Me and my monkey

So Old and still monkeying around

Historical Perspective

Study in the field of psychosocial
Earliest work
1. Thomas in 1920s in USA
- observation and and recording of explicit classroom phenomena
2. Lewin's Field Theory, 1936
- Behaviour as a function of person and environment
3. Murray(1938), Stren, Stein & Bloom (1956) and PAce & Stern(1958)
- need-press theory- persons are conceptualised in terms of their psychological needs and the environment in terms of press
4. Pace (1963)
-'needs and press interact to guide behaviour'
5. Glenn (1984)
- needs determine th behaviour of a person
6. Stern ( 1970)
- degree of a person-environment congruence is related to stds' outcomes
7. Fraser (1994)
- person-environment fit studies- congruence between actual and preferred environments is assessed and related to std's outcome.
8. Moos and Walberg (1960s)
Moo's three dimensions of human environment - realtionships, eprsonal development and systems change and systems maintenance
Walberg's - students make summary judgement of the environment, can be used to improve the LE.
9. Timothy Leary - A person's interpersonal behaviour couldbe described in two ways
- influence dimension- ranges from dominant to submissive
- proximity dimension- ranges from cooperative to oppositional
Combinations of these in eight sectors- one can be submissive cooperative or dominant cooperative.. Teachers use this model to influence classroom events( CLE)

My reflection on Session 4

Today we started the day learning about SPSS. We spent the whole morning crunching numbers and learnt from Dr Quek how to interpret the data.. Cool the SPSS program man.

We used the excel ws we completed yesterday and exported the data to the SPSS data file. We learnt how to use the program to run the Cronbach Alpha Reliability Test and the Paired Sample T-test. I like the fact that we are using the real data for analysing.

In the later part of the morning, we were taught how to interpret the results and how to write a proper reference.
After lunch we went to tour the the library and went to unusual nook and corners where most library users would not frequent.
Of course, the library is a + learning environment.
Finally we ended up working in groups writing the report.
Tmr we will have to carry on writing the report.. remember to go by 8.30am.

Session 4 - How to write a report

How to write a report
1. Intro-Abstract
2. Research Questions
3. Methodology
4. Sample
5. Test reliability using the Cronbach's reliability test
6. 3 tables and 1 graph- Scale used / paired means
7. Procedure
8 Findings
9. Conclusions

What is a rich Learning Environment?

There is no ideal learning environment. As educators, we need to know about the learners profile by administering questionaires and see whether the actual one matches their preferred one. This is very crucial otherwise when the learners are uncomfortable with the environment, learning will not be optimised. We must also bear in mind the gender ratio in the classes that we teach.

This morning, the groups did the sharing of their case studies of the schools they did.
School A- Positive Learning Environment- a very autocratic school with little decision making by the trs. They emphasize on academic results and helped the students to become more disciplined in their studies and CCA. More holistic education
School B-Positive Learning Environment-recommendation-participatory decision making and credit informal sharing
School C-Negative Learning Environment-change of management, revise strategic plans, learn from best practices

Instruments used in Assessing Learning Environment

A List of instruments used in assessing Learning Environment

1. CES- Classroom Environment Scales (Moos and Trickett, 1987)
2. CLEI -Computer Classroom Environment Inventory
3. CLEI - Chemistry Laboratory Environment Invetory
4. CLCEI - Chinese Language Classroom Environment Inventory
5. CLES - Constructivist Learning Environment Survey(Taylor, Fraser & Fisher,1997)
6. CMLES - Constructivist Multimedia Learning Environment
7. CUCEI- College and university Classroom Environment Inventory ( Fraser & Treagust, 1986)
8. ELCEQ- E-Learning Classroom Environment Questionaire
9. ICEQ - Individualised Classroom Environment Questionaire (Fraser, 1990)
10. ICEI - Individual Classroom Environment Inventory
11. ICEI - Internet-based Classroom Environment Inventory
12. LEI - Learning Environment Inventory ( Fraser, anderson and Walberg ,1982)
13. MCI - My Classroom Inventory (Fraser, Anderson & Walberg, 1982)
14. OLCEQ - Online Learning Classroom Environment Questionaire
15.QTI - Questionaire on Teacher Interaction ( Wubbels a & Levy, 1993)
16. SES - Self Efficacy Scale
17. SLEI - Science Laboratory Environment Inventory( Fraser, Giddings & McRobbie,1995) or Science Learning Environment Inventory
18. SLEQ - School Level Environment Questionaire
19. TOMRA - Test of Mathematics- Related Attitudes
20. WIHIMC- What is happening in my class ( Aldridge& Fraser,2000)

The list goes on and on.. new test can be generated.

The online Learning Environment - a model using social constructivism and the concept of 'Ba'

This is an interesting research paper. The theory of Ba(place)according to Nonaka nd Konno say that there is a 'place'- how and where knowledge can be created. This is done through 3 ways- physical, mental and virtual. In other words it is platform for resource concentration whereby new knowledge can be created. Nonaka and Konno descrive 4 types of Bawhich they equate with the 4 stages( ) of the SCEI model:

Originating or Existential Ba( Socialisation): place where individuals share experiences, feelings and mental models
Interacting or Reflective Ba (Externalisation): place where individuals share mental models and reflect and analyse their own.
Cyber or Virtual Ba (Combination): a place of interaction in the virtual world instead of real space and time.
Exercising Ba (Internalisation): a place that facilitates conversation of tacit to explicit knowledge.

How does this apply in a classroom situation?
If we know this is how an individual learns, then in the classroom environment we must provide enough scaffolds to help students to move from tacit knowledge of the subject matter to an explicit knowledge whereby they share their knowledge with their group members in a virtual world and finally through such interaction, able to create new knowledge which they will internalise as their own and finally use this knowledge to produce some output.

The new model ESCIE is based on these two theories. The steps are:
1. Explicitisation
2. Socialisation
3. Combination
4. Internalisation
5. Externalisation