Ed 107 thus far

In the first two weeks of Education 107, we have examined a lot of concepts very briefly. So far, we have skimmed the surface for different learning theories and other important aspects of teaching. Even though what we have covered has many more layers to the ideas, we have still been able to make connections between the different learning theories in order to see how everything has it's part in meeting students needs and teaching them how to learn on top of just the content in the classroom.

The first thing that we jumped into was the concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). ZPD is the level that students are at based on how they are learning the material. If a student is learning without help, it is probably too easy and makes it more likely for them to get off task. If the material is too hard and the students are not grasping the concept, then they are likely to get frustrated and want to give up trying to learn. Teachers should search for the happy medium between these two extremes. ZPD falls under the classroom management aspect of teaching and is most often associated with social learning theory, but has connections to other learning theories as well. Each child may have a different ZPD.

The next ideas that we talked about all fit together very well. The idea of active mental engagement (AME), the processing of information, is a part of constructivist learning theory, but is affected by ZPD because it is more difficult to keep a student actively, mentally engaged when the material is too difficult or too easy. Teaching beginning with the concrete and moving to the abstract is part of the developmental learning theory. This is also related to ZPD because the ZPD can be lowered by making a lesson or a concept more concrete for the students, which can also increase their AME. One way to tie the development and constructivist learning theories is through a specific model of teaching. By first presenting a problem or some sort of idea in a concrete way, developmental learning theory comes into play. Next, constructivist learning theory has its place if you let children explore the idea and try and sort through it on their own through AME. Finally, if students are not grasping the idea correctly, the teacher can explain the idea, which has implications from both of those learning theories. This is just one example of how the different learning theories come together to create effective teaching. Everything seems to fit so neatly and I am looking forward to continuing on exploring and going into depth with the connections between all the different aspects of education.