Understand—How does transfer relate to problem solving and creativity?
Transfer, according to Ormrod, is "phenomenon in which something a person has learned at one time affects how the person learns or performs in a later situation." Problem solving involves using existing knowledge to fix or address a situation. This is transfer in action; an individual must know information to be able to assist others. The difficulty of the problem does not matter because transfer will be occurring regardless. If a problem is easy it is a result of a positive transfer of information. On the other hand, when a problem is challenging or confusing, it may be a result of a negative transfer that is confusing the individual because they recalled the wrong type of information. Existing information is crucial in transfer because it is often a help to the learning process but in rare cases it can hinder later learning. Creativity utilizes transfer because it involves past knowledge or learned abilities. An example would be in a high school history class where a student is required to give a presentation on a historical figure; the students previous knowledge of a figure will allow him more self-efficacy and, in turn, he can take more risks in his presentation. This is because transfer through creativity is brought about by divergent thinking, a process that has many results coming from a similar starting point.
Synthesizing/Creating—Write a story where students can easily use the covert strategy of identifying important information.
In a high school history class a teacher has a midterm coming up that is sure to evaluate many of the terms from the course. Instead of just telling the students what to study, the teacher provides an objective list before each lesson. In the objective list there are many boldface terms so they stand out to the students. This should encourage them to take more notes about these terms and pay more attention when reviewing that term or figure. Another great option would be to ask questions that relate to the more important terms in a lesson. These questions could be related to a specific topic but could encourage the students to form a visual image of what it going on with the term. Ormrod says that covert strategy is a "learning strategy that involves only mental activity...(e.g., forming a visual image of a concept).
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Service Learning-Hypothetically Serving
Service Learning is a great way for students to not only learn about something and themselves but to also give back to the community around them. One of my goals as an educator is to impact not only the people in my school but also in the community. I believe that if I encourage my students to help out in the community that it will help their own personal development as well with their education.
A hypothetical example I could implement into a high school history class would be asking my students to help serve food at a soup kitchen. I could offer this service project during a unit on the Great Depression so my students could draw parallels between the community service and the struggles of the people during the 1930's in America.
In Eggen and Kauchak's Windows on Educational Psychology they point out that in Knowledge Construction there is a "shift in emphasis from presenting information and toward providing the experiences and promoting the interaction that help students construct valid knowledge (198)."
My hopes would be that the students remember the content better through association. A different environment can really impact the way a student remembers things. My aim is that the students reactions are positive and long-lasting. I also want them to learn that giving back is crucial to their development as global citizens.
Some obstacles could be the day in which this could all happen; it makes the most sense for this activity to be on a Saturday. Saturday is a tough day for students to get out and do something with school because of work and lack of transportation. If it was during the week it could also be challenging because filed trips are difficult to organize due to budget constraints. Another obstacle could be if students react emotionally when they are working with homeless or less fortunate people.
Ormrad talks about service learning and the importance of enhancing students learning by being "sources of pleasure and success rater than sources of frustration and failure (232)." Giving students an opportunity to give back will increase their feeling of self-efficacy and impact them in a positive way.
A hypothetical example I could implement into a high school history class would be asking my students to help serve food at a soup kitchen. I could offer this service project during a unit on the Great Depression so my students could draw parallels between the community service and the struggles of the people during the 1930's in America.
In Eggen and Kauchak's Windows on Educational Psychology they point out that in Knowledge Construction there is a "shift in emphasis from presenting information and toward providing the experiences and promoting the interaction that help students construct valid knowledge (198)."
My hopes would be that the students remember the content better through association. A different environment can really impact the way a student remembers things. My aim is that the students reactions are positive and long-lasting. I also want them to learn that giving back is crucial to their development as global citizens.
Some obstacles could be the day in which this could all happen; it makes the most sense for this activity to be on a Saturday. Saturday is a tough day for students to get out and do something with school because of work and lack of transportation. If it was during the week it could also be challenging because filed trips are difficult to organize due to budget constraints. Another obstacle could be if students react emotionally when they are working with homeless or less fortunate people.
