Seminar 17: Presentation Day 7

The three presentations of this week taught me many new aspects of development that I had never really considered a part of developmental psychology. I was very interested in Sandra's very technical presentation on the economics that are necessary to assist in human development. It is surprising that the economics of and funding that aids the system is discussed very little in the courses that I have taken. I guess it is largely because we only discuss the ideal settings of psychology and not the feasibility necessarily. Although this course did touch on many aspects of psychological development that I had not discussed in previous classes; for this, I am very grateful.

I also enjoyed Simmy's online presentation concerning full- day kindergarten. I thought that her overview of the background material was well researched. I agree that class size is very important in the learning environment, especially the fact that today, several different grades can be packed into one classroom. At least in kindergarten, we should strive to have the smallest class sizes to ensure proper care and attention to every student in these critical years. I also see a great benefit in the full-day kindergarten program as depicted in the presentation. Although it is significantly more expensive, investing money in early education will allow for better outcome overall because it teaches kids necessary skills at a critical period and it can help find specific learning disabilities early. I can understand why some parents might want to have their kids at home for half the day but I think that for the majority of people and especially the disadvantaged, the child will learn significantly more in the proper classroom setting from skilled educators. I was very surprised to hear the issue around summer breaks in her presentation. I would never have imagined that a break could have such a significant determent on a child's learning. I don't really see why that time can't be used by the parents to teach their children to avoid this issue.I found this interesting article on how parents can help ready their children for kindergarten:
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Kindergarten_Readiness_Over_the/

Although I did watch Jelena's presentation on Baby Einstein, in looking back at my blogs I realize that I may not have commented on it directly (this most probably was because I have done so much research on Baby Einstein that I'm not sure I can say any more). I went back and watched her presentation again and I will comment on it here. I must admit that I did not learn a significant amount of new material from this presentation due to the fact that I know most of the articles she quoted very extensively. I did enjoy a couple of the newer studies that she mention i.e. Simpson (2007) and their findings that some aspects can be taught to children via videos. Overall, I thought that her presentation was a pretty good overview of Baby Einstein Corp., the videos and their effects.

Going back to this week's presentations, I was shocked to listen to the presentation on residential schools. I am so shocked because I had never heard about this issue before. I was never taught this in my school and I guess this is because it is not a proud moment in our countries history. I really can't imagine that such things were still taking place during my lifetime. I have come to realize that atrocities of these sorts are occuring all around us all the time, sometimes right in our own country. It is therefore very important to educate oursevlves and try our best to prevent these heinous acts from reoccurring.

The third presentation of the day on Discovery Learning was well assembled and clear, although I must admit that I do not agree with this specific form of learning. As we discussed in our small group discussion, I see Discovery Learning as an interesting way to teach imagination, but ineffective in teaching children specific skills or facts. I foresee a lot of "no that is wrong" being spoken from the teacher which in truth is just a waste of time. If teaching imagination and creativity to students then it is great, otherwise I don't really understand how one can teach even rudimentary physics to a grad-school class which was given as an example in the presentation. Currently, I am taking a physics course at YorkU and I am even having trouble understanding some of the simple concepts even when they are spelled out in the plainest English. To me it seems ridiculous trying to allow student in grade 3 to discover what magnetism is, never mind some of Einstein's theories. In conclusion, I see discovery learning as an interesting way to teach specific creative skills but a wholly ineffective method to teach advanced concepts.

I also wanted to say thank you to Dr. McNelles for such a wonderful class. Every week I looked forward to coming and learning with you and the class. I will miss our Monday classes. Best of luck in the future and I hope we meet up again soon. If you happen to be coming to Poster Day, I'll be at number 55 in the BBCS section. Hope to see you there.

Seminar 16: Presentation Day 6

The presentations from this week's class were very intriguing because they covered very different topics that had not been touched upon by others in the class. I enjoyed the presentation on the pragmatics of speech. I found it very interesting to learn about the components of speech and to learn its importance in the early life and growing up of children. One does not usually analyze the importance of speech as it comes so natural to us; it however is critical in the proper development of humans and many other animals.

Although other animals do not specifically use speech, they have other methods by which they communicate. After learning about the any complexities of phonemes and speech sounds, I realized how much has to go right for speech to be learnt and understood. It truly is amazing that any baby can adapt and pick up the language skills and speech sounds that surround him/her. The interplay between neurons and the neuronal pruning that has to take place in order for speech to be properly learnt is remarkable; if it were not known, I am sure that science would deem it as an impossibility. It is amazing that we have evolved to become such social creatures and it is evident in how important social communication is in our daily lives and overall success.

