Understanding the Whole Child: Why Human Development Matters in Teaching

When we reflect on teaching, we often think about preparing lesson plans, creating activities, assignments, and tests. I believe that teaching goes beyond delivering what we have planned for students to learn. At the essence of teaching are the children in our classroom, and every child is continuously changing, developing and growing. This relates to the topic of human development, which interests me within the teaching profession. 

As we saw in this week’s lecture, human development involves the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional growth that transpires throughout an individual’s life. I believe that understanding all these different areas is important because they can influence how students behave, interact with others, and approach learning.

One of the most important things I have learned about human development is that there is no linear timeline for every child. Students may be the same age, but have very different strengths, interests, personalities, experiences, and developmental needs. This is especially interesting to me when thinking about cognitive development during early and middle childhood. Between the ages of 2 and 11, children experience notable changes in how they communicate, think, learn, remember, solve problems, and understand the world around them. This reminds me that students may not always understand something simply because it has been explained to them. As teaching candidates,  we need to consider where students are developmentally and find ways to make learning meaningful and accessible to each and everyone of them.

I believe that technology is intertwined with supporting students at different grade levels. Since every child learns and develops differently, technology can provide them with different ways to engage with information and demonstrate their understanding of what they are learning. For example, videos, educational applications and digital storytelling can all be used to explore topics in ways that can support their learning needs. Technology can give students opportunities to ask questions, explore ideas, solve problems, create, and make connections between what they are learning and their own experiences. However, I also believe that technology should be used intentionally and should not replace meaningful relationships or interaction between teachers and students. Instead, it should be used as a tool to support students’ cognitive, social, and emotional development and make learning more accessible and engaging.

Learning about human development has also made me think about the importance of seeing students as whole individuals. A child's ability to learn is connected to their social and emotional well-being. For example, a student who is feeling anxious, excluded, or overwhelmed may have difficulty focusing in class. This does not necessarily mean that the student is uninterested or incapable of learning. There may be other factors affecting their ability to engage.

This is why building relationships with students is so important to me. When teachers take the time to get to know their students, they can better understand their needs, strengths, and experiences. Creating a classroom where students feel safe, respected, and supported can help them feel more comfortable taking risks in their learning.

One idea from the Understanding Learning reading that stood out to me was that learning is more than simply memorizing information. Learning involves making connections, developing new understandings, and experiencing continuous growth as a result. This made me reflect on the type of classroom I want to create as a future teacher. I want students to have opportunities to explore, ask questions, make mistakes, and connect what they are learning to their own experiences. I believe that when students are genuinely interested in what they are learning, they are more likely to engage with it and develop a deeper understanding.

Ultimately, human development has shown me that teaching is about more than educating students academically. It is about supporting their growth as individuals and helping them become confident, curious, and lifelong learners. Every child enters the classroom with their own experiences, strengths, and story. As a teacher candidate, I want to take the time to understand those differences and create a classroom where every student feels that they belong and have the opportunity to grow.

BiancaC@NUO

Prodigy and Operant Conditioning

This week's reading reminded me of a tech tool I used in elementary school, but had forgotten about for many many years. This tool is not commonly used for educational purposes, but can be very successfully utilized as such. The tool I am talking about is video games. Programs such as Prodigy were used to great degrees of success in Math programs because they embodied the “operant conditioning” method mentioned in this week's reading.

By utilizing a ‘levelling up’ system, educational video games can act as “reinforcement” while students work, filling the profile as the “operant.” Moreover, just as the reading mentions “cues” to prompt an operant response, video games encourage students to work harder by using specific cues. For example, if you are close to levelling up, Prodigy shows an Experience Bar. Once that bar was full, the student would be able to level up. This cued students that if they were close to having a full bar, they should focus and work extra hard to get where they wanted to be. Moreover, math battles in Prodigy were often indicated by entering new virtual territories. This cue of conflict made the game more exciting because using suspense as a cue as the student travels helps them stay focused and engaged, and anticipate the ‘reinforcement’ that they want and expect once the battle has been fought and overcome.

