EDU 5015
Week 1: Early August
Four Common Places of Education
1. Teacher
2. Topic
3. Setting
4. Student
Central Topics of Educational Psychology
Learning and Cognition
Development
Social and Cultural Influences
Motivation
Behaviour/Classroom Management
Individual Differences
Assessment and Evaluation
Teaching and Instruction
Psychological Foundations of Curricula
Steps of the Research Process
1. Observation of Phenomena
2. Formation of Questions
3. Application of Research Methods
5. Development of Guiding Principles
4. Development of Theories
Instructional Strategies
Teacher Centered Approach
Teacher determines content, provides direction, and sets academic and social tone
Student Centered Approach
Teacher adopts constructivist perspective and acknowledges that students actively construct their own understandings
Results of Effective Planning
Excellent Instruction
Enhanced Student Learning
Exemplary Environments
Curricular Planning: Top Down Approach
Determine curricula for the year
Determine the curricula for each term
Break the curricula down into units
Determine what will be taught
Week 2: Beginning with the End in Mind
Growth Mindset
Leads to a desire to learn and therefore a tendency to...
Embrace challenges
Persist in the face of setbacks
See effort as the path to mastery
Learn from criticism
Find lessons and inspiration in the success of others
As a result, they reach ever-higher levels of achievement
All this gives them a greater sense of free will
Constructivist Views of Learning
Learners are active in constructing their own personal knowledge –they actively seek meaning
Social negotiating is important to knowledge construction /learning
Learning includes developing skills to solve problems, think critically, answer questions, accept multiple views
Self-determination is needed to further knowledge development
What is Development?
Physical, cognitive and social changes
Learning becomes more organized
Behaviours become more adaptive
Principles of Development
Orderly progression/gradual process
Periods of rapid and slow growth
Quantitative and qualitative changes
Individuals develop at different rates
Genetics set developmental potential
Environment determines potential realized
Berliner's 9 Foundational Topics
Learning And Cohesion
Development
Social and Childhood Influences
Motivation
Behaviour and Classroom Management
Individual Differences
Acheivement and Evaluation
Teaching Method in Classroom
Vygotsky
Zone of Proximal Development
The distance between the actual developmental 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
Scafolding
Assess the learner’s current knowledge and experience for the academic content
Relate content to what students already know or can do
Break a task into small, more manageable tasks with opportunities for intermittent feedback
Use verbal cues and prompts to assist students
Week 3: Theories of Learning
Theories of Learning and Teaching
Cognitive
Mental processes exist and they are important to learning.
Sources of plans, intentions, goals, ideas, memories, and emotions actively used to attend to, select, and construct meaning from stimuli and knowledge from experience
Learners bring knowledge to each new learning situation, and that affects what they learn from that situation (more related knowledge = better learning).
Behavioural
Social Cognitive and Constructivist Views
See Week 2 for....
Zone of Proximal Development
Social Interaction
Scaffolding
Principles of Development
Four Common Places of Education
Instructional Approaches
Results of Effective Planning
Creating Constructivist-Based Classrooms
Complex, challenging learning environments
Real world situations
Social negotiation – collaborative work
Multiple representations of content
Making students aware of the knowledge construction process –becoming self-regulated learners
Student-centered instruction; student ownership of learning
Week 4
Our Belief Systems
School systems are not responsible for meeting every need of their students. But when the need directly affects learning, the school must meet the challenge
Research Shows
There is a wide variation in teacher effectiveness
Effective teachers...
Appear to be effective with students of all achievement levels regardless of the heterogeneity in their classes
If the teacher is ineffective, students will achieve inadequate progress regardless of how similar or different they are regarding their academic achievement
How does the teacher affect student achievement?
1. Designs classroom curriculum to facilitate student learning.
2. Makes wise choices about the most effective instructional strategies to employ
3. Makes effective use of classroom management techniques
Features of Communities of Learners
Job-embeded
Collaborative
Collegial
Ongoing
Emphasize reflective dialogue
Develop pedagogical content
Engage in socially constructist learning process
Exemplary Learning Envirnonments
academic success is dependent on the learning environment
creating exemplary learning environments requires good planning and good classroom management
goal of classroom management is to provide all students with optimum opportunities for learning
exemplary learning environments especially important for students with exceptionalities
Developing a Student Profile
Gather information through...
observation
assesment of products
journals/ learning logs
Previous report cards
OSR
Review creative work
As the information is collected, a 'picture' of the student’s learning profile begins to emerge. Recognizing the signs of a learning difference is key to finding solutions.
