Sociology

Over the past few days we have been talking about the 5 different groups.  Family, Education, Religion, Government and Economic

To finish off the school year we will be focusing on family by discussing the different types of families and how they interact.  We will be looking at examples of this through TV shows.  The students will be filling in some information on these shows.  They also have an opportunity for extra credit by watching shows outside of school and filling out the extra sheets.  

Tomorrow is Spring Fling!   

Last Unit!

On Monday we finished up psychology with a review of the unit.  

Tuesday we started studying sociology.  This is the study of people's behavior in groups.  We discussed the four types of groups sociologist study.  Primary (family, friends), secondary (larger, such as work, neighbors, etc), community (town), and society (country).

Today we talked about society rules and regulations...more on that later!

We've been busy planning spring fling in the middle school.  Next week Friday will be a fun day for all students!  I'll try to post pictures.      

Eight Ages of Man

Today in class we discussed the Eight Ages of Man developed by Erik Erikson.  Erikson believed that all individuals go through eight stages in their life...

Stage One

infant; learns trust and mistrust

Stage Two

ages 2-3; independence, potty training

Stage Three

ages 4-5; busy planning and doing things on their own, greater control over physical movements, plays games with other children

 

Stage Four

ages 6-11; school, obey rules, concerned about fairness, socializing

Stage Five

12-18; adolescence, physical changes, interested in relationships, searching for values, want acceptance by peers

Stage Six

young adulthood (20's, 30's, 40's); have direction in life, relationship, marriage, family

Stage Seven

middle age (40's - 80's); creators and producers of society, decision makers, help the younger generation

Stage Eight

final stage; look back on life's experiences, take pleasure in life's accomplishments

Pavlov's Dogs

Today in class we discussed Ivan Pavlov and his experiment on learning...

Pavlov knew that when dogs were fed they salivated.  He wanted to train the dogs to salivate on command.  So every time he fed his dogs he rang a bell.  Eventually Pavlov was able to ring a bell and the dogs would salivate even without food.  This is called classical conditioning.  

In classical conditioning there is a stimulus and a response.  When the bell rings (stimulus) the dogs salivate (response).  We also talked about how students are classically conditioned to change classes every time the bell rings in school.    

Learning Experiments

Last week Thursday and Friday the students completed 

learning experiments.  They had to trace a star while 

looking in a mirror and run a maze using a piece of 

construction paper with a hole in it. 

 

The students had to record how long it took them to 

complete each experiment, and then repeat the experiment.  

The theory of learning is that their times should get faster.  

Practice makes perfect!  

Below are some pictures of the experiments...

MIA

I feel like I have been MIA for a few days.  I had a funeral on Friday (my 96 year old grandma passed away, that's a pretty good life) and a sick boy yesterday.  Thank goodness for great subs who help keep things moving!  

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am back today and I promise to return your e mails sometime this afternoon.  I also plan on posting some more information about what we have been doing in class.  Thank you for your understanding.    

Defense Mechanisms

Today we corrected the critical thinking packet.  We also reviewed defense the four mechanisms...

Projection

Repression

Denial

Rationalization

The students were asked to think of a situation where a person might use a defense mechanism and act it out in a group for the class.  I love watching the kids act stuff out, they always make me laugh.  :0)  

Tomorrow we will continue talking about needs and on Wednesday there will be a short quiz on what we have discussed.