stopped the train because she believed she
could. A lesser hero might have recognized
Super Student
Ready to Soar
The belief that we
can
The world would be in trouble if Supergirl
woke up in the morning and debated
whether she was up to a challenge that she
faced. The first time our heroine jumped in
front of a speeding train, the innocent
passengers would be relieved to know she
is unready to understand the full
complexity of civil action.
his own strength but weighed the speed of
the train, the weight and the distance of
track available before it plunged into the
gorge below. He might recognize that he is
a man of steel, but that even steel has a
breaking point: what happens if this is the
act he cannot accomplish?
Bandura embraced the principle that
children who believed in themselves went
farther and did better than children who
responded more cautiously in life,
operating within their safety zones.
Children with strong efficacy will choose
more difficult tasks with the understanding
that they will be able to master the
challenge. If children of equal ability
confront a problem, children with lower
efficacy will often do more poorly simply
because their self-doubts are strong.
Preparing for
battle
Supergirl isn’t given a cape and the ability
to fly in preschool. What is an incredible
gift to a reasoned and mature person would
be a nightmare with a immature child. Play
dates would end up with toys thrown
through the walls when an angry super-
toddler yelled, “Mine!” Supergirl grows
into her full capacity as a heroine as she
learns the nuances of morals and ethics,
therefore not meting out justice when she
Kohlberg argued that we can only fight the
appropriate moral dilemmas when we
morally mature enough to fight them. Just
as toddlers cannot differentiate between
taking a toy from another toddler as
stealing, so, too, are children at odds with
complex shades of moral injustice. As our
thought processes grow more
sophisticated, so, too the levels of
awareness with which we operate. With
this in mind, we take care with our students
to ensure they learn about civilizations,
history, civics and moral development
before we set them loose into society.
Strength becomes
extraordinary
power.
As Supergirl learns her new abilities—how
to fly, see things mere humans cannot, lift,
move and break things with her muscles,
she also learns to apply her knowledge of
world affairs, criminal minds and previous
discord to help keep the innocent safe.
Though she may not know precisely who
the criminal is and how he works, she
knows from her previous experience where
the criminals tend to congregate and what
motivates them. With her information
provided by local police and media, she’s
able to build a framework of information to
foil the criminal’s latest plans. The
knowledge she gains now will provide a
new information base to begin her next
challenge.
So, too, for the student. As an algebra
course grows more difficult, a student may
not know how to solve for “x” in the
particular equation in front of her, but she
knows she’s solved algebra equations
before, and she can see that solving for “x”
by resolving the equation in the numerator
and then dividing it by the result of the
equator in the denominator will provide for
“x.” With confidence in herself (Bandura)
and her prior experience, Vygotsky’s view
is that she slowly can build her experience
out across the unknown. Correctly solving
this equation will give her a new
information structure from which to build
for the next new math problem she
encounters.
Environmental
influences can
hinder efforts
Supergirl may have all of the strength and
wisdom in the world, but if she is held by
kryptonite, all is for naught. This one item
has the power to hold back all of her drive
and strength. She can try to fight against it,
but to win against it, she has to use her
self-determination and cunning to
overcome it. Just as her efforts affect
others, their actions have an effect on her.
So, too, is a student and her surroundings.
Bronfenbrenner explored how a student’s
microsystem or exosystem can play a role
in her success. The student may be bright
and talented, but if her family, guardians,
adult influences are a drain on her energy
and confidence or opportunities are not
available, her future can systematically be
undone. When the people around us and
our environments prevent us from growing,
the effect can be like kryptonite. A student
with a strong will and ability to work
around her environmental obstacles can
overcome these barriers, but not without a
lot of strength and self confidence
(Bandura’s self efficacy).
Working together
Supergirl works for and relies on the
citizens. They comprise the community of
which she is a part. While she is bullet-
proof and can fly, without their energy to
help her create a crime-free city, she works
at a disadvantage. She can go through the
motions, but without their actions to
reinforce her efforts, she operates in a
vacuum.
Moreover, Supergirl relies on the citizens
in her community to work together to
support her efforts. She may work with
law enforcement, but she also needs
schools and religious groups to help create
a better city.
Comer recognized that schools are the
second most influential presence in a
child’s life. A child needs to be at the fore
of the planning and involvement. If a
student tries and succeeds or tries and fails,
she needs to understand that there is a
supportive network of people behind her:
family, teachers, school, religious leaders
and peers. When a child can rely on a
supportive community behind her efforts,
she becomes super, indeed.
Works Cited
Bandura, Albert (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in
cognitive development and functioning. Educational
Psychologist, 28 (pp. 117-148).
Bronfenbrenner, Urie (1977) Toward an
experimental ecology of human development.
American Psychologist.
Comer, James P. (2004) Leave no child behind:
preparing today’s youth for tomorrow’s world. New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Kohlberg, L. (1974) The claim to moral adequacy of
a higher stage of moral judgement. In Moral
development and moral philosophy. (pp. 630-646).
Tudge, J. & Winterhoff, P. (1993). Vygotsky, Piaget,
and Bandura: Perspectives on the relations between
the social world and cognitive development. Human
Development, 36 (pp. 61-81.)
Heidi Nowicki
LTM611 May 2, 2009