EdithW@NUO

Making Learning More Accessible with Diffit

     Working as an educational assistant in high school for the last ten years, I have helped students with several different types of technologies to empower their learning, but one program that I felt was extremely helpful for students who got frustrated with reading large articles and text is a program called Diffit. This was one of the first Ai powered tools that I have worked with, and still think it’s quite effective today for several reasons. 

Diffit is an AI-powered educational tool designed to help teachers quickly create differentiated learning materials for students of varying reading levels and abilities. It allows educators to take almost any piece of content and tailor it seamlessly to fit a mixed-ability classroom. Especially in regard to differentiated and ESL students, Diffit can translate materials into over 70 languages, making it incredibly useful for English Language Learners. I’ve observed many educators using Diffit  for worksheets, and to simplify articles for students at lower reading levels. 

I have used it myself in Teachers College to create resources from my slideshows.  What I found the most beneficial about using Diffit was that it helped my students who would be incredibly frustrated reading text, and sadly, let’s face it, many students these days are. When you copy and paste the text into Diffit, it not only simplifies the language, but it also has a small summary for the student to understand the main points. it was then much easier for the student to go into the article to find the answers they needed for their assignment. I noticed a shift in their behavior and attitude towards their work when they knew that they didn’t have to read the whole text, but could still learn what was needed without feeling so overwhelmed. Students began using Diffit independently and felt more confident and empowered in their learning. 

The best part about this feature is that it was not just a cognitive offload like many AI summaries are; the student still had to go into the article and find quotes and proof of their argument, and were able to comprehend the assignment. Diffit is free for students and educators with upgrading available. I would highly recommend Diffit for worksheets for teaching, ESL, and differentiated learning.

Christina@NUO

Using Technology to Foster a Growth Mindset in Students

“I’m just bad at this” is something almost every student has said at some point. It might be “I’m bad at math”, “I’m not a good reader”, or “I’m just not creative”. Once students start thinking this way, it becomes easy to stop trying. Why put effort into something if you have already decided that you are not good at it? As a future teacher, one of the most important things I can do is help students move away from this fixed way of thinking and develop a growth mindset. Instead of thinking “I can’t do this”, I want students to start thinking, “I can’t do this yet” and approach their learning with curiosity. 

Psychologist Carol Dweck, who introduced the concept of a growth mindset, explains that people with this mindset view their abilities as something that can be developed through learning, effort, and experience rather than something fixed (Morin, 2026). This idea matters in education because how students think about their abilities can shape how they respond when learning becomes difficult. A student with a fixed mindset may see a difficult task or a mistake as proof that they are “not good” at something, while a growth mindset encourages them to see that same challenge as an opportunity to learn and improve.

Having a growth mindset does not mean that everything will eventually become easy. It means being willing to try, make mistakes, ask questions, and continue when something is difficult. The classroom should be a place where students feel comfortable trying something even when they aren’t sure they will succeed. Sometimes a wrong answer can even lead to a better discussion because we can explore why it didn’t work and what we could try differently.

(Barlow, 2018)

Growth mindset also has to apply to the teacher, not just the students. Telling students to take risks and not fear mistakes means much more when the teacher models the same behaviour. Teachers don’t know everything, and we shouldn’t pretend that we do. If a student asks something and I don’t know the answer, I want to be comfortable saying, “I’m not sure, let’s figure it out”. If I make a mistake during a lesson, I can acknowledge it and correct it. Even when a lesson, activity, or new piece of technology doesn’t go as planned, I can model how to reflect, adjust, and try something different. If I want my students to be comfortable saying “I don’t know yet”, I have to be comfortable saying it too.

Technology can be a valuable way to put this mindset into practice. Platforms such as Kahoot!, Quizizz, Gimkit, and Padlet can create low-stakes opportunities for students to participate, test their understanding, and receive feedback without every response being attached to a formal grade. This can be especially helpful for a student who lacks confidence or is hesitant to raise their hand. Answering through a device gives them a chance to participate and make mistakes without feeling like the entire class is watching. Instead of being told to have a growth mindset, students get to experience what it feels like to struggle, practice, and improve. Over time, these small successes can build students’ confidence to attempt more challenging tasks and take risks outside the digital activity.

