The vibe at the beginning of class today was quite odd. There was no chitchat and everyone seemed very tired. If Dr. Gurung would have started a lecture he would have lost every student immediately. Instead, we opened with a short activity that got people talking. The students were instructed to make a list using the biopsychosocial approach to identify the factors that influence a person’s exercise behavior. This showed to be a useful teaching strategy, as it held the students attention on a gloomy dark morning.
It was an unusual day anyways, because by midway through the lecture, about 25 fifth-graders from Phuture Phoenix were standing in the back of the room. We got the fifth-graders involved and interested in our lecture by asking them questions that were related to our topic of discussion. The Phuture Phoenix kids were talkative, and their responses were deep for their age. I think the class enjoyed having the fifth-graders listen in and make comments.
All semester, we have been reinforcing the idea that the theories we learn in Health Psychology are applicable in the real world. Having the fifth-graders in the classroom was another great example of this. I couldn’t help but think that all the students were analyzing them based on the theories and concepts they have learned. I also think that while listening to looking at the fifth-graders, many of the students were probably recalling the activity they did at the beginning of class. It’s fun to see learning in action.
I think that listening to the kids’ questions also seemed to make the students think about different determinants of things. We got to use some of the student comments in class today as well which was nice as ‘out of the mouth of babes’ seems to strike a more memorable cord. It is nice to see the students talk more too (beyond to each other as we saw today for a little bit).