Discussion Board Responses AP Psych

Critically read all responses and respond to at least two other classmates’ postings. In 100-150 words, you should challenge or expound upon his/her initial post — not just a “well done” phrase or “I agree.” Consider points of agreement, disagreement, assumptions, and value judgments. You should provide new insight or constructive comments. If someone else has responded to the same post, you must take into account response in your response, as well. RESPOND TO : As our world turns to revolve around technology more and more each year, we see increased opportunities to radically change our known ways of perceiving life. A critically important aspect of our lives is learning; our actions and responses to stimuli are results of our learned behavior, in combination with our biological nature. Learning is a process where humans obtain and absorb knowledge or information from social, cultural, and academic experiences. This definition does not specifically address the by product of learning, or the other have of the two way association. Associative learning can occur in two ways, but both involve recognizing the response or the consequence of a stimulus. Yes, the definition of learning I provided addresses the basics of the acquisition of knowledge, but nevertheless, it does not include the brain processes involved in grasping a concept.  The brain can grasp a concept in many different ways, and remember it to a variety of extents. For many people, online learning has been very difficult because of the distractions in their room and house, the blue light’s effect on health, and lack of interaction. However, this article speaks to why it may be a good thing and can potentially broaden the scope of learning strategies for teachers. I have had many teachers at RE who have many different teaching styles. I would like to point out my history class last year where we rarely had in person tests or quizzes, but surely had a ton of take home assignments/assessments as well as essays. I never liked this because the questions were always so hard, so analytical- the answers were never in my notes, the textbook, or on google. However, I now realize that this truly helped me develop a strong, in depth understanding of the subject because of how much I had to think about it and develop my own arguments. On the other hand, there are teachers who work simply off of memorization, in which case students study hard, take the assessment, and forget everything they learned the following week. I think what COVID19 has done is force educators into a lane closely related to the first class I mentioned. This is because teachers cannot monitor student resources while they take tests alone in their room and there is simply a different effect overall. This type of conditioning allows students to learn more effectively. Online learning has the potential to be very effective due to the pressure on not giving plain old tests and quizzes. Teachers are being forced to find other ways to assess students’ attainment of knowledge. In school each day every student attends class not only to learn the material but also to experience brain development, memory techniques, and other life skills. Our school fosters an environment of growth mindsets. We, as students, can be taught algebra and vocab words, but we learn moral and ethical values through real life experience. Learning to me is ongoing throughout life, you do not have to be engaged in classes to learn. As we read, we learn from experience, any experience that is. Whether it is cognitive or behavioral, learning is a necessary part of life.   Patel states in the article “ there is no reason why remote and online teacher education cannot achieve principles of effective learning design in teacher education such as an orientation to pupil outcomes, differentiation for teacher starting points, support for high quality collaboration and reflective practice.” (Patel 2020)  To what extent do you agree with this claim? Do you think online learning is as effective as in person school? Are there other factors influencing our ability to learn right now?   Dewall, C. N., & Myers, D. G. (2018). Myers’ psychology: For the AP course. New York, NY:  Bedford, Freeman & Worth High School Publishers. Patel, H. S. (2020, September 24). Research concludes that remote learning might not be a bad thing. Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-remote-bad.html.  – other persons comment on this discussion post already that u must take into account ——— Amazing response, Rachel. I really loved how you decided to defend the article and go into depth about online school benefits. I also thought it was really effective that you listed the downsides and then compared them to online learning positives. Although you made some good points about the positives, I think the negatives outweigh the fact that learning may be more analytical just because teachers can also do that in school. If you look at online learning as a whole, it is not as effective because people, especially younger people, need social interactions that are not available when stuck at home all day. I believe it is also not good to mix the home environment with the school environment because, at least in my experience at the end of the last school year, it was tough and frustrating staying at home all day for weeks. I felt like I was stuck, and that had a negative impact on my mental health. Not only does in-person school allow for social interactions, but I also think it is also easier to build relationships with your teachers if you are present in class. Lastly, I think it has been a struggle for some teachers to work online and with technology because, in some of my other classes, a lot of time has been wasted due to technical issues or teachers not knowing how to do a certain task online.  