Clinical Psychology
Why Does Differentiated Learning Matter?
In many schools it is common for a student's day to largely consist of sitting at a desk, listening to a
teacher lecture, and taking notes in preparation for an exam or quiz. However, when we take into
consideration that not all students learn effectively with this method, it becomes clear that what we really
need in more classrooms across the United States is student centered or differentiated learning.
Research finds that students immersed in student centered classrooms are more engaged and achieve
more than students in traditional classrooms. In other words, a differentiated learning approach is more
likely to reach students than the traditional one-size-fits-all lecture.
Understanding Common Learning Styles
When we mention that all students have unique learning styles, what exactly do we mean? Educators have agreed
upon the existence of seven primary learning styles that includes most students. Some may fall into more than
one. These common learning styles include:
1. Aural - prefer using sound and music to learn
2. Verbal - learn best through speech and writing
3. Physical - do best using a "hands-on" approach
4. Visual - prefer learning using pictures and images
5. Logical - learn best through reasoning (tend to do well in math)
6. Solitary - do best through self-paced studying
7. Social - like to learn in groups with others
Of those seven learning styles, only verbal learners are well-served by the traditional style of education where the
teacher stands at the front of the classroom and explains concepts to students. This leaves out the overwhelming
majority of learners who do best with hands-on learning, group work, or learning through images and sound.
https://www.whitbyschool.org/
The Effect of Classroom Environment on Student Learning
There are three main components that create a classroom. There are the students who are learning, the
content that is being taught, and the environment in which all of this is happening. Many people focus on
studying how students learn and how to make the curriculum exciting, but many teachers overlook how
they can adapt their classroom environment to achieve greater focus and learning from their students.
This paper aims to look at the various modifications a teacher can use in their classroom to help students
stay engaged and gain higher critical thinking.
When analyzing the environment of a classroom there are three areas on which to focus: physical
environment, non-physical environment, and emotional environment. Each of these can be modified in
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different ways to create a stronger atmosphere that promotes learning. A teacher can arrange desks or
hang student work to help motivate students and keep them focused. They can also create sections of the
class that use warmer lighting to create an inviting atmosphere away from the common fluorescent bulbs.
The class can even benefit as a whole if the teacher finds the intellectual and social leaders and utilizes
their skills and abilities to help the class stay on track. All of these and more are potential ways that an
educator can adapt their environment to foster higher learning. A bad classroom environment is just as
detrimental to learning as a bad curriculum.
scholarworks.wmich.edu….
For decades, there has been evidence that classroom techniques designed to get students to participate in the learning
process produces better educational outcomes at virtually all levels.
And a new Harvard study suggests it may be important to let students know it.
The study, published Sept. 4 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that, though students
felt as if they learned more through traditional lectures, they actually learned more when taking part in classrooms
that employed so-called active-learning strategies.
Lead author Louis Deslauriers, the director of science teaching and learning and senior physics preceptor, knew that
students would learn more from active learning. He published a key study in Science in 2011 that showed just that.
But many students and faculty remained hesitant to switch to it.
“Often, students seemed genuinely to prefer smooth-as-silk traditional lectures,” Deslauriers said. “We wanted to
take them at their word. Perhaps they actually felt like they learned more from lectures than they did from active
learning.”
In addition to Deslauriers, the study is authored by director of sciences education and physics lecturer Logan
McCarty, senior preceptor in applied physics Kelly Miller, preceptor in physics Greg Kestin, and Kristina
Callaghan, now a physics lecturer at the University of California, Merced.
The question of whether students’ perceptions of their learning matches with how well they’re actually learning is
particularly important, Deslauriers said, because while students eventually see the value of active learning, initially
it can feel frustrating.
“Deep learning is hard work. The effort involved in active learning can be misinterpreted as a sign of poor learning,”
he said. “On the other hand, a superstar lecturer can explain things in such a way as to make students feel like they
are learning more than they actually are.” To understand that dichotomy, Deslauriers and his co-authors designed an
experiment that would expose students in an introductory physics class to both traditional lectures and active
learning.
For the first 11 weeks of the 15-week class, students were taught using standard methods by an experienced
instructor. In the 12th week, half the class was randomly assigned to a classroom that used active learning, while the
other half attended highly polished lectures. In a subsequent class, the two groups were reversed. Notably, both
groups used identical class content and only active engagement with the material was toggled on and off.
Following each class, students were surveyed on how much they agreed or disagreed with statements such as “I feel
like I learned a lot from this lecture” and “I wish all my physics courses were taught this way.” Students were also
tested on how much they learned in the class with 12 multiple-choice questions.