Embedding technology in this way also connects to assessment for, as, and of learning. A digital quiz, game, poll, or exit ticket can be used as assessment for learning, helping the teacher identify misconceptions and adjust instruction. It can support assessment as learning by allowing students to receive feedback, recognize what they need to work on, and try again. These low-stakes checkpoints help students build their understanding and confidence before an assessment of learning, when they are expected to demonstrate their learning independently.

 (“Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset”, n.d.)

As a future teacher, I don’t want students to feel like they have to walk into my classroom already being good at something to succeed. I would much rather have a student who is willing to try, struggle, ask for help, and try again. Technology can help create the low-stakes opportunities students need to practice while gradually building confidence in their abilities. At the same time, teachers have to hold themselves to the same standard by trying new approaches, accepting feedback, and learning from mistakes. Growth mindset should not just be something written on a classroom poster. Students should experience it in how they are taught, assessed, and encouraged to learn.

Here are some articles that help us learn to foster growth mindset in the classroom: 

https://thirdspacelearning.com/us/blog/develop-growth-mindset-elementary-classroom/

https://www.thetambellinigroup.com/digital-tools-and-the-growth-mindset-fostering-lifelong-learners/

https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/teaching-guides/foundations-course-design/learning-activities/growth-mindset-and-enhanced-learning

Here are some tools that assist student learning:

Kahoot: https://kahoot.com/en-GB/

Gimkit: https://www.gimkit.com

Blooket: https://www.blooket.com

Quizzizz: https://webflow-dev.quizizz.com/homepage-au?lng=en

Padlet: https://padlet.com

References

Barlow, T. (2018). Growth mindset: The Power of yet. Tom Barlow Online. https://tombarlowonline.com/growth-mindest-the-power-of-yet/ 

Growth Mindset vs. fixed mindset: Understanding the path to success. (n.d.). Explore Your Reality. https://www.exploreyourreality.com/growth-mindset-vs-fixed-mindset/ 

Morin, A. (2026). What is growth mindset?. Understood. https://www.understood.org/en/articles/growth-mindset 

OliviaL@NUO

Wikipedia Doesn’t Have to Be the Enemy

As a student, I constantly heard, “Don’t use Wikipedia.” Whenever we were given a research assignment, Wikipedia was one of the first websites teachers told us to avoid. It was treated as an unreliable source that had no place in academic research. Looking back, though, I wonder if we were missing an opportunity. After reading Chapter 5 of Transforming Learning with New Technologies, I started thinking about whether Wikipedia really is the enemy, or whether we have just been approaching it the wrong way.

We live in an age where information is everywhere. The chapter describes the Internet as a “library of unimaginable size,” giving students access to an overwhelming amount of information. While this access is valuable, it also creates a challenge: students need to know where to start, what information is relevant, which sources to trust, and how to determine whether what they find is accurate.

This is where I think Wikipedia can actually be useful.

I don't think Wikipedia should be the final source students rely on for a research assignment, but I do think it can be a great starting point. It provides a consolidated overview of a topic and introduces students to key people, events, concepts, and terminology. Instead of immediately navigating thousands of search results, students can use Wikipedia to develop a basic understanding of a topic and identify areas they want to explore further.

Wikipedia is collaboratively created and continually revised by contributors. While this allows information to be updated quickly, it also means students need to think critically about the information they are encountering. Rather than teaching students that Wikipedia is simply “bad,” I think it creates an opportunity to teach them how to evaluate information.

For example, students could use a Wikipedia article as the starting point for a research activity. They could identify a few key facts or claims, follow the citations at the bottom of the page, and investigate where the information originally came from. They could then ask: Who published this information? What evidence supports the claim? Is the source credible? Can I find another source that confirms or challenges it?

To me, this highlights an important distinction: finding information is not the same as knowing how to use information. Students may be comfortable searching Google and finding answers, but that doesn't necessarily mean they know how to determine whether those answers are accurate.

