Week 2 Post 1

I have officially dived into my research. Upon exploring my topic more and more, I found that I had synthesized a completely new idea. Prior to attending traditional school I had lived in a completely different state and had gone to a school with a completely different learning environment. My previous school was a project-based, progressive learning school. Everything I did was individual-centric, my learning was up to me and myself alone, every week I would meet with my advisor (teacher) and discuss what I was working on. If I was lost, she was bale to help give me direction and keep my topics focused on a main idea. My peers were also able to help me at every step of the way. This school taught me how to be independent and begin to take on more leadership positions, solve problems, and manage my time. During my research regarding how education effects the future I really became interested in a singular topic, learning theories and a conclusion on which one would best prepare a student for the real world. I found that my audience is now more specific, which my peers pointed out was an issue with my initial idea. My magazine is now geared toward the teaching community and my issue will we on alternative learning. I am more enthusiastic about this direction as I have had personal experience and there are hundreds of individual theories to explore. 

So far I have explored four teaching methods; Progressive Learning, Constructivist Learning, Cognitive Learning, and Behavioral Learning. 

They mostly have a common thread, teaching should be based on the individual, which is one of the huge things that most traditional classrooms lack due to lack of time, resources, or maybe motivation. 

During my ninth grade year of high school I had a chance to be a student ambassador for a innovative schools network in my state, I was able to meet and listen to multiple different speakers for innovative and individualized learning. The key note speaker for the conference was Alfie Kohn (Biography).

 His main teaching idea is progressive learning, which Jim Nehring describes as "Progressive schools are the legacy of a long and proud tradition of thoughtful school practice stretching back for centuries” — including hands-on learning, multiage classrooms, and mentor-apprentice relationships — while what we generally refer to as traditional schooling." Progressive learning focuses on everything traditional school is not. Progressive learning stresses a sense of community among students, problem-solving individuals, retaining meaningful information, eliminating standardized testing and competition, working with teachers to plan and organize, and valuing the ideas of the student. While some traditional classrooms are becoming more it is student centered progressive classrooms can completely incorporate the student into every part of the learning process.  (Source 1)

Constructivist learning is also individual based, the main idea is that students reflect on their ideas and ask questions to further their learning, and teachers act as guides for the students ideas. In this situation, it is impossible for a student to become a passive learner. Not only does it stray away from rote memorization, but it also gives the student ownership and builds their ability to effectively communicate their ideas to others, which is a real world skill. Through these outlets, students are encouraged to become adults to question the real world and become independent thinkers. One of the issues I find with constructivist learning is that it would most likely have to be started from a young age. Many children in traditional school are motivated by grades and find self-reflection a bore, even questions on homework that ask a student to truly synthesize and communicate their ideas is a bore. By starting a education such as this young many students would be able to learn the importance of self-reflection and self analysis. (Source 2)

Behaviorist learning is one of the ideas I see implemented in many public schooling systems, it is simply a system of rewarding good behavior and reprimanding bad. some of these techniques include negative reinforcement (dropping the lowest test grade if the student has turned in all of their homework assignments), positive reinforcement, punishment (referral, detention), and modeling. I see these techniques as effective at younger grade levels, but as student enter high school behaviorism should become obsolete. When children are most impressionable (elementary school) reinforcement can teach ideals, responsibility, and morals. In high school, students should be encouraged to work for themselves, there is no incentive to get your work done (besides a paycheck, of course), there is typically no teacher there to congratulate you on every task you do well, by high school students should be prepared for the real world.  (Source 3)

The final theory I researched for today is cognitivism. I found this topic to be slightly less honed, again one sees individualistic learning and equal opportunity and so on. In cognitive-based learning the teachers are encouraged to take the process as well as the final product into account, if one is not encouraged to hone their process, then he/she will be unable to apply the same process to real world situations. Another point focused on being social and listening to other peoples ideas, some psychologists have theorized that the human is innately egocentric and communicate and exchanging ideas help to break down these barriers. In this theory we again see the importance of peer help as well as a guiding hand to provide structure, while the student is still encouraged to learn applicable processes for the future. I found this theory similar to Alfie Kohns progressive learning. (Source 4) 

In conclusion, I am excited to explore more learning theories, they are so interesting, I am constantly comparing my traditional education experience with my project-based experience while I am researching. I hope to do a sort of compare and contrast and maybe even build an ideal learning situation in my two page spread. I feel like I have truly honed my topic and it feel invigorating, until next time, happy learning. 

Source 1: Kohn, A. (2008, March 2). Progressive Education. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/progressive-education/

Source 2: Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning. (2004). Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html

Source 3: Standridge, M. (2014, September 8). Behaviorism. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Behaviorism

Source 4: Cognitivism. (2011, January 1). Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://teachinglearningresources.pbworks.com/w/page/31012664/Cognitivism