Module 1 Chapters 1, 2 & 3
Reading through the three chapters, Chapter 1, 2 & 3, in Educational Psychology for Module 1 was a great start to understanding the information that I am hoping to learn for my teaching career. Chapter 1 was an introductory chapter for the textbook in which terms were defined and types of studies clarified. There were a couple of important points for this chapter. The first point being that it is important to define your terms whenever you begin a conversation or teaching platform, everyone must be on the same page in order to communicate clearly. The author clearly points out what educational psychology is, "the study of development, learning, motivation, teaching and assessment in and out of schools. (Woolfolk, 2019)" This chapter also clearly lays out that being a good teacher is essential for student success and bad teaching leads to very low student performance. A good teacher teaches well, so what defines good teaching was also defined. The second main point of the chapter was explaining the different types of studies that are performed in educational psychology, examples given of each type and descriptions of what information could and could not be taken from each type of study.
Chapter 1 had a lot of good information that will aid in understanding the rest of the book. Misconceptions of terminology can cause confusion instead of learning. The importance of understanding the limitations of the different types of studies, from observations, correlations and experimental is vital to understand when causation can be inferred or simply seeing a relationship's strength and direction. This section was a little hard to visualize until I found the videos which explained correlations and causations better than when I read the textbook. I very much connected to the importance of having a good teacher as I have experienced good teachers in my academic past which led to stretching and growing as a person, inspiration and success.
Cognitive development was the topic of Chapter 2 and reading this chapter was where it got interesting, no offense chapter 1. The anatomy of the brain and how it looks, where certain functions occur was very interesting. As I have studied the brain before, when I initially went to college as a younger person, I loved having the layout re-explained and being exposed to new research in the text as so much more has been discovered in this field. The physical difference in a child's development, an adolescent and an adult explains quite a lot as I have been observing six children develop over the years. The applications for brain-based research applied to education seems to have a bit of controversy, but I thought that would be a very interesting career path, to take the studies from neurologists and properly interpret them into practical educational methods. I would love the interaction of pure science and applied knowledge that would be necessary to be successful in that endeavor. We have already briefly studied Piaget & Vygothsky's theories in previous classes but this textbook's organization and explanation clarified, compared & contrasted the theories and added new research as well. All of these theories and thoughts were enjoyable to read and pivotal to have in my understanding as tools to further study in education.
Starting Chapter 3 I had no idea what to expect, but I admit I rather did not anticipate that it would ring true to life experience. The physical development seemed very on cue to what I have experienced in my life but the idea of self-concept, and moral development, I thought might be difficult to explain without references to the soul. I believe when leaving out the idea of the soul and the spiritual dimensions a lot is lost in the understanding of a person as a "whole" and therefore theories seem to lack, to be incomplete. I have seen people "pass away" and know how differently the person's "presence" is no longer felt after they have died, their body left behind, completely altered. If a person does consist of body, mind and spirit and psychology purposely leaves out this realm, it seems as if it would be rather an incomplete application of understanding. However, the text did do an excellent job of explaining frameworks of development, at least to my amateur mind. The framework of development in these spheres explains where the influence and learning originate, the types of parenting, the bioecological model experienced during development. Culture and faith are part of the formation, the development. According to the text, even our regional location may somehow affect ideas of divorce. Therefore, taken as a whole, there are innumerable influences in a child's development, from racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, political, economic, experiences including indulgences and abuses, the complexity of a human's make-up is staggering.
Erikson's stages do again give a general framework for understanding stages of identity formation as well as James Marcia's theory of identity statuses. Kohlberg's theories on moral development were also appreciated as understanding a framework as well as the criticisms, especially Gilligan's criticisms were eye-opening to relating to how morality develops. Having an open mind to the theories surely allows understanding basic frameworks of the different developmental theories will help relate and aid in teaching all types of people. I think that considering all of the cultures that a teacher may encounter in the classroom, having an open mind to try and understand where the student is coming from, understanding their culture, is pivotal to working with the student and these developmental theories are important to accomplish that task. I do have to add how important reading new research for non-Western cultures, especially if I do have a student from such a culture, can make all the difference in being a good teacher.
