Another fun video

I wanted to share another video in a quick post. Please scroll down for a different video and my reflection on it; this one's just for fun. Here is a Jack Russell who has been trained with a clicker and positive reinforcement. Amazing what can be taught in this way! There’s a whole series of Jessie the Jack Russell doing amazing tricks on YouTube, if you can’t get enough.

Module 1: IAT

(I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but this topic really interests me).

I took four of the Implicit Association Tests (IATs): Gender-Career, Age, Race, and Religion. The first three provided results that I predicted; however the Religion results surprised me. I would like to share my results with you all, because I think it illustrates nicely how associations may work.

For anyone who did not take the Religion IAT, here is a summary. I was asked to categorize words related to four religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), and words related to good or bad. The results indicated how the religions fell on a scale from Positive associations to Negative associations.
Let me provide some background information about my conscious beliefs. I do not align myself with any particular religion, although I did grow up in a slightly Christian family, and in a very Christian town. I have taken several classes on different kinds of religion, and frequently read on my own, as the variety of religions and religious beliefs is an interest of mine. I do not claim to have a particular fondness for any religion.

My results can be seen in this image:

Obviously, I have many positive associations with Buddhism, while the other three religions are clustered together in the more negative section. This really surprised me. I figured that they would all be rather close together, and that Christianity would be the most positive, since it is what I am most accustomed to, considering my childhood and our culture. After thinking about it, however, I think I may have a theory as to why I received such results.

While I was taking the IAT, certain feelings and snippets of experience were appearing for me. When I think of Buddhism, I tend to think of meditation, peace, calm, and understanding. These are all positive associations. Although I do have positive associations for each of the other religions, the negative ones tended to come out while I was taking this IAT: for Christianity, discrimination against minorities, women, and homosexuals; for Islam, the terrorist attacks on the United States, the War on Terror, and the media’s portrayal of Islam; and for Judaism, the thousands of years of discrimination of Jews, especially the Holocaust. While I am not necessarily making judgments about any of these religions when I think of these things, I am thinking of associations that these religions provide. I believe that this is why Buddhism appeared so positively on the scale. Perhaps if I had read stories about terrible atrocities that have happened to, or because of, Buddhists, then this would have changed.

I think this dovetails nicely with what Gladwell (2005) discussed in the sections of Blink to which we listened. He claimed that we can make connections more quickly with pairs of ideas that are already related, rather than those whose connections are new to us. If we are all “little pieces of associating machinery” (p. 41), as James (1899/1962) claimed, then it is true that we make connections between certain words and ideas, and it makes sense that we would be quicker at making a connection if they are already associated. This explains why it was easier for me to place Buddhism with “good” and the other religions with “bad,” since negative aspects of the three other religions came through to me more strongly. But what does this have to do with the process of learning?

We can assume that we would be able to learn things more efficiently and more quickly if we already have some associations with those objects. This is already used in our school systems, as subjects build upon prior knowledge and make connections with what students have already learned. What may not be so clear are all the associations and connections that students are making unconsciously, that the instructor may or may not be intentionally provoking. We heard in Gladwell's book how students can make snap judgments, which turn out to be accurate, on a teacher’s effectiveness with just two seconds of a silent video clip. Similarly, one can assume that students could also pick up teachers’ moods and ideas about a subject unconsciously. If the teacher seems disinterested in a subject or brings in bias about it, the students’ unconscious is surely noticing this. This could affect how the students relate to the subject, and how much interest (and therefore passive attention) they have for that content. This could have a powerful influence on learning. James (1899/1962) mentioned this as well, as he said that “above all, the teacher must himself be alive and ready, and must use the contagion of his own example” (p. 53). A teacher should make sure that they are not exhibiting negative ideas about a subject or any of the students, as the students’ unconscious will observe these and add them to the pile of associations the students may already have about that subject.

It seems that we would also be able to remember things easier if they were connected to our associations, as the unconscious would be able to latch on to these much more quickly. As James (1899/1962) claimed, “the ‘secret of a good memory’ is thus the secret of forming diverse and multiple associations with every fact we care to retain” (p. 61). By forming more associations, our unconscious would be able to make connections faster, so that we could remember some ideas and use those ideas to make decisions, without any conscious effort at all. This can be witnessed right now, in our current studies. I feel I am learning behaviorism and the IAT information much more easily, and will be able to better hold it in my memory, because I can associate it with what I have read and discussed in James' book. We may be getting a little “meta” with this. :)

Finally, these unconscious associations and biases can greatly affect the future behavior of students. Gladwell (2005), and the documentary excerpt on implicit associations regarding height, provided many examples of cases where race, height, etc., can negatively affect people’s performance on tests and provide prejudices against other people when making friends, hiring new employees, or making decisions. Since James (1899/1962) defined education as “the organization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior” (p. 15), it would follow that it is important that students’ unconscious “internal computers,” as Gladwell referred to them, are able to help the students make the best decisions. Gladwell explained that we can break our unconscious bias about minorities by exposing ourselves to minority races frequently, so that we can become comfortable. It would seem that teachers should attempt to recreate this effect, by exposing children to as many things in the world as possible, so that students do not develop these negative associations that can affect their future behavior.

