Module 2 Post

During the course of module 2, we have discussed development in people from birth to adulthood. From the module, it is clear to say that there is more than one way to define development and that is very evident by the many different people we studied as well. Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson, and Bronfenbrenner are people had different ideas and models to structure a person’s development. Alone they are nice but using all four to look at someone is a great way to determine what is development.

Piaget and Vygotsky focused on constructing knowledge with development. Their models deal more with younger kids and that knowledge is very important at that age in order for a kid to develop fully. Piaget had his stages of development; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. At each stage it was important to develop object permanence, a sense of egocentrism, conservation, and abstract and moral reasoning respectively. The strengths of this model are that it is consistent, coherent, and comprehensive but its weaknesses are its underestimation of abilities, that simplicity is not always good and his methods that he used. Vygotsky’s model main idea was the zone of proximal development. According to Woolfolk this is “the phase at which a child can master a task if given appropriate help and support” (p. 67), however in order to learn, the task must not be too easy or too hard because the person will get bored or frustrated. The strengths of his findings are that the environment plays an important role on the child, and its sensitivity to diversity. Its weaknesses are that it is too vague in that he doesn’t have any measurements or styles to define an individual, and that it lacks prototypical tasks.

Erikson and Bronfenbrenner focus on social and moral development rather than cognitive like the two above. Erikson had his eight stages of psychosocial development that help for a person’s identity throughout their life. These stages usually involve an outside force, whether that is another person or people but it is up to the individual to determine how they will react. Bronfenbrenner’s model was the bioecological model of human development and according to Woolfolk is the theory describing the social and cultural contexts that shape development in people (p. 86). This takes into account an environment the best as it looks at how every aspect of a person’s life and how it will impact them from a micro to macro level. These models work well in looking at an individual develops in the social world around them which is good because if you combine Piaget and Vygotsky’s ideas on cognitive development, it will help you understand how development occurs and at what stage in life. These concepts are important to take into teaching in the future because I will be dealing with kids going through the stages of development and being affected by all types of outside forces. It will help gauge where a person is at and what might be the best way to teach them the material that needs to be covered.

Another important aspect in development is how an individual’s peers impact and shape their lives. An article from Arizona State University outlines this very topic. Sharon Keeler talks about how peers can help a person learn assertiveness, conflict management, respect and control aggression, and discussing feelings (Keeler 2006). All these things are very important skills that need to be learned at school age in order for that person to thrive in the adult world in the future. Peers may come and go through a kid’s life but the lessons that they learn from every interaction will help them develop into a better person.

 

Keeler, Sharon (January 3, 2006). Not just child’s play: Children’s peer relationships have enormous influence on their lives. Arizona State University. Accessed from https://www.asu.edu/news/stories/200601/20060103_childsplay.htm.

Woolfolk, A. E. (2014). Educational Psychology: Active Learning Edition (12th ed.). Boston. Pearson.

Module 1 Post

Over the course of module 1, I have learned more and more about educational research. The aspects that make up the research, how its organized, and how to get it peer reviewed and out into journals or books. The one thing that I took away from it is how much teachers and educators are involved in the research that gets done. From talking in class and reading the article from NCTE, teachers and researchers have to be connected and involved in every aspect in order to get the most accurate results. According to the NCTE, research allows “teachers to make sound decisions about educational activities and experiences that will best serve students” (2005).

Also important is being information literate and how it is very important in becoming a better teacher. Being able to interpret information from research will help giving helpful feedback when looking to teach better. If a future teacher like me wasn’t literate, then how would I be able to become a better educator and I wouldn’t be doing my job very good if I wasn’t trying to evolve and further my abilities as a teacher. One source that I found talked about in today’s digital and social media age, there is a lot of information out there and all of it might not be the most reliable or accurate and being information literate is becoming more and more necessary when determining what to believe or not (Gardner 2016).

Another big part of module 1 was the topic of homework in school and if it is really helpful and can it change for the better of students. My personal thoughts on homework is that is it essential in order for students to continue to learn the material. However, I also believe that it should be engaging and more of a review from that day so the students can see the material again but on their own so it might help them. I found 4 articles that talk further about the topic of homework in the classroom. First is an article from Teaching Exceptional Children. In this article, the author stalks about being independent when doing homework and asking for help when you need it in order to maximize the learning from the homework. Also how developing a plan for homework will help in getting it done and on time (Hampshire, 2014). The next article talks about the time management aspect to homework and how kids put other things first. Also that relearning the main points is key to getting the students to learn more (Sallee, 2008). The next article highlights the reasons that students don’t do their homework and what they look to get out of the assignments in general (Wilson 2010). The fourth article I found talks about how getting a peer to review the homework assignment can be key in learning the skills from the topic (Zare 2017). I personally agree with these articles because although homework is essential to a student’s success, they also have many things outside of school that may obstruct their ability to complete it in a timely manner. That is why I think that teachers must be able to compromise and change what the homework is like in order to get the students to learn all the material.

 

Gardner, L. (2016, November). Teaching information literacy now. School library journal. Retrieved on February 6, 2017 from http://www.slj.com/2016/11/industry-news/teaching-media-literacy-now/#

Hampshire, P.K. (2014). Homework plans: a tool for promoting independence. Teaching Exceptional Children, 46(6), 158-168.

Sallee, B. (2008, November). Doing our homework on homework: how does homework help? Retrieved January 31, 2017 from libproxu.uww.edu:2075/stable/40503382

Wilson, J. (2010). Student perspectives on homework. Education, 131(2), 351-358.

Zare, R. (2017). Implementation of peer-reviewed homework assignments. Journal of college science teaching. Vol 46. 40-46.