Hello!
The video shown in class titled "A Digital Nation" (I believe!) was full of interesting ideas. It is somewhat alarming, if we think about it, just how reliant we are on our technology in contemporary society. I mean, I have an 11 year old sister, and her same-age friend recently received and Iphone, on contract. Are you kidding? What does an 11 year old need an apple smart phone with calling, texting, and browsing for. I mean, REALLY? I don't even have an Iphone, I can't afford one!
BUT, I digress (That happens FAR too often). My point is, we really are obsessed with technology and digital devices in our everyday lives, and the video really shows how this might be affecting us. It really looked at our ability to multitask, not even while using the device, but just in general! What they found? We were getting much WORSE. Yup, I said worse. Many people thought that this practice of using electronics so regularly in everyday life alongside other processes would enable us to vastly grow our ability to multitask, but as it turns out it actually seems to be detrimental to our abilities. Huh. So texting, driving, eating, AND applying eyeliner is PROBABLY not a great idea.
Look, I'll admit, if my phone rings and I'm driving, Ill look at it. If I'm at a red light? Ill check a text. It's so bad even I'm doing it, but we really ARE wrapped about the digital age. In classrooms this has had an impact, what with students texting during class rather than absorbing information. Of course the benefits are there too, where kids have the capability to browse the Internet and communicate digitally right from their phones or other devices, it's amazing really. But are kids using them for this? Probably not.
The fact is, technology is great, but sometimes it isn't always going to be beneficial to our brains, especially if we don't use it correctly. In fact, the warning message (at least I saw it) in digital nation speaks to the fact that we really need to think critically about our use of, and addiction to technology.
EDIT: Leap year blog post? Awww yeah! One for the ages...well...for four years anyways.
Zach
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Moral Ladder - Kohlberg
Hello!
I'd like to say a bit or two on Lawrence Kohlberg, and his fantastical ladder of moral wonders!!
Well, okay. It's not called that, but it DOES follow a ladder structure and is ideas, while decievingly simple, evoke a great deal of debate on the ideas of morality.
I see the ladder as follows, based off of a diagram I looked over back in my high school Psych course from a Myers Psychology text:
Zach
I'd like to say a bit or two on Lawrence Kohlberg, and his fantastical ladder of moral wonders!!
Well, okay. It's not called that, but it DOES follow a ladder structure and is ideas, while decievingly simple, evoke a great deal of debate on the ideas of morality.
I see the ladder as follows, based off of a diagram I looked over back in my high school Psych course from a Myers Psychology text:
As can be seen in the diagram, the first level of morality according to Kohlberg is the pre-conventional level. This basicly entails a level of morality that is composed of two seperate stages, which are Obedience and Punishment, followed by Hedonism. As is implied, obedience and punishment follow a reasoning that only does things due to the rewards, or avoids doing something for fear of punishment. Hedonism implies that one's actions are to seek personal pleasure or satisfaction.
The next level of the ladder is Conventional morality, which includes the stages "Good boy/girl" and Law and Order respectively. The "Good boy/girl" stage states that people act a certain way to mantain societies positive views and norms. Rather, one does something to look "good" or be viewed as right and a good person. Law and Order implies that in this stage of moral development the laws and rules placed by those with authority and percieved control are the reasons behind doing/ not doing something.
Lastly we have postconventional, which is comrpised of the "Social Contract" idea followed by the extremely rare Universal Ethical stage. In Social Contract, people are motivated by the idea of a whole community, or being a part of a community. Even the planet as a whole (humanity) can be seen this way. The action is done because the person doing it believes it is the best thing to do for humanity/ the community, and they are doing their part, or "Good deeds" to the best they can. Universal Ethical is a full belief in going to extreme lengths to bring about what is ethically right for ALL people, even at the risk personal harm to one self. Ghandi and his hunger strikes exemplify his moral standing in his willingness to starve himself to work towards making life better for millions of Indian people.
