Environmental and Biological Influences in the Classroom :: Teaching Education Essays

Environmental and Biological Influences in the Classroom The fourth grade class that I looked at had a number of different personalities. Some of the differences can be attributed to either environmental or biological causes. Some of the differences I thought might be something that was due to environment however, after talking to the teacher, Mrs. St.Germain, I changed my opinion to being a characteristic due to the biological influences. Some of the differences I noticed I thought where due to genetics or biological causes. One student that I thought exhibited characteristics that may have been due to environment was a girl who exhibited a lot of shyness. She was very quit and sat following directions at all times. As a whole the girls in the class where much quieter than the guys, however, this girl was quite a bit more quite than all the other girls were. I attribute her shyness to the environment that she was brought up in. I feel this very strongly after talking to Mrs. St.Germain. The girl was an immigrant from Haiti and had just learned to speak English in the 2nd grade. This late introduction into American society, lifestyle, and way of life is probably rather overwhelming and that causes the environment to add to her shyness. Another student seemed very outgoing and rather loud compared to the rest of the students. When I was coming to the room he introduced himself right away and told me the rest of the class was in the media center. At times he interrupted class and could be a nuisance at times. At first I thought that this could be an effect of an environment where he did not receive enough attention. After talking to Mrs. St.Germain though it turned out that he has ADHD along with another hyper activity disorder and his mother would not allow him to be medicated. The next student that I observed was very smart in math. I was told that he often times beats the teacher when doing math multiplication dittos. I think that his intelligence is something that would be passed down through his genes. On the other hand if a learning environment is established than a higher intelligence may result from the learning environment.