This syllabus is for EFRT 303. This course fulfills the Social Science area of the USP. The course meets the following specified outcomes for courses in the social science area:

  1. understand humans as individuals and as parts of larger social systems;
  2. understand the historical context of the social sciences;
  3. identify problems and frame research questions relating to humans and their experience;
  4. become familiar with the process of theory-building and theoretical frameworks used by the social sciences;
  5. understand research methods used in the social sciences;
  6. describe and detail discipline-specific knowledge and its applications; and

g.understand differences among and commonalties across humans and their experience, as tied to such variables as gender, race, socioeconomic status, etc.

ED 303 Human Development and Learning (with practicum)

4 credits Fall, 2006

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:00 – 10:20

Instructor: Dr. Penny Warner

Office: 228 Gildemeister Hall

Telephone: (507) 457-5362 (office)

E-Mail:

Office Hours:(Changes will be announced in class or posted on my door.)

Monday9:00 – 9:30, 2:00 – 5:00

Tuesdayby appointment

Wednesday9:00 – 9:30, 2:00 – 4:00

Required Text:

Woolfolk, A. (2004) Educational Psychology, Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Wong, H. (1998) First Days of School. Mountain View, CA: Harry Wong Publications, Inc.

**Others announced in class

Course Description:

This course introduces students to the psychological and social dimensions of learning and development and their influence on students’ participation in school. The course focuses on psychological theories of learning and development and the relationship between psychological theory and classroom practice in early childhood and primary classrooms. A field experience is required, in addition to the regularly scheduled on-campus class sessions.

Statement of the major focus and objectives of the course

This course represents a core body of knowledge for the Effective Educator Program. The content is foundational for other education courses and student teaching and assists students in meeting the Minnesota Board of Teaching requirements for the study of development and learning and how it related to typical and atypical students. The following Minnesota Standards for Effective Teaching Practice for Beginning Teachers will be a major focus of the course: Standard 2. Student Learning, Standard 3. Diverse Learners, and Standard 5. Learning Environment.

Course Outcomes. The student will:

Knowledge

A.Understand typical developmental progressions and ranges of individual variation within and across developmental domains.

B.Understand differences in how students construct knowledge, acquire skills, and develop habits of mind.

C.Know about areas of exceptionality in learning.

D.Understand the impact of individual experience, talents, prior learning, language, culture, and family and community values on student learning.

E.Understand the impact of life styles, culture and social economic status on learning.

F.Understand human motivation.

G.Understand the principles of effective classroom management and develop a range of strategies to promote positive relationships, cooperation, and a positive, productive learning environment.

H.Understands the role of subject matter in school learning.

I.Understand and identify different approaches to learning and performance (e.g. learning styles, multiple intelligences, and performance modalities).

J.Understand the role of teacher as researcher.

K.Understand the impact of teachers’ beliefs and behaviors on student learning.

Skills

L.Use student thinking, experiences, and strengths as a basis for growth and their errors as an opportunity for learning.

M.Create learning environments which foster self-esteem and positive interpersonal relations among all students.

Professionalism

N.Understand that all children can learn at high levels.

Practice

O.Understands the Minnesota Graduation Standards and their impact on teaching.

Course Assignments:

Points

PossiblePercentage

10010%Attendance and Participation

40040%Two exams on lectures, readings, and related course content

20020%Group Learning Theory Assignment

10010%Child interview

10010%Classroom Observation

10010%Practicum

1000100%

Course Policies:

  1. Grades are earned and awarded on a non-competitive basis.
  2. Students will earn a numerical grade for each assignment which fits within a letter grade which follows:

A = 93 – 100B = 86 – 92C = 78 – 85

D = 70 – 77F = 69 and below

  1. Assignments will be due on the date identified in class. Assignments turned in after the designated date will be counted as late. Late assignments will be accepted but will be automatically downgraded by 10 points. Be kind to yourself by allowing time for unexpected events.
  2. Attendance and participation is required in this class. You are the part of a community of learners. We all need to work together to create the best community that we can. You need to call to let me know if you have an emergency that is keeping you from your responsibilities. (Three absences will result in your grade being lowered by one letter grade.)
  3. If you have any special instructional needs, please feel free to discuss them with me. I would like to make this class as meaningful to you as possible. Please make your needs known.
  4. Computers will be used for presentations and for note taking. They will be turned off at all other times.

