Activity 7.5: What makes a successful learner?

            I listened to the podcast featuring Tough’s How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character.  Tough talks about what is missing in our education system- skills that he calls non-cognitive skills and include curiosity, creativity, character, self-regulation, grit, and resiliency, among other things.  Schools often have trouble teaching these skills because they can’t be measured, like achievement and cognitive ability can be through standardized tests.  The podcast talks about children who live in poverty and the achievement gap for those children, and gives stress, rather than economic status, as the reason, to discuss how non-cognitive skills can be taught and how these skills can improve academic achievement for kids lacking in these skills.  I think Tough is correct in that schools should be focusing more on skills like character and self-regulation instead of test scores, based on my own experience in school.  I have mentioned this before, but I have terrible test anxiety, and I think the reason is because my school really emphasized our scores on high stakes state testing measures.  I also think this is the reason for my math anxiety and my low self-efficacy.

            This podcast doesn’t fit into the social cognitive theory, and yet in a way it does, also.  Individuals are viewed as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting, and self-regulating in the social cognitive theory.  Tough is saying that some children, mainly those who fail to develop secure attachments with an adult figure as infants, often do not have the skills (or ability, as stressful situations can decrease executive function growth) to be self-organizing, self-regulating, etc. 

            This podcast reminded me of a couple of things.  First, in the beginning they talk about the emphasis on cognitive development in schools, which reminded me of the fixed mindset talked about by Dweck in our previous activity.  Teaching non-cognitive skills to improve achievement is a new idea, and what Tough says schools should be moving towards; it also is more like Dweck’s growth mindset.  This podcast also reminded me of the nature/nurture discussions we have had in class and in our powerpoints.  Teaching non-cognitive skills rather than relying on a child’s innate ability falls within the “nurture” point of view adopted by behaviorists. 

            I think Tough would say that the role of failure in learning is a call to develop better non-cognitive skills, such as resiliency.  I also do believe there is a recipe for success.  Below is my recipe for success:

·         1 part secure attachment to an adult figure as an infant/child

·         1 part personal factors (attention, cognitive ability, memory, metacognition, etc.)

·         ½ part good observational models

·         2 parts educational instruction

·         ½ part reinforcement

·         1 part motivation (either innate or taught)

·         2 parts instruction of non-cognitive skills (self-regulation, character, resiliency, etc.)

 

As I am writing this, I am wondering, for all those who have actually worked in a teaching environment, how feasible is it to teach non-cognitive skills in the classroom?  What are some ways that you do so/do you think you could do so?  Also, do you think that the social cognitive theory can stand alone, or do you think the recipe for success must be a mixture of theories?  Do you have anything you would add/take away from my recipe?

Activity 7.4: Implicit Theories of Learning

Activity 7.3: Responding to Bandura (2011)

          Bandura's article, "But What About That Gigantic Elephant in the Room?" talks about misconceptions that people have about his social cognitive theory of human behavior, which says that learning happens through observing models.  But are modeling and observation conducive to learning?  Bandura says yes, and goes through the misconceptions people have about his theory and debunks them.  One of the misconceptions Bandura talks about is that modeling only produces mimicry.  However, as Bandura says, "Modeling involves abstracting the information conveyed by specific exemplars about the structure and the underlying principles governing the behavior rather than simply mimicking the specific exemplars" (Bandura, 2011, p. 2).  This reminds me of our classroom discussion at the beginning on observation as reinforcement.  Bandura is saying that one does not simply mimic a behavior just to do so, that instead modeling in order to learn new things.  Bandura also talks about modeling as promoting innovativeness, which reminded me about something that I experienced as a child.  In the second grade, we were directed to draw a big star on our paper.  I did not know the secret to drawing the perfect star (i.e., drawing the lines and then erasing the middle) and was just drawing the outline- badly.  I was directed by my teacher to do a better one, and one of my peers showed me how by modeling the way to do it.  Not only did I learn how to draw a star, but I also practiced doing it frequently and eventually developed a better way for myself to quickly draw stars.

