EDCI 5065 Week 1 Essay and T2P

Today we performed several activities and assessments. First, we wrote down formal and informal experiences we have learned in the past. This helped to understand the differences between “loosely” constructed learning versus concrete learning scenarios. The objective was to show how learning occurs in a variety of circumstances outside the classroom as well as within it. We then worked with partners to identify which of these experiences were affected by demographic variables, which were environmental variables, and those that were experiential. This activity demonstrated how learning is based on many individual variables and often what is learned is a result of either personal characteristics, the context of the situation, or how that learning opportunity was presented.
Another activity was to complete the Likert scale, which pertained to learning styles. I learned that I prefer to be more of a physical learner and less of an aural learner. The results that I received from this task varied greatly from the other students in my group, which illustrated the importance of teaching to a multitude of learning styles. What necessarily works for one student may not work to educate another so we must take students traits and differences into consideration.
After lunch we had the task of creating concept maps in which we broke down the idea/concept of learning. This was a difficult task because our group had so many different opinions about what learning meant and it was hard to decide general ideas in which they could be categorized. From this activity we learned that often we use the word “learning” without realizing how difficult it is to define. Learning consists of so many smaller concepts, which also could branch out into thousands more. What was important was grasping that the idea of learning is best understood through openness to many different interpretations and definitions.
Lastly, we focused on the article about educational psychology. The class was able to discuss many issues that cannot be easily answered such as whether standardized tests should be administered and if students should be tracked. These lessons also showed the many concepts pertaining to education and teach us that there are essential questions that must be addressed.

T2p: If a teacher accompanies students as an expert learner and “guide on the side” through their learning experiences, then it will allow students to seek answers and solutions for themselves and become actively engaged in their own learning because they will not rely on having the answer lectured to them or given to them but instead, they will understand that the only way to find an answer is to direct their own education through questioning and problem solving and use the teacher as a resource to find those answers.