SDT Case Study

Vicki Davis interacts with her students on a personal level. She is working and learning right along side them. She has them engage in activities that allow them to explore the subject in their own unique ways. She also uses this as a way to challenge them to learn and explore new ideas. As an example, she talked about how one of her student groups did not know what "terraforming" was. Instead of just telling them about it, the students had to do a little research to find the answer on their own and then report back to her with their findings. Not only does this help them to gain a better understanding of the term, but it also demonstrates the students' skills and abilities in being able to do a web search and find valid sources of information. This is a level of autonomy that is not found in many classrooms. She encourages her students to discover new topics and try new things and to learn through experience and not just through straight lecture on her part. I think this helps to promote a greater competency or mastery of the subject that a student is tasked with because the student is more motivated to learn and understand the key concepts. This in turn helps the student to connect with rest of the classroom and give them a purpose because at the end of their respective projects, they share what they learned with the rest of the class through an instructional demonstration and with the rest of the world through their blogs and wikis. I think that this gives the students a more intrinsic motivation to do well because their work will be on display for others to see. Students will feel that their work as a greater meaning if it is going to be shared with others to see and learn from.

I really liked the environment that Vicki Davis has set up in her classroom. It is a great example of how letting your students work on projects at their own pace and learning level can really produce quality work. All of her students seemed to really enjoy what they were doing and were excited when they were able to show off what they had accomplished. She was able to instill a desire in her students to want to succeed and do well for themselves and not just for a good grade. I hope that I will able to incorporate this type of learning environment into my classroom and see what my students will be able to do.

Week 2 - Theory to Practice

Week 1 Hypothesis:
If a classroom provides an open learning environment, then students will gain a fuller world view because through their interactions, students will not only see what they have in common, but will be able to view topics from different perspectives.

Week 2 Theory to Practice:
Today I gained a greater understanding of the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky. I think that both psychologists have valid and important ideas pertaining to the cognitive development of the child. I believe that we all learn in a successive manner that builds off of our previous knowledge and understanding. I subscribe to Piaget's idea of the 4 developmental stages in so much that children learn differently and have a changing world view as they grow, but I don't think that these stages are necessarily as clearly defined by age brackets as Piaget says they are. I am inclined to agree with Vygotsky that where a child comes from and their upbringing plays a very essential role in their cognitive development. If a child as a relatively easy life and is not wanting for any of their basic needs and comes from a supportive family, then they are going to be more apt to learn. However, if I child's basic needs are not fulfilled, then their learning may be hampered because of their desire to have their basic, fundamental needs met.
Both theories seem to suggest that children learn sequentially and will build off of what they previously learned. This is what Vygotsky termed "scaffolding". This idea reminds me of the answer a college professor would give to the question of "Is this test going to be cumulative?" He would always respond with "Yes. Since kindergarten." This makes a lot of sense to me because where you are in life with regards to education and cognition is the sum of everything else that you have learned and experienced thus far.
I also found the exercise of creating the Lesson Plan with my INTEL group very valuable. It had me thinking about how to craft a lesson plan in a more objective way and to plan it off of the goals and not on how I would go about teaching my lesson first.