Case Studies in Educational Psychology

Frank Adams

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135711139
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica generale

Case Studies in Educational Psychology is comprised of 55 diverse and realistic case studies that will shape and compliment any Educational Psychology curriculum. The essays are grouped into 10 well-organized units that address issues ranging from Classroom Management to Moral Development, Children from Broken Homes, and Homelessness. Each study concludes with thought-provoking discussions questions that both stimulate discourse around the important issues in Educational Psychology and bring to light the practical implications/applications of each study. Case Studies in Educational Psychology is a challenging yet highly accessible volume - an ideal text for students and teachers of Education Psychology.

Unit 1

Classroom Management

Case Study 1

Miss Jaynes

Miss Jaynes, a first-grade teacher, moves about the class carefully as her students complete an afternoon handwriting assignment. Miss Jaynes is in the fourth month of her first year as a teacher; she is quite pleased with her first class.

Six-and-a-half-year-old Brent squirms in his chair as he takes his pencil in his left hand and begins to trace the outlines of the numbers 3, 6, and 9. His fingers redden as he grinds the pencil into the paper. His arm stiff, he attempts to make the rounded shapes of the numerals with short rigid strokes. The number 6 takes on the appearance of the capital letter G. His eyes darken with concern when he attempts to form another 6. His hand tightens around the pencil. His movement on the paper gets more deliberate and strained with a short, pressed motion as opposed to a fluid rounded stroke. After intently comparing the two attempts with a noticeable frown, Brent takes his eraser and furiously begins to erase both numbers, only to tear the weakened paper. His face clouded with anger, he yells, “I can’t do this!” He throws his pencil down on the desk, folds his arms across his chest, and glares at the paper.

Miss Jaynes recognizes the tantrum. She moves quickly to Brent’s side and spends ten to fifteen minutes comforting and reassuring him. Unfortunately for Miss Jaynes, this is the tenth time this week a tantrum has occurred. It is only Wednesday and yet Brent’s outbursts make Miss Jaynes dread the rest of the week.

Miss Jaynes has had six conferences with Brent’s parents; during each session, the mother adamantly defended Brent’s actions while the father sat passively and offered no comments. When pressed for a response, the father countered, “You know how boys are!” She has sent five evaluations to the parents, with no responses. Miss Jaynes also has had several conferences with the school principal, Mrs. Downs.

Mrs. Downs is sympathetic; however, she does not consider Brent to be as much a problem as Miss Jaynes does. The school is too small to have a school psychologist. The school district has a psychologist who visits all of the schools every two weeks. With ten schools to visit, the school district’s psychologist is far too busy to spend more than ten minutes in conversation with Miss Jaynes.

Questions

1. Does Brent have a problem?
2. What information should Miss Jaynes provide to the psychologist?
3. How should Miss Jaynes change her classroom instruction to adapt to Brent?
4. What information should Miss Jaynes provide to the parents? To the principal?

Case Study 2

Damien

Damien is an unusually small five-year-old-boy with blond hair and brown eyes. He arrives at school each morning with his step-mother and two smaller sisters, ages two and three. He runs to the clothes closet and throws his book bag in the general vicinity of his assigned space. Spinning around, he looks into the room and heads for the toy box. The teacher calls, “Damien, get out your crayons and books before you play!” She receives no response. Damien continues toward the toy box. With more authority in her voice, she repeats the directions. This time, Damien turns his head, smiles, and goes to his desk to get out his books.

On the way to his desk, Damien sees the circus wagon and climbs aboard. All of his anger, his comments, and his frustrations can be heard throughout the classroom. Putting his hands on both sides, he rocks forward and back with his whole body in order to move the wagon. The room was filled with the normal classroom sounds of children before Damien arrived; now, the classroom is focused on the grunts, moans, and frustration of Damien in the circus wagon. His face puckers up to register his frustration and anger.

He has focused the attention of the classroom on himself with the sounds and the loud noise of his jerking movements. Terri, a boy the same age and size as Damien, begins to move closer to the wagon. Damien stops jerking the wagon when Terri asks if he could get in. Damien changes places with Terri. Damien bends down and yells “All aboard” and begins to push the wagon. Setting a collision course for the toy box, he clinches his jaw and increases speed. When the wagon crashes into the toy box, he falls to his knees and slides to an abrupt stop with a yell. Damien looks at Terri’s face, and then looks around the room to see who else has noticed. Terri begins to cry loudly. Seeing how upset Terri is, Damien turns and slowly begins to edge away from the wreckage.

