Student Learners

Here we meet again, this time only to discuss one of the most important parts of a classroom, the students. Our student’s are the sole reasons we become teachers. Am I right? We want to help the younger generation achieve greatness. However, in order to do that we must first understand how student’s learn. Let’s dig a little deeper.

How do student’s develop and construct knowledge? How do the developmental characteristics by famous psychologists impact teaching and learning?… I believe that students learn by doing. I think that is the way that they are able to get real life experiences both in and outside of the classroom. There are four main psychologists who each have great models and theories.

What are the main benefits and limitations of the models and theories?.. First, lets start by explaining who they are. We have Piaget who created the stages of cognitive development which has four stages. In grade school, where I’ll be working we have the concrete operational stage. This is where children “Can think logically about concrete (hands-on) problems” (51). Some of the benefits to Piaget’s model include the fact that it is very consistent and coherent. However, some people believe that Piaget may have overlooked effects of culture, and even social group. The next person on the list is Vygotsky. He uses the scaffolding method, and takes students just outside of their comfort zone to reach new learning potential. Some benefits to his model are that he is more sensitive to diversity, but he can be very vague, and he has insufficient attention to development issues. After Vygotsky, we look at Erikson. Erikson created the stages of psychosocial development. there were many benefits to this model including a child creating identity diffusion. However, what if a child gets “stuck” at a certain stage? Then wouldn’t they fall behind from their peers in school? I feel that could be a great disadvantage to them learning. Lastly, we have Bronfenbrenner who created the bioecological model of  human development, and he also discussed the different types of parenting such as authoritative, and permissive. He had some positives to his model. For example, he explains that everything you do affects how you learn. If a teacher has a good learning environment, then it could positively affect their learning. However, on the contrary, if a teacher has a different style then the parenting then that could result in the student having a hard time with learning.

How can I take all of these theorists, and apply them to inform my future teaching?.. It is obvious that these models all work together inside of a classroom, and it is extremely important to incorporate all of them to help my student’s achieve higher learning. I am not a teacher yet, however I do work with an after school program. My school is an elementary school. I work with the age that Piaget would consider to be concrete operational. We do daily activities such as the question of the day. This requires my students to “dig deeper” and think of an answer. Vygotsky can be used in the future by having my students run a school store teaching them inferiority vs. industry. I will use scaffolding to help my students achieve what they almost know by challenging them. Lastly, I will take the time to understand my student’s not only as learners, but on a personal level. Getting to know my after school student’s on a personal level really helps me understand where they come from, and that can help me teach them.

I found this awesome video about a teacher who creates a handshake with all of his students. It is a great example of creating a one-on-one relationship with students

 

 

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