Undertaking studies after 10 years of being absent from the formal educational world has lead me evaluating my own Learning Theories. Firstly, I had to understand what a few of the learning theories were. I made this diagram on bubbl.us whilst procrastinating where to start.
Diagram 1.1 Learning Theories
Briefly, Learning theories acknowledges different approaches to how students learn depending upon the content and context. Four learning theories were considered in this unit of work: Behavioursm, Cognitivism, Constructivism and Connectivism.
Behaviourism
Examples of Behaviourism occur in everyday life, especially as a parent of two well-behaved angels (ahem!) I find myself rewarding good behaviour and punishing bad behviour. It is a good learning theory to teach foundation work and my case, instilling appropriate behaviours.
Cognitivism
Cognitivism focuses on how information is received, organised, stored and retrieved by the mind. It emphasises on understanding, retention and recall through teaching practices. It is based on the psychological approaches of learning and in some instances, refers the to metaphor as the mind is like a computer i.e. information comes in, is being processed and leads to certain outcomes (www.learning-theories.com).
Judy Willis suggests in Rubenstein's (2009) article on brain imagery and intelligence that teachers lead a child into a new subject through his particular strengths and interests. Once he's engaged, a teacher can challenge him to use a different, weaker skill set for another part of the lesson, helping him develop those parts of his brain (www.stumbleupon.com).
After watching her Edutopia webinar “How the brain learns best strategies to make learning stick” relayed the importance of Cognitivism in the classroom. One key idea that struck me as important was the theory based on how to get students to recall and retain information – that it needs to get to the Amygdala via the RAS (Reticulated Activating System). For this to occur the student needs to be in a relatively stress-free zone and stimulated.
Strategies discussed by Dr Willis included a pre-determined sequential lesson. An example of this is to start the lesson with a hook to create interest, then moving onto activating prior knowledge by beginning the lesson with a review quiz to engage. The content to be recalled and retained was then delivered by chunking information into smaller, digestible components. The use of ICT's could then be used to help structure and relate content.
Image sourced at: http://www.reticularactivatingsystem.org/
Constructivism
Constructivism in the classroom allows groups to construct knowledge for one another with the 'support'of the teacher, where new information is built on prior experiences. It focuses on knowledge construction as opposed to knowledge reproduction. Social Constructivism extends costructivism by incorporating the role of other actors and culture in development. It posits that social interactions precede the development of knowledge and understandings, which are in fact the end product of socialisation and social interactions (Howell 2012, page 23).
Constructivist teachers pose problems and questions to their students, give them a set of guidelines and allow them to think about or research their own answers. It is a great theory to be applied in group work or pair share.
We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being.
Connectivism
Connectivism acknowledges technology as a tool in the learning system. It plays an integral role in learning today with student's having access to a broad range of information via the world wide web and creates a learning community (learningcenteredtechnology.wordpress.com). An example connectivism is occurs regularly throughout the course of the day. Every day situations call for information to be acquired immediately. The solution is but a quick google search away or 'googling it'.
Starting this blog has opened my eyes to how theories can play out simultaneously particularly in this course, constructivism and connectivism. Although other theories seem to be obvious (behaviourism: do the assessment pieces to receive a grade accordingly, cognitivism: building upon my previous education to bring about new knowledge in how to educate others in my learning areas), constructivism and connectivism approaches are perhaps most dominant in learning styles. As a distance student we are giving weekly lesson outlines, readings and associated material. This blog allows me to interpret and further research the subjects (in this case Learning Theories) and provide my understandings via this blog. Connectivism is imperative as it underpins to me that if I'm going to get the most out of this course, I have to be an active participant in the blogs and forums, as the views of participants students are crucial.
For more on own my two cents worth, please refer to the PMI diagram below for what I have determined some positives, minuses and interesting of the Learning Theories.
Diagram 1.2 Some PMI's of Learning Theories
Learning Theory
|
Plus
|
Minus
|
Interesting
|
Behaviourism
|
·
Student's learn
appropriate classroom behaviour and
understand that there are consequences associated with behaviour through
positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment.
·
Used to test specific
curriculum or skills
|
·
Individual based as
opposed to group work (passive)
·
Repetitive routines
|
·
Student's give
predicted responses
·
Good for classroom
management
|
Cognitivism
|
·
Pre-determined
sequencing instruction
·
Used for difficult or
higher order thinking
·
Varied types of teaching and teaching tools
|
·
Basic foundation needs
to already be established
·
Although best with ICT’s can still be
delivered without.
|
·
Divides information
into smaller parts/chunks for
easier comprehension.
|
Constructivism
|
·
It is
student centred with the teacher acting as a facilitator (shifts emphasis from
teaching to learning)
·
Allows
students to deliver individual and unique sets of experiences
·
It is
active learning where the students are able to interact, analyse, interpret and evaluate their ideas
·
Social
activity that promotes students working together on activities
·
Considers
learning styles
|
·
Teachers
may not take responsibility for poor outcomes
·
May
lead students to take a majority rules attitude rather than an individual
approach to decision making
|
·
Opportunities
for students to explore various topics resulting in engaged students as
opposed to compliant students strictly following curriculum
·
Apparently, students can be more cooperative
and less competitive
|
Connectivism
|
·
Access
to information can be immediate thanks to wi-fi
·
Multiple
sources (if not millions!) can be accessed quite quickly
|
·
Sources
can be hard to assess
·
No
emphasis on social connections
|
·
Learning
can occur in may different ways – courses, mail, communities, conversations,
reading blogs, web search etc.
·
More
onus can be put on knowing how to find reliable information rather than
knowing information.
|
As for instilling the learning theories into my teaching areas of Business and English, I'm sure it will prove interesting. I envisage the Business units will take on more of a behaviourist approach as there is not much room for opinions. Hopefully I'll be surprised. Hopefully I'll be motivated to take on more of a creative approach to such units. As for English, I'm looking forward to covering units that are more social cognitivism orientated. As a mandatory subject in curriculum I hope that it caters for a variety of communication outputs. Admittedly, I am yet to review the ACARA's website in this regard but it is high on priority list.
REFERENCES
Howell, J. (2012). Teaching with ICT: Digital Pedagogies for Collaboration and Creativity (1st edition), South Melbourne Vic: Oxford University Press.
Learning Centred Technology retrieved 10 March 2015 from https://learningcenteredtechnology.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/connectivism-a-learning-theory-for-the-digital-age/
Learning Theories: Knowledge Base and Webliography retrieved 9 March, 2015 from http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitivism.html
Quote by Maria Montessori retrieved on 8 March 2015 from at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/maria_montessori.html
Rubenstein, G. (2009). Brain imagery probes the ideas of diverse intelligence. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses EDED20491 ICT's for Learning Design, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au
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