Moral teaching is very important especially in the formative years of children…when the children are innocent and still open to be molded ….It gives them an idea of how to differentiate between the rights and wrongs and to listen to the voice of their conscience.. as they grow older and mature they learn to think more independently and are free to make their choices.
Physiological needs
-School breakfast and lunch programs.
– Appropriate room temprature.
– Bathroom and drink breaks.
Safety needs
– Prepare well-planned and structured lessons.
– Establish clear rules and expetations.
Belongingness and love needs
– Get to know the students and be supportive.
– Be available and listen.
Esteem needs
– Focus on strengths, not weaknesses.
– Be alert to student difficulties
– Create a positive environment.
Self-actualization
– Provide opportunity for exploration.
– Expect students to do their best.
Question 1
By providing examples explain how Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs relates to a student’s motivation to study well.
Maslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on.
This hierarchy is most often displayed as a pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid are made up of the most basic needs, while the more complex needs are located at the top of the pyramid. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the need for food, water, sleep, and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met, people can move on to the next level of needs.
The first stage is “physiological needs,” which refer to breathing, excretion, food, water and sleep. Considering the need for sleep and food further we can see areas of this stage that can seriously affect how a child performs in school. For instance, without a proper diet and reasonable amount of sleep children’s concentration will decline and their minds will be focused on other things such as hunger. As a direct result of this the child will lack the energy and motivation required to actively participate in activities throughout the school day and this could affect their performance in the classroom, consequently for a better performance the psychological needs should be fulfilled.
Once the physiological needs of a child are met they can move on to the second stage which concerns “safety.” This is a broad area to consider and needs for physical safety, a secure environment and emotional safety need to be met. If these needs are not fulfilled the children cannot pay attention to the lesson resulting poor academic performance. Example, Children who live in unstable homes may not have the same sense of safety other children may have. For them the idea of safety is getting through the day without having thoughts to worry about like “Will mummy hit me” or “Will daddy be there when I get home.” Unfortunately in some cases children live in continuous fear of their home life causing demotivation to study and become more troublesome in school not only disrupting their own learning but the learning of others.
Moving on to the third stage of the hierarchy “belonging” this is the point where a child wants to feel loved and accepted in several areas of their lives. Their family can provide them with unconditional love which may be enough but many children will want more than this. Schools can provide children with many extra-curricular activities such as sports, creative activities and homework clubs that encourage a child’s sense of belonging to a community. Extra-curricular activities, whether in or outside of school help children to form friendships beyond their family members and in turn provides children with more avenues of support. Belonging to these types of clubs can help children develop many new social skills and other abilities that can aid them in the educational performance.
The fourth stage children seek to meet their needs for self-esteem. This area of their needs can work in line with the previous stage as children seek to gain the respect of others in aspects of their life. At this point in their development the idea of achievement is one of the most forward of a child’s thoughts; the take pride in their accomplishments. It is important that as teachers we provide children with the opportunity not only to accomplish goals but also receive praise and recognition for meeting those goals. The thought of working at something that was difficult or very time consuming and completing the task is one that children flourish under. Moreover knowing that someone will take notice and recognize what they have achieved is even more inspiring for a child which fallouts a better performance.
The final stage of the hierarchy of needs is “self-actualization”. Self-actualization is not possible to all of the previous needs detailed in his theory were met; I believe that children can potentially meet the required needs outlined in the other stages of the model. They too set goals for themselves and in some cases children aspire to achieve something later on in their life from a very young age. So if a child for example believes that they are born to be a doctor, if they know what they have to do to achieve that and set themselves goals that act as milestones along that journey.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is directly related to learning through motivation. In order for students to succeed in the classroom, they must be motivated to learn. When all levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are met, students are at their full potential for learning.
Question 2
Explain why morality is a concern for students at school. Provide examples.
Morality is the distinction between right and wrong. It is the determination of what should be done and what should not be done. Morals deal with behaviors as well as motives. Now a days the public worries about whether children are becoming good people. We can encounter steady rise in greed, delinquency, and disrespect. And the public holds schools largely responsible for remedying these troubles.
Many character education efforts in schools now focus on everything from community service to teaching students virtues, building good habits, rewarding positive behavior, and developing students’ capacity for moral reasoning. There is value in these solutions. Students surely benefit from performing community service, being reminded of important virtues, and practicing good habits.
