Category Archives: Uncategorized

Intelligence

Theories of intelligence can be linked all the way back to Plato.  He believed that intelligence was like a ball of wax: size, hardness, moistness and purity.  For 1500 years the Greeks and Romans thought that to be intelligent you have to have a tempered body this meant; four humours, blood, phlegm and black and yellow bile.  However knowledge on intelligence is very incomplete and even theorists cannot agree.

The first test of human intelligence was Simon and Binet in 1905.  The believed that intelligence is learned and can be misguided.  They created a test which would support struggling learners.  Their mental test was created to be used in school and work places.  They reflect a child’s level of performance in school tasks.  The test compared the mental achievements of high and low achieving children the same age and from this is what determined a child’s mental age.   Lewis Terman created a standardised version.  This was scored in a child’s overall level of intelligence.  One criticism was that it was invalid as he underestimated the true knowledge, skills and aptitudes of children.

Another theory of intelligence was created by Charles Spearman.  He created the ‘g’ factor.  He believed that there was one central intelligence, which influenced on cognitive abilities.  Agreeing with Spearman was Robert Sterberg.  His theory in 1985 was that he thought that there was a correlation between intelligences.  Intelligence includes qualities such as; helps us adapt to our environment.  These include cognitive abilities.  For example: to learn from experience, to reason, to remember essential information and to cope with challenges of daily living.  Howard Gardner also agreed with Spearman.  Gardner’s theory was that he believed in nine separate intelligences.  He thought that strength in one would show weakness in another.  He also thought that intelligences are linked to general mental ability e.g. Verbal, mathematical and musical.  One person who disagreed with Spearman was Lewis Leon Thurso.  His theory in 1921 was that there was seven independent intelligences.

Implications of learning from all these theories have been that we know think of the child of a ‘whole person’.  Also we now know that intelligence can exist beyond cognitive connections.  All this will benefit teachers in that the can teach at stage the in appropriate for a child’s mental age.

Finland’s education system

I have heard wonderful things about Finland; that is that it’s one of the best education systems in the world.  But it was not until I had a lecture in it recently then I began to understand why.

Finland has promotes education as an essential factor to their system.  They are a well organised and efficient society that can rely on the infrastructure as the public and private sectors are run efficiently.  In 2013 they were ranked the least failed state in the world; this was the third year in a row. Their average literacy skills are excellent – two thirds of adults are good or excellent readers.  However eleven percent of sixteen to sixty year olds have very poor skills in literacy.  Their adult numeracy skills are the best in an OECD country – over half of adults are either good or excellent.  However thirteen percent of adults experience difficulties in basic math.

Finland was a top performer in the PISA 2000s tests.  In 2009 the number of students reaching top level of performance in science was three times the amount of OECD average.  Newsweek magazine in 2016 rated it as the best country in the world to live in.  Finland boasts gender equality and low levels of corruption and education is considered to be a top priority.  Their society is built upon education, culture and knowledge.  The aims of Finland’s education policy are: quality, efficiency, equality and internalisation.  The education system offers equal opportunities for all and all pupils receive a school meal.

As you can see Finland have had great results from their education system this is because they have infested a lot in it.  Education is very important in their society.  Something I think we could adopt in our society.

Dance!

We recently had a dance workshop. Something I was quite excited about as I enjoy dancing, although I’m no expert! As a child I took some dance classes and performed in a show. But now I only dance for fun. I really enjoyed the dance workshop. We mostly looked at different types of movement and levels of dance. So this is what inspired me to create a dance lesson for primary five.


 CfE outcome:
Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express my ideas, thoughts and feelings through creative work in dance.
EXA 0-09a / EXA 1-09a / EXA 2-09a
learning intentions:
By the end of the lesson I will have in a small group come up with a dance based on an emotion using different movement and expression.

Success criteria:
To be able to come up with a short dance sequence using: music, different types of movement, rhythm and levels while focusing on the theme.

Assessment opportunities:
To assess if the children have achieved the success criteria I will watch their performance and use peer evaluation.

Learning activities:
To start off with I will include a few different warm up games for the children. This will also take away their nerves. I will then include actives that show different types movement and how to travel across the room. I will explain to the children that they need to use all these different form of movement to make up a performance that only last a couple of minutes. Then at the end of the lesson we will all watch the performances. At the end of each performance I will ask the children what the liked about each performance and something that could be improved on.

I would like to keep dancing fun and enjoyable for the children. Dancing can improve your confidence and improve your knowledge about dance and your own body. I look back at dance with a positive attitude and that is something I want to impart onto the children.

Reflecting on blog posts

I have recently been reading through other people’s blog posts. They are all very informative and interesting to read. I realize this is because they all posting on relevant information they have come across.  Even if it’s from their day to day life, e.g. a conversation or a video from Facebook. Looking back at my own work I now know there are many more things I could have posted.  I think I just never realized that what kind of things I could post.  These blog posts also stand out because there is a depth of knowledge.  Either people have had previous experience with children or they have read a lot.  Even though I have reflected on my own work, I think I could have down more.  I could have spent more time reflecting and this would have enabled me to reflect more deeply. If I am truthful I haven’t posted lots because I did think I had enough knowledge to. But I realize now I could draw on relevant experience from my HNC last year.You would benefit from reading these posts as it give you more insight into: teaching, the author and professional reflection.So now saying all this I hope to write a lot more blog posts in the future.

 

These are links to good blog posts:

5,6,7…dance!

Fear of Feedback

The ability grouping debate continues

Children are the real teachers

My Tired

Problematic problems

Longitudinal coherence and the conceptual knot

There’s been a breakthrough

Welcome to your WordPress eportfolio

Welcome to your eportfolio. This is where you will document and share your professional thoughts and experiences over the course of your study at the University of Dundee and beyond that when you begin teaching. You have the control over what you want to make public and what you would rather keep on a password protected page.

The eportfolio in the form of this WordPress blog allows you to pull in material from other digital sources:

You can pull in a YouTube video:

You can pull in a Soundcloud audio track:

You can pull in a Flickr page

Teacher, Lorraine Lapthorne conducts her class in the Grade Two room at the Drouin State School, Drouin, Victoria

You can just about pull in anything that you think will add substance and depth to your writing.