Kohlbergs theories ring true, and we can see them in everyday actions/societry, especially our own! I do believe on a final note that we must be careful not to oversimplify, in that decisions often have complex and multi-faceted reasons behind them, which can be drawn from a variety of Kohlberg's levels, each with different amounts of influence. Either way, his framework is a good one for the motivation behind human morality.
Friday, 17 February 2012
Out of Sync (Apologies)
Hello! Apologies to the reader, and the individual grading this blog assignment as my posts are coming significantly after we have discussed the class topic, this is because with how busy I've been the posts tend to be after the fact, when I look back into my notes! Sorry about this, try to follow as best as possible!
Zach
Zach
Thursday, 16 February 2012
FAT City - Thoughts
Hello!
Richard Lavoie's video on the challenged to students with a learning disability was very well done, in my opinion. I almost wish I had a chance to be one of the teachers in that room, participating in his workshop. While I understand that there were challenges similar to those he put forward associated with a learning disability, his vivid and hands on examples really bring the frustation and alienation to life, which is a powerful tool for teachers to experience.
I quite enjoyed his reading excercise, In which the letters p d b and q were shuffled interchangably and the writing alternated from the top, mid, and bottom lines of a given area. It was a rather clever way to show that reading is not as easy for everyone as it is for "us", and I believe this is a powerful message to teachers that kids don't all experience learning in the same way.
Something else I found incredibly interesting was Richard's constanty badgering and negative feedback as the teachers and other participants were attempting to complete the difficult tasks. He would shout "Hurry up" or "Come on, it's easy. You can do better, lets go!" As they were attempting to read or sound things out, which created very obvious stress on the faces of those participating. Is this mockery and impatience happening in classrooms in the real world? Perhaps more subtlely, but yes! This is a major problem, as I don't see how we expect children with learning disabilities to ever believe in themselves if they recieve nothing but negativity and put downs.
The best part of this whole video? The guy is freakin hilarious. I mean, even for a teacher! He certainly makes use of his sense of humour to keep the audience watching and interested, which is great considering the quality of the message he is trying to get across.
Overall, I'm glad the video was shown as it was valuable to me, and I hope to see Lavoie's other work further along in my career!
Zach
Richard Lavoie's video on the challenged to students with a learning disability was very well done, in my opinion. I almost wish I had a chance to be one of the teachers in that room, participating in his workshop. While I understand that there were challenges similar to those he put forward associated with a learning disability, his vivid and hands on examples really bring the frustation and alienation to life, which is a powerful tool for teachers to experience.
I quite enjoyed his reading excercise, In which the letters p d b and q were shuffled interchangably and the writing alternated from the top, mid, and bottom lines of a given area. It was a rather clever way to show that reading is not as easy for everyone as it is for "us", and I believe this is a powerful message to teachers that kids don't all experience learning in the same way.
Something else I found incredibly interesting was Richard's constanty badgering and negative feedback as the teachers and other participants were attempting to complete the difficult tasks. He would shout "Hurry up" or "Come on, it's easy. You can do better, lets go!" As they were attempting to read or sound things out, which created very obvious stress on the faces of those participating. Is this mockery and impatience happening in classrooms in the real world? Perhaps more subtlely, but yes! This is a major problem, as I don't see how we expect children with learning disabilities to ever believe in themselves if they recieve nothing but negativity and put downs.
The best part of this whole video? The guy is freakin hilarious. I mean, even for a teacher! He certainly makes use of his sense of humour to keep the audience watching and interested, which is great considering the quality of the message he is trying to get across.
Overall, I'm glad the video was shown as it was valuable to me, and I hope to see Lavoie's other work further along in my career!
Zach
Friday, 10 February 2012
Erik Erikson - Identity vs. Role Confusion in Adolescents
Hello!
There was a topic I wished to elaborate a bit more on from my previous post, that being Erikson's stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion that supposedly occurs alongside and through adolescence. I find this topic very relevant due to my intentions to teach in the 6-12 grade range, and also lends relevance to concepts from my Adolescent Psychology course here at the college.
Anyways!
We often see an adolescent doing something, and think..."Damn kids these days." Am I right?