But we have been wringing our hands and trying these solutions for decades, in some cases for two centuries, without fundamentally changing students’ moral prospects. The moral development of students does not depend primarily on clear character education efforts but on the maturity and ethical capacities of the adults with whom they interact—especially parents, but also teachers, coaches, and other community adults.
Educators influence students’ moral development not simply by being good role models but also by what they bring to their relationships with students day to day: their ability to appreciate students’ perspectives and to disentangle them from their own, their ability to admit and learn from moral error, their moral energy and idealism, their generosity, and their ability to help students develop moral thinking without shying away from their own moral authority.
“He never forced his opinions on us, unless of course we were doing something really wrong. In most cases he preferred for us to work things out on our own. Often when we asked a question, he did not give a complete answer but rather drew us into discussions that resulted in a commonly agreed on answer or decision.” -Gita L. Vygodskaya-
Vygotsky’s daughter, Gita L. Vygotskaya
I remember it was late May. In class we had an important final coming up. I had a very serious attitude toward it, and was rather anxious. It so happened that I did well on the exam and got a high mark. I returned home in high spirit and was doubly over joyed: my father was home! When he asked me what was new in school, I proudly told him of my success, and added with ill-concealed pleasure that the girl sitting next to me could not copy from me as I had turned the page of the notebook, and because of this got a poorer grade than me. I was beaming and expecting praise, looked at father. I was surprised at the expression on his face: he looked very disappointed. I could not understand what was wrong. May be he did not realize I passed? After a short silence he began to speak, slowly and deliberately so I would remember everything he said. He told me that it was not nice to be happy of others misfortunes, that only selfish people enjoyed it. He went on saying that I should always try to help those who need it, and it’s only for those who help others that the life is rewarding and brings true joy. I remember I was very upset from his words and asked what I should do now. As always in these situations he offered me a solution: he did not want me to feel like once I did something wrong I was now incapable of doing good. He suggested to me that I go and ask my classmate about what she didn’t understand, and try to patiently explain it to her, and if I couldn’t do it so she would understand perfectly, then he would be glad to help me. “But here is the most important thing”, he added, “you must do all this so your friend be sure you really want to help her, and really mean her well, and so it would not be unpleasant for her to accept your help”. More than 60 years have passed since this incident and I still remember all of his words and try to follow them as best I can in life. -Gita L. Vygodskaya- (Vygotsky’s daughter)
Vygotsky with his daughter
1. By providing examples explain how the following two theories apply to the classroom.
a. Operant conditioning
Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning uses both positive and negative reinforcements to encourage good and wanted behavior while discouraging bad and unwanted behavior. Psychologists have observed that we every action has a consequence, and if this is good, the person is more likely to do it again in the future. However, if the consequence isn’t so great, it is likely the individual will avoid doing it in a similar situation next time round. It is through this process that we develop our behaviors and begin to understand what is appropriate and useful, and what isn’t.
Example: Ahmed was a primary child of average intelligence who was a “behavior problem. He continually told other children what to do, and enforced his demands with aggressive behavior.
Positive reinforcement: Whenever he is being good, cooperative, solves things non-aggressively, immediately reward those behaviors with praise, attention, goodies.
Negative reinforcement: One way would be to couple negative reinforcement with ‘time out’ (separating him from other students), after some period of time in which he has acted cooperatively or calmly while in the absence of others, can bring him back with others. Thus, taking away the isolation should reinforce the desired behavior (being cooperative).
b. Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is a type of learning that had a major influence on the school of thought in psychology known as behaviorism. Discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus.
Behaviorism is based on the assumption that learning occurs through interactions with the environment. Two other assumptions of this theory are that the environment shapes behavior and that taking internal mental states such as thoughts, feelings, and emotions into consideration is useless in explaining behavior.
Students who have learned to associate threatening or fearful situations with classroom experiences can have a more difficult time. For instance, students often pair mathematical exams with test anxiety and pressure. This conditioned response may be based on early experiences in grade school, where a child was, for instance, given a high-pressure, timed exam. Even when she is older, the student may have autonomic responses, such as sweating and increased heart rate, when simply thinking about taking an exam or when faced with difficult math problems. In the classroom, teachers can be cognizant of the effects of classical conditioning on test anxiety and create learning and test environment that reinforces a feel of calm and focus. When a student takes tests in a low pressure, positive environment over time, the classically conditioned response will become “extinguished,” or disappear.
