I am a secondard education major, so hopefully by the time students get to my class they will have a fairly good understanding of learning in abstract ways. When I was in high school I took psychology through my school and then I also took a second psychology class online through a local college. My psychology teacher wasn't the greatest and I feel that I learned just as much, if not more, from my online class than from my actual psychology class. To try to avoid having my students feel this way I would try to implement ideas from the Developmental Learning Theory and Social Learning Theory into my teaching to be able to give my students a better grasp on the subject.
If I were teaching a lesson on obsessive compulsive disorder I would have my students watch a short documentary of a person who lives with OCD so that they can have a concrete representation of what OCD consists of. I would also try to get someone who has OCD to visit the class, but I feel that a documentary would have a similar if not better effect because the students would be able to learn more about the disease than the person. I would then teach about OCD and all the different types of OCD. After the students have learned about OCD, instead of giving a test I would seperate the class into groups and have them make a project based on what they learned in class about OCD. By having the students utilize the knowledge that they learned by talking about it in front of the class (and with the members of their group) I hope that they would retain the knowledge longer than if I had simply testing them over it.
By seperating the class into groups for the project I would be implementing SLT into my teaching. I would also use SLT on a daily basis by having the students review what was taught the day before with a partner.
I like your ideas for teaching a lesson about OCD. It can be difficult to decide between a movie or the real thing. I think in this case if you were able to utilize both then the whole idea might get across better. Students might be able to see more examples of habits an OCD person has with a video. However, with the person they can get the chance to ask them questions such as "What is it like to live with OCD." I like your idea of a project for students to do. I think that definitely will get them to remember more and recall then a test will. I think if students are able to share what they have learned with others it cements the idea into their mind quicker then a personal gain.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having someone with OCD come to visit the class-- they could answer any questions kids have and really get through to them on the personal life of someone with OCD. However, I agree that the video idea is also really good because OCD is different for every person, and if the students were just exposed to one person's experiences they may not completely understand the subject. I also like your idea of getting them into groups and making projects-- maybe you could have them portray having OCD? You could have them choose what their obsessions would be and act them out.
ReplyDeleteI really like your explanation of how you would break the study of OCD down. Having a person living with OCD coming to class is the best way for the students to understand what OCD does to a persons' life style. But it some people may not want to talk to an entire high school or college classroom about their OCD. I think the video is also helpful as well. That may be the easier concrete level to start. But I really like the way you allowed SLT and DLT to influence your lesson.
ReplyDeleteI like how you deviate from the normal method of teaching psychology of lectures and tests. If I would have had more of a hands on and example based psych class I would have probably been more interested and learned a lot more. The idea of having someone with OCD coming to class would be very insightful for your students and could open their eyes to the complexity of that persons daily life. That kind of information cannot be understood from a text book.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you presented multiple concrete ways to explain OCD in order for the students to learn the material. While you can't provide them with the most concrete form of OCD, which I guess would be the actual disorder, you have to bring in something that is slightly more abstract. But instead of just providing one abstract concept you brought in multiple to make the material even more concrete.
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