Activity 7.2: Exploring my own self-efficacy

I often doubt my abilities, and I don't have great self-efficacy in a lot of areas, math and relationships being prime examples.  My story, however is not about math, or about relationships, and is quite funny now that I look back upon it.  My senior year of college, I had to take the GRE in order to get into graduate school.  I also happen to have (sometimes intense) test anxiety (because, as Pajares says, I lack confidence in my abilities as a test taker).  For about a week before I took the test, I was so anxious I was having heartburn; I would find myself starting to panic at least twice a day.  The day of, I left my apartment three hours early- and I lived 25 minutes away from the testing center.  Not only that, but I also drive 45 mph (on the interstate!) because I was afraid I would wreck my car and miss my test.  Needless to say, I obviously had to take the GRE over at a later date, because I did not do as well as I needed to.  So, when Pajares talked about the self-fulfilling prophecy, this story is the first thing that popped into my mind.  I was not confident in my abilities that day, and my anxiety and lack of confidence affected my scores.  As for the root cause of my belief, I'm certain it was due to the pressure Kentucky schools put on students during high-stakes testing (such as CATS, which is no longer in use), and also my own personal issues with success, the need to control everything, and not knowing what to expect.  

Activity 7.1: Social Cognitive Theory, Motivation, and Self-Beliefs

The social cognitive theory is near and dear to my heart, as the school psychology program at UK really focused on the "whole child," which is essentially Bandura's process of triadic reciprocality... we take into consideration not only the child's personal characteristics and behavior, and the child's environment.  So, as a school psychologist, it's important for me to recognize the personal factors, behaviors, and environmental factors that influence learning.  Here are some that come to mind to me:

Personal Factors:

• Intellectual ability
• Health
• Personality type
• Motivation

Behaviors:

• Attention
• Attitude (positive v. negative)
• Ability to self-regulate
• Ability to problem solve

Environmental Factors:

• Socio-economic status
• Area in which you live (i.e., rural, urban)
• Role Models
• Culture (i.e., collectivist vs. individualist)
• Religion
• Home life (including family structure, parental employment, familial support system, parent relationships, etc)
• Friendships
• Resources 
• Protective factors like better schools, more affluent neighborhoods, etc
• Risk factors like gang activity, poverty, 
• Access to basic needs- food, water, shelter
• Exposure to trauma

Activity 6.5 : Processing Information in a Technolically-Rich Age

          I find Carr and Powers to be absolutely correct that technology is changing the way we learn, and affecting our self-regulation, and I find it kind of scary, don’t you? I was amused by Powers’ metaphor regarding the room and the tapping people, but I also realized the truth in it- I see every day how technology affects my productivity, my decision making, and my habits.  I don’t really like it.  Even in the time it took me to read Powers’ chapters, I received three texts and four emails, and each time I was brought away from the material I was reading by that familiar “ding!” and had to redirect myself.  It makes me want to give up all this technology. 

            How can we move away from this phenomenon?  Do you think we can?  Do any of you have ways that you resist the digital busyness?  

Activity 6.4: Self-Regulation and Metacognition

          I agree that self-regulation is important in being an effective problem solver.  I see self-regulation as not only making important decisions and choices in order to develop new and better habits, but also as a trial and error sort of technique.  I see self-regulation as making changes to less effective choices and decisions so that you can improve, change, and develop better, more effective, choices and habits.  I read the chapter by Nell Noddings on what schools should teach, and she talks a lot about how teachers should foster motivation, good study habits, and self-understanding, all which relate to self-regulation in that students must learn to make good decisions in order to develop these good habits.

Noddings talks about the two theories of motivation; one of which assumes that students are naturally motivated to learn, and the other assumes that students avoid learning and that motivation needs to be fostered.  This reminded me a lot of nature v. nurture, and the discussions we have had regarding Piaget, Skinner, and Vygotsky and their views on how information should be taught.  Obviously, if teachers believe the first theory of motivation, they would just be supervising the learning process, as they believe that students inherently have motivation.  If teachers believe the second theory of motivation, they would believe in a more “tabula rosa” view, in which they feel the need to guide the child through shaping behaviors to learning. 

Noddings mentions briefly motivational rewards, and how they can foster motivation.  I believe this is absolutely true, in my own life and through my experiences with others.  Often when I am writing reports (the bulk of my job), I will tell myself, “Okay, write two more paragraphs and then you can have a handful of candy corn M&M’s,” and that usually helps me!