As a future teacher, I don't want to simply give students a list of websites they can and cannot use. I would rather teach them how to make those decisions for themselves. If students learn how to follow citations, investigate original sources, compare information, and question what they read, those skills can be applied far beyond Wikipedia.

Maybe the problem was never Wikipedia itself. Maybe the problem was treating it as the end of the research process instead of the beginning.

In an age where students have access to more information than ever before, our role as teachers is not necessarily to limit where students can look, but to help them become better at understanding what they find. Wikipedia doesn't have to be the answer. It can be the starting point that leads students to better questions, better sources, and deeper learning.

References: Robert W. Maloy, Ruth-Ellen A Verock Sharon A. Edwards, and Beverly P. Woolf (2021) Transforming Learning with New Technologies (Pearson, 2021, 2017. Allyn & Bacon, 2014, 2010). https://niagara.instructure.com/courses/42154/modules/items/1303280 

Taisa@NUO

Developing Brain Cells in Students

One slide from this week’s lecture that really stood out to me was the idea on brain cells in students and how they develop differently. It outlines the two sides of the brain and suggests that the school system will often focus primarily on the “left brain” skills such as math, science, and logic rather than the “right side” which holds the students' creative and expressive side. 

This topic really resonated with me as I never excelled in math or science but always had a strong pull and passion towards the arts. In art class, I felt the most comfortable, engaged and proud of my work. As I reflect and connect back to this now in the role of an educator, I find it so important to recognize the ways in which each student learns and provide options for students to excel in their learning. 

During my placement last spring, I used a technology tool called iNaturalist. In the Visual Arts class, I provided students with this tool so that they could research a species in their community by looking at photos, habitats, patterns, maps, and observations to then go and create their own detailed sketches and drawings. Learning about the brain today, this tool allows students to use both sides by combining both technology and science to research and also using an artistic lens to observe images. This was interesting to see students learning with their left side by researching the world around them, and then being able to express what they found through visual art. 

As a future educator in Visual Arts, I hope to provide students with opportunities to use their individual strengths towards their learning, and as professor mentioned I think it is so important to include student interests into their learning rather than being separate.  

JessicaH@NUO 

Rethinking AI in the Classroom

An assignment that changed how I think about AI in education was from a religion course I took in Fall 2024, called Holy Heroes: The Lives and Legacies of Christian Martyrs. The assignment was called Voice of a Relic. We researched a Christian martyr and their relic, then presented that research using an AI podcast tool. I chose St. Agnes, and built mine as an interview, using my own real voice to ask the questions, and the software to give voice to her skull.

This was at a time when AI use in coursework was considered an academic integrity issue across all my other courses, so I thought it was a little strange to be asked to use AI for an assignment. But once I started working with the AI, I got fully invested in the creative aspect of the assignment. I ended up really loving the final product. I liked getting to play around with the software and trying everything it could do, and I liked seeing how differently everyone approached the same assignment with the same tool.  The AI tool was engaging and gave us another way to present what we learned.

This made me think about how education could do more to build on right-brain skills, like creativity, intuition, and art, alongside the left-brain skills school tends to emphasize. As a teacher, I should be offering students ways to explore ideas and express what they’ve learned in more creative, less traditional ways, and digital and AI tools allow this easily. It also made me think about varied assessments. AI tools give students freedom in demonstrating their learning while making it more engaging. 

Overall, that assignment made me reflect on AI in the classroom not being about academic integrity or fear, but about teachers willingness to learn, fail, and try something new and to let their students do the same.

BriannaS@NUO 

Using Google Earth Tours!

One teaching tool that I have enjoyed using a lot this past year has been Google Earth. I specifically enjoy using the Google Earth tours to create interactive lessons. I first became aware of this tool when I saw that a residential school lesson existed where students would be able to see all of the different locations of residential schools throughout Canada and learn more about each one. From there I decided to use the tool for other topics in order to create fun and interactive lessons.