Tentative Course Schedule

(Changes to be announced in class.)

WeekTopicChapter

August 28Introduction to class, learning and development

Meet your classmates

Wednesday: Mrs. Mary Joyce—Field Placement Supervisor will meet with us to begin setting up placements. **Please bring your Purple WSU Field Experience Handbook

(it costs about $5.00) (DON’T BUY THE TAN ONE)

You will also need to join EMSP (about $23.00)

A representative will meet with our class to introduce you to this education club!

September 4Begin Theories of Child Development Woolfolk 2

September 11-Cognitive Development(Wong 1 – 5)

September 18

September 25

October 2Begin Theories of Learning (Jigsaw Method) Browse Woolfolk

(October 9)-Behaviorism/Social Learning(Ch. 6, 7, 9)

(October 16)-Information Processing(Wong 6 – 10)

-Constructivism

-Brain-based/Multiple Intelligences

Exam 1 will be implemented during the week of October 16th.**

October 23 Personal, Social, & Emotional DevelopmentWoolfolk 3

(Wong 11- 14)

October 30Learner Differences and Learning NeedsWoolfolk 4

(Wong 15 – 17)

November 6 Motivation in Learning and Teaching Woolfolk10

November 13(Wong 18 – 20)

November 20Creating Learning EnvironmentsWoolfolk 11

November 27-Alignment with Learning Theory(Wong 21 – 24)

-Creating Community

-Classroom management strategies

December 4Continue with Learning Environments(Wong 25 – 26)

Exam 2 will be implemented during the week of December 4

The Final Exam is scheduled for Tuesday, December 12th, from 8:00 to 10:00.

This will be a time for us to reflect on our learning!

EDUC 303 OBSERVATION/INTERVIEW OF A CHILDDr. Warner

This assignment is designed to have you apply classroom theory to actual interaction with a child. Please complete tasks with a child (Ages 3 – 8 years) and then write a report to describe your findings. The report length for each task is identified after the description. Be sure to label each of these sections with the number identified. You need to TYPE the report and then STAPLE the pages together BEFORE class. Each section is worth 12 points with 4 points given for following directions completely for a total of 100 points.

It is due on ______. Late papers will have 5 points deducted for each day late.

1. Devise tasks in which you can interact with the child to assess his/her understandings of conservation as is described in Chapter 2 of the Wookfolk text. You need to address each of the following areas of conservation: liquid, mass, and area. (3 small paragraphs)

2. Provide objects (straws, yarn, sticks, etc.) of different lengths and ask the child to put into order. (Start with 3 or 5 pieces and increase as they progress.) Note the number where s/he began to have difficulties. Note any strategies that the child used. (1 paragraph)

3. Provide a wide collection of materials (10 – 15 items) ask the child to put them into groups. Ask how the child how s/he sorted them. Put the items back together and ask him/her how else they can sort. Continue as long as there is interest. Note the categories each time. (It is good to provide areas to sort into; a loop of yarn would work fine.) (A list of objects as well was a list of categories developed for each attempt is needed. 1 paragraph for a reflection on the child’s strategies for sorting.)

4. Read the child a story with a sequence involved (The Three Bears, Three Little Pigs, and THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF.) Ask them to retell the story. Note if the order was correct and also indicate the accuracy of the information.

(1 paragraph)

5. Play some games with the child, such as: Catch, Tag, or Duck, Duck Goose to observe the child’s physical development. Are the actions smooth and poised or a bit choppy and rough. Can the child run, skip, gallop, hop (a distance), jump with both feet together, catch and throw a ball, etc. (1 paragraph)

6. Involve the child in some cutting activities. Notice which hand is dominant. Observe the child’s grasp of tools. Notice how skillfully s/he can use these tools. Describe. (1 paragraph, plus an example of the child’s cutting skills)

