Praxis II: PLT (K-6) – Students as Learners

Albert Bandura - Found that children learn by observing others. In a classroom setting, this may occur through modeling or learning vicariously through others' experiences.

Jerome Bruner - Suggests that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based on knowledge or past experiences. Constructivist theory emphasizes a student;s ability to solve real-life problems and make new meaning through reflection. Discovery learning features teaching methods that enable students to discover information by themselves or in groups.

John Dewey - Considered the "father" of progressive education practice that promotes individuality, free activity, and learning through experiences, such as project-based learning, cooperative learning, and arts integration activities.

He theorized that school is primarily a social institution and a process of living, not an institution to prepare for future living. He believed that schools should teach children to be problem-solvers by helping them learn to think as opposed to helping them learn only the content of a lesson. He also believed that students should be able to be active decision-makers in their education. Dewey advanced the notion that teachers have rights and must have more academic autonomy.

Erik Erikson - Psychologist who suggested the eight stages of human development, which are based on a crisis or conflict that a person resolves.Stage: | Age Range: | Crisis or Conflict: | Key Event:Stage 1: Infancy - 0-1 - Trust vs.

mistrust - FeedingStage 2: Toddler - 1-2 - Autonomy vs. doubt - Toilet trainingStage 3: Early childhood - 2-6 - Initiative vs. guilt - IndependenceStage 4: Elementary and middle school - 6-12 - Competence vs. inferiority - SchoolStage 5: Adolescence - 12-18 - Identity vs. role confusion - Sense of identityStage 6: Young adulthood - 19-40 - Intimacy vs. isolation - Intimate relationshipsStage 7: Middle adulthood - 40-65 - Generativity vs.

stagnation - Supporting the next generationStage 8: Late adulthood - 65-death - Integrity vs. despair - Reflection and acceptance

Carol Gilligan - Her work questions the male-cenetered personality psychology of Freud and Erikson, as well as Kohlberg's male-centered stages of moral development. She proposed the following stage theory of the moral development of women:Approximate Age Range | Stage | GoalNot listed - Preconventional - Individual survivalTransition from selfishness to responsibility to othersNot listed - Conventional - Self-sacrifice is goodnessTransition from goodness to truth that she is a person, tooMaybe never - Postconventional - Principle of nonviolence

Lawrence Kohlberg: Elementary school-aged children are generally at the first level of moral development, known as "Preconventional." At this level, some authority figure's threat or application of punishment inspires obedience.

The second level, "Conventional," is found in society. Stage 3 is characterized by seeking to do what will gain the approval of peers or others. Stage 4 is characterized by abiding the law and responding to obligations.The third level of moral development, "Post-conventional," is rarely achieved by the majority of adults, according to Kohlberg.

Stage 5 shows an understanding of social mutuality and genuine interest in the welfare of others. Stage 6 is based on respect for universal principles and the requirements of individual conscience.Level | Stage | Social OrientationPre-conventional - 1 - Obedience and punishmentPre-conventional - 2 - Individualism, instrumentalism, and exchangeConventional - 3 - "Good boy/good girl"Conventional - 4 - Law and orderPost-conventional - 5 - Social contractPost-conventional - 6 - Principled conscience

Abraham Maslow - Known for establishing a theory of a hierarchy of needs in which certain lower needs must be satisfied before higher needs can be met.1. Physiological needs: These very basic needs include air, water, food, sleep, and sex.2.

Safety needs: These needs help us establish stability and consistency in a chaotic world, such as a secure home and family. Safety needs sometimes motivate people to be religious, ensuring the promise of safety after we die.3. Love and belongingness needs: Occurs when people need to belong to groups: churches, schools, clubs, gangs, families, and so on. People need to be needed at this level.

4. Esteem needs: Self-esteem results from competence or the mastery of a task and the ensuing attention and recognition received from others.5. Self-actualization: People who have achieved the first four levels can maximize their potential.

They seek knowledge, peace, oneness with a higher power, self-fulfillment, and so on.

Maria Montessori - Was an Italian physician whose philosophy and teaching practice affects many early-childhood programs and charter schools today. She believed that childhood is divided into four stages:- Birth-age 2- Ages 2-5- Ages 5 and 6- Ages 7-12This belief led to multi-aged groupings of students based on their period of development. Montessori also believed that adolescence can be divided into two levels:- Ages 12-15- Ages 16-18She believed that there are three stages of the learning process:Stage 1: Introduce a concept by lecture, lesson, experience, book read-aloud, etc.