The first time I used this feature was during my placement. One of the classes I had was the Travel and Tourism course. I created a tour for a lesson on adventure tourism where students were able to virtually "travel" to different locations around the world. At each location, I included information about the activity as well as some pictures and videos of the activity. Students were able to learn about the different types of adventure tourism while also seeing where these activities take place. 

I think this tool is particularly useful as the map itself is able to be integrated into the lesson. Instead of only showing students a picture of an activity and telling them where it occurs, they could actually see its location and understand its relationship to other places. In the adventure tourism lesson, this was also helpful as students were able to see the physical geography of each location and how it connected to the activity. For example, when learning about volcano boarding, students could see the volcano on the map and then compare it to pictures and videos of the activity. Similarly, when learning about the Hia Giang Loop, students could see the geography of the area and explore some of the significant locations of the route. This made the different stops more real and gave students another way to understand why specific activities take place in particular areas.

This tool can also extend beyond just geography lessons. As seen with the residential school lesson, Google Earth tours could help a lot in a history classroom. For instance, students could look at how the Great Depression was experienced in different regions of Canada or explore the locations of significant events. Students could also use the tool themselves to demonstrate what they learned about a topic.

Overall, I have found Google earth tours a very simple but effective way to make lessons more interactive and connect learning to real places. Below is a screenshot of a different Google Earth tour I created for my Geography teachable class last year as well as a link to the residential school tour!

 

https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/mapping-canadas-history-of-residential-schools-with-google-earth/

 

Melanie S. @NUO 498

Technology is never neutral

We are often told that technology is agnostic: merely a tool that can be used for beneficial or harmful purposes. This view, however, treats technologies as empty containers whose effects depend entirely on the intentions of their users. The Canadian theorist Marshall McLuhan challenged this assumption with his famous statement that “the medium is the message.” He did not mean that content is irrelevant. His point was that every medium changes the scale and rhythm of human experience, regardless of the particular messages it carries.

Consider television. It brings distant events into our homes, making remote places feel immediate. At the same time, it can draw our attention away from what is happening in our own neighbourhoods. Television can make the far seem near and the near seem far.

Social media intensifies this effect. Its platforms address us through personalized feeds and encourage us to experience the world as individual consumers. Even when influencers express thoughtful or socially valuable ideas, those ideas circulate within an architecture designed to capture attention and organize users into marketable profiles. Content matters, but it does not escape the conditions created by the medium through which it is communicated.

The German philosopher Martin Heidegger warned that we become most vulnerable to technology when we regard it as neutral. Technology is not simply an instrument placed between us and the world. It shapes what becomes visible and what we consider valuable. It also influences how we relate to other people. The essential question, therefore, is not only what we use technology for, but what kind of world its use helps to create.

By: Massimo@NUO

EduTopia: Articles Worth Reading

 

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Courtesy of Giuseppe@NUO (2024)

Teaching Critical Thinking Skills

The four-corners activity prompt, "critical thinking is applicable for ANY subject, including Math, Phys. Ed, etc," from the facilitating complex thinking seminar inspired a great classroom discussion. Critical thinking is one of the most important skills teachers teach their students. While students may not remember how to calculate the area of a circle or what the plot of a book was, they will have hopefully extended their critical thinking skills in doing so.  

I think critical thinking is applicable to any subject. Good critical thinking shouldn't require obvious thinking time, meaning you shouldn't be thinking to yourself, "I'm thinking critically right now." Once the skills are developed, you think critically without even realizing it. For example, when playing a strategic board game, you may want to think a few steps ahead of your opponent. You may have to strategize when the best time to make a good move is, and when you can catch your opponent off guard to do so. This is a great example of critical thinking, and most likely, the players are having fun while playing. I think this can similarly be applied to subjects that don't seem like critical thinking is applied, such as physical education. There are layers to the strategies applied in sports or other games played in gym class. These skills not only require critical thinking, but also pair it with collaboration, determination, and resilience. This is what helps student become well-rounded in their thinking abilities.