I really enjoyed these implicit association tests. Do you see anything I have said in this post that relates to your own IAT experience?

References:
Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
James, William. (1899/1962). Talks to Teachers on Psychology. New York: Dover Publications.
A documentary excerpt focusing on men's height, provided by Dr. Usher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln7p95kZgi4

Skinner on Superstition

In this video, Michael Britt from the Psych Files shows how Skinner's idea of behavioral conditioning is why we have superstitions.  We have seen how animals will perform actions that are associated with a certain reinforcement.  Similarly, if animals receives a reward, and they were doing a particular behavior at that time, they will associate the behavior with the reward and will continue to perform the action, hoping to receive more of the reward.  This causes a "superstition" and can be seen in many examples.  The video shows the example of what movements different people make after throwing a bowling ball, and how people often hit the elevator button multiple times, because they have previously experienced the door open at the exact moment that they pushed the button.

I was really astonished by this, just because it brought to mind so many examples of when I do this myself.  I am often guilty of pushing the elevator button multiple times, as well as the buttons at the pedestrian crosswalks on campus, even when I can see the countdown and know it will not change.  I see these kinds of superstitions in sports, as well, as I always pick up the bowling ball a particular way before I throw it, and one only needs to watch a baseball game to see all the various motions that players go through before pitching, hitting, or catching the ball.  I think this video is useful because it shows more examples of behaviorism in both animals and humans, which usually aid in solidifying ideas and providing connections to which one can make while reading. It also shows how we can think that a certain reinforcement was received because of a behavior, when in reality it was just a coincidence.

It seems that this could have implications on learning.  Perhaps being in a group setting could accidentally reinforce some behaviors, as a student may do one thing and receive reinforcement for something someone else did, and this creates a "superstition" effect where one continues performing an action even though it did not actually cause the reinforcement to occur.  Reinforcing students for mediocre work, or any other time when teachers provides reinforcement when they perhaps should not, could also possibly train students that they will receive reinforcement for any work of similar quality, and lead to a similar effect as superstition.  These might be far-fetched situations, but can you think of any other implications for learning that this might have?

Great Little Passage

Hi all! This is not related to our behaviorism assignments, but I just wanted to share this little tidbit that someone posted on Facebook earlier today.  Since many of you are/will be teachers, I thought you would appreciate it.  Don't be turned off by the beginning; you'll see.

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put thing in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 AM to 3:00 PM with 45 minutes off for lunch and plan - that equals 6.5 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day? Maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE. That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year.What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6.5 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute - there's something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student - a very inexpensive baby-sitter (and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!! Make a teacher smile; re-post this to show appreciation. :)

XV The Will

In his final talk, James (1899/1962) discusses the will in the narrow sense of those actions that we perform voluntarily, rather than those associated with reflex and habitual acts.  He explains that in the deliberation of the will, there are two conflicting thoughts: one that causes us to want to act and one that inhibits our action.  Our voluntary actions are a combination of these two thoughts, and it is important that students are able to make the right choices and think on their actions.

Throughout this dense chapter, James (1899/1962) slips in a perfect summary of his entire set of talks when he says “Thus are your pupils to be saved: first, by the stock of ideas with which you furnish them; second, by the amount of voluntary attention that they can exert in holding to the right ones, however unpalatable; and third, by the several habits of acting definitely on these latter to which they have been successfully trained” (p. 92).  This seems to perfectly sum up his thoughts on the matter, as well as help illustrate the bigger picture of what teachers should be infusing into their students.  Teachers are not simply supposed to fill student’s minds with knowledge. Although this is an important aspect, they should also instill in them the abilities to use this knowledge wisely and effectively.  As James (1899/1962) states, “The highest form of character, however, abstractly considered, must  be full of scruples and inhibitions.  But action, in such a character, far from being paralyzed, will succeed in energetically keeping on its way, sometimes overpowering the resistances, sometimes steering along the line where they lie thinnest” (pp. 87-88).  Learning how to make the right decisions and use our knowledge effectively is an important and difficult notion to attain, and I hope that what I’ve learned from James and what I will learn from the other theorists whom we will discuss in class can help me better understand how we learn and how I can apply this to my career.

XIV Apperception

 James (1899/1962) dispels the myth that apperception is a mystified element of psychology by explaining that it is simply the idea that every new perception is incorporated into all the pre-existing thoughts, feelings, and bits of knowledge.  He explains the law of economy and how it factors into our preference to associate new information with the old, rather than feeling that something is totally new and foreign. 

