Social Development

In class we learned about Erikson's psychological development and the eight stages that go with it. We got in groups an acted out the major crisis for each stage. It was a great way to get thinking about what they really mean. It also helps with remembering. We also talked about moral development. There are three levels with two stages in each. It is very interesting to think that I was at the first stage once. I really liked the Peg system thing we learned to remember Erikson's stages in order. I learned about the peg system in student success but it never made sense to me! I totally understand now and it does help.

Piagetian Tasks

Over the weekend, I did three tasks with my niece who is 3 1/2 years old. She was very excited to participate.

First I did the water task with her. When I asked if they had the same amount of water, she said yes. Then I poured it into another cup and asked the same question. She said yes again. I asked her why and she said, pointing to the taller cup, "this is a bigger cup" (moving her finger up and down the cup) I dont know if it is coincidence that she got it right but she did try explaining it to me. If she truly understood that they had the same amount of liquid it would be in the concrete operations stage.

The next task I did the stick task. I asked if they were the same length. She said yes. Then I moved one to the right. When I asked her if one stick was longer than the other, she said yes and pointed to the stick I did not move, the one directly in front of her. This response is in the preoperational stage.

The last one I did was the penny one. She agreed that they had the same amount of pennies but when I spread the one row apart, she said that the row I changed had more pennies. This is also preoperational thinking.

This was a lot of fun to do. My niece wanted to test me afterwards!

Implicit Association test: Gender

Your data suggest a slight association of Male with CAREER and Female with FAMILY compared to Female with CAREER and Male with FAMILY.

I figured I would get results like this. Not because I don't think it is important for women to have a career ( I am going to school to be a teacher) or for men to play an important role in the home, but I think because that is what I am used to. My mom stayed home for a long time and was a stay at home mom until we got older. I want to be there for my children when I have some. So it is not that I don't feel women shouldn't have a career but because I feel it is important for children to have all the support they can get from parents and I would like to be home with my children when they are not at school.

Intelligence Tests

My IQ test results were about what I was expecting. I usually test above average and I got a little above average on this. I don't feel like I am a genius but I feel that I am pretty smart so to me, the results seemed pretty accurate. But, I know that there are probably some really smart people from other countries that may have scored below average. I don't remember there being questions only pertaining to America but there may have been. It seemed like there were a lot of math questions too. I know that it is not the most accurate but I seemed to fit in as I normally would in nationwide tests.

My multiple intelligence results showed that my strengths from greatest to least is Interpersonal, Visual, Musical, Kinaesthetic, Interpersonal, Naturalistic, Logical, Linguistic. I got four above 15 and the rest weren't too far behind. This test seems more accurate than another multiple intelligence test showed. I really feel this is pretty accurate. My lowest was linguistic. I feel that I am a smart person I just have a hard time finding the right words or the right way to say something. The things I ranked higher I feel I learn best those ways. Like with other people, and music and pictures and moving. It seems accurate to me. I liked this test. It was very simple and seemed more accurate than other ones I have taken.

I think I would deffinitely use the multiple intelligence test with students. It would be a great way to learn how they learn best. It is easy and fast. It also would be beneficial. I dont know if I would use the IQ test though. I dont know what the purpose would be. I understand that it would be nice to see where the students are but you could do that with things that you are actually teaching instead of random questions.

Learning Log

• Last week we talked about group differences such as cultural and ethic differences, multicultural differences and gender differences.

• It is very important to know so we are able to show respect to other people. Different cultures have different ways to show thanks. in some cultures it is disrespectful to look someone in the eyes while it is kind in other cultures. It is very important especially as a teacher that we know what is culturally acceptable to the students we teach so that everyone feels respected.
  

• As a teacher, I will try to get to know the students and at least a little about their culture so I know what to expect. Also, I really am going to try out those strategies for eliminating gender bias in the classroom. I want to videotape how I interact with girls and boys to make sure I am not favoring one over the other.
  

Research Study

Center for Health and Wellbeing: 9/8/2008: http://weblamp.princeton.edu/chw/research/briefs_pdfs/AA%20childcare_12%2018%202006_FINAL.pdf


Child Care Settings and Childhood Obesity
The rates of obesity in children have significantly increased for ages two through eleven. This research study says that the number of children in child care is at an all time high and that children are not getting the nutrition and activity that they need.
This says that only little research has been done to test the environment on the amount of physical activity and the nutrition in the child care centers.
I do not see any numbers to base my thoughts on but I think that there are other things helping the children become obese at early ages. I think Americans in general have a higher number of obese in the country. As a culture, we are not becoming healty. Just like children now days get to grow up with cell phones and easy access to computers, they also get to grow up with fast food restaurants on every corner that are open until midnight or later. Day care might not be helping these children get what they need but there are so many other things that is contributing. if you give a child something healthy to eat in day care it doesnt mean that they wont pig out on snacks when they are home.

Learning log

This week we learned about the different types of research studies. We talked about 4. They are experimental, correlational, descriptive, and action research. This important for me to know about these different types of research because I will have a better uderstanding of which studies have valid conclusions and which do not. If the conclusions are from an experimental study, as long as it was done well, the conclusion can tell us cause and effect relationships. This will be very useful for me to know as an individual and as a teacher. like I said I can gather information on studies and determine for myself if it is very valid or not. It will be useful for me to conduct my own research studies.