constructivism case study

Questions:

Constructivism Case Study Analysis

1. Describe two similarities between the traditional lesson and the constructivist one as described above. What are two differences?

A. Two similarities are: they both had to do with measuring, they both were measuring large objects that the children have seen and should have been able to recall.

2 Differences are: the first measurement the teacher provided the way and the measuring tool to use. The second the teacher made the students come up with the way they would measure the boat.

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.

A. two benefits are: as a group they learned two ways to recall measuring and relating items to learning, one with the yardstick teacher provided and one were the group had to think of ways to recall and compare sizes. They learned from both so they could understand the whole topic and that was why we all need to use the same measurement tool to show size or length. Two drawbacks: one was they time factor it took them 3 to four days of class to understand this topic. Second some were probably still confused because of how many ways of measurement was compared.

Was it worth it: I would say as a learning lesson yes, now there will more thing for the students to relate to and easier to remember and recall when the next time measuring comes up.

3. How does the constructivist lesson described above promote critical thinking? Give specific examples of critical thinking from the case study and include a definition of critical thinking to support your response.

A. critical thinking is: the process of systematically examining available information and coming up with conclusions that are based on evidence. So throughout this activity the students learned critical thinking through brainstorming as a group how they were going to measure their boat and how they would explain to the king their finding by comparing it to something the king knew very well, which that was Zeb. It took them a while but they came to that understanding.

4. Would the constructivist activity be considered an authentic activity? Why or why not?
A. Yes, because the teaching was relevant to their life and outside of the school. They related it to whales, boats, hands, feet, people, which all of relate to their life experiences. This is the definition of authentic activity.

Course Contract Review#3

Complete the following assignment on your blog AFTER completing each exam.

Review your course contract from the beginning of the semester. Answer the following questions:

1. What are you doing well? The only thing I am doing well at this time of the semester is attendance. I am still keeping up with the class but starting to fall behind.
   
2. What are you not doing well? Making sure I give enough time for the specific assignments.
   
3. Are you making sufficient progress on your goals? Not at all. I don't have the time I thought I would have.
4. List specific things you need to change in order to meet your goals.I still need to find more time in the days, which is very hard to do with three children.
   
5. How is your motivation? Are you focusing on mastery or performance goals? Does anything need to change? I still am very motivated to do well in school, but it is dwindling fast.
   

Cognitive Psychology/Information Processing Case Study Analysis

Post your responses to the following questions on your blog.

1. After participating in this activity, what do you think the students will remember? How might those memories differ from those students would have if they only read about the Civil War in their textbook?

A. They will remember a lot more of the information because it became a real experience, and they can now relate to it. Just reading it doesn't give the full affect, it doesn't meet as many different types of learning levels.

2. How does Mr. West’s use of a Civil War re-enactment engage students’ emotions? What is the relationship between emotions and learning?

A. He assigns them one side Union or Confederate. This will make them to a point have the same feelings of the time and what the people were actually going through. Their emotional learning will be so much greater because again it will be relevant and real. Now they can tie the emotion into their learning which will stick in their memory more.

3. Based on the principles of dual-coding theory, what activities would be effective for Mr. West to use as a follow-up to the re-enactment?

A. Anything that will use visual and audio information. Also anything that will make them use a higher order of questioning. Stuff from their working memory, relevant questioning, things that will have meaningful responses.

4. Who do you think provides better instruction for his students? Support your answer from an information processing perspective.

A. Mr. Richards, will have better results because he is reaching more types of sensors. This will help reach different types of learners in many different ways, which will help them all retain more information.

5. How would you expect the students’ learning outcomes to differ depending on which teacher they had?

A. The outcome should be very different. Because in Richards class there is more diverse types of teaching to reach multiple types of learners. In Dunkins class there is only one type of teaching going on which could leave many students behind because that type of teaching doesn't work for them. Thats why as a teacher you need to educate in many diverse ways to give all of your students the same opportunity.

Course Contract Review 2

Course Contract Review

Complete the following assignment on your blog AFTER completing each exam.

Review your course contract from the beginning of the semester. Answer the following questions:

1. What are you doing well?So far I have done what I committed to from the start. I studied the way I wanted to, with small groups, flash cards, looked up things I didn't understand. So that went well. Second test studied a lot more with a group, didn't seem to help.
   
2. What are you not doing well? It still is the Readings. I read just enough to fill out the study guides.
3. Are you making sufficient progress on your goals? No, I need more time and I just dont have it.
4. List specific things you need to change in order to meet your goals. Some thing I need to change in order to meet the goals are to set aside more time for my studies. This is hard because I do have three children and I am taking 19 credit hours this semester. But it will happen. But it's not, my wife is working more hours and it is giving me even less time for my studies. Get a nanny.
   
5. How is your motivation? Are you focusing on mastery or performance goals? Does anything need to change? Motivation is down falling behind in many classes. I think I am focusing more on performance goals, but they will all lead into mastery goals. I am just trying to do what is asked for a grade now not trying to learn anything like I was at the beginning. Like I said earlier I just dont have the time.

