Course Contract Review #1

What are you doing well?

With the goals that I have set for myself in the class, I feel that I have been doing well with a some of them. I have been doing well with using the SQ4R study method. This has helped me out tons! Also, if I haven't understood something, instead of just brushing it off, I normally contact a friend in the class to clarify. Plus, I feel very comfortable in the class because I feel like I haven't fallen behind, I have been keeping up with my assignments.

What are you not doing well?

One major thing that I am not doing well at all is sticking to the day by day study plan that I made at the beginning of the semester. I find myself not doing my work till 1 or 2 days before our class meets. This is working ok for me, but I know that if I spread out the work a little bit & not stress myself out by cutting it close, that I could learn & remember so much more.

Are you making sufficient progress on your goals?

I feel that I am making sufficient progress with my goals, though I know could still do better.

List specific things you need to do in order to meet your goals.

- I need to do a better job of sticking to my day to day study plan that I had planned out.

-I need to not wait till the day before to complete my homework, hence sticking to the day to day plan.

Cool Brain Research

What?
Joseph LeDoux: His research is focused on understanding the biological mechanisms of emotional memory. More so in how or memories store, form and retrieve fear. The lab that he works out of at NYU focuses their studies on animal research to get a better grasp or understanding on anxiety and the pathological fear in humans. He believes that the amygdala is an essential part of the brain that forms fear. Depending on what we've experienced in our lives, one situation may bring feelings and emtions from something similar earlier in our lifetime. From what I understand, the amygdala is essential for these feelings to happen. This is because it is "hard wired" to respond to this that are or have been dangerous to people. It's wired to motor and sensory systems of the brain. It's all connected somehow, it's very interesting actually.

So what?
The way this effects education is probably not something I think that crossed my mind right away. By thinking about it though, if we can understand better how the human mind works, what makes it tick, you very well might be able to get through to a student that you may have not been able to get to before. Understanding how a person's emotions work would obviously also help us better understand our students.

Now what?
I feel that this might be able to help me in my classroom more than I would think. It would help me be a little bit more sensitive to my students needs and how to help them. One of my students might have some emotional problems or fears that need to addressed. Though, to be able to first help them, you need to know how fear, or emotional feelings work. LeDoux is doing this, he is going in there and finding out more everyday on how this work. We can apply his research in the educational classroom to better help our students that do have emotional issues.

Webquest Step #3 - What? So What? Now What?

What?
Descriptive Study – Describes certain situations. It could be described as research studies that give information about the teachers, students, etc. This way, the can get a better idea on the way things are in the “current state of affairs.” It could also be said that this is some what of a statistical study.
Correlational Study – This is a type of research study that explores possible relationships among different things or subjects (different variables) This way, you can make predictions about one variable by knowing the status of the other.
Experimental Study – This is a more of a cause and effect study. It happens by taking one variable and manipulating it in such a way to see how it would react or have an effect on another variable.
Action Research - This is when a teacher or an educator undertake some type of research study to improve their teaching. This takes place in the actual classroom, though the research goes on in the background of the actual educational setting.

So what?
The only way to improve education, is to study it. As educators, we are teaching the future of our world. A world that is always evolving progressing in technology, etc. We must keep up with the changes in order to better server our students. As teachers, we must continue to educate ourselves. In order to do this, we must know what we are dealing with, a great way to do this is through research. Depending on what you are looking for specifically, might help you decide on which type of research to carry out. Each particular field of study brings something different to the table, you can stick to one particular type of research or colloborate them to tailor the research you want to do. Research is important no matter how you look at it, to better ourselves as educators to better serve the students we teach.

Now what?
I know that there is still much more that I need to learn about educational research. I feel like I have only touched the surface of what educational research has to offer. This section has opened up my eyes to the different types of research and which each particular method is used for. Using the research in my career would greatly benefit my skills and make me a better educator overall. I can greatly benefit from the research of others as I study and look for ways to better my teaching. Though, by actually doing the research myself, I could tailor the research to my specific needs and the specific situation that I am in. It would probably be more beneficial, if I did my own research.