Educational Psychology - Essay Example

Educational Psychology Table of Contents I. Importance of Critical Thinking ……………………………………….. 3 a. Article Summary Using Santrock (2008) Guidelines ………… 3 II. Importance of Transfer in Educational Curricula ……………………… 4 III. Educational Strategies to Facilitate Learning ………………………….. 5 IV. The Best Program to Utilize Cooperative Learning …………………… 6 References ……………………………………………………………………… 7 Importance of Critical Thinking Critical thinking is important on the part of the educator and the students since it allows both parties to expand their knowledge in terms of facts, principles, theories, and concepts. It also helps improve the individual basic academic success both in teaching and learning process. Through the use of critical thinking, a person can improve their communication skills as it encourage them to be able to determine the best way to learn effectively and be able to transfer these knowledge into something more useful and rewarding. Article Summary Using Santrock (2008) Guidelines Implementing a free market and socialism within a country like Sweden helps control the abusive capitalists and prevents the unequal distribution of wealth. The news article that I have chosen discuss about the strong support of Swedish government on international trade. Sweden had a direct agreement between the Pakistan and other countries with a competitive advantage in producing quality denims like jeans, etc.1 This agreement could benefit both countries in the long run. In fact, the agreement that was signed between the two countries will serve as a stepping-stone in having a direct open trading for the Pakistani made garments. The joint statement that comes from the Prgmea and the Textile Importers Association of Sweden aims to develop a good trading relationship between Sweden and Pakistan as well as the European Union (EU) since Sweden is a member of EU. Aside from the fact that Swedish government strongly supports the international textile industry, what are the other factors that enable Sweden to have a lesser unemployment rate than other developed countries like the United States? In what way does a combined free market and socialism within Sweden helps control the abusive capitalists and prevents the unequal distribution of wealth? Is this statement proven or is it purely based on hypothesis? Importance of Transfer in Educational Curricula Transfer refers to the ability of the students to be able to apply what he/she has learnt in class into solving problems in the real world. Transfer is crucial to the learning theory and educational practice to enable an individual to become competent as human resources of the country. It is the capability of an individual to apply everything he/she has learnt within the educational institution that maximizes the individual’s work performance. An individual has a choice to either use knowledge to his/her own benefit or not. Knowledge refers to the ‘facts, information and skills that an individual has acquired through either experience or education.’2 A student who is able to get the best grades in class does not necessarily mean that the person could become equally successful in terms of having a promising career. It is different when it comes to the battle in the real world since what is being gauged is the person’s ability to transfer the knowledge into a more useful situation. Educational curricula can be designed to promote transfer. The educator has a choice in training and testing the knowledge of his/her students using different transfer techniques such as near, far, low-road, high-road, forward-reaching, and backward-reaching.3 Some of the possible ways the educator could promote transfer processes includes: (1) encourage and teach the learners to apply the theoretical knowledge they have learn in class by requiring the students to submit a research paper applying the knowledge into a case study situation; (2) assigning the students to work as a team enhances their skills regarding team work, interpersonal skills, and communication skills; and (3) educators should not stop by teaching the students the process of transferring knowledge, a constant monitoring and guidance in the status of each student transfer performance is also required.4, 5 Educational Strategies to Facilitate Learning According to Kiraly, social constructivist approach is when “people have no choice but to create or construct meanings and knowledge through participation in the interpersonal, inter-subject interaction.”6 As I progress to a higher level of education, more social constructivist approach has been applied to most of my subjects. In the first grade, teachers use less of social constructivist approach in teaching. During this stage of learning, teachers use more of a straightforward method in cognitive learning. Not much of deep learning application such as inter-subject interaction or interpersonal participation were used. Today, social constructivist approaches in learning