Damien has been in the classroom for almost ten minutes. The teacher frowns, says good-bye to Damien’s stepmother, and then turns to face the daily problem: “What will Damien do today?” Damien is taken to the timeout chair for five minutes. He flops himself in the chair and watches the teacher intently for almost thirty seconds. Damien turns the chair around with a scoot and begins to follow the outlines of the cement in the wall. He sits down on the floor in a slip-off-the-chair motion and begins tying his shoelaces in knots. Damien puts his feet in front of himself, rolls over on his stomach, and looks under the chair.

The teacher has been in this classroom for almost ten years; she has developed a well-deserved relationship with the community. The teacher has had conversations with Damien’s stepmother every morning since the first day of school; it is now the first of October and there doesn’t seem to be any change in Damien’s behavior. Various agencies have tested Damien, and they indicate that he is normal for his age. All indicate that he is easily distracted and moody with bursts of temper tantrums.

Questions

1. What is Damien’s level of performance: cognitive, moral, and psychomotor?
2. How could Damien benefit from additional one-on-one assistance?
3. What should the teacher do to enhance Damien’s learning within a classroom setting?
4. How could a behavior management plan benefit Damien?

Case Study 3

Lindsay

Lindsay is six years old, cute, verbal, and bright; she is a smaller mirror image of her mother in all respects. She slips into a chair at the reading table and opens the basal reader. Leaning over, she smiles and giggles and then speaks to the child next to her, Shelley. Shelley immediately sits up and opens her reader. Lindsay raises her hand enthusiastically to show that she wishes to read first. A grimace of disappointment briefly shadows her face when someone else is selected. Lindsay indicates, to no one in particular, that the reader lacks her skill and is boring the rest of the class. She puts her book flat on the table and rests her head in her hand while following along with her eyes. After repeating the process three more times, Lindsay’s eyes light up and a smile crosses her face as she is chosen to read next. When reading aloud, Lindsay takes her right index finger and points to each word. Stopping only briefly to sound out the word “another,” she finishes her paragraph and looks up at the teacher with a proud grin.

She knows that she is a very good reader, and she reminds Shelley of this fact. Lindsay also reminds all the children around her that she is a very good reader; they appear to ignore her. Lindsay stands up, bends a knee onto the chair, and sits. Keeping this position for less than a minute, Lindsay again moves and resumes her original posture.

Following the story, Lindsay listens intently and watches the facial expressions of the next two readers in her group; she looks away only when the third-graders go by in the hall on their way to recess. She reminds the other students around her to pay attention to the reading. The other students in her reading group chat with each other, continue to read silently, and ignore Lindsay.

The teacher, Mrs. Cline, begins a discussion of the story “Ira Stays Over” by asking, “Who has a favorite stuffed animal they sleep with?” Lindsay bounces around on her chair with her hand raised and fingers wiggling for added attention. Mrs. Cline calls on Lindsay and comments on her quick response to the question. Lindsay smiles and proceeds to describe her pet, Blue Bunny, in great detail. When she has finished with her description, she reminds the other children about how good the teacher thought it was; they ignore her. When Mrs. Cline asks for other responses, Lindsay’s hand shoots up again. This time the teacher ignores Lindsay; there is soft laughter that seems to spread around the classroom. Lindsay’s smile becomes a frown; she groans and immediately begins to sulk and withdraw.

Lindsay spends the rest of the day by herself. She speaks only when someone speaks to her; otherwise she remains silent. There are twenty-five students in her class. Mrs. Cline notices that Lindsay is quiet, finally. Mrs. Cline likes to see Lindsay working quietly; to her it means that Lindsay is not “bossing around” the other students. The events of the reading class are repeated in exactly the same sequence every morning; they have occurred over the past five weeks without fail. The majority of the class does not like Lindsay. There are several students with whom she can talk; however, she does not have a “best friend.” She prefers this, as does the rest of the class.

Questions

1. How can Mrs. Cline help Lindsay develop more effective interpersonal skills?
2. Why does Lindsay have difficulty relating to the other children?
3. How could the curriculum be altered to help Lindsay develop more effective learning skills?
4. What are some effective methods for developing cooperative learning in this situation?

Case Study 4

Dana

Dana focuses her attention and intense energy on the paper totem pole being made in art class today. Each student is to create a face that will be placed with other students’ faces, one on top of the other, to create a totem pole. Dana lifts three colors of paper, one at a time; she studies each carefully before choosing a red sheet for her creation. With her tongue between her teeth, she grasps her scissors and, with great effort and concentration, begins the task of cutting out her totem head. With slow and deliberate movements, she thoughtfully and forcefully keeps working without talking to any of the other children at the table.