At the same time, however, this week's presentation on Autism examined an issue that is becoming increasingly more prevalent, especially amongst middle aged mothers. Having worked with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders on a weekly basis for six years, I know the difficulties involved. We only stay with the children for 3 hours, but it amazing how much attention each child requires. I can only imagine the difficulties that the parents have to go through every day. It is a constant struggle and it unfortunately is becoming increasingly more prevalent. I really appreciated the teaching tools that were brought in to class to show us a window into how she works with these children. The new treatment options truly amaze me, because I have personally seen some of the successes. It is amazing how resilient both the parents and patients themselves can be in fighting the disorder. I foresee many advancements in autism research, I only hope that it can be distributed and funded by the government soon enough to help young children with autism in their early stages of development.

Seminar 15: Presentation Day 5

In listening to Sarena's presentation on active listening, I agree that it is a much better way of teaching than the conventional passive learning that is widespread throughout the school system. I can understand why passive learning may have caught on in the school system and especially in a university setting. It, however, seems to be common knowledge that this type of learning most definitely is not the most effective way of learning.

It has been known for many years that learning occurs best when things are learnt by using different modalities, i.e. write, say, hear, etc. When learning actively, one must use the different learning modalities which will allow for better comprehension of the material. Less rote memory skills need to be utilized as the knowledge becomes ingrained in the student. I once had a very long conversation with a teach who both taught and did extensive research on the Montessori school system. She began too explain to me the way the school worked and the way that the children learn. It appears that in this system, children become very good active learners, which most definitely gives them a great head-start in life. It also is much more tailored to the individual needs of the child, which makes it easier on the child to do better in school and feel no competition with the other children in his/her class. The only significant issue that I can foresee with this style of learning is that these children are wholly unprepared for the style of teaching at most universities. If they do not want to attain advanced degrees than it shouldn't be a problem, but the massive change from all active to all passive learning can be very difficult or even impossible for the individual to succeed. I think that in the future, all schools should strive to invest their time properly and take the time to allow our children to actively learn in the classroom.

I also found Marcia's presentation on neglect and child abuse to be very interesting. Having 6 nieces and nephews, it was hard for me to read and acknowledge how bad some parents are to their children. The prevalence rates were much higher than I expected and I see it as being despicable for a parent to hurt their child. I think that the violence is largely caused by the fact that the parent's parents probably treated them the same way. Education is desperately needed for these parents and the many people of our society to stop violence against children. Kids need to know that there are people that they can talk to in the case that they need help; our school systems may be failing us in this highly significant aspect of growing up.

Seminar 14: Presentation Day 4

This week's two presentations were interesting. The Baby Einstein presentation touched on a lot of aspects that had been covered by several colleagues, but added some new points that added and extended to the findings. Although the presenter argued that Ms. Aigner Clark had good intentions, I find it very difficult to alleviate her of all the responsibility. When someone is making a product for any group of people, it is important to ensure that the product does in fact do what it was intended to do. This must apply even more so when the population in question is young children and mothers who are desperate to find a solution to their constant stress. The Baby Einstein seems like a 'gift' for most of these moms. In the past several weeks, I have met several more mothers, some of whom are pediatricians and they have expressed how much they love the Baby Einstein DVD's and citing that they have at least 10-15 of the videos at home. It irks me to find out that if the American Academy of Pediatrics' message isn't even being heard by the pediatricians, then who is listening. Are recommendations being made and falling on deaf ears? What is the point of doing all this great research on television and very young children if not even the most qualified doctors in the field don't follow it. The fact is that Baby Einstein is simply too easy. It alleviates parents of their responsibilities and makes them feel good that their kids might be learning. In terms of child rearing, our society needs to make a serious paradigm shift. We need to all start realizing that the 'easy way' is more often than not, the wrong way! I think this change needs to start with authority figures, psychologists, doctors, politicians, people that have the power to change the way society works. I know that the change will take a long time, but we have to start slowly by convincing parents that they themselves may in fact know the best way to rear their children.

Here we see the fall-out from the Baby Einstein campaign for the refund: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/education/10baby.html

It's scary what some companys will do to try and clear their name.

Seminar 13: Presentation Day 3

I really enjoyed the presentations from today's class. These presenters integrated a very different approach to the assignment and managed to teach the class several important developmental concepts. I really enjoyed learning about the 'inquiry based learning' technique and theory by Kelly. This is a topic that everyone thinks they know about, although in truth, few know the real details and processes that are often at work in this learning style. I like how she got us involved in the topic by asking us to build the tower. It was interesting to try and solve the best problem on our feet in a short time span. Inquiry based learning truly seems like the optimal way to teach children (and even adults). As a child, I recall learning the most when I was challenged to think by myself. I know that even today, I learn the most when the content is being taught hands-on and I can manipulate things with my hands. I believe that the more connections that we can make while learning, the higher the amount of knowledge that is retained. This seems to be confirmed by multisensory studies that have shown that auditory and visual coupling of information causes greater retention and ultimate learning.