2. Provide an example for each, Assimilation and Accommodation.
Assimilation and Accommodation are processes of adaptation that we use to internalize the outside world. In Assimilation, the outside world is incorporated into the inside world while in Accommodation the internal world has to accommodate itself to the outside. The theory of Assimilation and Accommodation was developed by a child psychologist, Jean Piajet.
Example:
Assimilation
Two years old Shixy has learned the schema (four legged and furry) for cat when she sees cats in her backyard. Once her mother took her to a friend’s house where she saw a goat and said “mom, there is a cat.” She assimilates this new animal into an existing schema.
Accommodation
Shixy’s mother tells her “No, it is a goat.” She accommodates her schema for four legged furry animals and continues to modify that schema to include goat, horse etc.
3. List 6 scaffolding strategies that you can use in a lesson.
Teaching effectively is not an easy task; teachers are mandated by their respective curricula to achieve certain outcomes, but how those outcomes are achieved is up to the teachers. It is difficult for teachers to organize the subject matter in a comprehensible way which would allow the students to be able to understand and work with it. The technique of scaffolding provides a rational and clear approach to organizing the course material.
Scaffolding is the teaching technique that involves providing students with the supports needed to complete a task or facilitate their learning of new concepts. It provides an ideal opportunity to use the students’ prior knowledge of that area. This prior knowledge should be used to support for the new material. Ideally the new information should be placed at a level just above the knowledge the students already possess, as proposed in Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. The purpose of scaffolding is to promote student success!
So here are some scaffolding strategies we can use in a lesson.
1. Show and Tell
Modeling for students is a cornerstone of scaffolding in my experience. Every chance you have, show or demonstrate to students exactly what they are expected to do. Always show students the outcome or product before they do it. If a teacher assigns a persuasive essay or inquiry-based science project, a model should be presented side-by-side with a criteria chart or rubric. You can guide students through each step of the process, model in-hand of the finished product.
2. Tap into Prior Knowledge
Ask students to share their own experiences, hunches, and ideas about the content or concept of study and have them relate and connect it to their own lives. Sometimes you may have to offer hints and suggestions, leading them to the connections a bit, but once they get there, they will grasp it as their own.
3. Give Time to Talk
All learners need time to process new ideas and information. They also need time to verbally make sense of and articulate their learning with the community of learners who are also engaged in the same experience and journey. As we all know, structured discussions really work best with children regardless of their level of maturation. If you aren’t weaving in think-pair-share, turn-and-talk, and triad teams or some other structured talking time throughout the lesson, you should begin including this crucial strategy on a regular basis.
4. Pre-Teach Vocabulary
Sometimes referred to as frontloading vocabulary, this is a strategy that we teachers don’t use enough. Many teachers are guilty of sending students all alone down the bumpy, muddy path known as Challenging Text – a road booby trapped with difficult vocabulary. We send them ill prepared and then we are often shocked when they: a) lose interest b) create a ruckus c) fall asleep.
5. Use Visual Aids
Graphic organizers, pictures, and charts can all serve as scaffolding tools. Graphic organizers are very specific in that they help kids visually represent their ideas, organize information, and grasp concepts such as sequencing and cause and effect.
6. Pause, Ask Questions, Pause, Review
This is a wonderful way to check for understanding while students read a chunk of difficult text or learn a new concept or content. A new idea from discussion or the reading is shared, then pause (providing think time), then ask a strategic question, pausing again. By strategic, you need to design them ahead of time, make sure they are specific, guiding and open-ended questions. (Great questions fail without giving think time for responses so hold out during that Uncomfortable Silence.) Keep kids engaged as active listeners by calling on someone to “give the gist” of what was just discussed / discovered / questioned. If the class seems stuck by the questions, provide an opportunity for students to discuss it with a neighbor.
4. Discuss how the teachers can use blooms Taxonomy in to help students construct knowledge.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification system developed in 1956 by education psychologist Benjamin Bloom to categorize intellectual skills and behavior important to learning. Bloom identified six cognitive levels: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, with sophistication growing from basic knowledge-recall skills to the highest level, evaluation.
As a teacher, we should attempt to move students up the taxonomy as they progress in their knowledge. Tests that are written solely to assess knowledge are unfortunately very common. However, to create thinkers as opposed to students who simply recall information, we must incorporate the higher levels into lesson plans and tests. Bloom’s Taxonomy can be used across grade levels and content areas. By using Bloom’s Taxonomy in the classroom, teachers can assess students on multiple learning outcomes that are aligned to local, state, and national standards and objectives. Within each level of the taxonomy, there are various tasks that move students through the thought process. This interactive activity demonstrates how all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy can be achieved with one image.
