2.+Learning


 * 2. LEARNING PRINCIPLE **

//The teacher candidate understands how all children learn and develop, and can provide learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social and personal development. The teacher candidate understands that learning involves active engagement in culturally valued activities with knowledgeable others and the construction of new knowledge. //

//In this section of the portfolio, you need to make the case, with supporting evidence, that you have achieved each of the following proficiencies: //


 * //2.1. Candidates understand human development and how it is affected by context. //**

 Adolescence is a rough time for many students, as they are beginning to form personal identities and developing their own cultural personalities that reflect their interests and social beliefs. In my ED 415 final reflective paper I address several issues that influence youth development and the impact that youth culture has on education (2.1.a). Through this class I found that youth find many obstacles and struggles, especially urban youth who often find a lack of presence from adults in their lives outside of school due to their parents working careers. This creates a stronger emphasis on peer relationships, which develops uncertainty towards adult figures (i.e. teachers) and importance upon inclusion and exclusion of group members that share similar goals and lifestyle interests. Appearance and perception thus become important concepts for adolescents. Teachers can build trust and relationships by allowing student cultures to enter the classroom and incorporating these into lesson planning. I planned a lesson for STARS that had students create a daily ecofootprint as a team on a large web of environmentally important categories such as water, chemicals, electricity, transportation, food, etc (2.1.b). This lesson included culturally relevant material that sparked interest and motivation inside of the students because it provided a learning context that related directly to their lifestyles.

//**2.2. Candidates understand that all students construct knowledge through active engagement in culturally valued activities and know what is appropriate for their students to learn, based on their age/grade level and the strengths, experiences and resources of their family/community background. **//

 In EDU 486 we read a paper on the culture of power. This paper focused on addressing students of minority who often experience oppressed or disadvantaged schooling due to the dominant culture being aligned with educational curriculum. Sadowski (2008) discusses how stereotypes help students to define themselves and identify themselves when compared to dominant culture. These images are socially constructed and continue to create racial, gender, and class divisions that harm students academic ability and development. Cultural differences can be beneficial to the learning environment, as each student brings their own knowledge, experiences, and cultural interests to the classroom context. In EDU 434 I wrote a critical synthesis on the social construction of knowledge (2.2.a). In this I state that the social construction of knowledge is made through the social sharing of interpretations and representations of knowledge, meaning that learning is developed through a community that helps each other. In this sense learning requires individuals to take on different identities in order to build a collective knowledge of understanding. This is a continuous and active process that includes every member of the community and when inclusive can eliminate issues in learning created by the culture of power. I have also come to understand that boys and girls biologically learn differently, and teachers have to be able to cater to their needs so that they can both achieve equally (2.2.b).

//** 2.3. Candidates are able to provide learning experiences that take into consideration the students’ development level and draw on the strengths and resources available in students’ prior experiences, as well as the school, family, and community contexts in which they live. **//

 During STARS I developed lesson plans along with my colleagues that focused learning experiences on specific student developmental levels (2.3.a). In our investigation we studied how common household chemicals in diluted solutions would influence plant growth. To help students understand the chemicals they were using we included lessons on pH. This was the first time that students learned this concept and initially they found difficulty with understanding it as there was little prior experience. We used several demonstrations of pH in future lessons to provide a stronger education on the importance of pH and what it means for their investigation. Students used Vernier LabQuest and probes to measure pH of their chemical solutions, which they would relate later to the demonstrations (2.3.b). These demonstrations included common things students knew about such as candy, which students could relate to taste. Students could tell what candies were more sour and could relate this taste to being more acidic. We placed candy in water and then poured baking soda over them to observe the reactions (2.3.c). Through a discussion accompanied by a chart that included acidity levels of the candy (2.3.d) we asked students how much harm they think each candy did to their teeth, which they answered that the more acidic candy hurt them more because the reactions they observed were most violent with the more acidic candy. We then asked so in terms of our chemicals, which ones would harm the plants most, to which they answered the more acidic and basic ones.

 My series of three lessons focused on what animal adaptations are and how they help animals survive (2.3.e). After the first ticket out the door we realized that students were confusing adaptations (characteristics that help animals survive), with survival NEEDS like water/food (2.3.f). So we cleared that misconception the next day by providing examples of survival needs and talking about what survival needs were and how they are different and about how adaptations cant be changed instantly but occur over time (2.3.g). One activity we made included stations at 16 table stations. Students worked in pairs to observe photos of different animals that have different adaptations and would have to determine how that adaptation helped them survive (2.3.h). For example, camels have long eye lashes to prevent getting sand in their eyes, a snakes jaw helps it swallow large food, polar bear fur keeps it warm and provides camouflage, and eagles good eye sight helps it see prey when flying high. All adaptations mostly had to do with getting food, or surviving from animals who wanted to eat them. I also did a lesson that asked students to take a stand when they saw a photo of an animal on the scree as to whether they thought that animal would hibernate or migrate.

References

Sadowski, M. (2008). //Adolescents at school//. New York: Harvard Education Press.

 || EDU 442 ED 415 || [|Picture_4.png] [|Picture_1.png] || STARS with probes ||
 * Evidence # || Embedded Link or Object || Description ||
 * 2.1.a || [[file:20100625-ED415FinalPaper-MSaunders.doc]] || ED 415 Final Reflective Paper ||
 * 2.1.b || [|DSC07434.JPG] || Blue Team's daily ecofootprint ||
 * 2.2.a || [[file:20091004-EDU434CritSyn3-MSaunders.doc]] || EDU 434 Critical Synthesis on Social Constructivism ||
 * 2.2.b || [[file:442boysgirllearndiff.pdf]]
 * 2.3.a || [[file:20091129-EDU434StarsLessonPlans-MSaunders.doc]] || STARS lesson plans ||
 * 2.3.b || [|Picture_5.png]
 * 2.3.c || [|Picture_17.png] || STARS candy experiment ||
 * 2.3.d || [[file:stars acid candy.doc]] || pH of candies ||
 * 2.3.e || [[file:20091207-Seriesof3Lessons-MSaunders.doc]] || Series of 3 ||
 * 2.3.f || [[file:21-20091116-SWWAdaptationTOTD-KSchulz.doc]] || misconceptions on TOD ||
 * 2.3.g || [[file:20091116-LessonPlan3of3-KSchulz.ppt]] || powerpoint addressing the misconceptions ||
 * 2.3.h || [|DSC07607.JPG] || adaptation stations ||

Home