Educational Psychology - Angie Andrus

THE QUESTION: "Modern Constructivism: How does the teacher use modern constructivist techniques (e.g., discovery learning, inquiry-based learning, problem-based learning, etc.) to promote student learning? Be thorough in your coverage of the theory, addressing multiple concepts to demonstrate your understanding. Cite specific examples and be sure to include a reference in your response." Modern Constructivism is rooted in Piaget and Vygotsky, but came from the learning theorist Jerome Bruner. The idea is to create an environment where students can have genuine learning and discovery through active exploration and active learning. I saw some of this in Mrs. O's classroom but I do believe it could have been built upon and expanded. Bruner establishes the way to build a constructivist classroom is to have a structure, readiness, intuition, and motivation. These ideas build on each other establishing the idea that if you have the first three items in accurately in place, th...

QUESTION: "How does the teacher work with the students' information processing systems to promote learning? For example, how does the teacher focus students' attention, help them rehearse new information, and encourage them to encode and transfer information? Evaluate the teacher's use of wait time as part of this process. Cite specific examples and be sure to include a reference in your response." Mrs. O isn't very good at this whole information processing system understanding and incorporation into her lessons. To get her students attention she yells or teases them. To help them rehearse new information she writes it on the white board for them to see. To encourage them to encode and transfer the information she repeats herself. A lot. I've watched this semester as she has students consistently not show up to class prepared and I recently helped her grade tests for her CE Theater class that the students didn't do very well on. Overall, I don't ...

THE QUESTION: "How does the teacher use behaviorist techniques (e.g., shaping, Premack Principle, token reinforcement systems, etc.) to help students learn? Cite specific examples and be sure to include a reference in your response. How do students respond to this instructional method? *Note: this question refers to learning rather than motivation." Mr. J teaches US History to juniors and CE US Government and Citizenship to seniors. He and I have sat down many times and talked about classroom management. He is a firm believer in routine, a form of classical conditioning. He firmly believes and has stated that if students know exactly what to do and what's coming next then there aren't behavior issues. He uses the example of having a substitute come to class and being instructed by the students on what comes next because the students have basically been conditioned and know what to expect. Mrs. O is little less structured in her classroom. She has told me that she ...