A large focus in Education is on those students that are outside the norm.

A lot
of effort, time and resources are contributed to helping those that fall below the
average, whether in literacy, numeracy, concentration, grades, etc. There is,
however, another group of students that is often forgotten; the gifted. The
definition of giftedness is broad but a large portion of those considered gifted,
especially in younger years, are underachievers. This is usually to do with the
lack of challenge presented from school and therefore lack of interest and can
make identifying gifted students. There are many proposed solutions to this
problem; enrichment, extension, acceleration and curriculum differentiation.
Acceleration is considered one of the most effective solutions but a severe
problem of social interaction arises and a question: Is a childs academic
education or social life more important?
Some students find education at their age level particularly easy, boring or
disengaging.
Some advance through the curriculum and teachers find
themselves under more and more pressure to keep these students occupied with
work. These students, their teachers and their parents are often presented with
a choice of skipping years of school. In 2001 the two youngest students
undertaking a HCS course were 13-years-old. There is also an issue when being
faced with this decision, the issue of how being in a class with significantly older
students affect a student socially. Research is ambiguous as to the answer to
this and generally depends on the situation and student. Therefore it is just as
important for teachers to observe students social skills as their academic skills
so they can make an informed recommendation to parents and students.
Previously my idea of giftedness was limited and I believed that if I had gifted
students in my class I would be able to recognise them and move them to a
higher grade level or a more advanced class (ie Maths Studies vs. Specialist
Maths). This has changed as I now realise the issue is far more complicated. I
will incorporate this new understanding into my teaching practice by actively
observing for gifted students and underachieving gifted students and offering a
range of possibilities to deal with this.
Metacognition is an important aspect of self-learning and education. It is often
described as thinking about thinking and incorporates discovering effective
learning methods for an individual. Teachers aim to teach in a broad manner so
to encompass all learning styles and expose students to many learning methods.
Self-regulated learning occurs among the majority of learners and is consistent
with the process of metacognition. This notion can include: Goal setting,
planning, self-motivation, attention control, use of effective, goal-relevant
learning strategies, self-monitoring, appropriate help-seeking, self-evaluation and
self-reflection. Much of these aspects of self-regulated learning are adapted by
students as they age and mature and research has found positive correlations
between self-regulated learning and achievement. Unfortunately little of this is
directly or intentionally taught to students by teachers.
Highly motivated, engaged and/or talented students easily develop selfregulated learning and this positively effects their achievement. Lesser or even

average students could benefit enormously from guided development in this

area. This could present itself in classroom situation as simply making students
aware of what self-regulated learning is and the researched benefits. Other
examples could include dedicated lessons and referencing the notion throughout
material.
Self-regulated learning came instinctually to me and so this effected my
judgement on how my future students would learn and study. This issue has
helped me realise the difficulty faced by some students in this regards simply
because they do not know what it is or how to achieve it. I would incorporate it
into my teaching via a dedicated lesson at the beginning of year or semester
along with various references throughout the material I present.
Krause, et al. (2010) discuss how motivation is a key component to a students
probability of reaching their full potential and many unmotivated students are
unengaged.
In a world that is constantly undergoing rapid technological
changes, persons belonging to the previous generations are getting left behind.
It is a well-known fact that many people belonging to Generation X or the Baby
Boomers are not proficient with technology. It is also a well-known fact that
many teachers belong to these generations, some even to the Builders. Part of
being able to motivate students is to engage with their interests and many
students interests are now revolving around technology. This is increasingly
becoming a problem in classrooms where teachers do not understand or are
even afraid of technology.
Students require a diverse range of teaching methods to maintain engagement
and motivation. Technology has enabled a greater range be achieved by a
greater number of teachers and schools, such as Skyping a Japanese exchange
student in a Japanese class. Teachers are having to learn how to use these
technologies and update their knowledge as it continually advances. It is
important to keep up-to-date on these advancements as students will do this.
In my own classrooms I will endeavour to increase motivation among my
students through increase of engagement.
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are regarded as two of the most important and
influential theorist with their theories of cognitive development. These theories
were developed during the 1920s and 1930s in Switzerland, Piaget, and Russia,
Vygotsky. Both theorist have been criticised over the years for their theories;
Piaget for his declaration of universal and invariant, Vygotsky for his lack of
specifics, and both have been accused of being inapplicable to 21 st Century
Western classrooms when they were developed in Switzerland and Soviet-Russia
during the 1920s and 1930s. This issue of applicability is relevant to the way in
which educators conduct their lessons. Actions taken by teachers are based on
theories and could potentially have devastating effects on students if pedagogy
based on inapplicable theories were implemented.
This issue emphasises the already established need for critical reflection by
educators.
These theories have been successfully applied to a range of