What do you consider when you gather all this information?
academic strengths
learning styles
interests
special abilities
child's vision and goal for the future
Student Self Regulated Learning
Tasks
Should be complex in nature
Control
Students make decisions, have choices, and take responsibility for planning, setting goals, judging progress
Self-Evaluation
Students monitor their own process and outcomes and learn to adjust their efforts in order to attain goals
Collaboration
Students and teachers engage in shared problem-solving.
Controlling Instructional Variables
Difficulty level
Space
Time
Language
Interpersonal relaitons
Release of Responsibility
Subtopic
TRIBES
Mutual Respect
No Put Downs
Appreciations
Attentive Listening
Participation/The Right to Pass
Week 5
What Motivates a Student to Learn
Challenging and Meaningful tasks
Being able to effectively use learning strategies
Having teacher's support
Being required to demonstrate knowledge
Feeling that the teacher cares for them
Diagnostic Assesment
Determining the starting point for instruction based on initial assessment strategies
Examples:
Pretests
Backward Design
Developing curricular units and lessons from the same instructional goals/objectives that are used to develop the assessment tools for that curriculum
Blooms Taxonomy
Hierarchical classification of cognitive learning objectives
Six Levels:
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Cognitive Verbs
Indicate the thinking required for particular learning objectives
Classified according to six cognitive processes
Remembering
Understanding
Applying
Analyzing
Creating
Evaluating
Applications of Constructivist-Based Classrooms
Dialogu & Instructional Conversations
Inquiry Learning
Problem-based learning
Teacher and peer learning
Cognitive Apprenticeships
Cognitive apprenticeship is a theory of the process where a master of a skill teaches that skill to an apprentice. Constructivist approaches to human learning have led to the development of a theory of cognitive apprenticeship.
Collaborative learning
Universal Instructonal Design
Instructional system designed and delivered with the needs of the least independently able students in mind
Results in instruction that is accessible and effective for all students
Made up of 3 principles:
Principle l: Provide Multiple Means of Representation
Ensure all information is accessible to all learners through different learning styles (auditory, visually, kinesthetic)
Provide information through words and symbols
Teach students information in a way that they can transfer it to different situations
Principle ll: Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression
Provide students the opportunity to learn from different forms of media (print, computer, and online resources)
Provide students with multiple way s to communicate and express themselves and what they have learned
Give students the opportunity to set goals and provide them with the support necessary for them to achieve their goals
Principle lll: Provide Multiple Means of Engagement
Connect students interest with the curriculum in order for students to remain interested and engaged
Support students in all aspects of their learning process
Inspire students to learn for intrinsic purposes not always for extrinsic rewards
Instructional Methods
The Importance of Play
- Play and learning are NOT incompatible
- Play is not wasted free time!
- If used properly, play can be a powerful tool!
- To INCREASE children’s learning in literacy, math and even science….
Developmentally Appropriate schools offer advantages in
Social / Emotional Development
Increased Emotional regulation
Decreased behaviour problems
Increased motivation for school
Academically
Increased reading and math scores
Direct instruction looks like...
Clear learning objectives
Well-planned lessons
Explicit Teaching
Lots of practice
What happens in Direct Instruction Classrooms Compared to Age Mates in DA settings?
Increased inattention, restlessness, stress behaviours
Decreased confidence in one's abilities
Does not enjoy challening tasks
Less end of year progress in motor, language and social skills
Inquiry Based Learning
Problem Based Learning
Strategy Use
People who are skilled in a particular domain (e.g., writing) use effective strategies, and have many of them from which to choose
Evidence of greater strategy use, across domains, with increasing age/grade level
Students in middle and late elementary school tend to mix effective and ineffective strategies
Week 6
Wanting to move the culture from teacher as a judge to teacher as a coach
Agricultural model of assesment
If we plant lettuce and the
Lettuce does not grow, we don’t
blame the lettuce.
We look for reasons why
It isn’t doing well
The Basis of Curriculum Planning
Expectations
Assesment and Evaluation
Teaching Strategies
Topics, themes, resources
Purposes of assesment
It may be used to find out what students already know and can do;
it may be used to help students improve their learning;
or may be used to let students and their parents know how much they have learned within a prescribed amount of time
Must be planned and purposeful
See Backwards Design for facilitation strategies
Three stages of Backwards Design
1. Identify desired results (learning outcomes)
2. Determine Acceptable Evidence (means to assess if learners have learned)
3. Plan learning experiences and instruction.
Enduring Understanding
Not just material worth covering
Enduring value beyond the classroom
Resides at the heart of the discipline
Required un-coverage of abstract or often misunderstood ideas
Offer potential for engaging students
Not broader(more) deeper ( less)
Allow for strong culture of instructional practice
Endurance
Leverage
Prepare for the next level
Week 7
What is Intelligence?