Example: Here is a lesson objective based upon the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears is presented for each of the six levels of the Cognitive Process as shown on the Revised Taxonomy Table.
Remember: Describe where Goldilocks lived.
Understand: Summarize what the Goldilocks story was about.
Apply: Construct a theory as to why Goldilocks went into the house.
Analyze: Differentiate between how Goldilocks reacted and how you would react in each story event.
Evaluate: Assess whether or not you think this really happened to Goldilocks.
Create: Compose a song, skit, poem, or rap to convey the Goldilocks story in a new form.
1. By providing examples discuss how a teacher can help become life-long learners.
Encouraging students to be lifelong learners should be on the minds of every teacher. Whenever a child shows an interest in any subject they should be encouraged to look into it further and find out all that they can about it. We are living in an age of information and it can be accessed at lightning fast speeds.
One way to encourage lifelong learning is through hands-on experiences. Children should be given the opportunity to experience things related to their fields of interest first-hand. If their passion is music they should be given an instrument to play. If they like art they should be given the materials that they need to create their own art. This is one of the strongest forms of positive reinforcement. Not only does it give the student a sense of pride and accomplishment but it also speaks to their heart. It lets them know that someone believes in them and wants them to succeed.
Finally, students should be taught that they have value as an individual regardless of their interests or dreams. They should know that, regardless of what their aspirations and dreams may be, they are they are loved and appreciated for being the unique individuals that they are now. Remember that if learning is a rewarding experience for them now, then they will take all of these positive learning experiences with them into adulthood and continue to love and appreciate learning for the rest of their lives.
2. In what ways do you think teaching has become more professional than it was in the past? Justify your answer with examples from the profession.
Teaching is a very desirable profession, it is a job that will not only stand the test of time, but is also rewarding to help students achieve their potential. However, it is a career path that is also ever changing.
First and foremost would be the influence of the internet. Example: The traditional teacher relied on the staff room and departmental meetings for professional discussion. Technology has made it possible for teachers to engage in discussion with others regionally and internationally via blogs. Blogging provides a forum whereby teachers can ask questions and share ideas with colleagues at their own professional level. Further more teachers across subjects use the web for lesson plans, best practices, and professional development.
The contemporary dynamic educational context highlights yet another contrast. The “textbook” approach of the past valued an approach where teachers felt a sense of control over content and freed themselves of the responsibility for more creative and effective planning. However, with written curricula becoming more integrative and constantly renewed, and with more attention being paid to holistic learning, teachers have had to adapt this traditional approach to a more thematic approach that requires more planning, more teamwork, and more creativity. This challenge includes the judicious selection of teaching materials since there is now a wider variety to choose from.
1896-1934
The Mozart of Psychology
Personal Background
Lev Vygotsky is an “outstanding scientist”, an “eminent scholar”, and even a “genius”. “A Well-known philosopher and historian of science Stephen Toulmin once called him a Mozart of Psychology” (Vygodskaya, 1995). This genius was born on November 5, 1896, in Tsarist Russia,and died on June 11, 1934, at the age of 36, suffering with Tuberculosis.
Vygotsky was born to a middle class jewish family. Before his first birthday his family moved to the city of Gomel. There were eight children in the family and Lev was the second child of the family. His family was one of the most educated in the town. His father, Semion L’vovich, graduated from the Commercial Institute and worked as a manager at the Gomel bank. He was an intelligent man of wide interests, fluent in foreign languages. His mother Cecilia also was well educated, trained as a teacher and fluent in several languages. He married to Rosa Smekhova, and they had two daughters.
Vygotsky with his beloved wife and children
He received his elementary education at home, studying independently and having a tutor for consultation. He passed an exam for the first 5 years of grade school and entered into a private all boys secondary school. He graduated from secondary school with a gold medal at the age of seventeen, after that, entered the University of Moscow and at first he studied medicine, then switched to law.
After He studied a range of topics while attending university, including sociology, linguistics, psychology and philosophy. He possessed an excellent reading speed and memory, hence become an outstanding student in all the subjects.
Career History
After graduating from the University of Moscow, Vygotsky returned to Gomel and started his career with teaching. There he engaged in a wide variety of intellectual activities. He taught psychology, he began to take an interest in the problems of handicapped children and continued his study of the theory of literature and the psychology of art. After his first professional successes in psychology (papers submitted to national congresses), in 1924 he settled in Moscow and began work at the Institute of Psychology.