classroom environments. They would not be successful for all groups of children
and if critical reflection was used effectively this would become evident to the
teacher, allowing them to alter their pedagogy to more effectively teach the
particular group of children.
Previously I had believed theories to be more absolute. The criticism applied to
two of the most important theories regarding cognitive development has led me
to the realisation that there is no one true theory. Certain theories will be more
true for different groups of learners, due to various differences such as age or
socioeconomic status.
Being able to recognise when pedagogy based of
different theories is better suited to different learners is important and I will
attempt to incorporate this into my future teaching practice through careful
reflection and alterations based on this.
Technology and computers are quickly becoming a staple in society. ICT is being
used more and more often in educational settings such as Wikis, video
conferencing and social networking. Computers and laptops, however, are
expensive averaging approximately $1 000. This is exaggerating the gap
between wealthier students and students with low socioeconomic status whose
parents may not be able to afford to buy them a laptop or even possess a home
computer. This also extends to schools within low socioeconomic areas which
might not have enough funding to maintain its ICT resources.
This issue can be a real issue and is difficult to solve. The recent education tax
rebate has helped many families with low socioeconomic status buy laptops and
computers. However, it is important to be aware of the resources available to
students through the school and their home lives before integrating ICT too
thoroughly into classrooms. An example of this being an issue in the classroom
comes from my own experience. We were asked to do a presentation about a
video film clip and advised to use YouTube to find a suitable film clip. The
computers available to the school did not allow YouTube to be used so the film
clip had to be found and watched at home. This was a real issue for several
students who did not have internet at home. The teacher in this instance did not
consider the ICT resources available.
I will endeavour to be very aware about the resources available to my students.
If I believe they do not have the resources at home I will strive to only assign
assignments that can be completed using the resources available at the school
with which I am employed at. This issue has also brought to my awareness to
the fact that I may be employed at a school where computers and the internet
may not be readily available.
Transfer is an important aspect of quality learning. It allows connections to be
made by students which strengthen learning and motivation. There are several
ways in which transfer can be taught in a subject, one of which is concept
mapping. Transference is praised due to its concept based, meaningful learning,
mastery of knowledge, deep approach. However some subjects and topics
transferring knowledge can be difficult. For instance integral calculus main

application in school mathematics is calculating distance or velocity when

already possessing velocity or acceleration respectively. This application, though
useful, is easily viewed as pointless by students. An issue with transference is
the difficulty with which it can be applied to some subjects.
Transfer is considered an essential aspect to learning as by applying relevance to
subjects students motivation is increased. Lack of transference is the cause of
the often heard phrase when am I ever going to use this? by students.
Examples of transference are present in large portions of curriculum.
Mathematics and Science, however, teachers will often attempt to explain how
particular topics transfer to other topics whereas subjects like English and P.E.
transference is often left for the students to discover and apply. This reflects
students attitudes about the usefulness of Mathematics and Science.
I will attempt to facilitate transference among my students by awareness. There
are many structural learning strategies that can be useful for enabling
transference among which is concept mapping. By teaching Mathematics and
Science, transference will be more difficult to achieve, however I will make a
more concentrated effort early in my students Mathematics and Science
schooling careers. I hope this will make transference easier for more difficult and
abstract topics like Quantum concepts and Integral Calculus.
The key concept of affective development is student well-being which consists of
emotional, social and spiritual aspects. Monitoring these can be difficult when so
little of the student-teacher relationship is social. It is considered inappropriate
and, depending of the circumstances, unlawful to have a close relationship with a
student.
To develop an appropriate relationship with students that allow
teachers to observe a students well-being is a critical issue in affective
development.
When a student has a balance of these concepts and therefore has a good wellbeing, they can learn optimally. By establishing and maintaining appropriate,
though social, relationships with students, teachers can understand if and why
particular students are not achieving expectantly. Teachers can become aware of
issues such as bullying, mental illness, family issues, etc through these
relationships as well, which can be vital to the students development and
learning. This approach is reminiscent of holistic educational theory. Various
applications can be seen in classrooms, from tackling bullying to improving
mental health.
Previously I had been aware that appropriate social relationships between
students and teachers were almost necessary. I was, however, only thinking
about bullying and mental illness issues rather than emotional, social and
spiritual aspects as well. I would incorporate this new understanding into my
teaching by making an effect to build relationships with all my students, provided
they are willing, rather than just ones which might be prone to bullying or mental
illness. This does raise the questions of how much responsibility is placed on
teachers, however. By taking it upon myself as a teacher to befriend my

