EDUC 2110-Lesson 2:
Basic Theoretical Issues
Overview Viewpoint:
Lesson 2 of EDUC 2110 focuses on the curriculm in school systems. We were to read a research paper that was located in our syllabus/reading model in our D2L (Desire2Learn). This research paper focused on success of elementary schools in goergia. These anwers to the questions to this lesson focused on challenges a school might face thats stopping them from being successful to the different ways schools celebrate school success. This lesson makes you aware of how each school is different and the challenges they face. Lesson 2 also makes you have have a better understanding of national curriculms and if it should be for all students.
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Question #1
According to research cited in the paper, what was the most important variable mentioned for school success?
In the paper, there was several different types of strategies for school success. Culture focus of student learning, protection, and student instructional time happen to be some the most important variables. Instructional time is the most variable. With instructional time most school like to use if for enrichment and acceleration in student learning. For other schools some schools even used creative scheduling and driven instructions.
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Question #2
Describe why you think this might be the case?
I think instructional time does happen to be a big factor in student learning. It happens to be one of the best ways in my opinion. With the instructional time that is given to a student it could help them improve so many things especially their knowledge. It allows the teacher and student to have a lot more interactions and lets the student be a lot more focused. It also helps the teacher and the student’s parents to meet with each other and find out what they can do to help the student. So it helps the student because the focus is on them and what they need.
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Question #3
Describe how some schools celebrate their academic success?
Many different schools celebrate their academic success in many different ways. A lot of schools if not most use honor roll as a success for a student. A student can get honor roll by have having good grades and most schools hand out certificates and sometimes even medals. Another one would be student assemblies and they let the students know that they are on the right track. Sometimes it even lets the students know that that they play a big part in making the school great. School assemblies usually evolve music and cheering.
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Question #4
Should there be a National curriculum for all students? Why or why not?
I think there should be a national curriculum. Being a being military child I’ve moved around a lot and most of the times when I moved to a different state during the middle of the semester the new school I went to wasn’t teaching the same thing that I was learning at my previous school so I was more lost. Another example is that my best friend moved from California to Georgia when she was in the 10thgrade and the school that we attended together made her take 9th grade classes because there different from California and she was listed as a 9th grader when she wasn’t. So because she moved to a different state and was learning different things they had to list her as something other then what she was. I think if we had a national curriculum it would be a lot easier for students to switch schools.
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Question #5
List and describe some challenges for school success.
There are many different challenges a school will face. One major issue would be the budget constraints. With budget constraints it hurts a school because the school cannot improve things how they want to. Sometimes with budget constraints a school cannot get all the materials or books that they need. Another challenge is the lack of staff positions. When they don’t have enough teachers and paraprofessionals it causes a class to be packed and full. Sometimes having a packed and full class is a lot difficult to learn in.
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Question #6
What was the purpose for this research study (Elementary School Research)? Describe.
The purpose of the Elementary School Research study was to analyze the practices and programs of the schools. The research was to see what different types of school do to enrich their education. It also compares the characteristics and practices of the schools. This study gives ideas of how schools improve their schools and what they do for students when they have done something successful. I think another reason for this research paper was to show how different schools are different and how they not all the same. This research paper creates more insight on what professionals can do for their students.
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Summary
This research paper has been very helpful and it increased my knowledge on a lot of things. It created a lot of insight on how schools become successful and how they do it. I learned a lot about the instructional time because I wasn’t really aware of what it was. I also learned more strategies in helping a student for improvement. I also learned a lot of things on how schools have a hard time being successful. One example of that would be budget constraints and lack of professional learning funds.
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Research Question
Is technology really a good learning tool for education?
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Research Analyzes
Technology in education plays an important role in improving education skills. Many people say there is mixed results when it comes down to the effectiveness of technology. It makes it hard to generalize its overall impact of learning. Studies show that there are some but not many computer applications that enhances learning. Based on the research today, evidence shows that positive gains in learning for math and science. It goes for both girls and both. When technology is used effectively it creates a lot more effective ways that matches how a child learns.
Sometimes technology isn’t used the correct way creating some not to learn correctly when using some applications. They say that sometimes using technology with education it creates laziness. Students start to rely a lot more on computers by this way. They stop actually reading books and stop using their own answers for questions and use what they see online. It also can sometimes forget the basic way of studying.
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Research Summary
There are many pros and cons to using technology for education purposes. I think that technology can help because it helps you further what you learned in the class that day. It doesn’t that by creating independent learning for students. Technology helps because it’s a faster way then flipping through pages and causing too much trouble. When doing research or homework it gives you a variety of different things to choose from that you can learn from. From videos to pictures it helps create a much more fun and exciting way to learning. I think technology is very helpful.