In 1925 Vygotsky finished his thesis on The Psychology of Art. He also became a junior psychologist at the Psychological Institute of Moscow University and was soon highly regarded in the field. Vygotsky instigated special education services in Russia, he restructured the Psychological Institute of Moscow and set up research laboratories in all the main cities of the Soviet Union. He was to write over 180 papers, some of which are only now being published.
Theory
Vygotsky theoretical perspective can be understood best in terms of three general themes that run throughout his writings:
– The use of a genetic, or developmental method;
– The claim that higher mental functioning in the individual emerges out of social processes; and
– The claim that human social and psychological processes are fundamentally shaped by cultural tools, or mediational means. (Lock 2005)
Socio-Cultural Development
Vygotsky saw human development as a socio-genetic process with learning coming about through social interactions between children and adults. He believed that education “generates” and leads development, which is the result of social learning through the internalisation of culture and social relationships, so parents, caregivers, peers and the culture at large were responsible for the development of higher order functions.
According to Vygotsky, “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals.
Constructivism
Vygotsky and cohort theorists Piaget, Bruner and Dewey fall under the paradigm of constructivism. Constructivism is a proposed method of knowledge development based on an individual’s active participation in problem-solving and critical thinking. The individual literally constructs their own knowledge base using old constructs in new situations, and adapting them to fit newly learned information. In this process the individual is formulating new constructs. This learning method occurs in the socio-cultural milieu of society and depends on interaction with other individuals. Vygotsky’s theories fit within the realm of constructivism.
The Zone of Proximal Development (Z P D)
An important concept in sociocultural theory is known as the zone of proximal development. According to Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development “is the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Offord, 2005). Essentially, it includes all of the knowledge and skills that a person cannot yet understand or perform on their own yet, but is capable of learning with guidance.
Scaffolding
“Vygotsky’s scaffolding” is a term used to describe a method of teaching that involves providing resources and support to students as they learn new concepts. As the students develop skills in those areas, the supports are gradually removed so the student can accomplish a task with no assistance.
Mediation
Higher mental process is mediated by tools. Tools can take one of three forms – symbols, material or human beings behaviour. Semiotic mediators are pre-programmed psychological tools. Symbols such as language are psychological tools that mediate an individual’s psychological processes, material tools mediate between the individual and nature. The mediation between individuals is the development of intramental abilities through intermenta.
Application of the theory to the classroom/teaching
There are many aspects of Vygtosky’s sociocultural learning theory that are applicable to classrooms. His basic theme is that “Social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development” The key to maintain social interaction is using corporative learning strategies.
One aspect that can be used in the classroom is conducting activities which children can communicate with each other. Vygotsky explains that before a child can have an internal conversation with themselves they need to be able to dialogue with others (Pressley & McCormick, 2007). This shows the importance of encouraging conversations with students, especially at the preschool age. Interacting with the students about what they are doing, seeing and thinking helps them to develop external conversations which then lead to internal ones later on.
Another aspect useful in the classroom is scaffolding, which helps the child in his or her zone of proximal development in which the adult provides hints and prompts at different levels. So the teacher can help the child with a task and then gradually lessen that help so they can do it more themselves. Cognitive development moves forward largely because the child is in a world that provides aid when the child needs it, and can benefit from it. This can be guiding and coaching in such a way that the teacher does not give too much help, but just enough to encourage the student to find the answer or complete the skill.
Time line of Vygotsky’s Life
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1896 -> 1917 -> 1924 -> |
Lev Vygotsky was Born ia small town called Orsha . |
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1936 -> |
Vygotsky’s work banned in the USSR. |
http://wikiwariors.wikispaces.com/5.+Timeline+of+Vygotskys+Life
References
– Cherry, K. (2013). Sociocultural Theory – What Is Sociocultural Theory. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentecourse/f/sociocultural-theory.htm
– Ivic, I. (1994). Lev S. Vygotsky. The life and work of Vygotsky, XXIV, 471-485. Retrieved from http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/ThinkersPdf/vygotske.pdf
– Offord, L. (2005, May 5). The Mozart of Psychology. Retrieved from http://vygotsky.afraid.org/
– Shestov, L. (2008, April 30). Lev Vygotsky – New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 6, 2013, from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Lev_Vygotsky
-Vygodskaya, G. L. (1995). His life. School Psychology International. Retrieved from http://graduatestudenthelp.com
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