Module 4

Chapter nine is titled “Complex Cognitive Processes”. Some of the main topics that are discussed in this chapter are things such as Metacognition, learning strategies, problem-solving, and critical thinking. I find the term metacognition to be quite a conundrum because it is the process of thinking about thinking. This is a hard term for most people to wrap their heads around because it is a very intangible thing to think about. What is thinking? What is going on inside of my own head? Those questions are hard enough for me to ponder, getting a student to ponder those questions is way harder.  My favorite thing that was discussed in this chapter was critical thinking. Critical thinking skills can take a person very far in a field that they do not have much knowledge in. This is why when I am teaching I will be focussing on improving my student's critical thinking skills more than any other skill in my class. In thirteen years, most students won’t need to remember the name of the elements on the periodic table. Content like that is somewhat important, but only so for the class I am teaching or if-if the student goes into the field of science as a profession.
The next chapter that the class had to read this week was chapter ten. The two main goals in this chapter are discussing constructivism and designing effective learning environments. The most interesting thing that I came across in this chapter was social negotiation. Social negotiation is the “belief that higher mental processes develop through social negotiation and interaction” (Woodfolk pg. 387). I find this to be very interesting because many of my teachers throughout all of my schooling were very against any type of collaboration other with the teacher when they had asked a question. My favorite way of learning is by collaborating with other people. Working with others have taught me not only strategies from the subject the class pertained to, but also things like reading skills and studying skill (things I desperately needed). 

The last chapter that was assigned to the class to read this week was chapter 11. The main topics discussed in this chapter were social cognitive views of learning and motivation. The social cognitive theory was largely formed from the large contribution of a man named Alber Bandura. He believed that students should not be given rewards or punished for the results that they received, but the effort that they put towards getting the results they got. One of the biggest concepts that he was a believer in was modeling. This is the process of a person learning through observing another human being. By using someone as a model, a student can replicate that person actions and, in turn, learn the skill the model was using. My favorite topic that is discussed in this chapter is self-regulated learning. I am the type of person who loves learning, but only what I care about. For example, I have taught myself things like computer repair, multiple computer languages, and video game design. The biggest component of me teaching myself managing my time when tackling a project. I am the type of person who needs a plethora of breaks. These breaks can be anything from watching a youtube video to working on another project. I know that I learn content best in small bursts so I can synthesize what I learn. It took me a long time to realize my best learning practices and I hope to help students come to understand their best method of self-learning so that they don’t have to go through the mental torture I have put myself through over the years.

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