EDUC 303 Grading Sheet for Observation/Interview of a Child

Name______

AreaPoints Points

PossibleEarned

1. Conservation (3 paragraphs)

liquid12______

mass12______

area12______

2. Seriation(1 paragraph)12______

3. Sorting (lists)12______

4. Story Sequence (1 paragraph)12______

5. Large Motor Development (1 paragraph)12______

6. Small Motor Development (1 paragraph)12______

Directions Followed Completely4______

Final Score100______

EDUC 303Fall 2006

Classroom Observation

This observation will be a reflection on your classroom assignment for your practicum assignment. Please answer the following questions concerning your classroom. In your typed reflection be sure to number each of the questions so that it is clear what you are addressing. Please staple pages together and avoid the use of any vinyl page coverings. (THANKS!!) This assignment is worth 100 points. It is due on Friday, November 17, 2006.

Introduction(5 points):

List the grade and the school in which you are placed. List any other details that you feel add insight to your placement. (Perhaps the time of day or the specific day that you are in the classroom plays a part?)

1. List all of the “rules” that are printed in this environment (10 points):

  • Outside of the classroom
  • Inside of the classroom

2. List and describe any unwritten rules that guide the routine and behaviors of the classroom. (40 points)

  • These may concern any dimension of school life: sharing, talking, touching materials or people, etc.
  • They may also involve procedures: working together, lining up, cleaning up, walking in the hall, etc.
  • Others?

3. Identify and explain procedures or rules that could be added to make this room run more smoothly. (25 points)

4. Do you see evidence of Harry Wong’s procedure of making a child feel welcome by placing his/her name in key places (coat hook, cubby, desk, table, etc.)(10 points)

Be sure explain.

5. CHANGE YOUR FOCUS TO THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM(10 points):

Reflect on your own participation in this class, college course ED 303, (which is weighted with attendance/participation as 10% of your grade). Please rate yourself, using 100 possiblepoints. Go on to explain if you think you are a constructive participant to our classroom learning community? If so, explain what makes you a constructive participant. If you are not, what needs to happen to get you more involved?

EDUC 303Fall 2006

Classroom ObservationGrading Sheet

Name______

AREAPoints Points

PossibleEarned

Introduction5 points ______

  • List the grade and the school in which you are placed.
  • List any other details that you feel add insight to your placement.
  • (Perhaps the time of day or the specific day that you are in the

classroom plays a part?)

1. List of “rules” in print10 points______

  • Outside of the classroom
  • Inside of the classroom

2. List/describe unwritten rules40 points______

  • These may concern any dimension of school life: sharing, talking, touching materials or people, etc.
  • They may also involve procedures: working together, lining up, cleaning up, walking in the hall, etc.
  • Others?

3. Identify/explain procedures or rules 25 points______

that could be added

4. Evidence of Harry Wong’s procedures10 points______

Making a child feel welcome by placing his/her name in key places:

  • coat hook
  • cubby
  • desk
  • table

5. COLLEGE CLASSROOM10 points______

  • Reflect on your own participation in this class.
  • Please rate yourself, using 100 possible points.
  • Go on to explain if you think you are a constructive participant

to our classroom learning community?

  • If so, explain what makes you a constructive participant.
  • If you are not, what needs to happen to get you more involved?

Total100 points______

ED 303THEORIES OF LEARNINGDr. Warner

I. BEHAVIORISM

Generally assumes that the outcome of learning is change in behavior and emphasizes the effects of external events on the individual.

  1. Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)
  2. stimulus-event that activates behavior
  3. response-observable reaction to a stimulus
  4. generalization-responding in the same way to a similar stimuli
  5. discrimination-responding differently to a similar, but not identical stimuli
  6. extinction-gradual disappearance of a learned response
  1. Operant Conditioning-Learning in which voluntary behavior is strengthened or weakened by consequences or antecedents.
  2. operants-voluntary behaviors emitted by a person (or an animal)
  3. antecedents-events that precede an action
  4. consequences-events that follow and action

II. Constructivism

View that emphasizes the active role of the learner in building understanding and making sense of information.

  1. The realities and truths of the external world direct knowledge construction.
  2. Internal processes such as Piaget’s organization, assimilation, and accommodation direct knowledge construction.
  3. Both external and internal factors direct knowledge construction.

