Education and Change: The Lifelong learner

                                                         

                         

Abstract

Many of us might have come across some family members, friends, colleagues or any known person who has been suffering from chronic pain or a chronic disease that is not curable. They might have reached out to the best doctor and end with no clue on what is leading to the chronic condition. Doctors might only test for the physical condition or the food or work habits. But have you ever realized that this chronic condition can be also because of the social, mental, genetic or behavioral changes. Our surrounding, environment, behavior of our family members, our perspective toward life adds to our upbringing and growth. Even two children born in the same family with the same amenities and luxuries grow up differently because of the varied external and internal circumstances and socio-cultural exposure, social interaction.

Introduction

Learning is a boon and will always keep the learner rolling. As we say, change is the ultimate truth. Changing the education system, its method and practices as per the need of the time is what we seek for. Those who crave for more knowledge and continuous up gradation are one who are able to march with the time.

This portfolio of mine will give you an insight of my understanding on how our knowledge, learning, exploring our surroundings, education and social interactions impacts, develops and molds a child’s up-bringing and gives direction to life. How the biopsychosocial paradigm shaped my thought process, my education and enlightened my vision towards the educational principles and practices. My aim is to impart knowledge on the complexities of human development guided by the social interaction and the community we live, indulge, follow or grow into. The changes in the social environment which may include family, friends, places, culture, religion, cult, economic conditions etc. have a great impact on our biopsychosocial development. As stated and suggested by Engel (1977), to understand a person’s medical condition it is not simply the biological factors to consider, but also the psychological and social factors. In this reflective portfolio, I’ll discuss my teaching practices that link education with biopsychosocial changes.

Basic Psychosocial changes and developments in the context of education

I would be discussing the biopsychosocial factors that influence education and development. The nature(genetic factor) and the nurture (environmental factors), both influence the growth and the upbringing of a child. A child gets the dominant factors from the genes of the parents like the physique, color of our eyes,behavioral traits etc. But how a child is nurtured also impacts the development.Below is a simple chart to show the same,

I’m sharing an experience where I came across a family of four. The parents and two young children. The whole family was very much inclined towards sports and fitness. Both the children had the physical traits of both the parents. Along with that, they were highly active in sports, especially rugby although the family had no history of this sport. But the area they lived in had love for rugby and most of the children played the game. Hence slowly and steadily during their growing period, both the youngsters developed the zeal and enthusiasm to learn and play rugby.

So much so that they had mastered this game.

This confirmed my thought and belief that not only the genes of our parents and family builds our nature and character but our surroundings, environment, people around us also influences us in building us.

As an educator, I strongly stand for an environment in the educational institutes where we engage the students. We need to create an environment for the students which will infuse the essence of being educated, knowledgeable and practice learning new things. Having said that, we need to plan the curriculum and the courses in such a way that it engages all type of students. We have to practically check the negative traits affecting the students. As in the above incident, a school dropout got motivated by a family friend and restarted the school. We have to practice and understand what will help our students to be fascinated towards learning.

Understand the significance of social and emotional wellbeing on learning and development.

Research by the Council of Europe suggests 60% of the students get tense when they are studying. When we talk about the significance of being socially and emotionally sound on learning and complete development of the human, we must also check all the aspects of our social and emotional quotient that can lead to our growth. As an educator, I do recognize the varied aspects of the human being. The different factors influence and affect the development of the individual accordingly.

Does social well-being only mean the status of the person or does it have a vast concept? 

Educators need to acknowledge the social and emotional well-being of the students. Well-being is not only being healthy, happy, satisfied, strong but also being open to changes in life irrespective of their outcome, being mentally strong and stable, feeling loved and wanted, having a sense of purpose, a zeal to live life and grow. Major types of well-being are,

• Emotion Well-Being- Being emotionally strong and not getting bowed down to any kind of emotional attack.
• Social Well-being- When one is socially open, can develop good relationships and communicate easily with their peers, they are socially healthy.
• Physical Well-being- A good and healthy body with no or very less ailment is a symbol of physical well being.
• Professional well-being- When you are happy with your professional life, pursuing your interest and ready for any type of changes and flowing with the wind at your workplace, it keeps you professionally healthy.

Risk Factors of Well-Being

Absence of wellness is a bane and paralyzes the wholesome development of the students. It not only ameliorates various physical issues but also impacts mental health. Some of the risk factors are,

• Stress- The very first risk factor is stress which snatches our day to day happiness. Student’s zeal to perform and engage is completely demolished. 
• Physical activity- we refrain from any kind of activities and close ourselves in a shell.
• Behavioral issue- Poor well-being makes people irritated and aloof. It almost ends the peer interaction. Children become undisciplined and at times aggressive.
• Drug abuse- I’ve observed learners resorting to drugs and substance abuse. They feel nothing can be solved and only drugs can soothe them for the time being.

What is the connection between social and emotional well-being and personal development?

Here is a very simple example to understand the essence. When we are sad, unhappy or angry or have any negative thought process going on, it affects our learning intensity. It hinders the capability of our mind to act wisely, gain knowledge and apply the previous learnings at the right place. Similarly if we are socially unhealthy, we stop developing a healthy relationship with our peers. 

Teachers can play a pivotal role in ameliorating the well-being of the students. Educators of any educational institute can guide and work wonders in shaping up these fertile minds. They can inculcate strong emotional bonds which can lead to mental well-being. They can help overcome self-doubt or self-loathing. It has been observed that emotionally strong children are able to overcome their drawbacks easily. Since the educational institutes provide a varied type of environment, be it social, cultural or economical, it is the best place to build a strong character.  