When she finishes, Dana holds up a crudely cut circle and beams with pride. She quickly turns and watches Connie, the girl next to her, cutting her paper. Shaking her head, Dana reaches toward Connie and attempts to take both paper and scissors from the girl. The unappreciated attempt to help is met with a loud “STOP IT!” Dana draws back quickly with a quizzical expression. She continues to try to take Connie’s paper. There is much grabbing, pushing, and noise made during the exchange. Both students are showing signs of stress.

With thirty students in the art class, the teacher finally intervenes and is met with, “Connie wasn’t doing it right!” The teacher instructs Dana to finish her own project and leave Connie alone. Dana looks at Connie in a last attempt to help and informs Connie that her own face is going to be the best. Dana returns to her mask. In less than five minutes, the struggle begins again. The teacher frowns and intervenes again. The process repeats itself until the teacher moves Dana to a new location.

Dana repeats the process with Ruth Ann; the results are the same. The major difference is that Ruth Ann is more vocal than Connie was. Ruth Ann announces to the class that she does not appreciate Dana’s help with her art project. The announcement does not prevent Dana from trying to help Ruth Ann again and again. The yelling between Ruth Ann and Dana stops all activity. The teacher moves Dana to a table in a corner by herself. This does not prevent Dana from yelling instructions for her nearest neighbor, Gail. Gail and Dana begin to yell at each other.

Eventually, the teacher intervenes; she recognizes that Dana has made no progress since the conference last Friday with her, her parents, the principal, and her classroom teacher. Dana transferred to the school one month ago, and she does not appear to have made the transition well. After four different conferences, Dana is still as abrasive and combative as she was on the first day of school. The teacher looks at the clock and announces that the art period is over and they are to get ready to go back to their class.

Questions

1. What is Dana’s level of performance: cognitive, moral, and psychomotor?
2. How should the teacher have dealt with Dana’s helpfulness in a constructive way?
3. What should the teacher have done to help Dana?
4. How can the teacher help the other students in the classroom learn to develop cooperative learning attitudes?
5. How does the teacher assist students in providing positive responses to Dana’s behavior?

Case Study 5

Bryan

James Snow was one of the language arts teachers at the junior high school. He described Bryan as a happy, energetic, physically mature, and outgoing seventh-grader. For the previous two grading periods, Bryan’s grades were erratic in all of his subjects. Bryan had often pointed out with pride to other class members that he had achieved all of the letters in the grading scale. His grades ranged from A to D in both grading periods. During the last PTA meeting at school, Bryan’s parents described his behaviors in the classroom, in the lunchroom, and on the school bus as being “just a teenage boy filled with many emotions and energies that he eventually will grow out of.” It was impossible for Mr. Snow to convince Bryan’s parents that he had specific behaviors that were not acceptable. They ignored all references to Bryan’s aberrant behaviors and suggested that Mr. Snow would learn how “little boys” behave when he had taught in the school longer than two years. Bryan’s parents were teachers at the local high school and were outspoken in their support for Bryan. The exchange had taken less than ten minutes, and after it Mr. Snow felt as frustrated as he had felt before the meeting. As he walked quietly to his car, he said to himself “Now what do I do with Bryan tomorrow?”

No one had disputed the fact that Bryan had a short attention span as it related to the seventh-grade curriculum. His attention span was unusually short unless he found something in the day’s activities that he particularly liked. When Bryan liked something, he became unusually attentive and articulate; Mr. Snow had often described it as Bryan’s “obsessive period.” Unfortunately for Mr. Snow and the class, this period did not occur often. Usually, one would find Bryan staring out the window, or into blank space or harassing his nearest neighbor.

During the past two grading periods, Mr. Snow and Bryan had met in conferences almost on a daily basis; Bryan had always maintained that class assignments and homework were boring, useless, and a waste of his valuable time. Bryan often had taken punishment rather than do a class assignment or homework. Bryan and Mr. Snow had daily, weekly, and monthly battles over whose responsibility it was to keep Bryan entertained during his classes.

In a majority of the conflicts that Bryan had with teachers, staff, and administration, he meticulously pointed out what the rules were and how they were to be observed. From Bryan’s perspective, the rules governed all of the students’ behavior except his. He perceived himself as being special; after all, he had been told quite often that he was gifted and did belong in the gifted and talented class. He seemed to take great delight in trying to manipulate the rules of the class or the school to his own benefit.

Developing basic listening skills or critical thinking skills was not import...