Case Study: General Education

Final case study: Elementary General Education

Andrew Lopez
SPD 604
Professor Glynn
July 30, 2014

Case Study: General Education

1. Given the information from the case study identify the following for the student (s):
Strengths, Needs, Interests, and preferred Way of Learning.
The student in this case study is named Maria and she is 11 years old and in sixth
grade. Her strengths that are identified in the case study are artistic skills, attendance,
following directions, bodily-kinesthetic and spatial learning. Marias needs are help with
social skills and thinking abstractly in math. According to the case study, she has an
interest for animals. From reading over the case study her preferred Way of Learning
seems to be spatial and bodily-kinesthetic learning styles, or working independently.
2. Given the data provided about this student which of the family of models of teaching
and / or theorist would you primarily draw on for help? Why? Support your ideas
with citations from your text, and from other materials you have read.
Given the information provided about Maria, the family model of teaching that
would help Maria would be Social-Psychological Family of Models. The social aspect is
evident in this model because it focuses on developing the concepts and skills needed to
work in groups (Huitt, 2003). There are three ways the teacher can structure learning
goals in the classroom. The first was is Individualistic, students do not interact with each
other. The second way is Competitive, students compete with each and try doing better
than each other. Finally, the last way is Cooperative, students work together in order to
be successful (Ferguson pp, 2011). When true Cooperative Learning is used, social
psychology is applied. In this model the teacher has the choice to interact with a student
directly or have students interact with each other. The teacher structures interactions to
maximize learning and other desired educational outcomes (Ferguson pp, 2011). I
believe that this model of teaching would benefit Maria since she is having trouble

Case Study: General Education

interacting with her peers. This model would give Maria the opportunity to socialize with
her peers.
The theorist that I would draw on for help would be Urie Bronfenbrenner.
According to Bronfenbrenner, peer relationships play a significant role in healthy
personal and social development. There is strong evidence strong evidence that adults
who had close friends as children have higher self-esteem and are more capable of
maintaining intimate relationships than adults who had lonely childhoods. Adults who
were rejected as children tend to have more problems, such as dropping out of school or
committing crimes (Woolfolk, pg 109). For these reasons I believe that the SocialPsychological Family of Models would be most beneficial for Maria.
3. Given the data provided about this student(s) and doing your instructional
planning, think of the various teaching methodologies that would be most effective.
Which would you select? Why?
After reading the case study and looking over her teachers comments, I believe
that cooperative learning would be the most effective methodology for Maria. David and
Roger Johnson, two founder of Cooperative Learning in the United States define it as,
students working together, for one class period to several weeks, to achieve shared
learning goals and complete jointly specific task and assignments (Woolfolk, pg 373).
According to her teacher, Maria doesnt really interact with her peers. Although she is
responsible and follows directions, she seems to be having a difficult time making friends
and socializing with her peers, which is why I believe that Cooperative Learning can be
beneficial for her. According to our textbook, Cooperative Learning experiences are
crucial in preventing many of the social problems that plague children and adolescents
(Woolfolk, pg 372). Cooperative learning will provide Maria with an opportunity to use
her skills to make positive relationships with her peers. Our textbook states that, truly
3

Case Study: General Education

cooperative groups have positive effects (from preschool to college) on students

empathy, tolerance for differences, feelings of acceptance, friendships, self-confidence,
awareness of the perspectives of others, higher-level reasoning, problem solving, and
even attendance (Woolfolk, pg 372).

4. Identify and write one learning objective that would be relevant and
essential for the student(s). Why did you select this objective?
With the comments stated by Marias teacher, the learning objective
thats essential for her would deal with group work. Maria will interact with a
group of peers and volunteer in class at least three times a week. I chose this
because Marias teacher stated that she believes that if Maria can make
positive relationships with her peers, shell improve academically.
5. Given the learning objective you identified, what type of
measurement(s) would you employ to determine if your objective
was met (for each objective)?
In order to see if the objective was met I would have to keep a log of how
many times she works in a group as well as how many times she volunteers.
In order to measure how many times she interacted with her classmates, I
would make a graph where I would chart each time she completed the task.
6. How and why would you communicate w/ the parent(s) or
guardian(s)?

In order to communicate with Marias parent or guardian I would first see what
form of communication they are comfortable with and have available. If they have
access, my two main form would be through email and telephone. I would like to have
her parent(s) or guardian(s) email or telephone number in order to give them brief
updates on how Maria is doing with cooperative learning and how they can assist her to
improve in this area.

Case Study: General Education

References
Furgeson, Britt. Psychological Theory and Models of Teaching. Powerpoint. 2011.
Huitt, W. (2003). Models of teaching/instruction. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta,
GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
Woolfolk, A. (2013). Educational psychology. 12th.Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.