1. Bronfenbrenner (Ormrod, 2014) (Price, 2011)
1.1. Targeted Age Group- everyone Children, but applies to all people with very minor tweaks to immediate environment
1.1.1. Applications for Educating- tangential; improving empathy, self-awareness, suggest support services provides insight into a process which includes school experiences as a piece of the larger picture. Can help engender empathy if lacking within staff members. Can suggest potential beneficial connections or services for family of student to social worker, teacher, and administration. It may be a helpful exercise for having students consider who they choose for friends, think about who they are, and become more conscious of their personal decisions. I would suggest 4th grade+ for this last activity. Ages 10 -14 should be mature enough to begin developing self-awareness and metacognitive skills as suggested previously.
1.1.1.1. Relation to 21st Century Learning- enlarged exosystems via technology The peer group is changing. Many students spend more time with online friends than neighborhood ones. Vast expanses of ideas and virtual experiences are available for benefit or detriment. It may be that attention spans have decreased. Technology and the culture has changed the way students expect to receive information and the options teachers have for delivering it. Their environment has changed, creating a different mindset, and a different focus for non-academic skills development.
2. Two Cognitive Development Theories
2.1. Vygotsky
2.1.1. Targeted Age group (10-14)
2.1.1.1. Applications for Educating: Guided Release Method
2.1.1.1.1. Vygotsky Ideas based on today's Learning
2.1.1.1.2. Vygotsky's passed ideas are fully in sync with today's teaching and learning methods
2.1.1.1.3. Social Interaction aka Cooperative grouping he found in the past to be fundamental to cognitive development (most use method today).
2.1.1.1.4. His idea on the Zone of Proximal development is approached today through mixed developmental groupings in the classroom and the guided releases method by way of the teacher.
2.1.1.2. The effective use of the Guided release method touches closely on Vygotsky's ideas. Teacher simply performs an "I do it", "We do it", "You do it" teaching/learning approach. This method intermittently uses Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development.
2.1.1.3. Zone of Proximal Development: Increasing the students ability to learn complex material by being closer to those of greater skill (teacher or student).
2.1.1.4. Other educational applications consist of cooperative grouping, use of visuals, self communication/memorization
2.2. Piaget
2.2.1. Targeted Age Group (10-14)
2.2.1.1. Applications for Educating: Inquiry teaching method
2.2.1.1.1. Piaget Ideas based on today's Learning
2.2.1.1.2. Piaget's passed ideas are fully in sync with today's teaching and learning methods
2.2.1.1.3. Many Child development books on stages of learning are based off of his findings
2.2.1.1.4. His cognitive development theories on mental maps has brought about educational ideas such as concept maps, foldables etc.
2.2.1.2. Allows for in depth thought in the formal operational stage (ex. Student testing only one variable at a time in a science experiment to narrow down the results). Also using ones own creativity, abstract reasoning and the ability to imagine the outcome of certain actions.
2.2.1.3. Allows for organized and rationale thought in the concrete operational stage (ex. student understands that if 1 apples is cut into 4 pieces, that it is still just 1 apple).
2.2.1.4. Use of the Inquiry method in a guiding manner, dependent on the students operational stage, would consist of having the students discover the concepts of their new learning material through a teacher guided environment.
3. Brain Development (Arrowsmith-Young, 2013; Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2011; Ormrod, 2014; Savage, 2011; Zadina, n.d):
3.1. Though there are centers of function, especially for more basic function, many parts of the brain are continuously activated simultaneously. When thinking, a physical network is being accessed. Understanding is made of networks of axons and dendrites. These are physical connections with memories stored as chemicals. We can strengthen these connections! The more connections we can make to previous learning, the better the person will learn. Ideas are easier to learn when they are identified as important; make lessons relevant. Also, make application timely to quickly set out a larger network of memory more likely to be recalled later. The more times the connections are fired together, the stronger the memory.
3.1.1. applications for education: 1. Activate related prior learning. Use scaffolding and graphic organizers. 2. Make lessons relevant and connect them to the “real” world as much as practical. Project-based learning and service-based learning are two examples of ways to make lessons relevant and are particularly meaningful to the age 10 -14 age group. 3. Use it or lose it. Students should apply new ideas within 20 minutes of hearing them. 4. Practice, practice, practice. The more a network is activated, the stronger it will be. 5. rigor. Students will grow faster when pushed.
3.1.1.1. relation to 21st century: These ideas are timeless. However, there are a number of applications more readily available via technology. We can access media to help activate prior learning or make connections to real-world circumstances, increasing relevance. We can find a variety of graphic organizers or webquests online. We can find software which encourages practice for creating those stronger connections in an engaging way
3.2. The older we get, the harder it is to change thought patterns. Though change is possible; the mind is plastic. Persistence can help us tread or re-tread new connections
3.3. targeted age group: applies to everyone
4. Language Development
4.1. Targeted Age Group (10-14)
4.1.1. Language is important foundation for cognitive development: it provides symbols for mentally representing the world, enables children to exchange ideas with others, and helps them incorporate complicated cognitive strategies(Ormrod ,2011).
4.1.1.1. Most children have considerable proficiency in their native language by the time they reach kindergarten, however their language development continues throughout the school years (Ormrod ,2011).
4.1.1.1.1. For seventh and eighth grade: encourage students to have oral discussions and presentations.
4.1.1.1.2. Example: for seventh and eighth grade,provide students with reading materials with rich vocabulary, encourage students to write book reports or summarize the reading material ( fiction, nonfiction, or journals).
4.1.1.2. Children's immediate environments have a great effect in their language development. The richer the language that children hear, the faster their vocabulary develops (Hoff,2003; Raikes et al.,2006; Risley &Hart, 2006).
4.1.1.3. Students in this age group develop general ability to understand figurative language (Ormrod, 2011).
4.1.1.3.1. Distinguish between similar abstract words , and explore complex syntactic structures.
4.1.1.4. Researchers have identified many advantages of learning a second language.
4.1.1.4.1. Learning a second language improves achievement in other academic areas, like reading,grammar and vocabulary (Diaz.1983;Reich 1986).
4.1.1.4.2. When children are fluent in two languages, they tend to perform better on tasks requiring focused attention and creative thinking (Adesope et al.,2010; Bialystock, Craik,Green&Gollan 2009).
4.1.1.4.3. Being bilingual can have cultural and social advantages (Ormrod ,2011).