Ability to learn from experience
Ability to adapt to one’s environment
The ability (or abilities) to acquire and use knowledge for solving problems and adapting to the world
Source?
Nature and Nurture
How is Intelligence measured?
Aptitude Tests
measure what the student has learned or the skills they have mastered
Achievement Tests
predict ability to learn a skill or accomplish something with further education
P4C Model
aims to to build the Capacity of educators and families to support children with special needs in all spaces and places.
Made up of 4 C's + 1P
Capacity
Collaborating
Coaching
Contexts
Partnering
What is Special Education?
Accommodating the special learning needs of students with exceptionalities
Specialized instruction based on the assessment of students’ abilities
Labelling Exceptionalities
Disability
Inability to do something
Handicap
A disadvantage in certain situations
High Incidence Expceptionalities
Mild disabilities
Typically include learning disabilities, behavioural disorders, giftedness, and intellectual disabilities
Low-Incidence Exceptionalities
Moderate and severe diabilities
Typically include autism, hearing and visual impairments, serious health impairments, and multiple disabilities
Physical Vs. Cognitive access to Curriculum
Physical
Includes sensory and motor access to learning and/or curriculum
Cognitive
Includes the (in)ability to understand assignments, plan and execute approaches to tasks
School Process for Identification and Support
Best interest of the student
Collaborative
Communicate
School/ Board procedures
Circumstantial
Goals, Beliefs and Values
Forget thinking outside the box
Throw away the box
And create a new one, does it have to be a box?
Building an Inclusive Practive
Those who teach students with exceptional needs develop deeper diagnostic skills and a wider repertoire of teaching strategies.
UNESCO sees inclusion as....
process of addressing and responding to diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education.
TED Talk
Sir Ken Robinson: Does school kill creativity?
Do the academic, psychological and social confines of academia preach conformity of learning?
Or do they made to be successful for a certain learning type?
Week 8
Increasing Diversity in Schools
Language spoken
Aboriginal Students
One-parent families
Same-sex couples
Newcomers to Canada
Religions practiced
Student Dilemma
Individualism Vs. Collectivism
Individualsim
Act within a unique identity and exclusive purpose
Collectivism
Act within a shared identity and common purpose
TED Talk
The Chalenges of A Single Narrative
Exploring the need for multiple positionalities on a given topic
Do not just rely on the loudest or most priveledged voice
Building a Culturally Responsive Practice
Teachers must know
Their own cultural assumptions
How to inquire about students’ backgrounds
How to develop teaching approaches and curriculum to meet needs of culturally diverse learners
How to establish links across cultures
A culturally responsive practice has a broad cultural knowledge and instructional base that grows and changes.
Stereotype Threat
Fear that one’s behaviour will confirm a negative stereotype about one’s identity group
Those with strong ties to their identity group are most vulnerable
Can be brought on by seemingly innocuous comments
Socioeconomic status
Has the greatest impact on scholastic achievement
Kids from Low Ses
Developmental risks
Economic hardship
Lack of Resources
Views of Multicultural Education
Diversity Valued
No culture considered dominant
Dominant culture stressed
Recognizing the power differentials between majority and minority groups
Diversity and Dominant culture
Valued striking a balance between the other two outlooks
Dimensions of Multicultural Education
Content integration
Equity pedagogy
Empowering school culture
Prejudice reduction
Aboriginal Education Risk Factors
Early school failures
Moving from school to school
lack of parent support
Lack of teachers with knowledge of Aboriginal Studies
Remote geographic location
Lack of resources
Instrumental Value of Education
Degree to which students believe that doing well in school produces benefits
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Week 9
Standarized Testing in Canada
Federal
Achievement levels of 13 year olds
Math
Reading
Science
Provincial/Territorial
Different uses including math and literacy testing at certain grade levels and Grade 12 exit exams
Standardized Test
Contain the same questions for all test-takers
Are administered to all test-takers in same fashion
Are scored in systematic and uniform manner
Are different from teacher-made tests and aptitude tests
Test Types
Criterion-Referenced
Student's score determined by comparing performance to established criteria
Norm-Referenced
Student's score determined by comparing performance to that of other students
Original Purpose:
To asses effective instruction
Criticisms
Biased tests
Results in teaching to the test
Takes up too much time
Does not enhance student learning
Content of tests does not reflect instruction
Stressful for students and teachers
Performance Level Scores
Classifications of student performance that describe and clarify standardized assessment results
Justification and explanation of standardized tests