Stage 2: Process the information and develop an understanding of the concept through work, experimentation, and creativity. Stage 3: "Knowing," which Montessori described as possessing an understanding of something that is demonstrated by the ability to pass a test with confidence, teach the concept to another, or express understanding with ease.Montessori established her school Casa Bambini in 1908, and modified versions of her approach to education are found in some U.S. schools today.

Jean Piaget - A Cognitivist theorist, suggested four stages of cognitive development:Stage | Age(s) | BehaviorSensorimotor - Birth-2 - Explore the world through senses and motor skillsPreoperational - 2-7 - Believe that others view the world as they do. Can use symbols to represent objectsConcrete operational - 7-11 - Reason logically in familiar situations. Can conserve and reverse operationsFormal operational - 11 and up - Can reason in hypothetical situations and use abstract thought

B.F.

Skinner - "Grandfather of behaviorism," he conducted much of the experimental research that is the basis of behavioral learning theory. His theory is based on the idea that learning is a function of change in observable behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of a person's response to events (stimuli). When a stimulus-response is reinforced (rewarded), the individual becomes conditioned to respond.

Lev Vygotsky - Credited with the social development theory of learning, suggested that social interaction influences cognitive development.

His learning theory suggests that students learn best in a social context in which a more able adult or peer teaches the student something he or she could not learn on his or her own. In other words, teachers must determine what a student can do independently and then provide the student with opporutnities to learn with the support of an older adult or a more capable peer. Finding the "just right" next lesson to teach a student and provide an appropriate level of educational support.

Philosophy of learning based on the premise that people construct their own understanding of the world they live in through reflection on experiences.

Teaching methods that enable students to discover information about themselves or in groups.

Motivation that comes from "within," or from inside a person.

Providing students time to reflect on goals and achievement or helping students see what they have learned and how it's important are examples of intrinsic motivators for students.

Tendency for a person to be a passive learner who is dependent on others for guidance and decision-making.

A person's ability to think about her or his own thinking. Requires self-awareness and self-regulation of thinking.

A student who demonstrates a high level of metacognition is able to explain his or her own thinking and describe which strategies he or she uses to read or to solve a problem.

A context within which student's more basic needs (i.e., sleep, safety, love, etc.) are met and the student is cognitively ready for developmentally appropriate problem-solving and learning.

Instructional supports provided to a student by a more capable peer (can be an adult) in a learning situation. The more capable a student becomes with a certain skill or concept, the less instructional scaffolding the adult or peer needs to provide. Scaffolding might take the form of a teacher reading aloud a portion of the text and then asking the student to repeat the same sentence, for example.

A concept in the mind about events, scenarios, actions, or objects that have been acquired from past experience. The mind loves organization and must find previous events or experiences with which to associate the information, or the info may not be learned.

The ability to apply a lesson learned in one situation to a new situation-- for example, a student who has learned to read the word "the" in a book about cows and the noes home and reads the word "the" successfully in a note that a parent left on the counter.

Howard Gardner - Eight multiple intelligences theory developed in early 1980s.- Verbal/linguistic- Logical/mathematical- Visual/spatial-Bodily/kinesthetic- Musical- Interpersonal- Intrapersonal - being able to make sense of one's own emotional life as a way to interact with others- Naturalist - observe nature; see patterns

Nitza Hidalgo:Concrete: Most visible and tangible level of culture. Includes surface-evel aspects such as clothes, music, games, and food.Behavioral: Defined by our social roles, language, and approaches to nonverbal communication that help us situate ourselves organizationally in society (i.e.

, gender roles, family structure, and political affiliation).Symbolic: Involves our values and beliefs. It is often abstract, yet is key to how one defines himself or herself (for example, customs, religion, and mores).

Luis Moll - Researches the lives of working-class Mexican-American students and their families: revealed that many had abundant knowledge that the schools did not know about. His view that multicultural families have "funds of knowledge" contends that these families can become social and intellectual resources for a school.

Moll urges teachers to seek out and use these funds of knowledge and gain a more positive view of these capable, but misjudged, students and their families.

Children approx. ages 7-11 think in logical terms, not in abstract terms. Students in this age range require hands-on experiences to learn concepts and manipulate symbols logically.

Teachers can support by building on students' culture, supporting students' proficiency in their native language, giving students time to learn English *two years for conversational English, seven years for academic English), and offering opportunities for students to work and talk in small groups.

Children approx.

11-15 develop hypothetical and abstract thinking. Students at this stage can use logical operations to work abstract problems. For example, students at this stage are better able to complete algorithms when working math problems as opposed to using math manipulatives to understand at the problems.