A very clear example of promoting well-being in the class is trying to understand the nature of each child and their background. Teachers might observe any student becoming reluctant in doing the task, being absent, showing negative behavior in the class. Instead of reprimanding the student, we should first try to understand the background of these behavioral changes. The child may not open up at the first go. But with our love and patience, we can encourage them to share their issues. Once we know the reason, we can work accordingly to help the student overcome the issues. If required, we can talk to their parents, family members about the reasons leading to this condition. Along with that we can enhance empathy for these types of students in the class so that other students also learn to help them and make them feel loved.

Demonstrating how theories that inform learning and development are implemented in learning and teaching contexts.

Learning is not an automatic process. We learn by practicing, participating, exploring, involving ourselves, questioning, and understanding the logic. Our environment, supportive surroundings, and learning experience lead to some changes in a child’s behavior and growth. They can be either good or bad changes.

When we talk about the influence of our environment, nature and behavior on us we come across the idea of Epigenetic. The DNA in our gene creates a chemical that determines our behavior as a human. Our traits, color, height and many more personalities do depend on our genes. However, during the growing period of a baby, the nature, the environment, various experiences affect the behavioral traits, thought process and our skill set. This is what we call Epigenetic. A positive, blissful and healthy surrounding and environment helps in developing a healthy baby with lots of positivity.

Learning and development of a human being depends on some of the theories that have been explored and experimented. I bring you here some of the theories that can be implemented for teaching purposes.

• Behaviorism– Watson, J. (1942) had stated “Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science which needs introspection as little as do the sciences of chemistry and physics. The position is taken here that the behavior of man and the behavior of animals must be considered in the same plane.” Our behavior is a response to the stimuli of our surroundings. This theory can be implemented very positively in a learning context. We have already observed that children do much better when they are rewarded and praised for their good work. This induces positive behavioral aspects in the students.

• Cognitivism– Humans are blessed with learning and grasping capabilities. We observe our surroundings and experience the development in the environment and learn from it. However, we need someone more knowledgeable to guide and groom us. Vygotsky, L. (1896-1934) introduced the learning concept of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which suggested that a child’s learning and development can be enhanced by their social interaction. Also a child can learn better if they are guided by a more knowledgeable person that could be their parents, teachers or persons from the community. The zone of proximal development boosts the creativity and polishes the ability of a child. When a student’s knowledge is accessed independently, we may not know how much more the student can learn or what the limit of their capability is. Rather, when a student is accessed along with their peers in presence of a more knowledgeable teacher, chances of development are higher. 

• Constructivism– Different learners have a different take on a particular matter based on their experience. Here the students don’t simply download the information and accept it. Rather they put logic and understanding, they gather their own information and then act and reflect according to the experience gained by them. Piaget, J. (1920) observed that the children have a different thought process than the adults. They are not passive learners, hence their view about a particular task is very different from the adults. Thus they tend to answer some questions incorrectly as per their observation and logic. Piaget’s rigorous research led to the understanding of what we need to teach children at different ages and stages. The cognitive development at different stages is almost the same for all the children.  
• Howard Gardner Theory- This is the theory of multiple intelligence. The theory includes varied types of methods including social interaction, music, numbers, pictures, traveling, logics and many more to learn and gain knowledge. Gardner, H. (1983) suggested that human intelligence can be differentiated into various modalities like visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, musical-rhythmic, logical-mathematical, inter and intra personal and many more. Hence, our learning is not restricted to any particular method. This can help teachers and educators to understand the way through which their students can grasp the knowledge. Not only that, this method also helps in knowing the innate talents of the students and guiding them to choose their career path accordingly.

My approach of using Scaffolding and Vygotsky’s ZPD for the students who experience generalized anxiety. 

As described by Bruner, J. (1967), an instructor or teacher can create a temporary programmed guide for each student to help them learn and then remove the guidance or the support once the student becomes self-sufficient and competent enough. Bruner termed this method “Scaffolding”.

Vygotsky’s Zonal Proximal Development (ZPD) can use tailored scaffolding to resolve the anxiety issue of a student related to activities such as reading, writing, stage fear and public speaking.

When a student faces anxiety, the educator can help and guide in the following manner,

• Build confidence- communicate with the student to understand the strength and weakness.
• Build the right learning space-the classroom should have a positive and friendly environment so that the student can learn without the fear of being judged.
• Exposure to task- expose the student to the task and keep supporting. 
• Channelize- Guide and direct the student to channelize their strength so that they can work without any aid.
• Moving to other spaces of ZPD- Inculcate the coping mechanism when students would work without aid.
• Let the student row the boat-Keep a watch, create peer support but let the student face the music alone.

These are the steps I would follow to help a student overcome anxiety and build up self-confidence. This way the learner will be empowered to deal with anxiety head on.

Conclusion

My reflective portfolio is a journal that has captured the biopsychosocial factors leading to the development and contribution to education. It provides a clear understanding on mutual dependence of a student’s well-being and their emotional, psychological, social and physical growth. The risk factors of these well-being can restrict the advancement, improvement and also the productive strength of the students. Hence teachers, be it parents at home or educators in the school should be focused on the well- being of their students. To enhance the learning capacity of these students we can utilize various learning theories after accessing the weakness and the strength of these children.