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.
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ReplyDeleteI too learned a great deal from Simmy's presentation. The research was very current and informative. I wish the government would put less spin on the economic issues and stick more with the developmental issues, although this could be a hard sell to taxpayers. It's a good idea to include the economics of child development somehow in the course. If I get the opportunity again, I think I'll try to secure a guest speaker. That would definitely work and further extend student learning
ReplyDeleteI hope that the poster session went well. It's good practice for you as you develop your academic-clinical career - I'm sure you will have many presentations in your future.
I too enjoyed learning from you Aaron. I look forward to hearing of your continued success!