Chapter 1 had a lot of good information that will aid in understanding the rest of the book. Misconceptions of terminology can cause confusion instead of learning. The importance of understanding the limitations of the different types of studies, from observations, correlations and experimental is vital to understand when causation can be inferred or simply seeing a relationship's strength and direction. This section was a little hard to visualize until I found the videos which explained correlations and causations better than when I read the textbook. I very much connected to the importance of having a good teacher as I have experienced good teachers in my academic past which led to stretching and growing as a person, inspiration and success.
Cognitive development was the topic of Chapter 2 and reading this chapter was where it got interesting, no offense chapter 1. The anatomy of the brain and how it looks, where certain functions occur was very interesting. As I have studied the brain before, when I initially went to college as a younger person, I loved having the layout re-explained and being exposed to new research in the text as so much more has been discovered in this field. The physical difference in a child's development, an adolescent and an adult explains quite a lot as I have been observing six children develop over the years. The applications for brain-based research applied to education seems to have a bit of controversy, but I thought that would be a very interesting career path, to take the studies from neurologists and properly interpret them into practical educational methods. I would love the interaction of pure science and applied knowledge that would be necessary to be successful in that endeavor. We have already briefly studied Piaget & Vygothsky's theories in previous classes but this textbook's organization and explanation clarified, compared & contrasted the theories and added new research as well. All of these theories and thoughts were enjoyable to read and pivotal to have in my understanding as tools to further study in education.
Starting Chapter 3 I had no idea what to expect, but I admit I rather did not anticipate that it would ring true to life experience. The physical development seemed very on cue to what I have experienced in my life but the idea of self-concept, and moral development, I thought might be difficult to explain without references to the soul. I believe when leaving out the idea of the soul and the spiritual dimensions a lot is lost in the understanding of a person as a "whole" and therefore theories seem to lack, to be incomplete. I have seen people "pass away" and know how differently the person's "presence" is no longer felt after they have died, their body left behind, completely altered. If a person does consist of body, mind and spirit and psychology purposely leaves out this realm, it seems as if it would be rather an incomplete application of understanding. However, the text did do an excellent job of explaining frameworks of development, at least to my amateur mind. The framework of development in these spheres explains where the influence and learning originate, the types of parenting, the bioecological model experienced during development. Culture and faith are part of the formation, the development. According to the text, even our regional location may somehow affect ideas of divorce. Therefore, taken as a whole, there are innumerable influences in a child's development, from racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, political, economic, experiences including indulgences and abuses, the complexity of a human's make-up is staggering.
Erikson's stages do again give a general framework for understanding stages of identity formation as well as James Marcia's theory of identity statuses. Kohlberg's theories on moral development were also appreciated as understanding a framework as well as the criticisms, especially Gilligan's criticisms were eye-opening to relating to how morality develops. Having an open mind to the theories surely allows understanding basic frameworks of the different developmental theories will help relate and aid in teaching all types of people. I think that considering all of the cultures that a teacher may encounter in the classroom, having an open mind to try and understand where the student is coming from, understanding their culture, is pivotal to working with the student and these developmental theories are important to accomplish that task. I do have to add how important reading new research for non-Western cultures, especially if I do have a student from such a culture, can make all the difference in being a good teacher.
Self concept and moral development is difficult to explain and understand without discussing the soul. The soul is what some may argue as to what actually makes the person who they are. The framework of developments that were presented I found to be helpful as well especially when the discussion of culture and faith played a part. These two things are crucial to understanding an individual's development. Faith and culture are going to be very different especially in a public school environment, which will influence how the student develops and learns. Your note on reading research about different cultures I think is so crucial and beneficial especially if you have students from different cultures. Knowing and understanding who they are is critical in knowing the best ways to teach the student.
ReplyDeleteI loved the connection you made between the students success and having a good teacher. I think it is very beneficial for the students to make a connection with the teacher or just feel comfortable in the classroom. I also enjoyed how you explained and connected to the frame work of all the different things that influence a child's physical, moral, social, and other areas of development.
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