Teaching And Learning: A Case Study Analysis Essay.

This task is assessing your ability to demonstrate that you meet the criteria for the following unit learning outcomes:

1. Apply their understanding of learning theories to analyse pedagogy and classroom practice.

2. Demonstrate and communicate knowledge and understanding of the intellectual, physical, language, emotional, moral, social and psychological development of children and young people in contemporary society and how these may affect learning.

Analysis of Robert's Developmental Needs

This paper examines the developmental need of a 9 year old boy named Robert. Robert has moved into a new academically rigorous school, his transition to his new school is slowly progressing. This paper will critically analyse different areas of his development, including cognitive, physical, language, emotional, moral, social and psychological development. Then it will explain how each of these areas are impacting Robert’s learning. Finally how the educator can support Roberts developmental needs using appropriate strategies. 

It has been observed that Robert is facing some specific problems that should be related to his cognitive growth. For a 9 year old boy, Robert, the psychological and emotional growth should be considered slow when compared to his physical and motor developments. Robert’s quietness and his aversion towards making friends (as reported by his classroom teacher) are indicators to his lack of emotional development. His seclusion from his classmates also indicates that he has still not found it easy to cope with the new school environment. Moreover, his apathy towards self-initiated conversation also proves that he needs emotional and cognitive development. Furthermore, the difficulties that Robert have been facing with writing and reading and the problems he have been facing with mathematics, all point to the fact that he is slow in respect of cognitive development. It must be noted that although he is able to classify objects into coherent categories using physical objects; his lack of confidence and his lack of ability in abstract reasoning also are pointers to the fact that Robert is in want of emotional and cognitive development which has not happened according to his age. But it has also been found that his motor developments are occurring in alignment with his growing age, and his physical activities prove the fact.

The teacher who is going to help Robert attain overall development should be aware of the fact that despite being in the phase called middle childhood (9-11 years) Robert has not been able to show the intellectual, emotional, and cognitive developments that are expected of a boy of his age. Independence is a hallmark of Robert’s age as children of his age gradually grow a tendency to become independent from the family showing more interest in making friends (CDC, 2016). Peer pressure becomes quite usual at this phase of child development and it is during this phase that a child starts taking responsibility (CDC, 2016). Moreover, making friendship and interacting more with peers become quite evident in the normal course of development of a 9 year old boy. But Robert has shown lack of development in the aforesaid aspects. If judged from the perspective of emotional/social changes it can be seen that unlike a 9 year old boy with normal development Robert is not eager to form stronger and complex friendships and peer relationships (CDC, 2016). He seems to be devoid of the emotional need of having friends, and his detachment from his peers indicates his inability to take peer pressure (CDC, 2016). Also, from the intellectual and cognitive perspectives, Robert has been incapable of showing proper development, and this can be said by citing the fact that, although a 9 year old boy with normal psychological development would be more likely to face rigorous academic challenges at school, Robert has failed to show any such sign (CDC, 2016). His aversion towards conversation is also an indicator to his lack of intention in establishing relationships, and this is also a lack of emotional abilities. Besides, from the perspective of cognitive development, a 9 year old boy should be able to accomplish more complex school projects and tasks (WebMD, 2015). But Robert’s incapability in reading and writing and his poor performance in mathematics indicate that he has not yet been at the stage of development where such cognitive growth becomes obvious. But quite interestingly, Robert’s motor skills development is in alignment with his age. His pace of running on the field is significant and his achievements in non-competitive sports are also notable. Moreover, Robert’s interest in squash and drama and his willingness to start learning a musical instrument and to join a team sport also indicate his motor skill development that needs to be complemented by his emotional and cognitive developments.

Strategies to Support Robert's Developmental Needs

A teacher willing to help Robert attain normal developments should first aim at improving Robert’s cognitive abilities that are necessary for proper learning and psychological growth. In this respect the teacher must resort to the process of implementing cognitive strategies that have been deemed useful in assisting students like Robert who suffer from learning problems. Cognitive strategies may also be referred to as “procedural facilitators (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987), procedural prompts (Rosenshine, 1997) orscaffolds (Palincsar & Brown, 1984). A related term is metacognition, the self-reflection or "thinking about thinking" necessary for students to learn effectively (Baker, Gersten, & Scanlon, 2002)” (Jordan, n.d.). It is through the application of cognitive strategies that the teacher must try to help Robert in completing a series of steps. For an instance, to improve his performance in mathematics Robert should be helped by his teacher in learning algorithms – a process that provides a series of steps to solve a problem more easily (Jordan, n.d.). It is by developing the degree of Robert’s attention to those steps that the teacher can eventually make Robert learn how to cope with the challenges posed by mathematics. Moreover, in terms of enhancing Robert’s reading and writing skills, the teacher must encourage Robert to grow more interest in reading comprehension (Jordan, n.d.). Textual acquaintance would make it easier for Robert to gradually overcome his reading and writing inabilities. It is noteworthy that the teacher must try to help Robert in developing his cognitive skills by motivating him to get engaged in a self-questioning strategy which might be of much help for Robert in his understanding of whatever he reads (Jordan, n.d.). Although such act of creating questions will not help the student directly in comprehension; by searching the text and combining information while generating questions, Robert would be more at ease to comprehend whatever he has been learning (Jordan, n.d.).

