Post on 24-Feb-2016
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Approaches to Learning –Ways of Learning 1
Year 1 Semester 2 Week 2
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Week 1 Independent Study TaskYour personal learning experiences:
Were they positive or negative learning experiences? What made them so?
Were there any “significant breakthrough” moments? What triggered these?
Who played a significant part in your learning- how?
Compare e.g. learning to cycle with learning to read. Similarities? Differences?
Is all successful learning fundamentally the same?
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What did the Victorians believe about learning?
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What do we believe now?
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Burrhus Skinner 1904-1990 EARLY LIFE Stable family life in a small railroad town in
Pennsylvania His inventive interests came early Unremarkable early education
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Skinner’s Theory: He was one of a group of theorists known as the
BEHAVIOURISTS Behaviourism is sometimes known as learning theory Behaviourists believe all behaviour is learned and can
be shaped: NURTURE v NATURE Humans act to avoid punishment & gain reward Skinner emphasised reward, saying punishment was
counter-productive. Tasks were broken down into small steps &
reinforced, rewarded as they were learned.
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Rewards What rewards have you seen used to reinforce
desired behaviour / learning in the classroom and beyond?
Are there any disadvantages to offering rewards?
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Skinner’s influence in the classroom
Programmed instruction – certain computer programmes / workbooks – material offered in small steps, self-correcting
Repetition, drill & practice ( e.g. spellings|, times tables)
Behaviour management
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Limitations of the approach Work was carried out on rodents & pigeons
but applied to humans – its critics say it provides a simplistic view of human learning & motivation
Rewards can be counter-productive – EXTRINSIC v INTRINSIC motivation
Child is seen as passive receiver of knowledge Led in the past to teaching by direct instruction
– didactic, chalk & talk
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Ignores emotion & complexities of human behaviour – no ‘mind’ or ‘soul’ only a brain!
Focuses on behaviour rather than thinking or feeling – so can be authoritarian by nature
Ignores judgement / reflection / ways patterns of learning can be adapted to new information
Little reference to developmental stages of the child which might affect what s/he can understand
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Jean Piaget 1896 - 1980 Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, was the first
person to propose an overall theory of cognitive development, based on the way children of different ages behave. His theory is called CONSTRUCTIVISM
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His theory: Based on the idea that the minds of young
babies work in very different ways from the minds of adults – they are not mini-adults
Thinking passes through a series of distinct and consecutive stages en route to its adult form.
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Key ideas Schema: the mental representations that develop as
children have new experiences & put new ideas together (Ref: Child Development Semester 1)
Assimilation: the process of taking in and recognising when experiencing something new
Accommodation: the process of learning by altering existing states of knowledge
Disequilibrium: new ideas cause discomfort. They need to be assimilated to restore equilibrium – feeling comfortable with our thinking.
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The sensori-motor stage: 0-2 years approximately
Understanding drawn from physical action & senses.EgocentricBecome aware of object permanence
The pre-operational stage: 2-6 years approximately
Start to represent objects with wordsStill egocentric
The concrete operational stage: 6-12 years approximately
Begin to use logical thought about physical operationsCategorise objects by similarities and differencesAs egocentricity decreases, so role of self-concept / self esteem becomes crucial
The formal operational stage: 12 years approximately onwards
Able to think hypothetically and in abstractLimit to depth & breadth of knowledge
PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT:
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Implications for Learning & Teaching
Ideas & knowledge should be presented at a level consistent with that the child is at
Teaching should be matched to the needs of the individual: children need to be presented with experiences that trigger assimilation & accommodation – e.g. when teaching a new concept in science, we must ask how closely this is related to the child’s previous learning (accommodation) or is it completely new (assimilation).
Learning should be supported by action – first-hand experience
Periods of play & exploration are needed for development
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Limitations Piaget used a limited range of subjects in a clinical
situation – including his own three children!
The stages are not a continuous development but are ‘shifts’ in thinking; implying a ceiling on children’s development rather than emphasising what they can do.
There is too little emphasis on the social and emotional aspects of learning. [Susan Isaacs]
There is not enough emphasis on the social components of the learning experience. [Lev Vygotsky]
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Difficulties of language & context Piaget’s clinical questions did not always make ‘human sense’
to the child [such as the mountain task which is disembedded from the child’s thinking]
As an experimenter Piaget loses sight of what language is to the child. He often does not work in a meaningful context that the child can relate to
Changing the task, the situation or the language to a more familiar child context has been shown to result in more children giving a correct answer, showing that children are not as limited in their ability to decentre as Piaget described [Margaret Donaldson]
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INDEPENDENT STUDY TASKIdentifying your own learning style.
Complete the long learning styles questionnaire you have been given and work out your score. We will collect these next week. (work quickly and intuitively – don’t think about it too much!)
Use the following web-links to try two alternative tests- do you come out with similar results:
http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/mul
tiple_int/questions/choose_lang.cfm
READ: Franklin, S. ( 2006) ‘VAKing out learning styles-why the notion of ‘learning styles’ is unhelpful to teachers’ Education 3-13 34 (1) pp.81-87 – SEE READING PACK We will discuss this article and your results next week.