When the results were tallied, the authors found that students felt as if they learned more from the lectures, but in
fact scored higher on tests following the active learning sessions. “Actual learning and feeling of learning were
strongly anticorrelated,” Deslauriers said, “as shown through the robust statistical analysis by co-author Kelly
Miller, who is an expert in educational statistics and active learning.”
Those results, the study authors are quick to point out, shouldn’t be interpreted as suggesting students dislike active
learning. In fact, many studies have shown students quickly warm to the idea, once they begin to see the results. “In
all the courses at Harvard that we’ve transformed to active learning,” Deslauriers said, “the overall course
evaluations went up.”Co-author Kestin, who in addition to being a physicist is a video producer with PBS’ NOVA,
said, “It can be tempting to engage the class simply by folding lectures into a compelling ‘story,’ especially when
that’s what students seem to like. I show my students the data from this study on the first day of class to help them
appreciate the importance of their own involvement in active learning.”
McCarty, who oversees curricular efforts across the sciences, hopes this study will encourage more of his colleagues
to embrace active learning.
“We want to make sure that other instructors are thinking hard about the way they’re teaching,” he said. “In our
classes, we start each topic by asking students to gather in small groups to solve some problems. While they work,
we walk around the room to observe them and answer questions. Then we come together and give a short lecture
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targeted specifically at the misconceptions and struggles we saw during the problem-solving activity. So far we’ve
transformed over a dozen classes to use this kind of active-learning approach. It’s extremely efficient — we can
cover just as much material as we would using lectures.”
A pioneer in work on active learning, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics Eric Mazur hailed the
study as debunking long-held beliefs about how students learn.
“This work unambiguously debunks the illusion of learning from lectures,” he said. “It also explains why instructors
and students cling to the belief that listening to lectures constitutes learning. I recommend every lecturer reads this
article.”Dean of Science Christopher Stubbs, Samuel C. Moncher Professor of Physics and of Astronomy, was an
early convert. “When I first switched to teaching using active learning, some students resisted that change. This
research confirms that faculty should persist and encourage active learning. Active engagement in every classroom,
led by our incredible science faculty, should be the hallmark of residential undergraduate education at Harvard.”
Ultimately, Deslauriers said, the study shows that it’s important to ensure that neither instructors nor students are
fooled into thinking that lectures are the best learning option. “Students might give fabulous evaluations to an
amazing lecturer based on this feeling of learning, even though their actual learning isn’t optimal,” he said. “This
could help to explain why study after study shows that student evaluations seem to be completely uncorrelated with
actual learning.”
This research was supported with funding from the Harvard FAS Division of Science.
Time management is regarded as an important prerequisite for effective and efficient learning in higher education.
However, university students’ time management frequently proves to be deficient, especially with freshman
students, who can therefore benefit from appropriate time management interventions. The aim of this study was to
compare the effects of an intervention focused on imparting time management knowledge with those of an
intervention focused on time management practice. We conducted an experiment with N = 118 university students
who took part in a course over the duration of one semester. Participants with a time management deficit at the
beginning of the semester (n = 88) were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: (a) time
management knowledge, (b) time management practice, (c) control group. Exam scores at the end of the semester
were considered as an indicator of participants’ academic performance. The results showed significant time
management improvements for both time management intervention groups, but the time management practice group
appeared superior. Academic performance was better in the time management practice group also, although the
results were inconsistent. The effect of time management practice on academic performance was mediated by
students’ time management skills. www.mdpi.com research
Original Article
Effect of Online Classes on Physical and Mental well-being of students during COVID-19
Context: The coronavirus has shut down all schools and universities over the globe. With idiosyncratic upsurge of
online learning, nowadays, teaching is undertaken remotely on digital platforms by the use of laptops and mobile
phones. Many researches have shown that the excessive or prolonged use of screens can impact mental and
physical health. The mental and physical affections include stress, depression, sleep disorders, impact on eyesight,
postural pain, hand disabilities, and musculoskeletal disorders. Aims: The aim of this study is to analyze the effect
of online classes on the mental and physical well-being of students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Settings and
Design: The survey was conducted on an online mode through Google forms. All gender college-going students
within the age group of 18–25 years undergoing online classes for a minimum of 1 month were included in the
study. Subjects and Methods: The assessment of mental health was done using the Perceived Mental Stress Test
Scale (Psychological Stress Test) and the Patient Health Questionnaire, whereas for the assessment of the physical
health, the Neck disability index, and the Owelty low back pain disability index was used. Statistical Analysis Used:
Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient was applied to find the correlation between the duration of online classes
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and stress, depression, neck, and back disability. Results: A significant effect of online classes was found on the
mental and physical health of students, 57.3% of population had moderate stress, 32% of population had mild
depression, 48% of population had mild neck pain, and 41.3% of population moderate back pain. Conclusion:
Students’ mental and physical health has been affected as a result of longer duration spent online on laptops and
phones for classes.
