Psychology 1300, my first college class was quite an experience. I learned about critical thinking, time management, my strengths and weaknesses, cognitive development, and how to deal with these aspects of my learning style, and we watched “a class divided”.
Critical thinking is not a skill, whereas it is a group of skills that improve and reinforce each other. Good critical thinkers have these skills ; Analytical- your ability to analyze and provide logical support for your beliefs. Communication and literacy- your ability to listen,speak, and write effectively and the awareness of your own communication style. Research and inquiry- your ability to gather, evaluate and synthesize supporting evidence. Flexibility and tolerance of ambiguity- the ability to flexibly adapt to changing situations and to recognize the inherent ambiguity of human existence. Open minded skepticism- the ability to overcome personal prejudices and biases and critically examine all sides of an issue before coming to a decision often this involves the method of doubt fired to. Creative problem solving- the ability to recognize and anticipate the reactions of others to share and gain knowledge. Attentiveness mindfulness- the ability to recognize and anticipate the reactions of others, and a willingness to collaborate with others to share and gain knowledge.
Time management is a very good skill for someone to have because you are able to plan ahead and get things done. Some things to do with time managing are; Goal Setting, what is your goal for what you are trying to accomplish, prioritizing, make sure you are getting the important things done first and the least important last, focus,focus on what it is that you are doing don’t get off task, planning, plan what you are going to get done, record keeping, make sure you are keeping track of what you are doing, and organization, stay organized don’t have a bunch of papers everywhere. 17 Essential time management skills to boost productivity. (2018, June 20). Retrieved from https://www.coachingpositiveperformance.com/17-essential-time-management-skills/
Going to school and also playing sports you have to be good with time management, which is a strength of mine but a huge weakness I have is procrastination. With the procrastination I can never manage my time right and I end up falling behind on my work, until I’m finally like, “ok, I really need to get going on this” and I’ll make a plan on how much time I have to finish it and what can I do each day.
I consider time management a strength of mine which it has to when you’re a procrastinator. When procrastination takes over and your days to do whatever it is decrease and your workload increases you have to be able to analyze what it is and how long you have to do eachthing. I started to plan out my week day by day with what I have to do, but most of the time I never stick to that plan and I’ll have to change it.
Another strength I have is decision making. If I know I have something to due and a friend wants me to go out i'll make the decision to stay in a finish what I have to do. Also even real world decision with all the peer pressure and kids making bad choices I have to make the right decision that help me in the present and future if I want to go on and live a good life.
I am a hard worker and I won’t give up on things when it goes bad, I’ll find a way to overcome the obstacle and adapt to the changes. I won’t slack off on anything and I am very determined.
I consider myself a very social person and can connect with anyone and this is a great thing when working in groups. When working in groups everyone needs to get along and do their work.
I am a determined person, I have many goals in life. My main goal is to attend Texas Christian University on a football scholarship, that’s always been a goal of mine since around the age of 9. I would like to major in kinesiology, for the longest time I never knew what I wanted to study, but when I broke my leg and went to rehab I thought it would be a good idea to study kinesiology.
Procrastination is actually a huge weakness for me. For example anytime I’m given an assignment with a due date, I never work on it right away, I’ll push it off until I realize that it’s due in a couple of days. Like this final project we had to write, I did not want to start typing it and I kept delaying when I would start on it and finally it came to realization that if I don’t start this right now I probably won’t finish it.
There are 2 main different theories to cognitive development (n Learning Framework Textbook) one in which is Piaget's theory; Jean Piaget proposed a theory of children’s cognitive development that involves these processes: schemas, assimilation and accommodation, organization, and equilibration. In his theory, cognitive development unfolds in a sequence of four stages: sensorimotor(birth to age 2), preoperational(age 2-7), concrete operational(age 7-11), and formal operation(age 11-15). Each stage is a qualitative each stage is a qualitative advance. In the sensorimotor stage, infant construct an understanding of the world by coordinating their sensory experiences with their motor actions. Thought is more symbolic at the preoperational stage, although the child has not yet mastered some important mental operations. Preoperational thought includes symbolic function and intuitive thought substages. Egocentrism and centration are constraints. At the concrete operational stage, children can perform operations, and logical thought replaces intuitive thought when reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples. Classification, seriation, and transitivity are important concrete operational skills. At the formal operational stage, thinking is more abstract, idealistic, and logical. Hypothetical – deductive reasoning becomes important. Adolescent egocentrism characterizes many young adolescents. We owe to Piaget a long list of masterful concepts as well as the current version of the child as an active, constructivist thinker. Criticisms of his view focus on estimates of children’s competence, stages, the training of children to reason a higher cognitive level, and the neo-piagetian criticism of not being precise enough about how children learn.
Lee vygotsky proposed another major theory of cognitive development. His view emphasizes that cognitive skills need to be interpreted developmentally, are mediated by language, and have their origins in social relations and culture. Zone of proximal development (ZPD) is his term for the range of tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone but that can be learned with the guidance and assistance of adults and more skilled children. Scaffolding is an important concept in his theory. He also argued that language plays a key role in guiding cognition. Applications of his ideas to education include using the children’s ZPD and scaffolding using more skilled peers as teachers monitoring and encouraging children's use of private speech and accurately assessing the ZPD. These practices can transform the classroom and establish a meaningful context for instructions. Like Piaget, vygotsky emphasized that children actively construct their understanding of them world. Unlike Piaget he did not propose stages of cognitive development and he emphasized that children construct knowledge through social interactions, in vygotsky's theory children depend on tools provided by the culture which determines which skill they will develop. Some critics say that vygotsky's overemphasized the role of language in thinking.
My learning style is fairly simple, I’m more of a visual learner where I need to watch someone do it. I can listen to someone talking about a topic and remember most of it but when I’m taking notes I can’t fully focus on the spreaker so I might miss a few important things. This is why when a teacher is speaking I have to pay close attention. While I am working on a project or doing homework or basically anything I have to have music playing, this is a must.
“A class divided” was a film about a third grade teacher who showed her students discrimination with the blue eye experiment. The first day people with blue eyes were “superior” to those with non-blue eyes. They got special treatment, blue eyed kids were making fun of the others, some kids didn’t like this a kid punched a blue eye kid. The next day at school the roles switched and the brown eye kids were “superior”. After the experiment they all discussed what happened and realized what was going on.
In conclusion there were many things learned in this class and things that I can apply into my everyday life like time management skills and critical thinking which are very critical to everyday life. This class bettered me as a student and as a person.