James again brings up the idea that older people are unable to learn new things.  Previously he discussed it in the context of the ability to be curious, but now he adds that “the conceptions acquired before thirty remain usually the only ones we ever gain” (James, 1899/1962, p. 82).  Furthermore, and in the passage that most concerns me, James (1899/1962) claims that “a new idea or a fact which would entail extensive rearrangement of the previous system of beliefs is always ignored or extruded from the mind in case it cannot be sophistically reinterpreted so as to tally harmoniously with the system” (p. 78).  What frightens me so about this statement, if it is true, is the implications it brings for people’s acceptance of diversity and change.  Let us set curiosity and knowledge aside for a moment; most would agree that accepting that there are diverse types of people and cultures in the world, and acknowledging that they are just as valid and meaningful as our own people or culture, are two important attributes that we need to have in order to function in our world.  If James (1899/1962) is correct, there is no way that any “old fogies” (p. 79) could ever learn to accept anyone who is different into their minds. Are we truly incapable of allowing, or even forcing, ourselves to see new mindsets and learn new things?  Does this really end at a certain age?  James claims that every new perception is connected with those that already exist.  What if we already have the notion in our minds that something new is not necessarily bad?  Could not this supersede our innate habit to reject anything that is new or that does not fit into our preconceived notion?  Could not the will, which we are about to discuss, come into play so that we can choose our thoughts and actions?

XIII The Acquisition of Ideas

James (1899/1962) briefly discusses how we acquire ideas little by little, and can then move to classify these thoughts into systems of knowledge.  He explains the levels of education and how children begin with constructing and interacting with their surroundings, and that it is not until their adolescence that they can begin examining more advanced, abstract ideas.  It is important to teach these at the right time, and to give multiple kinds of examples so that the students are not learning things incorrectly, or learning them but not being able to apply them properly.  

James (1899/1962) brings up the fact that “many another youth is spoiled for a certain subject of study (although he would have enjoyed it well if led into it at a later age) through having had it thrust upon him so prematurely that disgust was created, and the bloom quite taken off from future trials” (p. 73).  While it is true that improper timing can hinder a person’s interest in a subject, I think there are many other factors that can greatly impact a student’s like or dislike of a subject.  I already mentioned in a previous blog entry how I was influenced by my peers’ opinions of school and education, but I think the attitude of the instructor can also play a large role, both in helping students enjoy a subject when they are first learning it, and in keeping them interested in it over time.

I am reminded of my experience with an instructor in my senior year of my undergraduate courses.  I had been a Classics major for the previous three years, and had been taking Latin and Ancient Greek.  I began my first reading course in Greek that year, and was taking it with an instructor I had never had before.  I believe she wanted to challenge us so that we would progress quickly in our Greek skills, but her way of trying to achieve this was not affective.  Rather than challenging us in a positive and rewarding manner, she would embarrass us in front of the class if we were struggling with a passage.  She rarely ever gave out A grades, so that almost everyone in the class finished with a B or below, even though we had all been making A’s in our previous Greek classes and were progressing just as quickly.  It never seemed that she took a step back to see if maybe it was her teaching method that was causing us to perform poorly on her exams; instead, she assumed that we were lazy or not cut out to take Greek, and made sure that we knew that she felt that way.  This professor’s attitude caused me so many bad experiences in class, and so much stress while trying to complete my homework to her high standards, that I soon despised Greek, and have never taken a Greek class since then.  If she had been a supportive and encouraging teacher, I do not think that my opinion on the language that I had previously enjoyed would have changed so drastically.  I later found out that another student taking a different course with her had a similar experience, and also decided to leave his program because of it.  This shows that teachers need to be aware of how they are treating their students, and how their attitude can affect their student’s disposition.  How can teachers make sure that they are challenging their students, without embarrassing them or giving them a feeling of hopelessness?  What can another instructor do to help revivify students’ interests in a subject, after the students have had a bad experience with it?

XII Memory

In this talk, James (1899/1962) explains how our faculty of memory is defined by our ability to make connections and associations with new material and thoughts that we already possess, and it is ideal if these thoughts can be organized into scientific or philosophic systems.  Unfortunately, there is no way to exercise the entire memory, but just like with the level of attentiveness, people should not be judged by one elementary faculty, but instead by their whole thinking being together.  Lastly, we are changed when we learn something, and even if we cannot remember it by heart later on, it has still changed our way of thinking and we are able to relearn it much more quickly.