students, should I be held responsible if something should happen, whether

intense bullying, suicide/self-harm, reckless behaviour or drugs? How much of
this responsibility still resides with parents?
Classical conditioning was first investigated and conceptualised as a
psychological phenomenon by Ivan Pavlov in the 1900s. The basis of which is
an automatic response can be triggered by a neutral stimulus. Pavlov discovered
this through his work with dogs and conditioned dogs to salivate in response to a
tuning fork, a natural response to food. Watson expanded on Pavlovs theories,
transferring to humans with his Little Albert experiment in 1920. Albert was
approximately 9 months old and, through the innate fear associated with loud
sounds, Watson was able to create a fear of rats in Little Albert. This experiment
has since been considered a breach of human rights as it caused permanent
psychological harm to Little Albert.
Due to this new understanding I have become more aware of psychological
influences of actions and responses. Although my teaching philosophy has not
been altered, my understanding of the need for awareness has developed. I
would hope to incorporate this into my teaching practice by the conscious choice
to avoid techniques which could lead to negative feelings towards my subject
areas.
This issue of acceptable classical conditioning based on context is crucial to a
pre-service teachers philosophy of teaching. The amount of conditioning a
teacher is to apply or suggest for a student is dependent on their philosophy and
their views of this issue. This can be observed in the avoidance or dislike for
certain subjects due to unpleasant experiences with previous teachers. The
concept of classical conditioning does not always have negative aspects with the
conditioning of students to pay attention to the teacher when calling for
attention can be important for some safety aspects, such as evacuations and
police. Alberto and Troutman (2006) have also identified that many procedures
used by therapists were derived from classical conditioning. It is not feasible to
attempt no conditioning as the psychological phenomenon is not voluntary but it
is important for teachers to be aware of how their actions in classrooms can
psychologically affect their students.

Week 1 Introduction:
-

What is Educational Psychology?

o Educational Pschology connects the disciplines of education
and psychology (Walberg & Haertel, 1992)
o Involves scientific research on various aspects of learning and
teaching
o BUT also investigates ways to apply psychological principles to
educational contexts
o These are done with the aim of improving learning and
teaching quality
Who studies Educational Psychology?

o Teachers
o Psychology students interested in working with children or
adolescents, professional practice
o School counsellor
o Educational psychologists psychologists who specialise in
education contexts, in schools or other institutional settings
(eg university, government or corporate settings)
o Students who want to better understand their own learning
and the educational process
Why study all those theories?
o Theories form foundation for understanding critical issues that
face learners and educators
o Throughout book we link theory to practice
o Theories help answers questions, such as;
What are the best ways of studying?
How can I improve motivation both mine and others?
Why do some young people give up on themselves, and
what can I do about it?
How can technology be used to enhance learning?
Is education redundant in the Information Age?
o Ed. Psych. And theories of development and learning will;
Help understand own development and contributing
factors
Provide strategies to improve quality of learning and
motivation
Guide understanding of how learners learn and how
educations improve their effectiveness
Contribute to personal philosophy of learning and
teaching
Reflective teaching
o best way to teach no one best way, but many effective
ways
o International study Clarke, Keitel and Shimizu (2006)
discovered many different approaches are used internationally
o Effective teachers draw on variety of teaching and learning
strategies

Lecture 3 Cognitive development and the importance of challenge in

learning
1.
Teachers are theory makers and users.
How are theories relevant for our work as teachers?

How do theories inform practice?

Relying exclusively on one theory might not be equitable or socially just
for all learners (Latham et al, 2006: 99)
2.
Big ideas
-

Cognitive development is influenced by a range of factors.

There is a diverse range of development within any group of students
Teachers need to understand the mental processes associated with
cognitive development in order to provide appropriate learning
experiences and guide students cognition (So what? Aspect)
Concepts of challenge and support are key ideas in learning and
development

3.
Physical development of the brain is an important factor in cognitive
development
Heredity
-

Physiological processes

Environmental factors

Nutrition
Toxins
Home life

May be atypical disabilities

Exercise
Opportunities

Individual differences

4.

Physiological basis of cognitive development

Plasticity of the brain

Adapts and changes with learning
Neuroscience can help us to understand how the brain functions physically
Psychology can help us to understand behaviours

5.

What do we mean by cognitive development?

Cognitive development is concerned with our ability to think, to reason

and to understand and remember the world around us. It involves mental
processes that are associated with taking in, organising and making sense
of information - processes that include perceiving, attending to
understanding and recalling information. These mental functions are part
of what is referred to as cognition (Krause et al, 2012: 51)

6.

What can we learn from Piaget?

Students are viewed as naturally curious explorers who constantly try to

make sense of their surroundings. By manipulating objects and by
exploring what is new and unfamiliar, they discover and adapt to the world
around themCogniti

7.