process is widely applicable especially in higher level of education. This is because more researches have been done concerning the effectiveness of teaching approaches within the classroom setting and the increase of availability of technology designed for teaching and learning process. Research alone contributes to the increase in awareness of teachers in their teaching profession. Based on my learning experience, a combined cognitive apprenticeship7; cooperative learning8; scaffolding9; and tutoring is more effective. The problem with the use of purely cognitive apprenticeship lies in the fact that it does not take into consideration the implicit processes involved in teaching complex skills. For cognitive apprenticeship to be effective, it has to be designed in such a way that the approach could enable the students to observe, enact, and practice the skills with the help of the teacher. Thus, it is vital that the learner has to be attentive in order to retain the information being presented to them. Cooperative is good since it enhances a person’s ability to learn individual and collaborative learning. Scaffolding and tutoring is crucial to the learning process of children since teachers could gradually shift to their responsibility to teach the students who could not absorb the lesson fast. The Best Program to Utilize Cooperative Learning Based on my research, the type of programs used in utilizing cooperative learning method can be effective depending on the age and learning capabilities of the students. Among all the programs that are designed to enhance cooperative learning, I find the use of Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) more effective since the program is designed in such a way that teamwork is being encouraged. The fact that the program takes advantage of using individual quiz or test gives justice to those students that are actively participating and cooperating throughout the entire learning procedure. For students in grades 2 to 12, the use of STAD method10 is more appropriate since it is one of the easiest, simplest, and most flexible among the other cooperative learning methods. This method is widely applicable in subjects such as math, social studies, science, and language arts. Team driven method normally assigns students according to their respective group of four- or five-member team wherein each team will have to participate and go through four process particularly teaching, team study, test procedures, and recognition. The teaching phase is conducted through a lecture-discussion method using visual aids or presentation materials to encourage the students to attentively listen to the lecture. Next, the mentor encourages each group to participate in a team study where the mentor provides each group with a worksheet and answer sheet to encourage them to have a group discussion. As soon as the team study is over, the mentor will assign an individual quiz to test the learning adaptation of each student and to determine the students that are ‘free rider’ from those that really pays attention in class. For the recognition part, the group that has the highest to the lowest ranking score will receive a Super Team, Great Team, and Good Team certificate accordingly. References: 1 Yarns and Fibers (2006) ‘Prgmea Sign MoU with TIA Sweden to Capitalize Opportunities of Quota Free Market’ April 2, 2006 Retrieved: April 29, 2007 < http://yarnsandfibers.com/ > 2 Oxford English Dictionary (2007) ‘Knowledge’ Retrieved: June 30, 2007 < http://www.askoxford.com/ > 3 Santrock, J. (2006) ‘Educational Psychology’ 2nd Edition. Chapter 9 – Complex Cognitive Processes. pp. 305 – 306. 4 Santrock, J. (2006) ‘Educational Psychology’ 2nd Edition. Chapter 9 – Complex Cognitive Processes. pp. 307. 5 Perkins, D.N. (1992) ‘Transfer of Learning’ Harvard Graduate School of Education, Gavriel Salomon, University of Haifa, and University of Arizona. Contribution to International Encyclopedia of Education, 2nd Edition. Oxford, England: Pergamon Press. September 2, 1992. Retrieved: June 30, 2007 < http://learnweb.harvard.edu/ > 6 Rosas, M. (2004) ‘Don Kiraly’s a Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education’ Translation Journal. Vol. 8, No. 4. October 2004. Retrieved: June 30, 2007 < http://accurapid.com/ > 7 Collins A., Brown J.S., & Newman S.E. (1987) ‘Cognitive Apprenticeship: Teaching the Craft of Reading, Writing and Mathematics: Technical Report No. 403’ BBN Laboratories, Cambridge, MA. Centre for the Study of Reading. University of Illinois, January, 1987. p. 4 8 Millis, B.J. (1996) ‘Cooperative Learning’ Retrieved: June 30, 2007 < http://www.utc.edu/ > 9 NCREL (2007) ‘Scaffolding’ Retrieved: June 30, 2007 < http://www.ncrel.org/ > 10 Scott, A. and Palmer, J. (1998) ‘Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) in Twelfth Grade Classroom: Effect on Student Achievement and Attitude’ Journal of Social Studies Research. Spring 1998. Retrieved: June 30, 2007 < http://findarticles.com/ > Read More