Wait...what? So if we saw someone in their twenties doing the same thing, would we say "Damn younger adults these days."? No...probably not. Lets use an example. We see a 22 year old male walking with a similarly aged girl in the mall, holding hands and laughing. We might admire them, think they look like a good couple, think how happy they look. You know, normal stuff. Now, picture a pair of 16 year olds in the mall, holding hands and laughing just like the other couple. Would we think the same thing? Chances are (If you're going with societies norms) You would think "Ah, young love. It's too bad it can't last." Or "It's a shame theyll just break up anyways." We might even think something like "Ugh, They're way to young for that, theyre probably sexually active too, and look how overly affectionate they are, have some respect!"
Is this fair?
Adolescents are often pegged negatively and discriminated against like any other social group, based on generalizations that have been gleaned from pop culture, case studies that stand out, and our own biases. BUT I digress, to tie back into Erikson, adolescene is a time of finding who we are, what we stand for, and what we want to become. It is an incredibly critical period in development, and sometimes it is more difficult than others. The role confusion can sometimes lead to inconsistency in adolescents as well as experimentation and impulsive behaviours. These are all things that feed into the ideas that ALL adolescents have very little idea about the world around them, and that they are ignorant. This is far from true, since most adolescents are actually attempting to learn more about the world around them, and their place in it for those critical few years of their lives.
I believe this is again, all very relevant to education as we must keep in mind, as teachers, that our students will not alyays know exactly what they need, want, or can be. It is our job as teachers to be patient with them, and attempt to help them the best they can with this transition.
/End Ranting
Check out this National Geographic article, it's good stuff!
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text
Zach
There was a topic I wished to elaborate a bit more on from my previous post, that being Erikson's stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion that supposedly occurs alongside and through adolescence. I find this topic very relevant due to my intentions to teach in the 6-12 grade range, and also lends relevance to concepts from my Adolescent Psychology course here at the college.
Anyways!
We often see an adolescent doing something, and think..."Damn kids these days." Am I right?
Wait...what? So if we saw someone in their twenties doing the same thing, would we say "Damn younger adults these days."? No...probably not. Lets use an example. We see a 22 year old male walking with a similarly aged girl in the mall, holding hands and laughing. We might admire them, think they look like a good couple, think how happy they look. You know, normal stuff. Now, picture a pair of 16 year olds in the mall, holding hands and laughing just like the other couple. Would we think the same thing? Chances are (If you're going with societies norms) You would think "Ah, young love. It's too bad it can't last." Or "It's a shame theyll just break up anyways." We might even think something like "Ugh, They're way to young for that, theyre probably sexually active too, and look how overly affectionate they are, have some respect!"
Is this fair?
Adolescents are often pegged negatively and discriminated against like any other social group, based on generalizations that have been gleaned from pop culture, case studies that stand out, and our own biases. BUT I digress, to tie back into Erikson, adolescene is a time of finding who we are, what we stand for, and what we want to become. It is an incredibly critical period in development, and sometimes it is more difficult than others. The role confusion can sometimes lead to inconsistency in adolescents as well as experimentation and impulsive behaviours. These are all things that feed into the ideas that ALL adolescents have very little idea about the world around them, and that they are ignorant. This is far from true, since most adolescents are actually attempting to learn more about the world around them, and their place in it for those critical few years of their lives.
I believe this is again, all very relevant to education as we must keep in mind, as teachers, that our students will not alyays know exactly what they need, want, or can be. It is our job as teachers to be patient with them, and attempt to help them the best they can with this transition.
/End Ranting
Check out this National Geographic article, it's good stuff!
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text
Zach
Monday, 6 February 2012
Erik Erikson's Psycho-Social Stages
Hello!
