Theories And Models Of Learning - Essay Example

Introduction This paper will discuss the three theories of learning which include humanist, cognitive-constructivist and the behaviourist theories and the principles that define the. Another issue of importance would be a discussion as to how the theories relate to the development of the curriculum in special education. Curriculum is a Greek word that means course. Curriculum can also be defined as a trial to pass on or teach the essential components and principles of an education policy in a manner that is open to critique and can be integrated into day to day practice (Stenhouse, 1975). Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology is the study of the mind including the behaviour, mental processes and defining how the mind works. It also includes issues such as learning, perception, memory, the art of reasoning and solving problems. Cognitive psychology can also be defined as the way in which the mind transforms, reduces, elaborates, stores, recovers and uses information. Cognition is the ability of human beings to do everything that they possibly can. Constructivism According to constructivists, learning is done through construction. The learning of new information occurs when new information is added onto what the individual already knows, therefore, increasing their scope of knowledge, intelligence and skills. Most people learn best when information is added gradually to what they already know thereby increasing their understanding. Constructivism is the art of learning through construction of the mind. A person learns when they get new information and they build it upon what they already know. Most individuals learn through building their understanding of issues. In this theory, learning is a process that must follow precise steps failure to which the individual will have distorted information. Learning is done gradually in steps to ensure that the information is fully assimilated and integrated into the individual’s mind. Cognitivists believe that the learning does not only rely on stimuli but also involves senses, thought and experience. The theory takes into consideration some of the more defined human ways of thinking and recognising that people have a more complex brain, thinking capacity than that of animals. Even though the behaviour of animals can shed light on the conduct of human beings, the learning processes of people should further be evaluated. Within the four areas of learning, knowledge, concepts, skills and attitudes, factual information can be sought and understood. They are the types of learning that children are involved in. We also learn to understand new things and new ideas, skills and developing new attitudes towards the environment. Behaviourism This is the theory of learning that focuses on things that can be seen and does not put into account any mental activities. It is only concerned with learned behaviour whether it is through experience or through watching. Proponents of this theory believe that people can learn more from external stimuli than if they are actively involved in the process. Learning is acquiring new behaviour and behaviourists describe this as conditioning. There are two types of conditioning that explain the reason as to why both human beings and animals are taught or learn to do certain things. The first type is classical conditioning where there is a reinforcement of a natural reflex or another type of behaviour that happens as a result of exposure to a stimulus. Operant conditioning, on the other hand, is the reinforcement of behaviour by rewarding it. Every time a particular behaviour is practised, the participant is given a reward. Operant conditioning is the most important type of behaviourist learning and is seen as more powerful than classical conditioning. Just as the way positive behaviour is reinforced, so is negative behaviour. Negative behaviour is discouraged by immediate punishment. For instance, the monkeys that were kept in a cage and every time they tried to reach out for the banana, they were electrocuted. With time, they all restrained from reaching out for the banana no matter how enticing it was. Humanism Humanists focus mostly on human beings and emphasises on issues of personal choice, creativity and spontaneity of an individual. The conscious of the human being is of great importance in this theory and the holistic approach to the nature of individuals. Humanism came from phenomenology that is the study of immediate experience as it occurs and the founder of this theory is Abraham Maslow. Humanism advocates for the individual to be the focus of learning where he develops autonomy has goals and attach importance to what they are studying. Although humanism is not as scientific as the rest of the theories, it gives a responsive strategy to the thought processes of human beings. It also gives the differences in human beings in what they experience in the learning process. Humanism is common with motivation theorists as opposed to human theorists. The most common strategy of describing and managing education and learning today relies on the product model. The teacher or educator comes up with objectives, draws a plan to meet the objectives, applies he plan in the classroom and finally evaluates the plans based on the outcome. An example of this with my students is when they undertake City and Guilds Life and Living qualification. They study over a two-year period on a specific programme to enhance their independent living skills. These skills are taught in an inclusive and highly differentiated manner and assessed through a range of evidence gathering, including written work, photographs, witness statements and observations. I utilise the principles of learning in planning lessons, coming up with the structure of the lesson and meeting the needs of the different students in the classroom. Students have to understand what acceptable and inappropriate behaviour is and the limits of what they can or cannot do. To communicate the rules of the classroom to the students, a linear style is used. Establishing the rules requires a different approach ass the rules need to be agreed upon by the students ass well hence I use the circular model. All the activities in the classroom especially regarding rules are led by the teacher and I mostly use the behavioural learning theory. The model by Tyler (1949) had four questions regarding the linear approach and they included; 1. What are the educational objectives that the school or institution seek to obtain? 2. How are the objectives likely to be met and what strategies can be used to attain them? What educational experiences are likely to attain these objectives (instructional strategies and content)? 3. How can the strategies be organised effectively to produce the maximum results? 