Module 4

In Chapter 9, Complex Cognitive Processes were the focus. One of the main parts of this chapter was discussing learning strategies. It was interesting to read through this chapter because I realized a lot of the learning strategies discussed were things that I have used throughout my time in school. Even when doing assignments for this class I often found myself trying to plan and focus my attention and pinpoint the key topics for each chapter and I did that by looking at the headings of paragraphs and finding the topic sentences that helped give the most insight on what was important for each section. I often found myself underlining and highlighting the main ideas or what I felt was important that I wanted to remind myself to look back on which always seemed like a great idea but like this chapter mentioned it can pose a big problem. In that, many tend to highlight too much and looking back it did become ineffective when it came time to review the information. Instead, Woolfolk suggests being selective. Try to only highlight or underline one sentence from each paragraph. The text also suggests transforming the information into your own and making connections between things you already know to help you remember the information. I found myself doing this a lot through this course when answering the discussion questions I felt like I was always relating the material to a past experience or finding some connection and just like the text suggests it helped me to remember what I was learning and made the information a lot more relatable. The text also says to create diagrams to illustrate the material, this is what we were asked to do this week and I was really surprised at how much I was able to learn from creating the concept map and felt it was a good learning tool/strategy to use in the future.

In Chapter 10, Psychological and social constructivism are discussed. Psychological constructivists like Piaget are concerned with how individuals make sense of their world it is based on their individual knowledge, beliefs, self-concept, and identity. On the other hand, social constructivists such as Vygotsky believe that social interaction, culture, and activity shape development and learning. The chapter discussed how to apply these constructivist perspectives. The inquiry strategy is when the teacher presents some sort of puzzling event, question or problem, the students then ask yes or no questions to inquire about the puzzle or problem. This helps the students reflect on what the problem is and what is needed to solve the problem. Problem-based learning comes from an authentic problem meaning one that matters to the students, so using the subject being taught whether it be math or science but relating it to a real-life problem with a solution. I think problem-based learning helps students learn better because it makes the problem more relatable and makes it so that students are more likely to want to solve the problem because it has something to do with a real-life situation. Another focus of Chapter 10 was the use of technology in learning. Being a teacher with the current generation means having students who are already surrounded by technology there is no avoiding it. I learned from the last class that there are a variety of tools that can be used by students to enhance their learning environment. However, as this chapter discusses these tools must be taught by competent teachers who know how to navigate these tech tools and be able to show their students how to use them. That is the way the classroom is going and the way of the world and we as teachers have to keep up.

Chapter 11 uses the four different perspectives on learning and brings it all together, using behavioral, cognitive, constructivist and social cognitive learning which make up the pillars of teaching. After the constructivist which is where students are making sense of the material students have to use the material they learned and remember it which would fall under cognitive, after that using a behavioral perspective they ahve to practice and apply what they have learned. Finally, students must take charge of their learning using the social cognitive perspective. The social cognitive perspective discusses how people regulate their lives and what motivates them. The social cognitive theory uses a system triarchic reciprocal causality which uses personal, environmental and behavioral influences that all intertwine and influence eachother. There can be a variety of factors that influence different behavior and what motivates a student.