I'd like to talk about Erik Erikson, and his psycho social stages today. God, I sound like some sort of morning show host, but a bad one.... *sips coffee*
Anyways, I digress. In Ed Psych we recently discussed Erik Erikson and his stages of psychosocial development which his proposes occur over the course of someones life. Now, these stages are framed in a way that highlights a variety of major conflicts that may be present in one's life, as they age. I will now recite all of the stages, from memory without my notes and talk a bit about them (I love Psych courses...comes in handy):
Trust vs. Mistrust
Autonomy vs. Shame
Initiative vs. Guilt
Industry vs. Inferiority
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Integrity vs. Despair
The first stage of Trust vs. Mistrust occurs from birth until around 18 months, and it's rather self explanatory. In this period the infant will need attention, and if he/she is not receiving attention/care when they desire/need it. If the infant is consistently given what he/she needs and cries are answered, needs met, then the infant will develop a sense of trust. This conflict could be related to attachment styles, but...thats another topic.
Moving through the next two stages through early childhood and pre-school ages, children are concerned with exploring their world and their own actions, as well as what effects they have on the world. A child needs to explore and learn to take initiative and be comfortable interacting with his/her environment.
Industry vs. Inferiority is best seen in K-6 age (elementary kids - Pre-adolescence) in competing with peers in a variety of areas. Academic marks, athletic ability, prowess at different games and hobbies are very important to kids in this stage; they need to feel as if they are capable and (Compared to their peers) they are competent and able.
Identity conflicts usually begin with the onset of adolescence, and can go on all the way through the end of grade 12, even into early twenties at times. This is an important stage in which adolescents need to discover their role in the world at large, and what they want to see themselves as, in many ways. I'll leave this for now, as I plan to elaborate in my next post.
The next three stages are loosely situated in Early, middle, and late adulthood. Where early adults are more focused on finding companionship and forming meaningful relationships with others, middle-aged adults are concerned with their contributions to society and how productive their life is in the PRESENT, rather than falling into meaningless-ness. Lastly, late-adulthood or seniors struggle with finding a sense of integrity and pride in what they have done and accomplished in life, and perhaps even what they still stand for after all of their experiences. A lack of this feeling can lead to despair and depression, which is dangerous in people of late age.
Thats about an overview of Erikson and my thoughts on his stages, until next time!
Zach
I'd like to talk about Erik Erikson, and his psycho social stages today. God, I sound like some sort of morning show host, but a bad one.... *sips coffee*
Anyways, I digress. In Ed Psych we recently discussed Erik Erikson and his stages of psychosocial development which his proposes occur over the course of someones life. Now, these stages are framed in a way that highlights a variety of major conflicts that may be present in one's life, as they age. I will now recite all of the stages, from memory without my notes and talk a bit about them (I love Psych courses...comes in handy):
Trust vs. Mistrust
Autonomy vs. Shame
Initiative vs. Guilt
Industry vs. Inferiority
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Integrity vs. Despair
The first stage of Trust vs. Mistrust occurs from birth until around 18 months, and it's rather self explanatory. In this period the infant will need attention, and if he/she is not receiving attention/care when they desire/need it. If the infant is consistently given what he/she needs and cries are answered, needs met, then the infant will develop a sense of trust. This conflict could be related to attachment styles, but...thats another topic.
Moving through the next two stages through early childhood and pre-school ages, children are concerned with exploring their world and their own actions, as well as what effects they have on the world. A child needs to explore and learn to take initiative and be comfortable interacting with his/her environment.
Industry vs. Inferiority is best seen in K-6 age (elementary kids - Pre-adolescence) in competing with peers in a variety of areas. Academic marks, athletic ability, prowess at different games and hobbies are very important to kids in this stage; they need to feel as if they are capable and (Compared to their peers) they are competent and able.
Identity conflicts usually begin with the onset of adolescence, and can go on all the way through the end of grade 12, even into early twenties at times. This is an important stage in which adolescents need to discover their role in the world at large, and what they want to see themselves as, in many ways. I'll leave this for now, as I plan to elaborate in my next post.
The next three stages are loosely situated in Early, middle, and late adulthood. Where early adults are more focused on finding companionship and forming meaningful relationships with others, middle-aged adults are concerned with their contributions to society and how productive their life is in the PRESENT, rather than falling into meaningless-ness. Lastly, late-adulthood or seniors struggle with finding a sense of integrity and pride in what they have done and accomplished in life, and perhaps even what they still stand for after all of their experiences. A lack of this feeling can lead to despair and depression, which is dangerous in people of late age.
