It was a very long week for me, there are a lot of work in every module that we should go through and I am a bit worried that I am not giving my best in every subject all tough I try to. This is what I found the most important in Study Unit .

In study unit 1 I learned about the learning theories:

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development: this development focus on the influence of social interaction and relationships on learning. I learned that this development is very important for students, because every time they accomplish something they depend on their friends, family members and teachers to feel proud of the thing they accomplished.

Piaget's cognitive development theory: Students learn by seeing how something works in the real world, they then improve the skills and knowledge they already have with the new knowledge. Piaget also believes that student's cognitive development is that they think differently from adults. I also learned that Piaget's cognitive development theory falls between pre-operational stage and concrete operational stage.

Vygotsky and the zone of proximal development: I learned that this development draws attention to the socio-cultural factors that influence cognitive development. I also learned that Vygotsky believes that cultural development and thinking is learned and passed on through symbols relating to symbols and tools such as language, counting and writing. I learned that I as a teacher, should help teach the learners during the early stages of obtaining new knowledge and skills. Vygotsky believes that this way of learning is to allow learners to get the necessary understanding to solve problems by themselves. The concept of a zone of proximal development is one of the most important characteristic of Vygotsky's cognitive development theory.

Musical development in the foundation phase: 

I learned that by the time learners go to school, they already developed the ability to selective hearing and directed listening increases on-task behaviour and listening duration. This development is important because it allows the learners to focus on the specific musical aspects.

I learned that increased motor control can lead to the ability to play certain instruments, like the xylophone or keyboard. The learners singing ability improves during the middle childhood years, by the age of 6-7 years old they have a vocal range of approximately one octave. 

Music and the holistic development of foundation phase learners:

I learned that the only way to improve the learners holistic development is that they should experience music activities. 

Physical development: dancing to music. When learners play an instrument, they develop gross and fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination and midline crossing. 

Cognitive development: when learners participate in music activities where learners have to improvise, they will have to come up with new ideas of their own to create new dance moves or think of new ways to make instruments, this way the learners learn how to think for themselves and find a solution to the problem.

Social development: Music helps everyone to come together, and by playing music with your friends, the learners engage in social interaction. According to Erikson's psychosocial development theory, states that when learners participate in group music activities, they can experience success and this is important for not only the social development but for their personal development too.

Personal development: when learners play music with their friends, it gives the learners the experience of success gives to learners that gains the learner's confidence and believing in themselves. Playing music with their classmates can also give them the ability to be creative.

Emotional development: lastly I learned that learners experience music with more than one emotion and they then learn to identify the different emotions. When the learners experience these emotions with other learners while they listen to music, they learn to be sensitive towards each other.

I learned that Foundation Phase learners could be taught to be aware that the learners can use music to manage their emotions by listening to a certain types of music and that will explain how the learners feel.