The class attended for my Participant Observation Assignment was a yoga class at the Recreation Center at State University. Such a class is for one session and is forty-five minutes in length. During this class, we covered beginning yoga moves at a slow pace so everyone felt comfortable. The nature of the class consisted of simple yoga moves, serine atmosphere, and relaxing music. Learning theories that were address, applied, and by the instructor wanted us to use were Skinner’s Operant Conditioning, Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, and Observational Learning. The instructor also taught using the Direct Instruction Approach and wanted the students to use Lave’s Situated Learning Theory.
This particularly yoga class was taught by a college student from State University named Kim. She stated that she is in training to become an official yoga instructor and that this class was the first one that she was teach at the Recreation Center. It is an exercise class that was intended to make your mind and body feel at peace as you stretch and do strength training. Yoga is meant to be very calming and spiritual. Everyone in the class appeared to be college student, there were mostly girls and few boys, only the instructor spoke during the class, and everyone made sure that they had their own personal space through the class to make sure they had enough room to move.
One objective of the yoga class was for all students to learn each yoga move as the class progressed. We fulfilled this objective through Skinner’s Operant Conditioning, Observational Learning, Lave’s Situated Learning Theory and the Direct Instruction Approach. Another objective for the class was to hold yoga positions for substantial amounts of time in order to...
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... that they are instructing and teaching the students in a way that everyone will learn and grow in the process. Without careful planning and accompanying each student’s learning status, the entire class will not be able to effectively attain all of the information one is presenting. The yoga class taught at the State Recreation Center used a few different learning styles to attempt to address all students. It was mainly a very successful class and many students left wanting to take another yoga class because they learned so much and enjoyed doing it.
Works Cited
Santrock, J. W. (2009). Educational Psychology (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Situated Learning Theory (Lave). (2008). Learning Theories Knowledgebase.
Retrieved October 21, 2009, from Learning-Theories.com website:
http://www.learning-theories.com/situated-learning-theory-lave.html
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