Chapter 10 Learning Log

What? There are three main parts of social cognitive theory: the power of observation, the role of control, and the importance of motivation. When talking about the power of observation, social cognitive theory is mainly about learning by observing others. By doing so, you can learn new behaviors from models. For example, take vicarious punishment and vicarious reinforcement; people learn what behaviors are most likely to lead to reinforcement and punishment by watching others who experience it. Also, by watching others, they get a good understanding of what they are and aren’t capable of doing. The social cognitive theory also talks about how people can be in control of their surroundings. When people watch others, they control what they learn, and if they learn, by paying attention or not paying attention. When people self-regulate, they take charge of their own behaviors and their own learning by setting goals and doing self-evaluations. Lastly, it is important to be motivated. Most of people’s behaviors are goal-based. Also, through observing, people form their own expectations of future outcomes of certain actions. It’s found that, in order to be completely motivated, people must have high self-efficacy and believe they will be successful, to some degree or another. Most people take charge of their own motivation by evaluating future responses.
So what? It is important to know the information in chapter 10 because, as a teacher, you need to enforce the importance of the students paying close attention to the teacher, as well as other students.  It is very important that a classroom has a positive and stimulating learning environment.  To do this, the students need to cooperate and behave well.  It is important for teachers to encourage their students to keep the atmosphere in the classroom a positive one.  Self-efficacy is a dire thing all students need at some level.  This will give them confidence in the person that they are.  If the students observe each other, and one student sees another with self-efficacy, that student who is observing could gain self-efficacy in some area if they see another student be confident in what they do.  As a teacher, it is VERY important to be a good model to your students.  They look up to you in every way, and in order to prepare them for their future, we need to prepare them in the best way possible: by providing them with a positive model.

Now what? After reading chapter 10, I will be able to apply what I've learned in the classroom.  I now know how important it is to be on a watch 24/7 for how I behave in order to be a model for my students.  It is also important to keep the behavior of all the students on a good level, because students also look to other students as models.  I am going to be as positive as I can, in both my personality and how I arrange the classroom, in order to promote self-efficacy in my students.  I think it is so important for students to believe that there is at least one thing they are exceptionally good at.  If they have this feeling about something, they can use that feeling and build off of it to gain self-efficacy in other areas as well.

Chapter 9 Learning Log

What? A great way to learn about human learning is by examining stimulus-response principles. Antecedent stimuli tend to evoke certain kinds of responses, either in classical conditioning or operant conditioning. It is these responses that lead to changes in the learner’s environment. For example, they may lead to reinforcement or punishment. By altering any part of the chain of events, whether by changing the classroom environment or teaching a more effective way of responding to the environment, we can help our students acquire more productive school behaviors. Also, we can help them gain the attention of their peers by teaching effective social skills through reinforcement.
So what? It is important to know this information because it was all about how children respond to different stimuli. This is a huge part of understanding human learning. In the classroom, it is important to know how students will respond to what and why they respond in the way they do. This lesson also teaches about reinforcement, both positive and negative. It is very important to understand the difference between positive and negative reinforcement: positive reinforcement is where you reward someone with something that they see as positive. An example of this is, if the all the students read over winter break and write about the book they read, they will have a pizza party when they come back. This is positive reinforcement because you are rewarding the students with something positive (pizza). Negative reinforcement IS NOT punishment. The word negative in this context is very misunderstood. Negative reinforcement is rewarding someone by taking away something that is negative in their eyes. An example of this is, if the students score an 80% or higher on their spelling test, they won't have any homework that weekend. This is an example of negative reinforcement because you are taking away something negative (homework) as a reward, because the students won't have to do homework that weekend and that is a reward to them. It is so important to know these terms because I will use them in my class a lot and I will be able to distinguish the difference between what kind of reinforcement I am dishing out.
Now what? In the classroom, I will be able to apply everything I've learned in Chapter 9. I especially look forward to testing out different kinds of stimulus-response principles. I'll be able to experiment in my classroom to see what different cues work better than others, and that way I will be able to run a more effective classroom. Chance are, different cues will work better for different classes, seeing as every child is different and one year will differ from the previous year. I will also be able to see which stimulus students respond better to. If students are more motivated if they are rewarded by a pizza party than extra recess, I will know what to use as positive reinforcement from then on if I want a result that I am not seeing in my students. I will also see examples of operant conditioning in my classroom, as well as possible results from past classical conditioning. The classical conditioning includes phobias the students may have, and it is important to be sensitive to these.

Investigations Math: Extra Credit

◦What is investigations math? Investigations Math is a program where the students discover mathematics for themselves instead of being taught it. It has been found that it does not help the students grow in their understanding of math; in fact, it take them back grades. It removes all teachings of the times tables and memorization of math facts.
◦What were the results of its use in Alpine? In the Alpine School District, they have been patching this program every year for 4 years, as it was implemented 5 years ago. They know the program has major weaknesses and they are under the false impression that you can turn a 40 horse-power car into a hot rod if you just put enough other corvette body parts on the vehicle. It's the ENGINE that is the problem. You would be far better off replacing the core engine and later patching anything you felt was still an issue. Even the district curriculum specialist said it's not a matter of "if" they'll change the program, but "when."
◦What were the arguments for and against its use? The arguments for it's use are as follows: the games and activities are child-oriented and fun, they build upon some first grade concepts, and it has a math workshop model built into it. Some cons are: TREMENDOUS gaps in our first grade curriculum (missing some MAJOR topics which we need to supplement), for the first year or two you spend a lot of time cutting and organizing, it still requires a lot of prep time, and there's not enough practice time in learning math strategies (worksheets).
◦What is your opinion? After doing the research, I think it's fair to say the cons definitely outweigh the pros. This doesn't sound like something I would want to use in my classroom at all, even though some teachers have found that they like using it with their students. I'm glad I stumbled upon the message board about it (my second source below) because I actually got to read about actual teachers that have used Investigations Math in their classroom, and they all seemed to say both negative and positive things about it. Overall, I didn't get a very good first impression about it because of the first source I looked at (listed below) and I just really hope I don't have to use it in my classroom. I'd like to teach math another way than that.
◦Sources: http://www.oaknorton.com/imathstart.cfm, http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=116091