Day 1

Today’s lecture consisted of introductions to the course and “refreshers” of the previous unit. We reviewed Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Human Development (1994) and how the surrounding environment affects the way a child develops. The numerous levels of the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem all contribute to the development of a child. We also reviewed Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (1993), which refers to the different areas of thinking that a person has, and how each individual may be more comfortable using one intelligence than the other.

The lecture also focused on the importance of pedagogy and content knowledge (Shulman, 1986). Pedagogy refers to the theories and concepts concerning teaching discipline, and content is the actual information and knowledge of a subject. They are best used together in the classroom in a balanced way, as focusing energy onto one may result in inefficient learning.

By reviewing on what we had previously learnt, it allowed me to fully understand how to incorporate the concepts and theories of teaching into the assignments. When first reading the character analysis assignment outline, I couldn't think of any clear ideas on how to study the characters behaviour and relate it to teaching theories. However, after the initial lectures that focused on multiple intelligences, I could finally rack my brains and easily identify the numerous ways my chosen character could be intelligent. This understanding made it easier for me to account for different teaching strategies that may be useful for my character.

Learning about pedagogy and content knowledge allowed me to understand what teaching strategies would be more useful in relation to my character. If I choose a strategy that might cause the balance between pedagogy and content to shift, my character may not benefit. This means I  really have to thoroughly analyse the different strategies before starting my assignment, just to make sure I don't create an ineffective teaching strategy for my character.