Introduction to Education 1010-X07
What developmental differences do you see in the children in the classroom? While volunteering in a first grade class I noticed the instruction was constructivism. The children were learning the meaning of "equal". The teacher had the children drawing a picture of their team in a square and the child were asked to draw another team in the square next to their team that would be equal to their team. Not only did this activity help in learning the meaning of equal, but was also in the "spatial intelligence" in Multiple Intelligence learning technique. Most of the children were able to grasp this concept of "equal", while others did not understand the significance of the assignment. One student wanted to draw 1,000 members on his team. The teacher commented, "we don't want to have to be here all day" and encouraged the student to use a smaller number. This was a demonstration of behaviorism and using positive reinforcement in teaching the student. I found it interesting to see the children learning this new word and concept. It was something relatively easy to understand, but yet there was still a difference in the understanding of this topic amongst the students.