I believe that people are always adapting and learning from all of the people around them. Especially in classroom situations, at all ages, we are constantly learning from one another through communication, discussions and class participation. Through discussion and communication we are able to enlighten and learn about other people's ideas and look at them in a new way. By looking at problems differently, it may help us to understand them more clearly or in different ways, which brings them into our ZPD, if they hadn't been before.
I took a physics class in high school that I struggled with greatly. I was never able to completely grasp the concepts and relate them to one another and apply them to different types of problems. I understood the concepts individually, however could not apply them to real life situations. Certain lessons and concepts in my physics class, I struggled with more. We were placed in groups to do a project on one of the concepts I didn't understand, and through working with that group I was able to look at the problem differently. Physics was outside of my ZPD until I was offered assistance form a peer. I was told to apply the concepts I was learning in my calculus class to help me with my physics, we were simply doing math problems but applying them to real life examples. After the assistance from my classmates, and some practice, I was able to complete problems on my own and physics was brought into my ZPD.
I can relate with what you say about ZPD in how you had a hard time with physics but through assistance from a peer you were able to internalize the concept. I have had this same experience with many things but especially with math where I could not understand a concept, but through help from a peer was able to understand, internalize and then do it on my own and transfer the information to a friend who needed help.
ReplyDeleteI can also relate with what you say about ZPD. I think this happens to many people. I remember when I was in 3rd grade, I had to play piano for the school talent show. I had to play a song by Ave Maria. It was really easy note and it was for beginnners. But I had hard time even reading piano notes. So my mom got me a piano instuctor. With her assistance, I was able to play a song by Ave Maria. Not only that, I was able to play other songs because I learned how to read piano notes. Has to do with social interaction. So many things people learn through peers.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience in upper level science classes in high school, it seemed like the teacher was overwhelming students with different concepts and facts, that is was difficult to grasp fully onto the lessons. The lessons seemed to prioritize quantity over quality of what was learned. It seemed that the emphasis was placed on a student's ability to memorize a bevy of information, rather than the end goal being real learning. Those with the skill of memorizing were rewarded, I was able to adapt to an extent to this environment. I was able to do adequately on tests, but the next week I could recall any of the information that I just learned, or rather memorized and stored in my short-term memory. It is extremely important for the teacher to recognize ZPD, that every student has the potential to reach a certain ability, it is just the way the information is delivered and the amount of guidance that is made available. While tutoring in an English classroom, the teacher also made sure to scaffold larger assignments. There might have been only two large "projects" in the course of a semester, yet the students were able to spend time on each, therefore allowing for real learning to take place. Through small assignments that built upon eachother and become increasingly difficult, students were able to grow as writers and learners. Scaffolding is extremely important and neccessary in classroom and facilitates real learning.
ReplyDelete(Diana Zaremba)