James’ (1899/1962) discussions of memory and its importance brought to mind a recurring statement that many young students claim: there is no need to memorize things anymore, because almost everything you would need to know can be found quickly and easily on the Internet.  James seems to touch on this kind of concern, although he of course had no experiences with the Internet, in two passages.  He mentions that because professionals have worked with material before, when they are working on a case or issue, “they differ from other men only through the fact they know how to get at the materials for decision in five minutes or half an hour: whereas the layman is unable to get at the materials at all, not knowing in what books or indexes to look or not understanding the technical terms” (James, 1899/1962, p. 70).  This seems to be a good argument for explaining that even though the internet provides plentiful information, people will only know how to find this information if they have worked with it and learned it some time before.  Furthermore, James (1899/1962) further shows the benefit of learning information when he claims that even though someone “may know how to work out results and recollect where in the books to find them, the time lost in the searching process handicaps the thinker, and gives to the more ready type of individual the economical advantage” (p. 60).  This shows that even when you do know where to find it, it will take precious time that could have been saved by having learned and remembered the information previously.  In our busy and stressful age, saving time is a great benefit, and we should all continue to learn and memorize important bits of information, because that saves us the time it takes to constantly take out our iPhones and perform a Google search on everything.  While technology is a wonderful thing that can help us in many ways, hopefully it will not eliminate the need to memorize and learn things by heart.  Furthermore, simply typing your search terms into a search engine is not the most helpful way, either, since it presents as its results many erroneous and unfounded webpages and blog posts.  Students must be taught how best to use the Internet so that they can find credible sources.  How much truth do you think there is in these students’ statements that the Internet invalidates our need to memorize and learn facts?  How can teachers show students that it is still important to actually learn things, and how can they train students to use search engines and other features of the Internet to their fullest extent?

XI Attention

In this talk, James (1899/1962) discusses passive attention, which is claimed by any subject that is already considered interesting by the individual, and voluntary attention, which is given, with effort, to those less interesting subjects.  Keeping attention on anything that is not completely interesting to the student in itself usually requires some voluntary attention, but this can be assuaged by making sure that the subject constantly changes and that students can continue to question and deliberate over it.  He notes that attention comes from old impressions within and new impressions from without.  Finally, he gives an uplifting thought that even though we all have varying degrees of attentiveness, we can still be productive individuals. 

James (1899/1962) gives some useful advice in this talk, when he suggests that “Recapitulations, illustrations, examples, novelty of order, and ruptures of routine, – all these are means for keeping the attention alive and contributing a little interest to a dull subject” (p. 53).  This an exciting prospect for me and my interest in Online Education, because these kinds of devices are easy to create.  We can add audio, video, and images into lectures, and quizzes and other “ruptures of routine” (James, 1899/1962, p. 53) can be interjected to keep students on their toes.  A course designer can add interactivity to ensure students are mentally and physically engaged, and can evaluate the results of activities to verify that students are learning the material.  However, one thing that does scare me about Online Education is James’ (1899/1962) assertion that “the teacher must himself be alive and ready, and must use the contagion of his own example” (p. 53).  I mentioned in a previous blog post that I am unsure of how instructors can assess their own students and change their curriculum fluidly to match the students’ needs while only using technology.  This passage brings up a similar question: what can the teacher do to allow the students to sense the warmth and enthusiasm that the teacher has for the subject over a cold and distant medium? 

X Interest

James (1899/1962) focuses on the topic of holding students’ interest while teaching.  He stresses the importance of associating a new object with a native interest, so that the new object can be acquired as an interest, and the two objects together will be stronger than either was before.  He also adds that incorporating new interests with old ones can combine to create a comprehensive system.

Two passages caught my eye in this section, so I wanted to comment on both.  The first is slightly less important, so let’s begin there.  James (1899/1962) provides an anecdote about how a student watches a teacher with the utmost attention, only to later reveal that he was watching how her “upper jaw did not move once!” (p. 47).  This is something that teachers and any public speakers should keep in mind while lecturing.  While there are some things that we can in no way control (such as how our upper jaw moves), there are many things that distract our students that we can avoid.  One example that immediately comes to mind is an English teacher I had in high school.  She was a great instructor, but she had a terrible habit to interject the phrase “you know” constantly in her lectures.  At one point, a friend and I decided to keep a tally of how many times she said the phrase in a class period, and she managed 110+ times in a 50-minute lecture.  For that class session that we kept tally, we did not hear a word of what she was trying to convey.  We all have our tics and habits that can distract our listeners, and we should all work to eliminate these from our speech.  One great thing about technology is that we can now easily record and replay our lectures, to see what kinds of tics we might have.

