Issues in learning

Karen Duffy

Standard Q10

To have knowledge and understanding of a range of teaching, learning and behaviour management strategies

and how to use and adapt them , including how to personalise learning and provide opportunities for all

learners to achieve their potential

( TDA, Professional standards for Teachers in England 2007)

Personalised learning

•In 2004 after many years of a single minded pressure for performance in schools, government decided to focus future policy on personalised learning as a new concept for educational provision.

• It is part of the primary strategy ( DfEs :2003) and underlines the Strategy for children and learners ( DfEs 2006)

What is personalised learning ?

•Personalised learning is described by the DfES as

•“ A philosophy- It is an approach to teaching and learning which builds on the needs and interests of the child. It recognises that the

quality of the learning is shaped by the learner’s experiences, character, interests

and aspirations”

A basic review of learning theories

Behaviorism / Social Learning Theory

Cognitivism / constructivism

Social Constructivism

Multiple Intelligences

Brain-Based Learning

behaviourism

Classical and operant conditioning

Influential in 1960’s

Rewards and punishments

Responsibility for student learning rests squarely with the teacher

Lecture-based, highly structured

Behaviourism - SLT

Social learning theoryLearning takes place

through observation and sensorial experiences

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

SLT is the basis of the movement against violence in media & video games Bobo Doll Experiment

SLT in the Classroom

Collaborative learning and group work

Modeling responses and expectations

Opportunities to observe experts in action

Constructivism

Based on work of Jean Piaget

Knowledge is stored cognitively as symbols

Learning is the process of connecting symbols in a meaningful & memorable way

Studies focused on the mental processes that facilitate symbol connection

Schema

We are all born Tabula Rasa ( apart from reflex skills)

Need to develop schema – filesWhat was your schema for teaching prior to

the course ? How has that changed now – what more is

there in your filing cabinetWhat will your teaching schema be after

block B ?

Schemas for Xavier

He is my son, named after where his dad and I met, Xaverian College

He is 9 months old

He likes to eat ‘organic carrot sticks’ ( basically posh wotsits)

He can say 4 words, mama, baba, bye bye and bang bang’

His favourite toy is a Quality street tin and a spoon- hence ‘bang bang’

Accomodation and assilimation

Initial schemaNew schema formed- assimilationEquilibriumNew information comes in- disequilibriumAccomodation ( additional elemnts added to

already formed information)New schema formedEquilibrium

In the real world

A child learns his father is called Daddy, ( initial schema)

Child in state of equilibruim- knows all tall things with dark hair and glasses are Daddy

so he calls another male ( the priest ) Daddy - Assimilation

Mother has heart attack at this outburst and child is quickly told that the other man is not Daddy, he is Father O’Brien – disequilibrium

 The schema for Daddy is modified ( note to self: Daddy doesn’t wear a white collar) and a new schema for Priests developed - accommodation

Child develops new schemas – equilibrum

Until he meets a Bishop or the Pope and the whole process starts again

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensori-motor  (Birth-2 yrs) 

Differentiates self from objects  Recognises self as agent of action and begins to act intentionally: e.g. pulls a string to set mobile in motion or shakes a rattle to make a noise 

Achieves object permanence: realises that things continue to exist even when no longer present to the sense   

Stages of Cognitive Development

•Pre-operational (2-7 years) •Learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words  •Thinking is still egocentric: has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others  •Classifies objects by a single feature: e.g. groups together all the red blocks regardless of shape or all the square blocks regardless of colour 

Stages of Cognitive Development

• Concrete operational•(7-11 years) 

•Can think logically about objects and events  Achieves conservation of number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9) • •Classifies objects according to several features and can order them in series along a single dimension such as size.

Example of conservation tasks

Stages of Cognitive Development

Formal operational•(11 years and up) •Can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systemtically • Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems•Can think in abstracts such as who is God ? What is Love

Educational Implications

The content of instruction needs to be consistent with the developmental level of the learner- may need to adapt

The teacher's role is to facilitate learning by providing a variety of experiences.