4. How can the objectives be met and measured? My approach to lesson structure starts with introducing the topic, telling the students’ what the lesson will entail, explaining the expectations and writing the objectives clearly on the board. I utilise the cognitivist principles where communication with the students is linear, autocratic and at the same time learning is from the teacher’s point of view. I create an atmosphere where my students’ needs are met in accordance with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow was the spiritual father of humanistic psychology. Maslow started as a behaviourist but became unhappy with some of the doctrines of the approach especially where it seemed to ignore “real people”. How I apply Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Physiological needs, by regulating the temperature in our classroom, access to water at all times, accessible toilets, planned regular breaks, and awareness of medical and sensory requirements of individual students. Safety needs are met through group rules, safe guarding of students, pastoral care with referral on to specialists, health and safety policies of the college, and risk assessments. Love and belongingness, established through development of strong team bonds within group, strong links with home through daily use of communication books, use of worry box, open door policy for communication, peer mentoring, access to 1-1 support from one of the groups two learning support assistants. Esteem needs, individual targets, reward system, group rules, motivational approach of all staff, and zero tolerance of bullying. Cognitive needs, highly structured multi-sensory environment, visual timetables, changes flagged up as soon as possible, differentiated work set at individual can do levels, stretch and challenge built in, setting goals that are regularly reviewed, and lots of over-learning. Aesthetic needs, class displays are pitched at students level, work is valued by being displayed, environment is interesting but not too over stimulating, sensory needs are taken into consideration, access to art and nature, and lots of off-site trips. Self-actualization, students are encouraged to enjoy and achieve in everything we do, aspirational targets set for each individual, close monitoring and sharing of results with students gives them a real sense of their progress and targets, celebrating achievement, with lots of encouragement. Because my learners all have learning disabilities I deliver highly differentiated lessons to ensure inclusion. Differentiation is achieved through levels of work, levels of support, expectations, extension work and access to my two learning support assistants. I set differentiated learning objectives and deliver my lessons in a multisensory way with an emphasis on ensuring that I meet the learning style needs of each individual. This inclusive approach comes from the humanistic learning theory. It is important that I take into account not only the learning styles of my learners but also my learning style preferences, which will obviously impact on my teaching style. To discover what these preferences are, I use the ‘Honey and Mumford learning style kite assessment’. I also need to consider whether each learner is an introvert or an extrovert and respond accordingly. Each and every person has their way of learning (Irvine & York, 1995). There are those who learn best through experience, others learn through watching while others learn through reading. A teacher ought to know the preferred learning styles of students to enable them communicate better and utilise the methods well in teaching them. Understanding the student helps the teacher also plan well, explore teaching styles that are most appropriate for his or her classroom. Myriads of research have been done to investigate how individuals learn and the way that they process and assimilate information. According to David Kolb’s theory of learning styles, there are two steps in learning. The first step is inputting the information and then processing the information. Different people do this in various ways especially students with special needs who receive and process information in different ways from neurotypical students. Educational psychology establishes the concept of learning and t is believed that considering different ways of learning improves the learning and teaching process. There has been renewed interest in the idea of schemas, especially in early childhood education. It identifies the various ways in which different children learn and play. It insinuates that the environment in which a child grows up in and is exposed to in their early ages greatly affects their learning capabilities. This idea is of particular interest to me as I am dealing with the care and education of children who have multiple disabilities and visual impairment. Their impairment will have a great effect on how they learn, the learning style that they are likely to adopt. The group of students that I teach either have physical or learning disability and in some cases, they are combined. The fact that they have different disabilities and different needs means that they also different personalities, different ways of perceiving issues, different interest and dislikes. Despite their differences, there are also some similarities such as they all are very young hence they are very early stages of development, therefore, cannot learn through interaction with adults. It is possible that some will not be at the stage of learning through imitation hence have to learn through their day to day experiences, using lots of repetition and over-learning that are the features of the behavioural approach. It is important to include motivation in my classroom to enhance the person-centred approach. To do this, I must take into consideration all the factors and issues that interest and motivate them to learn as they will influence the teaching methods that I will use. However, it is only through observation that I can understand individual students. Harnessing “special interests” as educational drivers produce amazing results. In the past, I have used Mr Men books as a medium for delivering most of the curriculum for one young lady! This is observing what works and building upon it is utilising a constructivist approach. Therefore, before I can effectively teach my learners, I must learn from them. It is important that I am open-minded and not have a pre-conceived notion of students and their abilities and also strive to see each student as an individual unit rather than comparing him to another. What one student or person may see as random and nonsensical activity could be meaningful to another person and this may give an idea of how the particular individual assimilates information. All behaviour is communication, and, therefore, our job as educators is to pick up and interpret this communication. Conclusion I have observed that there are multiple theories that strive to explain the process of learning. Each learning theory has its advantages and disadvantages hence it is the responsibility of the teacher to decide which one best suits his or her students. The teacher may also decide to blend the theories to come up with the most suitable method since it is impossible for an individual theory to satisfy the needs of all the students simultaneously. Therefore, teachers should develop an awareness of as many different theories as possible. Prior to writing this essay I thought that my area of specialism required a humanistic approach. I can now see that this limited view was unhelpful. I am now of the opinion that having a dominant style of teaching is highly restrictive and it is better to explore other styles to teach effectively. Better to have a holistic, open minded and dynamic approach to all available theories. I will endeavour to gain a deeper knowledge of a range of differing models of learning to become a more rounded and effective practitioner. References Beadle, P. (2010). How to teach. Carmarthen: Crown House publishing. Benson, N. (2007). Introducing Psychology: a graphic guide to your mind and behavior. Cambridge; Icon Books Jenson, E. (1995) .The Learning Brain. San Diego, Turning Point. Lundin, Robert W. (1996). Theories and systems of psychology (5th Ed.) Heath and Co. Lexington, USA. Pritchard, A. (2007). Ways of Learning, Routledge, Oxford Word count: 2,403 words. Read More