Now let’s move on to the more significant connection.  Interest may be one area that students and teachers struggle with the most.  Students struggle to keep interest in their studies, even if they know they want to succeed, and teachers struggle to keep their students interested and engaged in the subject matter.  Many teachers fail at stimulating interest in the students, but some teachers really do have a natural ingenuity for allowing “the shuttle of interest [to] shoot backward and forward, weaving the new and the old together in a lively and entertaining way” (James, 1899/1962, p. 48).  One instructor whom I remember having this skill was my high school Physics teacher.  He never really mentioned Physics at all; instead, he came up with fun projects for us to produce, such as potato guns, trebuchets, and miniature roller coasters.  He provided us the supplies and some tips on how to get started, and then would help us along as we came to issues in our design.  Even when he provided the formulas, he would often do it in a way that did not hint that we were learning.  For example, to teach us about volume and displacement, he told a story about how his bathtub overflowed when he put his dog in it to give him a bath.  Because of his teaching style, we never realized we were learning physics until after our projects were built, when he would review everything we had learned.  It always came as a surprise to see that we had covered three chapters in our textbook while building a fun project.  His skill in teaching us when we did not even notice that it was occurring was one that I will always remember, and I hope that I too can possess.  This technique is great for Science or Math classes where physical projects can be completed, but what about English or History classes? What other creative ways can instructors hold their students’ interest, while subtly providing powerful instruction along the way?

IX The Association of Ideas

In this talk, James (1899/1962) explains how our stream of consciousness is controlled by how we associate ideas, and this association follows either the Law of Contiguity (where a new idea comes to you because it was previously next to your last idea) and the Law of Similarity (where the new idea is similar to the previous one, even though they might not have been directly related before).  He posits that education depends on constructing a system of associated ideas.  

James (1899/1962) sounds rather modern in one of the passages in this talk, when he presents the idea that one “must not rely on single cues, but multiply the cues as much as possible” (p. 44).  This reminded me of reading I have done on the subject of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).  I was asked to read a few chapters out of the Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning by David H. Rose and Anne Meyer, which can be found online for free at http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/.  In this book, they talk about how you should always use multiple representations, using different kinds of media and format, so that every student can grasp the content.  Previously I had heard this kind of thought associated with accessibility issues for blind or deaf students, but had never really thought about how multiple ways of displaying content can help students with different kinds of learning styles.  I like that James mentions it in his talk, even if briefly, because it is an important aspect of education.  I am especially excited by the implications that new technologies have on this UDL movement, since content can be displayed in many different ways using computers and other technological devices.  For instance, the CSS Zen Garden (http://www.csszengarden.com/) shows how the same content can be displayed in endless ways using CSS.  This site only focuses on the visual aspects that can change, but imagine the different ways that the content can be manipulated; for example, allowing it to be read by a screen reader for a blind student, or enlarged for someone with poor vision.  Textual information can be easily supplemented with pictures, and interactive animations can be incorporated for people who prefer to be more hands-on (check out this great example: http://www.moma.org/interactives/projects/2001/whatisaprint/flash.html).  James’ (1899/1962) idea to “multiply the cues” (p. 44) is really exciting in our modern age.  What are some other ways, whether using technology or not, that teachers can help to reach many different kinds of students?  What are the inherent difficulties in doing this, and what kinds of setbacks does it bring for teachers?

VIII The Laws of Habit

James (1899/1962) touches upon habit and how our behaviors are composed of systems of habit.  We should aim to gain as many beneficial habits as early as possible so that they may leave our mind open for higher levels of thinking.  He posits five maxims about habit, which in short are: 1. Make useful actions a habit early on; 2. Never allow an exception to occur; 3. Seize all opportunities to practice; 4. Act on habits at the proper time to students, rather than preaching beforehand; 5.Perform a little bit of mental exercise every day to keep yourself prepared for anything.

There are so many habits that were ingrained into me while I was younger, and I am so grateful for this (no matter how irritating it was while it was occurring), because so many things come completely naturally to me now.  One great example that will forever stand out is my mind is how my middle-school English teacher constantly insisted that we say we are “finished” rather than “done,” because “a turkey is done, a person is finished.”  Now, more than 10 years later, I rarely ever slip up and say “I am done.”  If only more instructors had so ingrained into me such simple, affective habits! James (1899/1962) understands this feeling as well, as he wishes that “could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state” (p. 39).  If I had to consciously consider many of the things that have become habit while reading, writing, or working on projects, I would not be able to concentrate at all.  It is important that teachers work to instill good habits in their students, and I think my previous comments about grading tie into this.  Providing graded work can be a great way to train students to learn new habits.  Seeing a mistake you made, and seeing how you could have corrected it, seems much more effective than trying to teach the habit out of context.  James (1899/1962) comments on a related point, when he affirms that teachers should not “preach too much to your pupils or abound in good talk in the abstract” (p. 36).  What are some other unique methods that teachers can employ to help students remember a habit, without preaching about it out of context?

