with how we see objects than with how we categorize them: how we sort our experiences into conceptual categories like birds, tools, and people” (Pink, 2002, p. 201).

Question: Postmodern theorist expose us to examples of social constructivism (received truth) and its influence on perceptions of various groups in the world, however based upon their observations how would one explain the complex relationship within and between groups with a historical root of privilege and oppression in society?

Connections: According to Pinker, language is important to cognitive development because it is a way to communicate your experiences in the world. The reading was interesting as it reminded me of a message from our pastor last Sunday. In his message he advised the college age youth of our church to be mindful of the postmodern age that we are living in particularly during their educational training when they begin to learn of various theories of how we came into existence. He shared his thoughts on how we have moved from a pre-modernism age and the spread of Christianity, to the modern age of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution that resulted in the creation of atheist groups or non believer of Christ. The pastor warned the youth to become more frightful of the postmodern age because the perspective on history is worse compared to the modern age. During this age it is conceivable to question the truths of the world that have been proven scientifically or not. His main point was this postmodern age is a shift in worldviews and theories of knowledge making it easier for Christians to become complacent and accepting of non Christ like activities of the world.

Another interesting point from the reading implies that relativists believe that “reality is socially constructed by the use of language, stereotypes, and media image” (Pinker, 2002, p. 199). Pinker suggests that postmodernist believe that meaning is constructed by an identified social group and their language not by the individual. “Postmodernists and other relativists attach truth and objectivity because they feel it is the best way to pull the rug out from under racists, sexists, and homophobes” (Pinker, 2002, p. 202). Overall, I interpreted the reading to suggest that during this new age old truths that are challenged based upon a specific social group’s perspective of how they perceive true democracy in the world according to their cultural values and beliefs outside of the Westernized norms.

Quick fixes to engage students....

Greetings All,

Below you will find a link related to yesterday's discussion about quick fixes that may or may not work that educators could use to engage more students in the classroom.

http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=9088&r=eu10121&REFERER=

Enjoy!

Module 5 Responses

Q1. Similaries between Piaget/Vgotsky:

1.       Both focus on how individuals learn at different levels

2.       External factors (i.e. environment ) can influence learning

Differences between Piaget/Vgotsky:

1.       Vygotsky focuses more on the external factors (ie. social, cultural connections) that shape an individual’s personality and behavior. His theory includes the importance of social factors that influence learning and assisted learning that can push individuals to reach their maximum potential of learning at various levels.

2.       Piaget focuses more on the individual learning to construct their own learning by themselves in a particular environment (home, school, social) without considering assisted learning from others.

Q2.

In the reading Mind in Society the commonalities I found were how students interacted in groups demonstrated more about  their abilities to perform certain task outside of what they can do by themselves.  In preschool they use to allow more free will and creative play which according to the video demonstrates a process to enhance private speech and cognitive development. Schools are more structured which can inhibit private speech and lack of free will to engage in imaginative play.

Q3. Similarities between Bruner, Piaget, and Vygotsky:

All three theorists’ are interested in how to define learning for individuals. Piaget’s constructing knowledge on their own, Vygotsky’s social and other external influences on learning for individuals, and Bruner’s evaluation of how the mind works through a student’s discovery of their environment to further develop their understanding. A school has its own culture students are required to adapt in order to succeed academically. All three contribute to cognitive development through perception, information processing, judgment/decision-making, and constructing knowledge based on external influences (i.e. social interaction, environmental exposure). Overall we try to make sense of our environment through different cognitive measures.

Below is a video that shows an example of Led Vygotsky’s social constructivism in a social studies classroom.  If you like we can post it as our example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pFMPSWBds

Module 4

Response to 3 questions

1) Piaget's cognitive construction theory provided a framework to guide educators on how students will learn at various stages in their lives. Benefits from his theory provided educators with effective instructional strategies to actively engage and motivate students to learn. His theory explained what students were capable of knowing throughout their cognitive development and also included what children were lacking at each stage.This will help teachers plan to create activities for students to interact with their environment to establish building blocks with the content covered by grade/cognitive level.

2) The children in the video are categorizing/assimulating prior knowledge about length and width. In the beginning children see a longer line which is bigger and translates to more. James would say that they older children in the video have adapted and builded up more useful associations to distinguish the difference in the logic behind the actual amount vs. size.

3) This episode was a great example for how constuctivism will not work in a classroom setting. While Bart attended the school for genius he tried to construct knowledge of his new experience based on his prior experiences. For example when the class had to give an example of a paradox the only item Bart could think of that closely related to others responses was "Damn if you do and Damn if you don't." He tried to incorporate prior knowledge to respond in his new environment, but he quickly realized he did not have the experience of others in the classroom nor was he interested in obtaining it. The teacher assumes everyone has had the experiences and skills necessary to be successful in the class based upon an IQ test.  I believe the constructivism theory is informative on how a student learns and creates knowledge based on their prior environmental experiences. Teachers should faciliate the development of multiple associations and expose other students to experiences that will allow them to construct knowledge if the prior experience does not exist (i.e. field trips).

R7

Quote: “Lighting the flame of student motivation against that of filling the bucket of students’ head with facts” (Airasian & Walsh, 1997, p.446).

Question: Is everything that we know as truth in various subjects really a working hypothesis?

Connections: Constructivism is based upon the assumption that “people create knowledge from interactions between their existing knowledge or beliefs and the new ideas or situations they encounter” (p.445). Whenever I read about Piaget’s and his developmental theory I am reminded of how an infant first connect with their environment. I recall working in a childcare center and observing how babies first begin to learn their physical environment. They are fascinated with almost everything presented to them to observe and interact with hands on in order to form what Piaget would state a “working hypothesis” about the encounter (p.445). It is interesting that such an excitement of learning and curiosity can decrease in the classroom setting specifically from elementary to middle school (Jarvela & Volet, 2001). What is a teachers’ role to facilitate assimilations and accommodations in the classroom? I believe theorist James and Piaget would agree that before teachers could incorporate cognitive constructivism in a classroom setting they would have to first know their student in order to develop activities conducive to create personalized meaning. Introducing new topics may being with a survey to inform teachers how much prior experience students have on a particular subject. Next teachers may being to  plan differentiated instruction based on the results of where students are to increase engagement for some with no previous experience while not boring others that have had multiple associations. This may seem a bit time consuming in the beginning requiring more time to address different constructs within the classroom.

The process of equilibrium within cognitive constructivism was interesting because it supported the notion of continuous learning and constructing knowledge as mind new information is shared in the classroom and compared to prior experiences or beliefs. Teachers as well as students will have to learn that there is not one right answer. I interpreted an individual constructing knowledge as a process by which different levels of knowledge must be accepted in a classroom setting free from judgment and discuss to reach a consensus of a common working hypothesis. Giving student the opportunity to share and discuss a concept more deeply is thought to enhance “higher level learning” (p.446). According to this theory in order for cognitive growth to occur an individual process new information the information received is then filed with existing information further enhancing what is already (assimilation) there or it will replace what is currently there (accommodation). A classroom free from scrutiny or embarrassment may lead peak more interest of student to become engaged. Hence different ways of learning =different ways of knowing.

Constructivism vs. Traditional Classrooms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEsGHVdVkMw&NR=1

References

James, W. (2001). Talks to teachers on psychology and to students on some of life’s ideals. Mineola, NY: Dover.

Jarvela, S. & Volet, S., (2001). Advances in Learning and Instructional Series: Motivation in Learning Context. Kidlington, Oxford: Elsevier Science Ltd.

Wadsworth, B. J., (1996). Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive and Affective Development: White Plains, NY: Longman