Tamsin Oski

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Artefact 2 Applying theories in the

classroom
This piece demonstrates my ability to understand different
educational theories and put them into practice as well as
understanding how different students learn.
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of
students highlighted in pink
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students
across the full range of abilities highlighted in yellow

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Week 2:
Observation Piagets learning development
As I have been spending a lot of my time in a prep classroom, it
would be estimated that the children I have been working with
would be in Piagets preoperational stage (Woolfolk & Margetts,
2009, p. 41). I have seen many examples of such behavior coming
out of this classroom. The most memorable, and one, which I see
constantly, is collective monologue (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2009, p.
42). While watching the children use the Lego and building blocks or
even reading a book together as a group. I observe that the
students are not playing together as such but rather on their own.
Although on several occasion they speak out loud as if they were
creating a whole city of towers together it is clear that they are
actually talking to themselves and playing alone.

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However, as this may be the case for a majority of the prep
students I have also witnessed behavior far beyond the estimated
ability for five to six year olds. There are a select few within the
class in which have shown at times concrete-operational tendencies
(Woolfolk & Margetts, 2009, p. 42). An example of this would be a
maths assessment, which I observed this week. It was testing the
understanding of multiplication among the class. They were asked
to draw and work out their own problem about a party they were
having. They were allowed to decide how many children were
attending the party and then were asked to work out that if every
child received the same amount of cupcakes of their plates how
many cupcakes were there altogether. Only a select few understood
this concept at first, they were easily able to understand that each
person had to receive the same amount of cupcakes and then work
out the total amount, this indicated a move toward the ability of
decretration, which demonstrated the move into the concreteoperational stage. For others however, this concept was to hard to
even comprehend, these students spent more time focusing on the
amount of children at the party then the cupcakes.
Week 3:
Observation Social Cognitive or constructivist theory
Throughout my short time observing at St. Josephs, I have found
several times where a social cognitive approach (Woolfolk &
Margetts, 2009, p.340) was taken. This I when the learner is told
step by step how to do something. An example of this is when a
young prep boy was learning to tie his shoelace. He had learnt the
night before but had forgotten a couple of steps. This is a process
that lends itself to a step-by-step recount rather can a constructivist
(Woolfolk & Margetts, 2009, p. 346), exploring alternative.

Observation Chains of behavior

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See if you can identify some chains of behavior

antecedents, trigger, consequences (reinforcement or
deterrent)
According to Coon (1995, p. 225) unlocking the secrets of learning
begins with noting what happens just before (antecedents), and just
after (consequences) a response. The typical sequence or chain of
events of operant learning begins with the antecedents, then a
trigger that elicits a response, followed by a consequence, which
becomes associated with the response. If the consequence has the
effect of strengthening or repeating the response it is known as a
reinforcement (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2009, p. 235); alternatively if
the consequence results in a decrease or suppression of the
response it is known as a punishment or deterrent (Woolfolk &
Margetts, 2009, p. 236). Within the prep class, which I observe
from week to week, I witnessed several examples of chains of
behavior. A typical chain would be: a student is talking during story
time (antecedents), the teacher asks the student to be quiet
(trigger) and then the student becomes silent (consequence)

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Observation Rote memory and Deep learning

Is the learning focused on rote memory or deep learning?
What strategies does your teacher use to help children
develop new knowledge?
Rote learning is the process of remembering information through
repetition without understanding the meaning of the information
(Woolfolk & Margetts, 2009, p. 287).

In contrast, deep learning

would involve strategies where the meaning of the concept is used

to aid its memory (e.g. linking the concept with like concepts)
(Quinn, 1985, p. 57). Within the prep class I observe, the teacher
uses several techniques to embed new knowledge into the students
minds. The most interesting strategy to observe is enquiry. That is,
starting off with a stimulus and allowing the students to discover
and put together the concepts themselves with a little structured
prompting. The students feed off each others ideas and eventually
put the new concept with learned concepts to create a concrete
idea.

Self Reflection Meta-Cognitive Theory

What insights does meta-cognitive theory provide to your
level of progress? How will it alter your own learning as a
result?

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Planning, monitoring and evaluating are the three principal metacognitive skills (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2009, p. 291). These skills
enable us to understand how one learns and the processes it takes
to develop new knowledge. In the past, I tendered to assess the
success of my learning through subjective, gut feeling. Where as,
by adopting a meta-cognitive skills approach this has provided me
with a more systematic and objective framework of determining my
learning progress. As a result of using this approach my learning
will be more time efficient, as assessing my progress will not be
done through trial and error. More over, this process will help me
determine my specific strengths and weaknesses in an increasingly
directive manner.

Reference list
Robinson, S (2nd August 2012). Tutorial Discussion

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Coon, D. (1995) Introduction to Psychology. pp. 225- 227,
Minnesota: West Publishing
Owen Wilson, L. (2007). Existential intelligence. Retrieved
September 17 2012, from
http://www4.uwsp.edu/education/lwilson/index
Quinn, V. N. (1985) Applying Psychology. pp. 55 81, 172
Singapore: McGraw-Hill

Weiten, W (1992). Psychology: Themes and Variations. Chapter 6,

California: Brooks/ Cole Publishing Company

Woolfolk, A. E., & Margetts, K. (2009). Educational psychology (2nd

Australian ed., pp. 38-44, 340-346). Frenchs Forest, NSW:
Pearson Education Australia.