VII What the Native Reactions Are

James (1899/1962) enumerates the native reactions and explains each briefly.  These reactions include: fear, love, curiosity, imitation, emulation, the ambitious impulses (ambition, pugnacity, pride), ownership, and constructiveness. 

Imitation and emulation are two native reactions that I think can play a large role in education, in both a positive and negative way.  Throughout all of my schooling, I was always a good student.  I enjoyed going to school, reading, and doing my work, and I always liked interacting with the teacher to learn more.  I was supported and encouraged by my teachers and parents alike, and this helped to keep me going.  Most of my classmates also seemed to be good students, or at least never gave any trouble to those who were.  However, while in middle school, it seemed that the idea that school was “stupid” and “a waste of time” came up much more in other students’ thoughts, and anyone who did well in school was against the norm.  It was the "cool" thing to fail exams and blow off homework, and people high-fived over who had the lowest score.  Even though I was still supported by my teachers and parents, my classmates were making fun of me and any other good students, calling us “teacher’s pet” or other such names. This bothered me, and I  remember announcing to my parents in the 5^th grade that I was no longer going to be an A student, but I was instead going to put my efforts forward to just simply be a B student in order to fit in with the rest of my classmates.  I think this example is an illustration of the imitation and emulation that James (1899/1962) speaks of, especially when he states that “we wish not to be lonely or eccentric, and we wish not to be cut off from our share in things which to our neighbors seem desirable privileges” (p. 26).  In this instance, emulation was actually a bad thing, because failing and not putting forth effort were the "desirable privileges."  I no longer wanted to seem so different from my peers, and decided that I would emulate those who were doing more poorly than I.  Teachers need to be aware that emulation does not always work in a positive route, where students with poorer grades or behavior want to emulate those with better, but can also work to drag good students down.  Luckily in my case, my parents were able to talk me out of limiting myself just to fit in, but how can teachers and parents make sure that other students do not let this affect their achievement in school?

VI Native Reactions and Acquired Reactions

In this section, James (1899/1962) discusses how all acquired reactions are either a “complication grafted on a native reaction, or a substitute for a native reaction” (p. 20), and that it is the teacher’s job to know what these native reactions are and how to complicate or replace them.  He uses the example of a child snatching to illustrate how education can occur by manipulating native reactions. 

I know that in the next talk, James is going to enumerate the different type of native reactions.  However, he mainly focuses on those that are in children, and while there are many native reactions that are simply human nature, I feel that adult’s native reactions are often different, or at least some of the more fundamental ones (like snatching, for instance) have already been changed by the time the individual is an adult.  Since I have an interest in adult education, I wanted to focus on the adult native reactions before delving into James’ next chapter.  

One of the primary concerns with educating children is to motivate them to apply themselves to their studies.  With adult education, this is usually not as difficult, since adults tend to have their own reasons and motivations to study and learn.  These can often be driven by their grades, wanting to get a degree, wanting to further their career options, and not wanting to waste their scarce time and hard-earned money on expensive university education.  These are all useful motivators, and can often help individuals carry on even when working on coursework is the last thing they want to do.  However, I feel that just because adults usually are more motivated to complete their work than young children may be, is it sufficient that they are simply motivated by these more practical reasons?  James (1899/1962) says that “the teacher’s art consists in bringing about the substitution or complication, and success [italics added] in the art presupposes a sympathetic acquaintance with the reactive tendencies natively there” (p.20).  If the teacher simply realizes the reactions that the adult already has to be motivated to learn, is the fact that the adult does indeed learn really a success? Could there be something deeper there, such as a curiosity and desire to learn more, to remember what they have learned, and to continue learning?  In his next talk, James (1899/1962) will say that adults do not have the ability to be curious, and that it is impossible for them to apply themselves the same way as young adults or learn new truths.  Do we really agree with this?  What reactions could be incited in adults so that they do not just go through the motions in order to get their degree or certificate, but rather delve deeper into the material so that it can more thoroughly affect their lives and careers? 

V The Necessity of Reactions

In this chapter, James (1899/1962) gives the very important maxim that there should be “no reception without reaction, no impression without correlative expressions” (p. 17).  He believes that teachers must make sure that everything they are teaching gets through to the students, can be exercised by them through different kinds of assignments, and can remain with them.  He also speaks of how the reaction of the student is also an impression on the teacher to let the teacher know if the chosen method of instruction has been productive. 

