DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Pushing students to delve further into their examination of the study
Pushing students to delve further into their examination of the study
- Do you think the study was ethical? If so, how do you reconcile that the experiment was done in a real classroom? If not, identify the flaws and describe how would you conduct the study differently.
- Do you think the study was necessary? What influence, if any, did the findings have on the education system and how it is perceived? Could any change have ever been achieved differently, without the study?
- What do you think of the criticisms of the study? After reading the blog, discuss the mentioned criticisms. Do you agree or disagree with them? Why? What other criticisms of the study can you find?
- Do you think the selective enrollment system creates a self-fulfilling prophecy by putting greater expectations on certain children? Explain the implications of your answer and find other examples of self-fulfilling prophecies in your life.
- Can you make connections? Think back to development or reference other social psychology studies to support your ideas.
IN RELATION TO DEVELOPMENT
Is there a correlation between the results of the Rosenthal study and stages of development?
Notice: No work has been done to test the following ideas. They are purely conjectural, but could potentially serve as a jumping-off point for future research. They are presented here to pique your interest. Comment below if you would like to share your ideas!
Is there a correlation between the results of the Rosenthal study and stages of development?
Notice: No work has been done to test the following ideas. They are purely conjectural, but could potentially serve as a jumping-off point for future research. They are presented here to pique your interest. Comment below if you would like to share your ideas!
Erikson's Psychosocial Stages
Erikson's stages define the battles that humans deal with psychosocially at different ages. As seen to the right ("Erikson",n.d.) , the ages that teachers develop expectations for their students are critical for these children. If a teacher has low expectations for a child in elementary school, the student might have a difficult time finding resolution. In the play ages, we see that the child might have a hard time finding purpose if his or her educators are not encouraging. If at the school age, we can really see how low expectations can be detrimental to a student because it would be difficult to resolve that one is competent if your teachers don't believe you to be. This shows why a teacher's expectations can impact their students for the rest of their lives. Kohlberg's Levels of Moral Development As seen in the image to the right, Lawrence Kohlberg outlined 3 main levels of moral development, each with two stages (Huitt, 2004). When discussing the results of the Rosenthal study, our group noticed that there is a greater difference in IQ between the experimental and control groups in first and second grade, a relatively small but noticeable one in third and fourth grade, and almost no difference in fifth and sixth grade. In an attempt to better understand why this was occurring, our group connected the results of the study to Kohlberg's theory of moral development. Many children in first and second grade were likely still in the preconventional stage, acting in certain ways to avoid punishment or gain rewards. This makes sense when you look at just how drastic the differences in change in IQ score are. In third and fourth grade, students follow rules because they are rules, falling into assigned roles and building a sense of obligation towards society, a time when there seem to be designated smart kids and dull kids. In fifth and sixth grade, these begin falling apart for some students. They become questioning of what is right and wrong, perhaps making them more questioning of their teacher's authority and accounting for the extreme dip in teacher influence for those students. |
Erikson's Psychosocial Stages | in Chapter 11: Personality | from Psychology: An Introduction by Russ Dewey. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://www.intropsych.com/ch11_personality/eriksons_psychosocial_stages.html
Huitt, W. (2004). Values. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date], from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/affect/values.html
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