Behaviorism and Social Cognitivism Case Study

Behaviorism and Social Cognitivism Case Study

1. Does Mr. Kessinger's class represent a community of learners as defined in Constructivist theory? Why or why not?
A.For me "NO" because what he did was not co-constructive nor did it work together in the learning environment with the students.

2. Does Mr. Kessinger utilize presentation punishment or removal punishment with Robin? Justify your response using definitions and evidence from the case.
A.He used bot types. Presentation by yelling at her and telling her cheating was bed , and removal by taking her paper and tearing it up.

3. Explain Robin's reaction in Ms. Yamashita's class from the perspective of classical conditioning. Which stimuli are paired and how does that condition her response?
A.She had already associated bad things in her head from the previous class, so when Ms. Yamashita took her paper she thought she was in trouble again and ran off crying not understanding she was being complemented. She automatically paired the response whith the bad feelings she had previously.

4. How might Ms. Yamashita encourage Robin to create concept maps in the future? Include behavioral concepts such as shaping, reinforcement, etc., in your response.
A.She could help robin understand through shaping, by giving her positive reinforcement let her know she did nothing wrong and encourage her to keep on doing the great job. If the teacher keeps this up then reinforcement will apply, but reinforcement only works if the outcome is desired from the participants. Once reinforcement stops so does the actions by the person that has received the reinforcement.

Social Cognitivism (Ch. 8) Questions:

1. Which teacher in the scenario demonstrates vicarious reinforcement? Justify your response with definitions and an example from the case study.
A. Kessinger has done the most reinforcement in my opinion, because he treats everyone the same, he is a jerk to all and has poor communication skills. Reinforcement is applying reinforcers with the goal of increasing the behavior.

2. Is Mr. Kessinger considering reciprocal causation in his class? Explain your response, including all aspects of reciprocal causation in your reasoning.
A.Reciprocal causation is interrelationships between students environment, their personal beliefs, and behavior. So he should be expecting it to happen because he affected all of the above so the students will change their ways to fit in his environment and his way of teaching so they can keep him happy.

3. Which self-regulated learning process is Robin engaging in when she creates her concept maps? Explain your reasoning.
A.Because she did her advanced planning by creating concept maps that is what puts her in this category of self-regulation. That is what self-regulated learning means.

4. How do you think Robin's self-efficacy has been affected by this experience. Be specific about which self-efficacies have been affected and justify your response with examples from the case study.
A.Many have been affected because of how her teacher treated her (self-concept, evaluation, efficacy, instructing, and monitoring) he treated her so bad that these will be affected until she gets some positive reinforcement on the same items that were already ripped apart.

Social and Moral Development (Ch. 4) Analysis Questions:

1. From a social development standpoint, how might we explain Laura's preoccupation with her appearance? In particular, consider this statement by Laura: "I don't want people to think I'm a geek!" Include information from Erikson's theory and social development in general in your response.
A. She is self centered, she thinks everyone is always paying attention to her. It is Identity Vs Role Confusion. She doesnt know exactly what she wants.

2. In suggesting that Laura join the debating class, Ms. Watkins is hoping to pique an interest in classroom subject matter by capitalizing on Laura's desire to be the center of attention. What two other strategies might the school faculty use to motivate students who seem to be more interested in social matters than in academic pursuits?
A. Put them in charge of a dance or some type of activity that they need to coordinate. Have some club type activities.

3. From the perspective of Kohlberg's theory, in which stage of moral development is Laura? Justify your response. How might Mr. Marcalescu help Laura to advance her moral reasoning?
A. She is in level 2 (Individualism and Exchange). She only does the thing that will benefit her.
A. Have her look up pollution created by gas vs other types of air pollutions out there. Then have her look at the difference between how they are used to contribute to the pollution. Then she might be able to support her answers better, or she might understand the other side and change her argument.

4. In what ways might a debating class contribute to students' cognitive, linguistic, social, and moral development?
A. Many ways, it will make them reserch their arguments, understand the language they are going to use, look at all the social reasons for debate and create stronger morals or team values, morally they will understand the pros and cons of both sides. Which all of this will make them more well rounded students.

Cognitive Development (Ch. 3) Analysis Questions:

1. From the perspective of Piaget's theory, in which stage of cognitive development is Laura? Justify your response.
A. Laura is in the formal operational stage, because she is showing logical systematic thinking.

2. How is Laura's reasoning affected by her knowledge base--that is, by what she does and doesn't know about pollution? Use terminology from Ch. 3 in your response.

A. Her thought process is very egocentric because she is only considering her own perspective, she is not open to any new ideas.

3. By posing a series of questions, Mr. Marculescu continually challenges Laura to reconsider her thinking about the pollution problem. What are potential benefits of this strategy? Use terminology from Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories in your response.
A. It is making he ruse self talk and inner speech. This process is also using a lot of scaffolding, the teacher is trying to support answers and make her do the same. Also assimilation is taking place in Lauras discussion, because she is trying to make sense of her current schemas.

4. How does this scenario represent Piaget's and Vygotsky's conceptions of play?
A. Because she is using objects that are available to support her argument.