What is learning?

“A relatively permanent change in behaviour that results from practice”

“A meaning-making process”

Does what you teach translate into what your learners learn?

ATHERTON J S (2009) What is learning? http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/whatlearn.htm

Motivation to learn

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

ATHERTON J S (2009) Motivation http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/motivation.htm

Note down examples of:

•Questions you ask your learners

•The purpose of each of these questions

Surface v deep learning

• Recall/reproduce facts

• Aim to pass exams• No reflection• No concept of

overall patterns or themes

• Relate concepts to existing knowledge and everyday life

• Organise and restructure new knowledge

• Challenge new concepts

• Determine what is significant

Reece & Walker (2003) Teaching, training and learning

Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Classify forms and levels of learning

• Identifies three domains of learning– Cognitive (Knowledge)– Affective (Attitude)– Psycho-motor (Skills)

Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Include lower and higher level tasks

• Staying with tasks at the bottom the taxonomy can lead to surface learning

• The full spectrum of the taxonomy could appear at every academic level

Bloom’s Taxonomy – effective questioning

Pair work• Assign the questions to the

appropriate level of Bloom’s taxonomy

• Review the questions you habitually use

Memory

ATHERTON J S (2009) Memory

http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/memory.htm

Triggering the memory

1. Unusual info2. Organised info3. Make associations e.g. verbal,

visual4. Review during and after5. Create multisensory memories

Rose & Nicholl (1998) Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century

Learning cycle (Kolb)

ConcreteExperience

ReflectiveObservation

Abstract Concept-ualisation

ActiveExperiment-

ation

Learning by doing / experiential learning

• Simulations, real-life problem-solving tasks, use of props and arterfacts

• They stimulate high-level thinking skills i.e. reasoning, enquiry, creative thinking, evaluation

Active learning

“Active learning? You must be joking, there’s not time for entertainment with all this content to cover.”