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Players: Me, my dad & my pink princess bike

One of the first learning experiences I can recall is the time I rode a bike without training wheels. It was a very scary moment at the age of 7 years old. I fell down many times, but each time I did my dad would say, "don't stay down, get back up". It wasn't until I fell and cut my leg from the knee to the bottom of my foot that I had to stay down. But even after this accident, I tried, again and again, to learn how to ride a bike. Using metacognition I remember telling myself how hard it will be to ride a bike. Then I came to realize from my previous knowledge of riding a tricycle that is almost the same thing. From riding a tricycle to a bike with training wheels, I thought to myself that it was the same concept but I kept repeating to myself, "balance, balance, balance." Telling myself that it was difficult without the extra wheels hindered my performance of doing well. But when I looked at my previous knowledge in a positive light, I was able to slowly get the hang of riding a bike without any help.

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Taking a college class for the first time

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Taking a college class for the first time

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Players: Me, my first college professor, and my textbook

I remember starting my early college high school where I had to take a college class at 14 years old. I was nervous because of the higher standard college students are held to. I had to learn a variety of skills that I felt that I did not have as a freshman in high school and college. I had to learn to be organized, responsible, and accountable for my schedule and assignments.  I found that the learning I wanted to accomplish by being a good student and learning college etiquette came from intrinsic motivation. Being a college student gave me a sense of autonomy to do really great for myself. I had many academic goals I wanted to achieve, and graduating with an Associate's Degree was one of them. I had to apply to my school and knew that it was going to be challenging, so through the Self-Determination Theory, I didn't have my parents force me to go but I knew that I actively wanted to take this opportunity to get ahead. As a fourteen-year-old, I knew that this was a new challenge I was able to persevere through and in the end, I graduated from both High school and Community College.

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Players: Me & my white Toyota Camry

Learning to drive was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I was never really one to want to learn how to drive, but my family needed me to drive. Getting behind the wheel made me anxious and paranoid. I would drive slow and often start freaking out when I saw too many cars on the street. Once I got my actual license and started driving on my own, I became more attentive and aware of the road. I decided to learn skills that helped lessen my anxiety on the road. I never connected my past learning experience with riding a bike to driving a car. I felt like those two actions were completely different. In a way, I was not able to transfer the knowledge of riding a bike to driving a car. That type of transfer inhibited me to understand how a car works. Prior knowledge of driving often looked like Mario Kart and driving games. It sounds silly, but I was able to see how a wheel, pedal, and gear stick. Using metacognition I had to often calm my thoughts with positive ones on the road. Anytime I had to drive with an instructor I thought my driving was the worst, which often lead to me making mistakes. Once I started driving on my own, I thought about the rules of the road and how I am going to follow them. Doing tasks for my parents lead me to learn about road signs and the locations of my city.

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Players: Me, my mental health, & therapist

Mental health was never a big topic in my family. Often times it was taboo and shunned by my Hispanic parents. I, on the other hand, am studying Psychology and Education. I became really aware of mental health in college. Having a challenging time during the pandemic made me realize how much I needed therapy for myself because of the challenges COVID-19 presented me but also my childhood trauma. I didn't know much about how to get healthy mentally, and that is something I decided how to learn. My parents always made comments about me having to be happy because I have food, clothes, and a roof over my head. Although I was grateful, I knew I had to talk to a therapist about my mental well-being. I learned about dismantling my trauma and also, learning coping skills and mechanisms to help with my process of growing and healing. An important learning theory that influenced my understanding of therapy and self-help was Cognitivism/Constructivism. I was actively building on the knowledge of therapy that I had learned from my Psychology courses. My therapist helped me connect problems I was having with childhood trauma and other cognitive/behavioral explanations. Even if I had the help from my therapist, I still had to learn and work on myself to continue with my goal of self-healing on my own. I'm not in therapy as of now, but I continue to look into healthy habits and boundaries to keep me mentally healthy. I've also taken time to journal and start reading books that will help me continue to learn about myself and how my mind works.

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Players: Me & UCSC S.H.O.P. (Party Safe)

I interned at the Health Center's S.H.O.P. department my sophomore year. Party like a slug is a program where we help students learn how to safely use alcohol and other drugs. I've grown up with little knowledge about A.O.D. which was a topic taboo and new to me starting at UCSC. I was really interested in it because I know college provides a lot of freedom to experiment. While I was interning I was learning how we can use A.O.Dd in a harm reduction lens. As I was learning, I was also educating and reaching out to other students about the harm reduction methods of how to use A.O.D. in a safer manner. Socialculturalism learning theory took a big part for me to learn about alcohol and other drug knowledge. I often collaborated with my supervisor and co-workers to bounce ideas off one another and learn through each other. Social Interaction was a big factor in understanding the College culture and how it impacts the vast cultures on the UCSC campus. I often referred to my Zone of Proximal Development to receive some help from my peers. Drug and Alcohol Education can be a heavy topic to discuss, but interacting with people helped me learn more and more about my internship goals and objectives.