Stage development vs gradual trends?

Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete operations
Formal operations

As children mature and develop they are increasingly capable of abstact

hinking, aware of tohers thoughts and develop more sophisticated
understandings of themselves, their physical and social worlds.

Gradual trends towards increasingly abstact thought rather than descrete

stages
Just because a child CAN think at an abstract leve, no guarantee that they
DO think at that level in all contexts

8.

Cognitive conflict as stimulus to development

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Students existing schemas

o
o

What I know
What I expected to happened

- Cognitive conflict Disequilibrium 3 ways of adapting to the

experience Assimiliation, Accommodation, avoidance
-

Enviornmental objects and events

What is unfamiliar
What actually happened

9.

Disequilibrium requires adaptation oyster creating pearls

Problems present opportunities to learn mouse getting cheese without

setting off trap

10.

Classroom applications? So what? Factor

Curiosity motivate through stimulating curiosity

Plan developmentally appropriate tasks
Increasing intellectual demand working from novice to expert
Play, inquire based learning, discovery learning are approaches that place
the student as an active contributor to learning, encourage the
development of higher order thinking and foster curiosity

11.

What can we learn from Vygotsky?

Students are viewed as young apprentices who benefit from their

elationships with competent mentors. Through social guidance and
cooperative dialogue, students ac

12.

3 elements to Vygotskys Theory:

Genetic: Child development

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Week 8 2/5/12 Readings notes

Key Questions:

What is motivation and how does it influence behaviour?

What are some models of motivation proposed in educational research?
What is engagement and how does it differ from motivation?
Can you explain some of the different types of engagement identified by
researchers?
How does engagement influence a students experience at school?
Which factors influence or shape engagement in school?

Concept map:

Motivation and Engagement

Key concepts in motivation
Traits and states
Anxiety and arousal
Intrinsic and extrinsic
Affect and interest
Theories of motivation
Behavioural
Cognitive
Social learning theory
Humanist
Motivation and engagement in learning
Social factors
Classroom factors
School factors
Chapter review:

Motivation is an internal process that energises, directs and maintains

behaviour over time. It can take the form of a state or trait, and can be
stimulated externally or internally.
Engagement is both an internal process described by behavioural,
emotional and cognitive indictors, and one shaped by external processes
found in school and classroom climates.
Poor motivation frequently leads to low achievement at school and, for
teachers, problems in classroom management. Learned helplessness
occurs when students come to believe they will fail no matter how hard
they try.
Poor engagement is associated with alienation from school, high rates of
drop out from school, and arguably poor performance in school.
Motivation and engagement may be enhanced by addressing student
behaviours or the features of school, classroom and social climates that
influence engagement.
Certain types of pedagogy, tasks and classroom climates are more
facilitative of motivation and engagement than others.
Key words:
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Achievement motivation

Extrinsic motivation

The need to strive for success.

Affect

Motivation arising from the

use of external rewards such
as food or praise.

A psychological term used to

describe emotional states such
as feelings and moods.

Interest

A cognitive and affective state

associated with a heightened
state of arousal, leading to
increased attention,
concentration and persistence.

Anxiety

Feelings of tension, uneasiness

and apprehension.

Arousal

Intrinsic motivation

Alertness and attentiveness.

Attribution theories

Theories concerned with the

way in which an individuals
explanations of success and
failure influence subsequent
motivation and behaviour.

Motivation arising from

internal sources, such as an
individuals feelings of
curiosity, excitement and
satisfaction.

Locus of control

A tendency to attribute
success or failure to internal
(controllable) or external
(uncontrollable) factors.

Mastery goal

A personal objective to
achieve mastery of a task or
skill.

Authentic pedagogy

A view of teaching and

learning emphasising deep
conceptual understanding,
high-quality intellectual
engagement and real-world
connections.

Defensive pessimism

Motivation

A defensive or protective
cognitive strategy to lower
expectations and hence
protect the sense of self when
faced with negative outcomes.

An internal process that

energise, directs and
maintains behaviour over
time.

Performance approach

Engagement

The energy that connects and

shows our participation in an
activity; it consists of
behavioural, cognitive and
emotional components.

A personal objective to
perform well by demonstrating
competence over others and
outperforming classmates.

Performance avoid

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A personal objective to
complete academic work in
order to avoid appearing
incompetent.

Actions or choices an
individual makes to prevent or
hinder performance or
achievement.

Performance goal

State

A personal objective to
perform well in an area of
achievement.

A temporary condition or
feeling.

Test anxiety

Fear of performing poorly in

tests.

Trait

An enduring characteristic.

School phobia

Fear of school.

Self-handicapping

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