I also really enjoyed Salva's presentation and the way she analyzed how research is translated and put into practice in average peoples everyday lives. It seems that there is a serious issue in translating research in that there is a significant delay. I would estimate that the delay varies greatly, but even a couple of months can be highly valuable, especially in the developing fetus or infant. I know that some research takes many years to reach the public sphere. This is a major problem. I think that the government or universities need to figure out a better system by which the general public can access the information as it is released. So few individuals read the scientific journals and even if they do, it is so complicated that they probably don't even understand it. Amazing research is being conducted worldwide and even right here at YorkU, but I am saddened that the general public do not have easy access to the advances that are being discovered on a daily basis.

Seminar 12: Presentation Day 2

This week, I presented my topic on 'The Video Deficit Effect'. I must admit that prior to starting the research for my presentation, I was unsure if there was enough data on the topic for a 45 minute presentation. This is because the phenomenon is so new and having only been discovered by Anderson & Pempek in 2005. Once I began my research, I was happily surprised to find that there were several articles that alluded to the Video Deficit, approximately 20. These articles used different research techniques and they all discovered the same effect. I was shocked to learn that this effect had been validated so many times! Initially, I thought that in theory, the Deficit sounded interesting, but I had no idea that there actually existed solid evidence to prove the theory. Even with all these validations, it is still important to realize that the Theory is still in its infancy and needs more research to determine all its intricacies.

In researching the presentation, I was very surprised to find how striking the results are. At the same time, I am shocked to see that none of these results have been transmitted to the general public. It seems that there exists a great disconnect between research findings and their application in general society. This most definitely is one of the biggest problems in research today. I believe that a major change in society needs to occur to permit the utilization of the groundbreaking research. Even my sister who is a physician and my cousin who is a recent pediatrician graduate, had no knowledge of any of the Baby Einstein findings.

I had a lot of fun doing my presentation and I couldn't believe the results that came out from the video vs. live person experiment that I conducted during my presentation. I analyzed the data in SPSS afterwards and put the results below. It seems that there actually is a significant effect of the video deficit, even though the group was significantly older than the group that it had been witnessed in previously. Perhaps this should be looked into and researched further.

Statistics

Video Live Person

N Valid 10 10

Missing 0 0

Mean 4.20 5.70

Std. Error of Mean .611 .616

Median 4.00 6.50

Mode 2a 7

Std. Deviation 1.932 1.947

Variance 3.733 3.789

Skewness .111 -1.846

Std. Error of Skewness .687 .687

Kurtosis -1.751 3.427

Std. Error of Kurtosis 1.334 1.334

Range 5 6

Minimum 2 1

Maximum 7 7

Sum 42 57

a. Multiple modes exist. The smallest value is shown

Video

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid 2 3 30.0 30.0 30.0

3 1 10.0 10.0 40.0

4 2 20.0 20.0 60.0

6 3 30.0 30.0 90.0

7 1 10.0 10.0 100.0

Total 10 100.0 100.0

Live Person

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid 1 1 10.0 10.0 10.0

4 1 10.0 10.0 20.0

5 1 10.0 10.0 30.0

6 2 20.0 20.0 50.0

7 5 50.0 50.0 100.0

Total 10 100.0 100.0

Seminar 11: Presentation Day 1

I really enjoyed this weeks presentations. I was very impressed by many of the speakers and I am happy to say that I learnt several new things. I especially enjoyed the presentation on the kindergarten school programs. I really didn't know very much about way that kindergartens worked in Canada and I was very surprised to learn about all the different program that are available in other countries and other provinces. I was very surprised to learn that the kindergarten programs in Ontario are quite bad in comparison to other kindergarten programs in Canada and worldwide.

I also enjoyed the Baby Einstein presentation and I felt like I learnt new material even though I did my project on Baby Einstein as well. I enjoyed the interactive activity as it made the class think on their feet and really got everyone involved. I liked how she focused on the specific aspects of one particular video, the Baby Wordsworth as I only researched the original edition for my paper. Her general overview of TV watching was very interesting as well as the specific aspects she mentioned about the pros and cons of Baby Einstein. I found the findings about the coviewing to be very interesting. Although coviewing may in fact increase the infants attentiveness and facilitate learning, I am highly skeptical that this is even possible. Only in very highly controlled environments where researchers force the parents to coview will there even be a chance that they will sit and watch the entire program. It is apparent that from many parent testimonials that their main reason for allowing their baby to watch the program is that it is both educational and an electronic babysitter. Although the latter is definitely true, the educational claims have been debunked several times over. I can only hope that parents will not submit to the claims and instead spend meaningful time with their children instead of forcing them to watch TV.