Importance of teacher-student interaction
Teachers who have positive interaction with their students create classroom environments more helpful to
learning and meet students’ developmental, emotional and academic needs. Teaching may be a people profession
that demands an outsized amount of your time being dedicated to non-public interaction. Positive teacher-student
interaction features a very crucial role for effective teaching and learning to require place. There are many
important factors including productive Teaching and learning. Positive teacher-student interaction is often defined
by shared acceptance, understanding, affection, intimacy, trust, respect, care and cooperation. The Teacher
Student relationship depends on very large extent upon effort from both parties although the teacher plays a key
role and actually, the responsibility, to initiate positive interaction. The teacher who is practical in representation,
recognition, understanding, intimacy, expectation, respect, care and cooperation towards his or her students not
only works at initiating positive teacher-student relationships, but also increases the likelihood of building strong
relationships which will endure over time.
Teacher-student Interaction has an impression on classroom management and affects learning and growth.
According to developmental perspective, the establishment of a positive teacher-student relationship aids a
student’s cognitive, social and emotional growth and enhances their mental well-being. The teacher-student
relationships impact productively on a student’s self-esteem and enhance their skills. Student-Teacher interactions
are vital for the event of the students’ academic self-concept and enhancing their enthusiasm and success.
Colleges and universities that actively promote close and frequent contact between their students and school
members are more likely to reap a number of advantages from such initiatives. Faculty members taking an interest
in their students’ academic progress could potentially make significant contributions in increasing their intellectual
and professional development.
Informal interaction between students and school has been identified as a primary agent of school culture, and has
a crucial influence on the attitudes, interests, and values of school students. However, although previous research
has established that student-faculty interactions are important, we still got to identify which aspects of student-
faculty interactions are helpful and the way these could significantly influence students to remain in college,
increase their desire to figure hard, stimulate
them to enjoy learning, and encourage them to
strive toward high achievement standards. The
current study addresses this gap within the
literature by examining eight specific sorts of
student-faculty interactions as predictors of
educational self-concept and three sorts of
academic motivation, as well as academic
achievement during a sample of school students
from a medium-sized, public university located
within the Midwestern United States.
Interactions between students and school
members are inevitable and private connections
that emerge through advisement and mentoring
are highly valued. In responding to many
implicit, unspoken, and nonverbal cues, students
are more likely to interact with faculty members
seemed to be sociable, intelligent, showing
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leadership, supportive, and objective. Faculty members allowing students to use their first names are perceived as
higher in warmth, approachability, and respect as compared to school members who are addressed by formal
titles. Student-faculty interactions are often formal or informal, occurring either inside or outside instructional
settings, with both playing a crucial role in determining students’ academic success. www.primescholarslibrary.org
Countries Without Internet Access
There are people and organizations who are dedicated to bringing freedom to countries all around the world.
Did you know that there are 13 countries who limit or do not allow citizens to use the internet to find information?
How do you feel about this? Do you have ideas for changing this?
The list of countries that do not have freedom of the press includes:
1. Belarus
2. Burma
3. China
4. Cuba
5. Egypt
6. Iran
7. North Korea
8. Saudi Arabia
9. Syria
10. Tunisia
11. Turkmenistan
12. Uzbekistan
13. Vietnam
Harvard’s
Facts and Figures 2021: 2.9 billion people still
offline
An estimated 37 per cent of the world’s population – or 2.9 billion people – have still never used the
Internet.
New data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized
agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), also reveal strong global growth in
Internet use, with the estimated number of people who have used the Internet surging to 4.9 billion in
2021, from an estimated 4.1 billion in 2019.
This comes as good news for global development. However, ITU data confirm that the ability to connect
remains profoundly unequal.
https://www.itu.int/hub/2021/11/facts-and-figures-2021-2-9-billion-people-still-offline/
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More than a third of world’s population have
never used internet, says UN
Nearly 3 billion people – or 37% of the world’s population – have never used the internet, according to
the United Nations, despite the Covid-19 pandemic driving people online.
The UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimated that 96% of the 2.9 billion people who
have not accessed the web live in developing countries.
The agency said the estimated number of people who have gone online rose from 4.1 billion in 2019 to
4.9 billion this year, partially due to a “Covid connectivity boost”. But even among those internet users,
many hundreds of millions might only go online infrequently, using shared devices or facing connection
speeds that hamper their internet use. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/30/more-
than-a-third-of-worlds-population-has-never-used-the-internet-says-un