(Thadomal Shahani Centre For Management, 2021)

Critical thinking is arguably one of the most important skills developed in school. It improves decision-making, problem-solving skills, research abilities, creativity, and can stimulate curiosity. Each of these has significant applications outside of school. For example, in the digital age, having critical thinking skills are important to decipher whether something is true or not. Critical thinking skills can also help you determine why something like an ad is being shown to you. These applications can help people consider the information they have been given effectively and make the best decision with it.

In a subject like math or science, critical thinking skills can easily be found when applying yourself to challenging questions. However, critical thinking skills are not always built into the subjects automatically. In a subject like gym, activities that require less thinking such as rallying could be played, which do not challenge the students as much as other ways of practicing, like scrimmage games. When creating lessons or questions, considering how to challenge students to use their critical thinking skills is important. Practicing critical thinking helps them develop stronger, resulting in students being better prepared for their futures.

Reference - Thadomal Shahani Centre For Management. (2021, April 1). The benefits of Critical Thinking for Students. Critical Thinking Skills. Tscfm.org. https://tscfm.org/blogs/the-benefits-of-critical-thinking-for-students/

                                                                 NatalieM@OTU

Getting Students Motivated

One of the things I think will be a big challenge in my teaching is getting students motivated to learn and complete tasks and assignments of their own free will (not feeling "forced"). Being able to motivate students is something I would like to master, since I'm under the impression that students will learn better and retain information longer when they are motivated and excited to learn. Students have so many different interests so they wont always be interested in presented topics, while being very interested in others. The goal is to get students motivated to learn about and complete tasks even in subjects they don't love. One of the motivation types discussed in the seminar was situational motivation, which means motivation is activity/moment based, is in response to something "flashy" happening or coming from the teachers teaching style. 

To me this means that, to achieve my goal of being able to motivate students, I should be designing engaging and exciting activities, have appealing visuals and an engaging teaching style. I definitely think I have personally felt these work on me as a student too; if the teacher is lecturing at a slow pace with monotone voice and wordy simple slides, I end up dissociating and not feeling motivated to listen and learn, telling myself I'll just teach myself later. But If a teacher is very engaging and using more class discussion and thinking questions, telling us cool or interesting facts, showing videos and have good visual presentations, I'm much more motivated to listen and take notes and even show up to class in general. As a student with ADHD, I also find that motivation to do a task is imperative for me to get any work done. If I am disinterested in the task, I will not do it until the very last moment when the stress and panic of deadlines approaches and finally "motivates" me (not a great kind of motivation though). And then doing the task feels way more difficult than it actually is, almost torturous, and then I resent the teacher and subject for not being interesting. If I can feel this way as a student, then my students can surely feel this way too. As an aspiring science teacher who loves science and thinks its so fascinating and cool, I want to bring students who don't like science and think its hard and boring, up to my level, or at least somewhere close. Based on information given in the seminar, some ideas I have to achieve this include sharing cool facts, showing exciting videos, connecting content to student personal life, and having students be engaged with the lesson. Also doing as many labs and hands on work as possible, since that was always the most fun for me. 

When giving tasks and assignments, leaving space for students to add their own personal opinions and experiences may make them more motivated, since students aren't just repeating facts or information but are sharing their own thoughts and ideas (also less likely to use AI). Also allowing them to choose how they want to present the assignment, like through classic writing, visual posters, videos, songs/poems, drawings… allows them to mix something they are already motivated to do with the content I presented, which will also hopefully increase their motivation, participation and positive experience. Another term that was talked about many times in class was "flow", which is a state students can enter when the given task closely matches their abilities. Not meaning that the task is easy, it's challenging but accomplishable with effort. The idea here is that students will be able to become so engrossed in their task that they wont be thinking of the outcome, they are actually enjoying the process. I feel like this state is a good display of successfully motivating students, and I really hope to get my students to this state.

                                                                  RebeccaD@OTU

EduTopia Articles (Rewind)

 

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What Conflict Leadership Style Do You Use? Whether a leader is avoidant or aggressive or addresses conflict constructively can have a major impact on a school’s ability to navigate tough challenges.

 

A Protocol for Collaborative Problem-Solving Some issues that educators face can be solved in a short time if school leaders use a collaborative protocol to improve staff dynamics.

Shane@NUO