McKenna Williams noticed an increasing number of students not completing their independent seatwork in language and spelling. She expects students to take responsibility for working independently while she works with small reading groups. Now she wonders whether she should start allowing students to work together in pairs or trios rather than continuing to require them to work quietly on an
individual basis. Her common sense tells her that she should continue to require quiet individual work. Her colleague Cal Sitton disagrees. He allows his students to work in pairs. Explain why McKenna should not rely on her common sense as she solves this teaching problem.
What will be an ideal response?
Suggested Response: McKenna should not rely on common sense, because common sense is often wrong. As seen in this scenario, McKenna and Cal disagree in their approaches, and this is typical. Teachers often disagree about what constitutes common sense. Additionally, research often proves that common sense answers to questions about teaching and learning are not valid. Research often disproves common sense answers. Many strongly held beliefs about teaching and learning have no basis in research. The important point is not what sounds or seems sensible, but what is demonstrated to be effective and supported by research.
Text Reference: The Role of Educational Psychology
You might also like to view...
The A-not-B task was used by Piaget to test for
A. egocentrism. B. dialectic thinking. C. conservation. D. object permanence.
Helping, cooperating, encouraging, and comforting are examples of which facet of the social domain?
A. Prosocial behavior B. Socialization C. Socially responsible actions D. Psychology with the area of social studies
Explain the basic elements of a multiple baseline across settings design including selection of subject(s), dependent variable(s) and how the dependent and independent variables are implemented.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).
When finding the cause for MDD, researchers note that:
a. There is no one specific cause of MDD b. A number of interacting factors can result in a child or adolescent suffering from depression c. MDD has no reason to occur d. A and B e. None of the above