Cognitive-Social Approach

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Please see response attached, which is also presented below. Supplemented with a highly informative article. I hope this helps and take care.

RESPONSE:

Let's take closer look at some information for your to consider for this essay assignment and your final copy.

1. I need to give examples of how cognitive-social approaches to learning have modified or could modify curricula in schools?

One example of the cognitive-social approach is the work of Vygotsky.

Scaffolding learning is when the teacher helps the student to a certain degree and then let's the child solve the problem. For example, a difference exists between what child can do on her own and what the child can do with help. Vygotskians call this difference the zone of proximal development (see http://www.funderstanding.com/vygotsky.cfm).

How Social Cognitive Approach of Vygotsky Impacts Learning:

a. Curriculum--Since children learn much through interaction, curricula should be designed to emphasize interaction between learners and learning tasks. Increased dialogue and question periods between the teacher and learner or through small group discussions give the necessary interaction between the learners and learning tasks. However, for electronic learning, vicarious resources may be captured from many different kinds of dialogue, not necessarily involving the asking of direct questions (interaction and dialogues between teacher and student to student are important through). Using the computer to capture this material, it becomes possible to make accessible something, which before has been only a fleeting experience for the small group participants (http://www.ercim.org/publication/Ercim_News/enw33/mckendree.html).

Example: On-line Learning (excerpt)

We have taught several courses in which students have access on-line not only to expository materials and to tasks that utilize what they have learned, but also to resources built from previous terms' discussions and annotated examples of work as well as their own discussion forum. We have also run more controlled studies to look more closely at the learning-taking place when viewing these resources. We have found, in general, not only positive learning outcomes but positive affective ones in terms of students' feeling that they are part of a larger community, and that reading the discussions of others gives them a wider perspective (http://www.ercim.org/publication/Ercim_News/enw33/mckendree.html).

b. Instruction--With appropriate adult help, children can often perform tasks that they are incapable of completing on their own. With this in mind, scaffolding--where the adult continually adjusts the level of his or her help in response to the child's level of performance--is an effective form of teaching. Scaffolding not only produces immediate results, but also instills the skills necessary for independent problem solving in the future.

c. Assessment--Assessment methods must take into account the zone of proximal development. What children can do on their own is their level of actual development and what they can do with help is their level of potential development. Two children might have the same level of actual development, but given the appropriate help from an adult, one might be able to solve many more problems than the other. Assessment methods must target both the level of actual development and the level of potential development (http://www.funderstanding.com/vygotsky.cfm).

2. I need to discuss the understanding of the states of consciousness related to the use of alcohol and other drugs and the affects on behavior.

Alcohol and other drug action on the brain produces of a number of thinking and behavioral effects. Thye cause altered states of consciousness. These effects are dependent upon:

1. Amount of alcohol and/or drugs taken in
2. The time period over which the alcohol is drunk or the drug is taken
3. Whether other drugs are being taken at the same time
4. The previous drug use or drinking history of the individual
5. The physical state of the person doing the drinking or drugging
6. The genetic background of the individual( i.e. ethnicity, gender)
7. The mood and psychological makeup of the individual and 8. the environment when alcohol and/or other drugs are taken ...