6* Social-Cognitive Psychology lesson on observational learning from September 3, 2025.
Began with a review worksheet on classical and operant conditioning, which had been the previous meeting’s topic; this in-class check-for-understanding allowed students to work in a small group (or, as can be seen, individually). Then there was lecture on Bandura’s research on observational learning. And finally a demonstration of Bandura’s four stages of observational learning wherein students watched a video of me folding a paper airplane, which they copied — and then tested in a nearby open space (the observation deck).
This is how I would like many of the our class period’s to go: there is individual work and small group work; there is direct instruction reinforcing key elements from the assigned readings; and there is a personal experience for students of the psychological principles being learned. It doesn’t always work out that way though. There is a lot of material in a cognitive psychology class for high school students to learn; and not all of it can be experienced by students in a high school.
But, this class period is my goal