CASE STUDY:
Gisela is a 6 year old girl who has begged her family for a pet dog for years. Her parents claim that she has been drawn to them since she was a baby, but they just haven’t had the time for a puppy, yet everyone in their neighborhood seems to have one.
A few months ago, while she was walking the two blocks to school all by herself, a beautiful looking dog was in a yard along her path. Delighted, she opened their gate and rushed to the dog while squealing with delight. Suddenly the dog jumped on her and knocked her down, giving her a growl and snapping his teeth at her. The dog continued to bark at her until the owner came out from the house and discovered a shaking, sobbing child who had wet herself in terror. She was unable to tell the man her name or where she lived, and it was an hour until police arrived to assist.
Gisela’s parents share that now, several months later, they have a big problem. At first, Gisela seemed to only be afraid of that one brown dog, but now she has become afraid of just about anything related to dogs. Gisela is too afraid to walk to school even with her parents, she is afraid there will be a dog around every corner, she notices dog barks “from really far away”, she is afraid of sirens, and won’t go to parades. She has wetting accidents almost every day, when she did not before. Ironically, she is still begging for one of her own, and while they are now considering a family dog, they are hesitating given Gisela’s situation.
Assessment Instructions
Examine how constructivism and information processing theories could be applied in an everyday learning situation. Reflecting upon what you have learned about constructivism and information processing theories:
o Describe the basic tenets of each theory.
o Using theory specific terminology, describe the elements of the case study related to each theory.
? What elements of the case study would be important from a constructivism perspective?
? What elements of the case study would be important from an information processing perspective?
? What elements of the case study would be important from a constructivism perspective?
? What elements of the case study would be important from an information processing perspective?
o Finally, pretend that the character in the scenario has overcome their learning barrier.
? Speculate how one might achieve their goal supported by each of the learning theories.
