Module Response: Developmental Psychology


When students tackle abstract problems they should build on fundamental and basic ideas before tackling more abstract questions. Technology can be used to help explore abstract problems and build toward better understanding. As the knowledge of our brain, its functions and how leaning takes place it will lead to new ways to better foster creativity and understanding of abstract ideas. In the video on learning the brain the notion of mentioning stimuli that are unrelated can be used to foster increased creativity amongst students is a great example of using new understanding to foster greater education.

On the other hand according to Vygotsky’s socio-cultural perspective, learning doesn’t follow a progression simply based on traveling from on stage to the next but is dependent on cultural factors. Some of this can be applied easily within a classroom. If students work in collaborative groups (as mine do) students within a group can be at different stages of cultural development. Some members of the group will be more advanced based on their experiences. They can assist in guiding others to develop socially and grow individually. By mixing the groups accordingly, difficult problems can be solved. If the problem is still beyond the scope of the group they can use technology to research the problem, communicate, and reach out to others who are slightly more culturally developed and increase cultural exposure. This ability to communicate with the “world around them” is a great asset. This can be accomplished by using message boards, instant messaging, phone conferencing etc.


In the case of Piaget’s organization, students should be pushed toward some level of disequilibrium in order to test what they know to be true. This is accomplished by giving them information that does not fit there existing scheme. Why do objects fall? Most students know that they fall because of gravity, depending on age and development. But when asked what would fall faster a bowling ball or a feather, most students would choose the bowling ball. This is the teachers chance to create some measure of disequilibrium. According to Piaget this problem should be solved by reliance on pears at a similar stage of development. To further create confusion, students could be presented with this problem suing technology. They could be shown a vide clip of this actually taking place, where a scientist uses a vacuum and demonstrates that they fall at the same speed. The students would then be asked to solve this problem as a group, leading to concepts that have not yet been learned (wind resistance). The teacher is posing the problem with what is known and guiding the students toward greater development. In this case of the three types of knowledge students were engaged in an interpersonal nature though not culturally per say. It would be difficult to address this issue in many science lessons, but outside of school by using blogs, Pod Casts, instant messaging, video conferencing/communication, Skype and other technological means others with similar cultural backgrounds are a click away. To test this knowledge problems could be posed differently again forcing students to solve new problems such as why hang-gliders and parachutes work or even using this newly learned principle to design a glider.

Module Response: Complex Cognitive Processes

There are many challenging topics in the Earth Science curriculum. This can become transparent when dealing with younger students (8th grade as apposed to 11th grade) trying to learn complex and abstract concepts. Having the ability to solve problems is skill needed to be successful. They have to relate topics and understand different prototypes correctly, while seeing if new ideas fit using exemplars.
One such topic that comes to mind is that of climates. It is a topic grounded in basic and pre-existing knowledge. It is also challenging for students. In Bruner’s Discovery learning this topic can be approached by providing basic questions and ideas as a jumping off point so students can find the fundamental idea even as a concept becomes increasingly abstract. How does weather and climate vary around the world? What causes these variations? How is the weather different near the poles and near the equator? Now how do these differences in climate relate to the model they created? By having only one continent what affect does this have on global climate? This would be a great way to start before creating the model that then is used to organize their climate types and lead to their discovery of the interrelated nature of each factor. An advanced organizer can be used to relate images associated with specific climates.
According to Ausubel's exposition teaching this topic needs to be introduced with a statement that organizes the information. A perfect example would be to start with a color coordinated map of the United States broken up into climate regions using symbols. Simple questions could be posed for each area relating to prior fundamental knowledge obtained from earlier grades. Most students know what a desert is, can relate images to deserts or that a tropical region is warm and rainy. Visuals could be used to represent key relationships cues with each type of climate such as a picture of a cactus for deserts or an ice berg for a polar region. What students may struggle with is the deeper understanding of the driving forces behind these conditions. Is it hot because of its latitude, global wind belts, ocean currents, latitude or altitude? In a science class this can be incorporated into a lab where students create an imaginary earth with one continent as apposed to the way they are familiar with. As they add each complex feature onto their simple model they will reinforce their prior knowledge with actual reasons for each specific climate type and ratio. The students will have to use problem solving skills as they are dealing with an imaginary planet, this will make them identify key principles and apply them to the new situation. They can graph temperature ranges, rain fall and other climate factors to add greater depth to reinforce each climate factor.

Metacognition and Self-Regulation

The idea of metacognition brings back memories of philosophy classes taken years ago. The notion of thinking about thinking is a key role in the practical world as well as simply having a theoretical basis. As discussed in the reading there are two types of learners, novice learners and expert learners. As students go through the educational system they should with experience become an expert. I find with my students most of the students (8th grade) are novices. They know they need to study and that substantial time is needed but in many cases do not have an effective plan to approach the studying. I personally wouldn’t say that I was truly and expert until my senior year in high school, upon learning these skills I immediately noticed a vast improvement in my performance in school. As Halter notes by taking time to thinking about learning and is able to adjust their behavior based on their results. The learners need clear and challenging goals that help them not just evaluate themselves but also to have a point to progress toward. This idea was stated by Woolfolk and Schunk in the reading.
I think that these ideas are both necessary and important in the development of success full students. While the goals need to be realistic and time management comes into play we all need to thing about not just thinking but learning in general.
There are many approaches to applying these ideas in the classroom. Often students learn best from other students. By utilizing technology students can have easy access to what their peers are doing and gain insight into their own behaviors and how to overcome obstacles in order to reach their goals. An example would be to set up a reflective Blog where students can voice their opinions on assignments, give advice on how they study etc. Another way to help guide students would be with teacher directed questions. These questions could be asked as part of a survey or simply in the form of an in-class discussion or debate on learning or a specific topic of some controversial basis that may spark interest. This will bring new insight for many and help to narrow the gap between expert and novice learners.
As educators the process of thought and learning about learning is a cornerstone for success. The sooner students can reflect on this process the better chance they have of meeting the ever increasing goals, in both the short and long term.