The section of this talk that most jumped out to me was his discussion of showing students their grades.  James (1899/1962) believes that, in spite of the argument that “this system [is] encouraging the pupil to work for the work’s sake, and not for the extraneous reward" ( p. 19), it is still important to fulfill the “pupil’s eagerness to know how well he does” because it is “in the line of his normal completeness of function" (p.19).  Letting the student know his or her grades is important, but not just for the sense of completeness of which he speaks.  More importantly, the student can learn from their mistakes, and the only way they can fully understand their mistakes (and how to correct them) is if graded papers and assignments are returned, with not just a numbered grade, but also copious amounts of insightful comments and suggestions.  I know that there have been many things that I will never again forget, not because I learned them well the first time, but because I missed them on an exam and had that pointed out to me.  It is such a shame to see so many instructors simply place a number or check mark on an assignment, without writing a single comment, when the student could learn so much more from seeing detailed results.  I also see this in the online courses that I work with at my job, where multiple-choice exams are graded by Blackboard automatically, and no additional comments are provided.  There is a function of Blackboard where feedback can be given depending on whether the student provided the correct or incorrect answer, but most of the time teachers do not take advantage of this feature.   Could the reason that teachers miss out on this important step be simply because of laziness, or are there too many grading responsibilities and other burdens placed on teachers?  What other technological tools could be used to facilitate instructor’s use of this crucial step in education?

IV Education and Behavior

James (1899/1962) uses this time to explain that being educated simply means that you have acquired manners of conduct and behavior that can help you in any situation.  He provides two examples of Germany and England to illustrate how education forms habits in the pupils. 

While I do not agree that the above definition is the sole purpose of education, I do think it is an important aspect that unfortunately was often left out of my own education.  The statement that “one who is educated is able practically to extricate himself, by means of the examples with which he has acquired, from circumstances in which he never was placed before” (James, 1899/1962, p. 15) is a great ideal for education that I wish was more frequently realized.  However, I know from my own experience that I felt I was not always prepared for what was to come in life.  My school did not teach much at all about becoming an adult, paying bills, signing a lease or contract, or dealing with conflict or stress.   Most everything I ever learned about how to function in the “real world” was learned from my parents or experience.  Maybe an additional facet of this problem is that schools often do not seem to teach the ability to think critically, recognize patterns, or solve problems.  Perhaps if these kinds of thinking were more fully taught in public schools, along with some practical information about our society, economy, and workforce, then students would be able to know what to do in a situation in which they had never before been placed.  One question that could be asked based on this belief is: is it even the responsibility of public school systems to teach this kind of material?

III The Child as a Behaving Organism

In this talk, James (1899/1962) discusses the two functions of the stream of consciousness: the practical, which leads to action and behavior needed in order to function in the world, and the theoretical, which leads to knowledge and understanding of absolute truths.  He argues that for teachers, the practical or biological aspect is the more important, and that instructors should aim to teach behavior rather than knowledge.

This was a challenging chapter for me, since this is a complicated topic.  With my Classics and Philosophy background, I want to object to his statement that the knowledge-based aspect of the mind is “useless unless it prompted to useful conduct, and inexplicable apart from that consideration” (James, 1899/1962, p. 12).  I have always loved deliberating over tough (usually unanswerable) questions and becoming deeply involved with thought experiments, even if I was not going to use that knowledge in a direct way.  I definitely agree with James’ (1899/1962) statement that the “inessential ‘unpractical’ activities are themselves far more connected with our behavior and our adaptation to the environment than at first sight might appear,” (p.13), and I think that learning and practicing these kinds of thinking are crucial in order to attain any level of critical thinking.  However, I do remember hearing many of my classmates complain that learning more abstract theories seemed useless and did not apply to their practical, day-to-day lives or their goals for their future careers, and I can understand their concern.  This leads me to the conclusion that abstract thought is not “inessential,” as James refers to it, but rather, just needs to be taught in a different manner.  Teachers should definitely strive to succeed in “training the pupil to behavior,” but that does not mean they should neglect any critical or higher-level thinking.  The question is how does an instructor teach a seemingly “unpractical” subject to a group of students who only want the most practical and applicable information?

II The Stream of Consciousness

In this brief talk, James (1899/1962) explains that there is always a stream of consciousness flowing in the mind, composed of ideas, emotions, desires, etc.  There are always some thoughts that are in focus (focal objects) and some that are off in the margins (marginal objects), and these can trade places back and forth. 

Surely almost everyone can relate to what James discusses in this chapter, as I know this stream of consciousness always affects me and my ability to concentrate.  His discussion of how, even during his talk, “some object of thought, some distant image, may have become the focus on your mental attention even while I am speaking,–  your mind, in short, may have wandered from the lecture; and, in that case, the sensations of my face and voice, although not absolutely vanished from your conscious field, may have taken up there a very faint and marginal place” (James, 1899/1962, p. 8).  Even while reading this book or writing this blog post, things from the margins are always pushing through to become the focus, even if just for a moment.  It may be a noise made by someone nearby or a sudden panicked thought of whether or not I turned off the oven, but these thoughts or feelings momentarily pull my attention from the task at hand.  This is a natural occurrence, and nothing is ever going to stop this.  Even when I am doing something I enjoy, I can still be interrupted by my own thoughts and feelings.  I do not think the focus should be on preventing these lapses of inattention, but instead, to make sure that they do not last long, and that the attention is pulled back to the content.  So what can teachers or course designers do to try to avoid losing their student’s attention, but in case it does occur, to be able to pull that attention back as quickly and easily as possible?