Ormrad talks about service learning and the importance of enhancing students learning by being "sources of pleasure and success rater than sources of frustration and failure (232)." Giving students an opportunity to give back will increase their feeling of self-efficacy and impact them in a positive way.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Case Study:
In my case study there is a group of seniors who are cutting up in class. They are disruptive, disrespectful, and even roughhousing in class; after they do that, they do not comply when they are asked to follow the rules that were established at the beginning of the year.
---Behaviorist Intervention:
There are some behaviorist techniques that can definitely be used to address this case study. The first thing to do would be to identify some effective reinforcers that could be used to encourage productive behavior or to discourage undesirable behavior. These reinforcers could be both negative or positive to evoke a desirable response from the students.
An example of a positive reinforcement that I could try to implement would be giving positive praise to the group of seniors when they participate and do their work like the others. A poor instance of positive reinforcement would be if I scolded them after they cut up but they only continued to disrupt and be noncompliant. An example of negative reinforcement could be if I take away some class busywork to lighten the stress level of my students; this could allow these seniors to relax and not have to act out. A poor version of negative reinforcement could be taking away the students participation grades for that day and telling them that their grades would suffer because of that; this would only serve as a bigger stressor on the students and almost ensure more acting out by the seniors.
Behaviorists also would argue that punishments can be used to remedy this situation. Punishments are used when the desired outcome is to decrease a behavior. An example of a presentation punishment would be if I looked over to the area with the students acting up to try and signal them of their behavior. An example of removal punishment would be if I required the students to stay five minutes after class before lunch; by taking away free time, I would be hoping to make them realize that their actions were disrespectful to the group.
In Eggen and Kauchak's 9th edition of Windows on Classrooms- Educational Psychology, they explain that punishment is effective in decreasing undesirable behavior but not so much when trying to affect desirable behavior. The argument is that reinforcement systems are superior because of their duality. (301)
Regardless of the behaviorist process that is used self-efficacy and self-regulation can come into play with the students. Ormrad describes self-efficacy as a belief that one is capable of executing certain behaviors or achieving specific goals. The students could believe that they already have a full understanding of your class subject and are just bored and looking ahead to graduation. A student may even have a work-avoidance goal that they are trying-and succeeding in achieving. Conversely, some students will have a desire to self-regulate their own behavior or achievements. These students could be acting out because they want to control the attention they are receiving.
In my case study there is a group of seniors who are cutting up in class. They are disruptive, disrespectful, and even roughhousing in class; after they do that, they do not comply when they are asked to follow the rules that were established at the beginning of the year.
---Behaviorist Intervention:
There are some behaviorist techniques that can definitely be used to address this case study. The first thing to do would be to identify some effective reinforcers that could be used to encourage productive behavior or to discourage undesirable behavior. These reinforcers could be both negative or positive to evoke a desirable response from the students.
An example of a positive reinforcement that I could try to implement would be giving positive praise to the group of seniors when they participate and do their work like the others. A poor instance of positive reinforcement would be if I scolded them after they cut up but they only continued to disrupt and be noncompliant. An example of negative reinforcement could be if I take away some class busywork to lighten the stress level of my students; this could allow these seniors to relax and not have to act out. A poor version of negative reinforcement could be taking away the students participation grades for that day and telling them that their grades would suffer because of that; this would only serve as a bigger stressor on the students and almost ensure more acting out by the seniors.
Behaviorists also would argue that punishments can be used to remedy this situation. Punishments are used when the desired outcome is to decrease a behavior. An example of a presentation punishment would be if I looked over to the area with the students acting up to try and signal them of their behavior. An example of removal punishment would be if I required the students to stay five minutes after class before lunch; by taking away free time, I would be hoping to make them realize that their actions were disrespectful to the group.
In Eggen and Kauchak's 9th edition of Windows on Classrooms- Educational Psychology, they explain that punishment is effective in decreasing undesirable behavior but not so much when trying to affect desirable behavior. The argument is that reinforcement systems are superior because of their duality. (301)
Regardless of the behaviorist process that is used self-efficacy and self-regulation can come into play with the students. Ormrad describes self-efficacy as a belief that one is capable of executing certain behaviors or achieving specific goals. The students could believe that they already have a full understanding of your class subject and are just bored and looking ahead to graduation. A student may even have a work-avoidance goal that they are trying-and succeeding in achieving. Conversely, some students will have a desire to self-regulate their own behavior or achievements. These students could be acting out because they want to control the attention they are receiving.
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