Moreover, in order to ensure proper cognitive, intellectual, emotional, and social development of Robert, the teacher should resort to the practical implementation of the theory of constructivism. The term constructivism refers to “the idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves – each learner individually (and socially) constructs meaning – as he or she learns. Constructing meaning is learning; there is no other kind” (Hein, 1991). Hence, the teacher should allow Robert to know himself independently through different types of activities like reading and interpreting texts and adding imagination to it. This might help Robert in developing his own emotional and creative traits. The teacher must always keep it in mind that, “Learning is an active process in which the learner uses sensory input and constructs meaning out of it” (Hein, 1991). And keeping this maxim in mind, the teacher should try to motivate Robert to construct meaning out of his own actions. This would pave the way for the development of his learning skills. The teacher should also provide opportunity to Robert to learn contextually and not in an isolated manner. She should encourage Robert to participate in group discussions and to exchange ideas with others. Such participation would gradually enable Robert to socialize himself, and this in turn would ensure his emotional development. The teacher should understand that her primary role is to facilitate learning and development for Robert and she must not act as a sage enlightening a 9 year old boy. What the teacher must do is that, she must act as Robert’s guide in the process of his academic and social development, and she must do so by providing Robert with opportunities to test the adequacy of his own understandings of the lesson learned either textually or from day to day experience (Hoover, 1996). Considering the need of Robert’s overall development his teacher must try to analyze the previous knowledge obtained by Robert first and then she must try to understand that knowledge and provide learning environments to Robert that are conducive to the development of his previously obtained knowledge in an appropriate manner (Hoover, 1996). The teacher must understand that, “children may need different experiences to advance to different levels of understanding” (Hoover, 1996).

Application of Constructivism theory for Robert's Development

Furthermore, Robert’s teacher should understand that Robert is an exceptional student who is talented but in a different way. Hence, it is quite reasonable for her to render effort to implement the strategies of differential learning for ensuring Robert’s cognitive development encompassing his learning skills. The teacher should not forget the fact that, “Differentiation is increasingly recognised as a means for meeting the individual needs of all students and particularly for those who have exceptional learning profiles. For those exceptional learners who have learning difficulties, this differentiation is increasingly seen as the responsibility of classroom teachers” (Munro, n.d.). It is in respect of facilitating differential learning that Robert’s teacher must resort to the Response to Intervention approach. It is adhering to the approach of Response to Intervention that Robert’s teacher should resort to the completion of three tiers of learning, viz. modification to classroom-based teaching; focusing on small group interventions; and taking more intensive intervention steps in the form of tutoring (Munro, n.d.). Such steps if completed successfully can provide Robert with the opportunity to learn constructively, and such will enhance his learning skills and cognitive abilities.

Moreover, Robert’s teacher must try to practically implement the theories of motivation and learning to keep Robert on the right track of overall development (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2015). In this respect the teacher can obviously follow the principles of teaching that has been proposed by Keller. The teacher, following Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivational Design should try to draw the attention of Roberts towards learning through perceptual arousal and through inquiry arousal (Learning Theories, 2014). The teacher should try to grab the attention of Robert (to help him in his own developmental process) by making him actively participate in events like games, role-play, etc (Learning Theories, 2014). The teacher should also try to implement variability which means that she must use a variety of methods in presenting study materials (including the use of audiovisuals) in order to reinforce study materials more appropriately for Robert (Learning Theories, 2014). Though incongruity and conflict strategy is also a part of the proposed model, Robert’s teacher should refrain from its usage at the initial stages of the learning experiment. But through the use of specific examples, for triggering visual stimuli, that the teacher can help Robert in accomplishing his developmental objectives. Finally, Robert’s teacher should pose questions or problems to be answered or solved by Robert, and this would help Robert in enhancing the degree of his inquiry. The more there would be inquires; the greater there would be chances for Robert’s cognitive and learning development.

In conclusion, Robert’s teacher, in order to provide developmental opportunities to Robert must resort to some specific strategies. Robert’s teacher must understand that Robert’s quietness and his aversion towards making friends (as reported by his classroom teacher) are indicators to his lack of emotional development. His seclusion from his classmates also indicates that he has still not found it easy to cope with the new school environment. Moreover, his apathy towards self-initiated conversation also proves that he needs emotional and cognitive development. Furthermore, the difficulties that Robert have been facing with writing and reading and the problems he have been facing with mathematics, all point to the fact that he is slow in respect of cognitive development. The teacher who is going to help Robert attain overall development should be aware of the fact that despite being in the phase called middle childhood (9-11 years) Robert has not been able to show the intellectual, emotional, and cognitive developments that are expected of a boy of his age. Robert’s teacher should understand that Robert is an exceptional student who is talented but in a different way. Hence, it is quite reasonable for her to render effort to implement the strategies of differential learning for ensuring Robert’s cognitive development encompassing his learning skills.  

References

CDC (2017). Middle Childhood (9-11 years of age). Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/middle2.html

Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. (2015). Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching with Student Resource Access 12 Months (6th Ed.). Australia: Cengage Learning.

Hein, G.E. (1991). Constructivist Learning Theory. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.exploratorium.edu/education/ifi/constructivist-learning

Hoover, W.A. (1996). The Practice Implications of Constructivism. American Institutes for Research. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedletter/v09n03/practice.html

Jordan, L. (n.d.). Cognitive Strategies. The University of Kansas. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/?q=instruction/cognitive_strategies

Learning Theories (2014). ARCS Model of Motivational Design Theories [Keller]. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.learning-theories.com/kellers-arcs-model-of-motivational-design.html

Munro, J. (n.d.). Effective strategies for implementing differentiated instruction. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1144&context=research_conference

WebMD (2015). Milestones for 9-Year-Olds - Topic Overview. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.webmd.com/children/tc/milestones-for-9-year-olds-topic-overview#1