I Psychology and the Teaching Art

In this first talk of Talks to Teachers on Psychology, William James (1899/1962) touches upon the subject of psychology and how it could help teachers.  He discusses how some instructors may have inflated hopes for what psychology can do for teaching, and that psychology can only work alongside the art of teaching, rather than being superior or prior to it. 

One passage that really struck me in this talk is where James (1899/1962) explains that “psychology is a science, and teaching is an art; and sciences never generate arts directly out of themselves.  An intermediary inventive mind must make the application, by using its originality” (p. 3).  Later, he also mentions that teachers have “that ingenuity in meeting and pursuing the pupil, that tact for the concrete situation . . .  to which psychology cannot help us in the least” (James, 1899/1962, p. 4).  I do agree that there is something about a good teacher that enables him or her to really see with what their students are struggling or enjoying and adapt their teaching method to match this observation.  However, the existence of this trait, and the fact that many would agree that it is necessary for a “good” teacher to possess, worries me since I plan to work mostly in Distance and Online Education.  In many asynchronous online courses or training programs, there is no direct contact between student and teacher, and even in synchronous courses where these is no video-based contact, it can be impossible to discern what is happening on the other end.  It seems that in these kinds of settings, the scientific aspect of psychology, pedagogy, and course design must come into play to try to keep students on track without having the possibility of changing content or pedagogy on the fly.  That leads me to ask, how can the fluidity of face to face instruction be incorporated into a fixed, asynchronous online course?  Can a course designer have the same artistic ingenuity to assess how students are receiving the information, without actually seeing the student?

Introduction

Hi there! My name is Carly Germann. I grew up in Bethel, OH, a tiny little town just north of the Ohio River, 30 miles east of Cincinnati, and I moved to Lexington in 2007 to go to college. I’ve had quite a journey during my college experience, but finally feel that I’m where I’m supposed to be. I came to UK my freshman year as a pre-pharmacy Chemistry major, planning to get my Bachelor’s degree and then go to Pharmacy school. I started taking Latin as my foreign language because it’s a very useful language for medical terminology (and mostly because I was sick of French). Part way through my first semester, I was dreading my Calculus and Chemistry courses, and couldn’t wait to go to Latin. My TA somehow or other convinced me to become a Classics major, and so I began two more years of taking Latin and Ancient Greek. I really enjoyed it, and my junior year I decided to apply for the University Scholars program, where you can take four courses your senior year that count for both undergraduate and graduate credit; a Master’s in Classics, in my case. Once I actually started taking the higher-level Latin courses, I realized that reading the language wasn’t what I really loved; instead, it was the puzzle of learning the different grammatical concepts, vocabulary, etc. I was miserable in my reading courses; I felt like I was back in Calculus!

Luckily, my junior year I also began working at the College of Arts & Sciences’ Online Education department. In this position, I work with instructors and our Instructional Design team to help design, develop, and sustain online courses. I work with many software programs and other tools, and I get to dabble in instructional design theories and concepts to make the courses the best that they can be. I absolutely LOVE my job, and after considering it my senior year, I decided to drop my Classics Master’s degree, go ahead and just finish my undergraduate degree, and apply for the Instructional Systems Design MS program. So here I am today, in my first semester of the ISD program!

I’m still not totally sure what I want to do with my degree, because I see two exciting aspects of ISD. The first is the ability to help university-level instructors make their courses the best that they can, so that they can reach as many students as possible. This is exciting because instructors can be very passionate about their subject, and can offer some fun challenges for how to use technology in news ways that we’ve never thought of. However, I can also see the excitement (not to mention more money) involved in corporate instructional design: working with new clients all the time, traveling around, learning new things as you create training programs, ability to grow in a company, etc. So we shall see where I end up after my two years of ISD study.

From this class, I hope to get a really good understanding of how people learn, how scholars have come to the learning theories that currently float around, and how these theories have changed and developed over time. Hopefully knowing the theories can help me to design courses that can impact as many people as possible.

As for me personally, I’m a pretty laid-back person. I enjoy hanging out with small groups of friends, relaxing, shopping, reading, and watching trashy reality TV (it’s my guilty pleasure). School and work are a big part of my life, because I love my job, and I am definitely a life-long lover of learning. I really like animals, and I currently have a hamster named Hammy, who is absolutely adorable. I’m a bit of a beer snob, and really enjoy tasting new and different types of craft and import beers.

I really look forward to the course! Thanks for reading my long bio!