Thats about an overview of Erikson and my thoughts on his stages, until next time!
Zach
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Piaget - Some Thoughts
I don't believe I ever talked much about Piaget, so I'll do a little post about him tonight. We took his theory in class, most prominently his "ages and stages" idea of the four main stages of childhood development. I remember taking this several times in Psych courses, and even have a clever little acronym (SPCF) To memorize the order, it sounds like SPCA, no connection really but it worked for me after coming up with it in Intro Psych II!
Anyways, I put a fair bit of merit into Piaget's ideas, as the stages can quite readily be observed in real life, though the lines can be blurry with the ages, the stages do have a legitmate flow and transition, which can be observed. The first sensorimotor focuses primarily on the sensory stimuli and "feel it out" way in which infants and young toddlers explore the world. They grasp, crawl, walk, and roll around, taking in as much sensory information as they can. I mean, I don't know if you've ever watched an infant or toddler, but this is pretty accurate. They seem incredibly interested in absorbing as much information about the physical, obervable world around them, and just kind've...motor along doing so. I don't know if anyone remembers being the the grocery store when you were younger, and running your hand along the ailes touching and feeling EVERYTHING. I dunno why, I just did. 'Cause I wanted to...see how it....feels. You know? ...Sensorimotor. Anyways, moving on.
As the stages progress from sensorimotor to formal operational, we really can see some important milestones in children's reasoning and cognitions. Some concepts we went over in class, such as the law of conservation, egocentrism, and the move from logical to abstract thought are all observable changes that ARE different for every child, but also seem to follow in a more organized structure, as indicated by Piaget's stages. Studies such as the one where children observe liquid poured between different shaped glasses and even (my favourite) the marshmallow study can really show us how these differences in individual kids as proposed by Piaget could be seen in a real life application. You'll notice the kids have a VERY hard time seeing the abstract future gain of NOT eating a marshallow, and see the more concrete fact that they just want to eat it and don't care about why they shouldn't. It causes them a great deal of cognitive dissonance, even when they leave it be.
I think thats all for now, but I'll leave you with this video of the marshmallow study. Watch...laugh...and.....laugh.
~Zach
Anyways, I put a fair bit of merit into Piaget's ideas, as the stages can quite readily be observed in real life, though the lines can be blurry with the ages, the stages do have a legitmate flow and transition, which can be observed. The first sensorimotor focuses primarily on the sensory stimuli and "feel it out" way in which infants and young toddlers explore the world. They grasp, crawl, walk, and roll around, taking in as much sensory information as they can. I mean, I don't know if you've ever watched an infant or toddler, but this is pretty accurate. They seem incredibly interested in absorbing as much information about the physical, obervable world around them, and just kind've...motor along doing so. I don't know if anyone remembers being the the grocery store when you were younger, and running your hand along the ailes touching and feeling EVERYTHING. I dunno why, I just did. 'Cause I wanted to...see how it....feels. You know? ...Sensorimotor. Anyways, moving on.
As the stages progress from sensorimotor to formal operational, we really can see some important milestones in children's reasoning and cognitions. Some concepts we went over in class, such as the law of conservation, egocentrism, and the move from logical to abstract thought are all observable changes that ARE different for every child, but also seem to follow in a more organized structure, as indicated by Piaget's stages. Studies such as the one where children observe liquid poured between different shaped glasses and even (my favourite) the marshmallow study can really show us how these differences in individual kids as proposed by Piaget could be seen in a real life application. You'll notice the kids have a VERY hard time seeing the abstract future gain of NOT eating a marshallow, and see the more concrete fact that they just want to eat it and don't care about why they shouldn't. It causes them a great deal of cognitive dissonance, even when they leave it be.
I think thats all for now, but I'll leave you with this video of the marshmallow study. Watch...laugh...and.....laugh.
~Zach
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