To answer your questions, I believe there is a way for online learning and teaching to work, but I do not think it is the most effective way. All of my reasons in the paragraph before explain why I believe it is not as effective, but there are plenty of other factors contributing to its ineffectiveness. Additionally, I concentrate more in class because distractions are not easily accessible (AKA, my phone), and loud noises like my dog barking would never occur in school.  SECOND RESPONSE to respond to :   To define learning, we have to consider all the kinds of learning mentioned in our textbook: associative learning, observational learning, abstract learning, latent learning, and insight learning. By looking at their similarities, I would define learning as a change in behavior, to keep it as broad as possible. The reasons for that change don’t have to be defined, so that it can be adapted to different experiences. Still, experiences are pretty key to the changes in behavior.      Conceptually, measuring learning should not be difficult, since you can just look at changes in behavior. Schools apply this through testing and homework, where you can obtain measured results. Still, testing experiences vary from person to person, and do not always accurately show how much was learned.  In those cases, projects and essays might better reflect their learning, since they aren’t timed and allow outside resources while still demonstrating individual thought. I would think that at its core, the function of school is to teach students basic knowledge so that they can benefit society. Our educational system was built around that, and has focused on academics over art and creativity for that reason. I think this makes it difficult to change how we educate students today. School learning mostly applies operant conditioning, although other kinds of learning can fit too. Through grades, schools positively reinforce good effort from students. Depending on the teacher, praise can also be an application of that positive reinforcement. Some teachers might apply punishment by scolding students for misbehavior, especially with younger students. Classical conditioning can be applied to people individually. I have seen people use a certain perfume or chew gum before a test because they believed that it resulted in better scores.      I agreed with the general idea of the article, but think it only applies to specific situations. Hasan Patel said that “there is no reason why remote and online teacher education cannot achieve principles of effective learning,” but I don’t think that’s true. As long as a teacher’s general teaching style is mostly lecture-based, then the transition to online lectures would not make a big difference. With other teachers, the impact might be greater. The issue that the article should have mentioned is attention. It is harder to pay attention to a screen for extended periods of time, and our devices offer a lot of options to get distracted. Worse yet, a student could unintentionally apply operant conditioning, by associating the distraction on their laptops with their class. The distraction could become a reward, and develop into a habit of inattention.      Another issue with online learning can be participation, especially if it isn’t enforced. How can operant conditioning be applied to getting students to participate verbally or through chat functions?  References Patel, S., H. (2020, September 24). Research Concludes that Remote Learning Might not be a Bad Thing. PhysOrg.     https://phys.org/news/2020-09-remote-bad.html. – response from other peer already on this one that u must take into account——–  I like that you define learning broadly, as a “change in behavior” because I think that is a clever way to sum up the idea of learning generally. However, maybe learning itself isn’t the change, but rather what causes or leads to the change. Additionally, yes learning can be shown in testing and assessments, but, as you mentioned, testing is not always an accurate representation of learned information or behavior. Oftentimes tests provoke anxiety and stress which impedes our ability to perform well. Projects and essays have a greater opportunity to demonstrate depth of knowledge. To add to your definition of a school’s purpose, I think it is important to acknowledge that we need more than just facts to contribute to society. School gives us real life social experience and interaction, so we can learn how to work with others and develop our character. Also, you say that a teacher whose class is mostly lecture based won’t have trouble transitioning to online learning. I disagree with that claim because of two things- first is that the teacher cannot read the room and so it is hard to adapt their teaching style to feedback they receive. Second is that students have much greater freedom to daze off and be distracted by things in their room that are not present in a classroom. However, as you asked, I think more operant conditioning and positive/negative reinforcement can be in a remote environment to improve it. This could be rewards for actively engaging in the class. Maybe this could take shape by implementing a participation grade; the more the student intellectually contributes to the class, the higher their participation grade will be. All students want a good grade, therefore it is a reward.  PLEASE DO 150 words for each response because thats what i paid for even thoug she gives option to respond with 100 words. Im a senior in highschool but i put college level because our teacher expects us to write like that