Learning Theories Week 3- Post 1

Q1- Do you agree with Vygotsky in regards to his statement, "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (inter-psychological) and then inside the child (intra-psychological)," (Vgotsky, 1978).

    A) Level 6 Evaluation.  I believe it is level 6 because it is asking the student to choose a side and defend our thoughts on the theory posed by the theorists and apply it to our own views on development. 

     B) I agree with Vgotsky on the idea that every function in cultural development appears twice. To me it seems that all things that are happening in a child's development, no matter if it is cultural or other tend to fall first on a social interaction and then back to the individual. We are a culture of our environment and surroundings and most things we experience happen there before they actually happen to us individually. It is easy to see that once something happens in the environment that we would adapt and then experience it ourselves. We form to what is around is and that usually involves learning something in a group setting first and taking it back to ourselves and applying it on our own. 

Q2- Identify a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) in your life? Why is this person an MKO?

     A) Level 4 Analysis. I believe this is a level 4 because it not only asks you to identify an MKO, which would be level 1, it asks you to explain why this person is an MKO. It makes you make the connection between a definition and an identification of why it is what it states.

    B) A More Knowledgeable Other in my life is my swim coach. My swim coach is an MKO to me as a swimmer because they have actually been swimming longer and gone to more clinics and meets that they have learned higher techniques and fundamentals to the sport. I have a knowledge of swimming and how to do it, but my coach has been able to take his higher knowledge of success in swimming and help make me a better swimmer. Passing his information on has been something that helps us both.

Q3- Design an experiment to test Piaget's theory of development. Include in your experiment material you will need, method, and the results you would expect to see. 

    A) Level 5 Synthesis. I believe this is a level 5 because the question is asking me to create and design something myself. I was able to actually take the knowledge from the theory and make my own. This asks me to dig deeper in my knowledge of the content area.

    B) I would design an experiment to test a students learning of words in a foreign language. I would need a classroom with items in that foreign language for the student to be surrounded by and take in through assimilation and being around the ideas and thoughts. I would also have flash cards to use that have the key words and phrases I am trying to get the student to learn. I will have assessments in the form of tests and worksheets to see their knowledge. I will use a method of teaching myself then having them to observe others speaking or interacting with the language after. This will allow them to try themselves and then observe. I would expect to see that the student does not learn much from me and them going over stuff together but when they get to observe and interact that way they will gain more knowledge. People have to feel and touch things to gain knowledge as well but they will need to be more in the field of the language then just a classroom.