PEPSI Screening 1

PEPSI Screening
Anelka R. Navarrete

College of Southern Nevada

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Biography

The student is eight years old, he will be going into third grade this coming up school

year. Every school year the student seems to be the most advanced from his class. Teachers are

always fascinated by the level of achievement the student achieves throughout the school year.

The student performs great in quizzes and tests, but struggles with rushing through it, making

them perform not so well and almost always having to retake tests in which they do better when

taking their time. It appears that in their intellectual aspect they seem to be performing very well

for their age. In the physical and emotional aspect the student is doing well. The student is active

and is an active participant when it comes to physical education. The student likes to play

basketball and other competitive sports. According to the parents, he’s a healthy eater and has no

problem eating fruits and vegetables. As for the emotional part of the student, the student always

has a positive attitude, is always helping other students who need help, and is always happy to be

around others. Other students love to follow him around and be friends with him. He is a very

social student and loves making new friends.

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PEPSI

Understanding children and how their brains work are an important part of being an

educator. There are many things that can affect a child’s way of learning or the way they process

things psychologically. Some principles of educational psychology include physical, emotional,

philosophical, social and intellectual that are part of a child’s development.

“Psychologists working in education study the social, emotional and cognitive processes

involved in learning and apply their findings to improve the learning process. Some specialize in

the educational development of a specific group of people such as children, adolescents or

adults, while others focus on specific learning challenges such as attention deficit hyperactivity

disorder (ADHD) or dyslexia. (American Psychology Association, 2014).”

In educational psychology, there are five key theories, including behaviorism,

cognitivism, constructivism, experientialism, social and contextual. Behaviorism

“is a theory of learning which states all behaviors are learned through interaction with

the environment through a process called conditioning. (McLeod, 2020).”

The student we are studying in this screening is very different from others. But within

the behavior, they’re just like any other regular kid. At school the student is very well behaved

and his teachers never have a problem with him. He always follows directions and is seen as an

exceptional student. According to the parents, the student at home doesn’t follow directions as

well as at school. He struggles with talking about his feelings and gets upset easily when he

doesn’t get his way. But it is something that is constantly being worked with and talked about

with the student. Behaviorism is said to be a reflection of what has been seen around them. In

this case it could be that the student is learning these tactics from other people and they could be
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reflecting that onto themselves. It could be a good thing or a bad thing. In this case it’s not a bad

thing, every child goes through a phase of throwing tantrums. Another thing that could be

happening is that the student enjoys being rewarded. Therefore if at school, if the school is on

their best behavior they’ll know they’ll get rewarded. If they know at home they won't be

rewarded for being good then they’ll think there’s no point in being good.

Cognitivism is a huge part of a child’s development.

“Cognitivism is a learning theory that focuses on how information is received, organized,

stored and retrieved by the mind. (open.edu, 2020).”

Obviously every child learns differently and many go through different things to

overcome any learning problems. It is why we have many programs for any kind of student who

needs help. Like ESL students who have yearly tests to keep up with their progress on their

English speaking and understanding. We have special education classes for students who have

learning disabilities and are always being taught by certified educators.

“Educational psychologists who take a cognitive perspective are interested in

understanding how kids become motivated to learn, how they remember the things that they

learn, and how they solve problems, among other topics. (Cherry, 2022)”

It is a very important thing to include these types of programs to keep children up to date

with their learning and be caught up with the rest of their classmates. The student we are

studying in the screening is by far an exceptional student. Teachers are always very impressed

with the students' performance. When it comes to testing, the student is always getting a good

grade. They never have a problem understanding the material they are provided with. This

student also likes to be the best and always seeks for more things to do to be better. The only
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problem the student has is that he speeds through tests. Multiple teachers have said that the

student likes to be one of the first ones to be done taking a test, and it stops him from taking his

time and performs poorly. But since they seem to understand the material and are an active

participant during class, the teacher allows him to retake the test. Once the student retakes the

test, they perform a lot better than the first time. If the student were to take their time on the first

test, then there wouldn't be a need to retest the student. At home the only problem the child has is

completing their homework. The parents say they always have to push the student to do their

homework. But at the end of the day he completes it and gets a good grade on it.

The following graphs display the student’s progress on their MAP testing in the last two years.
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In the year 2020, it appears the student started on a good note for math and unfortunately went

down throughout the year. As for the reading test, the student’s went up our scores. So overall

the only problem was the math scores getting so low. But we do have to remember we were

going through quarantine; it was a lot harder to accurately test students.

In the year 2021, the student went up in both reading and math. It seems like in math the student

went down for a bit but went back up on his scores. For reading it seems like he just kept going

up.
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When we compare both of the graphs we can see that the student progressingly gets better and

better each time. When it comes to MAP testing, the student’s teacher says that he was one of

the students with the highest scores. Which they say is very impressive for their age.

“Construtivism, is based on the idea that people actively construct or make their own

knowledge, and that reality is determined by your experiences as a learner. (wgu.edu, 2020).”

Constructivism is something that we see a lot in students. You’ll learn to know that

students learn from everything they see and experience. Educators will always learn from their

students that each of them will almost always use previous information they’ve learned to learn

something else. It builds up and it gives them a better understanding of a material.

“Knowledge is constructed. This is the basic principle, meaning that knowledge is built

upon other knowledge. Students take pieces and put them together in their own unique way,

building something different than what another student will build. The student’s previous

knowledge, experiences, beliefs, and insights are all important foundations for their continued

learning. (gwu.edu, 2020)”

For example, this can apply in situations like a math class. For example, we use previous

rules or previous math equations to solve other problems. Some things that are related to

constructivism are two terms named assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the

process of fully understanding information. Accommodation is when you can add modifications

to information or an idea. There will be many times when a student will need accommodations to

learn material better. It is a great source of help to students who have learning disabilities, or just

need an easier way of understanding things. For the student we are studying in this screening, the

student has not needed to have any type accommodations made from them. Assimilation is very
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important. This is something we do on a daily basis. Everytime we listen to something, read

something, see something, we are taking in new information and our brain helps us to understand

what is being said, heard, or seen. It happens when we take a new piece of information and we

change it to better fit our understanding.

Social and contextual theory is just as important. This is a learning process in which

students learn by learning in big groups. The student we are studying in this screening, is a

perfect example of this. Teachers always say he works well by himself or with a group. When

the student is part of a group, they are a leader. They help others, while focusing on their work

and letting others understand the material.

In conclusion, educational psychology is very important. Not only do we learn about how

a child develops, we learn about the different ways a child can learn. I think it is very important

for every future educator to never stop doing research on child’s development. I think it is

always good to learn something new and even observing a student, you can learn from that as

well. From this screening, we see how the child is developing in every area (physical, emotional,

philosophical, social and intellectual). The student is developing everyday and was the ideal

student for this screening.

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References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Educational psychology promotes teaching

and learning. American Psychological Association. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from
https://www.apa.org/education-career/guide/subfields/teaching-learning

Cherry, K. (n.d.). Educational psychology: History and Perspectives. Verywell Mind.

Retrieved July 14, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-educational-
psychology-2795157

Mcleod, S. (2017, February 5). Behaviorist approach. Behaviorism | Simply Psychology.

Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html

Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015). Psychology applied to teaching. Wadsworth.

Western Governors University. (2020, October 21). What is constructivism? Western

Governors University. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-
constructivism2005.html#close