"Discovery learning" provides opportunities for learners to explore and experiment, thereby encouraging new understandings.

Opportunities that allow students of differing cognitive levels to work together often encourage less mature students to advance to a more mature understanding. ( social scontructivism)

Provide concrete props and visual aids, such as models

Educational Implications

Use familiar examples to facilitate learning more complex ideas.

Present problems that require logical analytic thinking; the use of tools such as "brain teasers" is encouraged.

Huitt and Hummel (1998) assert that "only 35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many people do not think formally during adulthood".

This is significant in terms of developing instruction and performance support tools for students who are chronologically adults, but may be limited in their understanding of abstract concepts.

Constructivism in the Classroom

Inquiry-oriented projects

Opportunities for the testing of hypotheses

Curiosity encouraged

Social Constructivism

Grew out of and in response to Cognitivism / constructivism

More emphasis on learner needing to be social and working with others to gain information

Lev Vygotsky Social Learning

Zone of Proximal Development

Zone of proximal development

The theory of the "Zone of Proximal Development" (ZPD), Vygotsky observed that when children were tested on tasks on their own, they rarely did as well as when they were working in collaboration with an adult.

It was not that the adult was teaching them how to perform the task, but that the process of engagement with the adult enabled them to refine their thinking or their performance to make it more effective.

Hence, for him, the development of language and articulation of ideas was central to learning and development.

 The common-sense idea which fits most closely with this model is that of "stretching" learners.

It is common in constructing skills check-lists to have columns for "cannot yet do", "can do with help", and "can do alone".

The ZPD is about "can do with help", not as a permanent state but as a stage towards being able to do something on your own. The key to "stretching" the learner is to know what is in that person's ZPD—what comes next, for them.

“The distance between a child's actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the higher level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky)

The Zone of Proximal Development

MKO

More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) is part of scaffolding idea

Refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept.

Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the case. Many times, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience.

In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all. Some companies, to support employees in their learning process, are now using electronic performance support systems. Electronic tutors have also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students through the learning process. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does

Social Constructivism in the Classroom

Journaling

Experiential activities

Personal focus

Collaborative & cooperative learning

ScaffoldingLook at TEEP and

Kagan training

Multiple Intelligences (MI)

Grew out of Constructivism

H. Gardner (1983 to present)

All people are born with eight intelligences:

Enables students to leverage their strengths and purposefully target and develop their weaknesses

1. Verbal-Linguistic 5. Musical

2. Visual-Spatial 6. Naturalist

3. Logical-Mathematical 7. Interpersonal

4. Kinesthetic 8. Intrapersonal

MI in the Classroom

Delivery of instruction via multiple mediums

Student-centered classroom

Self-directed learning

Examples of how you could use these intelligences in the classroom

Logical – problem solving, Musical – learning information to music.

Playing music in backgroundVerbal- poetry, word searches, pictonaryVisual/spatial – presenting using

photographs, 3 dimentional objectsBody – drama/ role playInterpersonal – working together towards a

common goal, debating Intra- personal –teaching using ‘feelings’

BBL in the Classroom

Opportunities for group learning

Regular environmental changes

A multi-sensory environment

Differences in right and left brain thinking

Opportunities for self-expression and making personal connections to content

Left brain/ Right brain

LEFTUses logicFacts ruleDetail orientedGood at science and

mathsPracticalSafePattern and order

RIGHTUses feelingsSees the big pictureHas spatial

perceptionRisk takersImpetuousBelievesSymbols and imagesImagination rules

Don’t forget

LiteracyNumeracyHandling information 90% of what is taughtKnowledge of facts

Joy of discoveryCreativityEmotional intelligence 10% of what is taughtProblem solvingDream buildingAwe and wonder

20% of talking in a classroom is done by the students and of that 90% is “ can I go to the toilet?”

60% of writing in schools is copying from the board