Common Constructivist Elements

  1. Complex, challenging learning environments and authentic tasks.
  2. Social negotiation and shared responsibility as a part of learning.
  3. Multiple representations of content.
  4. Understanding that knowledge is constructed.
  5. Student centered instruction.

III. Information-Processing

Human mind’s activity of taking in, storing, and using information.

  • Information is encoded in the sensory register where perception determines what will be help in working memory for further use.
  • Thoroughly processed information becomes part of long-term memory and can be activated at any time to return to working memory.

IV. Multiple Intelligences

Intelligence: ability or abilities to acquire and use knowledge for solving problems and adapting to the world.

Multiple Intelligences: (Howard Gardener) A person has eight separate abilities:

logical-mathematical

verbal

musical

spatial

bodily-kinesthetic,

interpersonal

intrapersonal

naturalist

V. Social Learning Theory

(sometimes called Social Cognitive Theory) theory that emphasizes learning through observation of others

Bandura based this theory primarily on BEHAVIORISM, but felt that it was incomplete. He felt that humans know more than they can show.

Four important elements of observational learning:

  1. paying attention
  2. retaining information or impressions
  3. producing behaviors
  4. being motivated

VI. Developmentally Appropriate Practices

(NAEYC--National Association for the Education of Young Children)

NAEYC recommends that curriculum be meaningful and relevant for young children.

Curriculum should be based on three items:

  • Age Appropriate
  • Individually appropriate
  • Socially/Culturally Appropriate

ED 303 Learning Theory

EXPERT GROUP

Your Mission:

  1. Your mission is to become an expert at the learning theory that has been assigned to you.
  1. You must first meet the experts in your field. Find out what makes these people tick. What is their BIG INTEREST in this topic??
  1. Write a set of “ground rules” also known as group norms.
  1. Each member needs to write down team members first and last names, telephone numbers and e-mail address.
  1. Bring 1 -2 articles about your theory to your next scheduled meeting!

DEVELOP A LIST OF QUESTIONS THAT YOU WILL ANSWER ABOUT YOUR THEORY.

Such as:

How is it applied to the classroom?

Who are the main researchers behind it? What field are they in?

Is it feasible?

Can it stand alone? (Which theories might it be used with?)

What are some examples of classroom practice that use this theory?

BE SURE TO BEGIN A LIST OF RESOURCES THAT YOU WILL USE TO GUIDE YOUR RESEARCH. (This is to help you easily site the sources that you use for your study!)

Expert Group Infomercial Assignment

ED 303 Dr. Warner

Now that you have become and expert in the learning theory that has been assigned to you; it is now time to take that research and put it into a presentation form. Please think of it as an informational presentation. For classroom purposes you will be teaching the rest of the class about this theory. I would like you to push yourself past a regular “information giving” presentation and try to SELL it to us. You can set up your very own sales gimmick that you could use to coax us (your audience) into applying your theory in our own classrooms. For this, not only do we need the background of this theory, but also we need to know why it is the BEST and how we can use it in the classroom. Your motto should be, SELL, SELL, SELL! Try thinking of your team as having the patent on this idea and you need to convince us to use it.

You can use any type of legal propaganda in your presentation. You will be given 20 minutes to teach and convince us to use your learning theory in our very own classrooms. Good salespeople always have visual aids, so you will be expected to have visual aids to help keep our attention (overhead transparencies, posters,power point, etc.) (If you choose to use power point, YOU need to be sure that your computer is updated to work in this classroom before your presentation day. Also, it would be best to check with the others that present on that day, and possible get all of the presentation on ONE computer, so that groups would not have to switch computers between presentations.)

Good salespeople also have an informational flyer to distribute about their product. You will need tomake ___ copies. This sheet will also serve as a study guide for your classmates, so you need to use it to pack in facts about your learning theory.

A jingle or song will help to keep your product in our thoughts!!! Remember that you can put your content to a familiar tune and people will be able to remember it better!

One last tactic that strong salespeople do is that they let you sample their product. You need to work a “concrete” experience into your 20 minute sales pitch, so that we can truly experience your product. You can set us up as part of the infomercial if you like. (Please let us know what you need us to do ahead of time.)