Evaluate
Critique the effectiveness of the "Big Five" personality traits when determining children's personalities.
Apply
Use the suggestions for encouraging moral and pro-social development in the classroom (p. 97-99) to address the misbehavior in your case study.
Reference
Ormrod, J. E. (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners. Boston, MA: Pearson.
1. I believe the "Big Five" do a good job in categorizing a range of personality traits individuals may have. However, I do not feel that the "Big Five" can effectively categorize every single child. I believe some children could fall into multiple categories, even though research suggests that these traits are relatively independent of one another. For instance, a child could be extremely outgoing with his peers and love to engage in and be exposed to new experiences and ideas; this child would fit into both the openness and extraversion traits. I also feel the "Big Five" may not be effective as individuals' personalities may vary across situations. For example, a child may appear sociable and outgoing around her close friends, but extremely shy and timid around less familiar people. In this case, how would this child's personality be determined using these traits?
ReplyDeleteI would agree that this is an evaluating question as I am being asked to make judgements about the effectiveness of the "Big Five" personality traits.
2. One of the suggestions I would use from the text to address the misbehavior in the case study of Willard is to give reasons why some behaviors are unacceptable. To promote moral and prosocial development, I would focus my students' attention on the emotional hurt their behavior (making fun) may have caused Willard. For example, I could state, "You hurt Willard's feelings when you make fun of him." Another suggestion from the text I could apply to my case study is to expose students to numerous models of moral and prosocial behavior. As the teacher, I can model to the students how to show concern for their peers. For instance, I can model offering help to keep Willard engaged and focused on his tasks. The students in my class may then be more inclined to exhibit similar behaviors and offer Willard support and guidance rather than making fun of his actions.
I would also agree this is an example of an applying question as I used my knowledge of encouraging moral and prosocial development in a new situation-the case study.