Factors Affecting Learning in the lassroom - Research Paper Example

 Factors Affecting Learning in the classroom Learning is the modification of behaviour. It is a process in which an individual acquires knowledge, understanding, skills, interests and attitudes which are essential for meeting the challenges of life. Most of the people believe that learning occurs in classrooms alone. But in practice a child is learning in every seconds of his/her life through different life situations at home, classroom and the society. This paper briefly explains factors affecting learning in the classroom based on learning theory of Lev Vygotsky, various learning models in the classroom, classroom preparations, classroom behaviour management, practical implications of differentiation and dimension of learning and theoretical perspective on learning Lev Vygotsky’s learning theory Vygotsky's investigations of child development and educational psychology were influenced by his own Marxism – a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of one's social origins and place in the scheme of production. His learning theory was based on Theory of Value, Theory of Knowledge, Theory of Human Nature, Theory of Learning, Theory of Transmission, Theory of Society, Theory of Opportunity and Theory of Consensus (Dahms et al, 2007) Theory of Value As per Vygotsky’s learning theory, learning will take place based on the value attached to the learning process by each individual. For some people, learning of mathematics may be easy compared to others subjects because of the more value attached to mathematics by the learner. The value associated with culture and social relationships determine the value of learning as per the theory of value suggested by Vygotsky. He believed that language plays a vital role in cognitive development and learning. Language is the medium through which all the learning takes place. (Dahms et al, 2007) The teacher must realise these value attached with each subject by the students for teaching them effectively Theory of Knowledge Some specific functions were acquired from the social and cultural environment as per the theory of knowledge put forward by Vygotsky. He believed that intellectual development has more relationship with the cultural environment the child is brought up than heredity. “Humans are not born with knowledge nor is knowledge independent of social context. Rather, one gains knowledge as one develops by way of social interactions with peers and adults”. Life experiences improve the knowledge. A child attains the language skills and other essential knowledge required to survive in the world by observing and hearing others. A child brought up under a negative environment may most probably become problematic even if he was born to better parents. The teacher must know these social and cultural differences of each student and thereby the teacher can modify his teaching strategies. Theory of Human Nature “According to Marxist theory, "The essence of man is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble of the social relations” (Dahms et al, 2007) Vygotsky believed that human being can be better understood based on the social environment he lives. The interactions with the society develop the personality and belief of a person. It is not wise to compare an American with a Cambodian or a Somalian because of the immense cultural and economic differences. He believed that unlike animals which react only to the environment, human can alter his environment. For example, lots of Indians working in Gulf and America for a better environment required for a better life. The teacher must know that student can change their nature if they wish and hence they should take proper measures to change the negative natures of the student to a positive one for the proper learning purpose. For that purpose the teacher can utilize reward and punishment methods. Theory of Learning    “According to Piaget, learning is what results from both mental and physical maturation plus experience. That is, development preceded learning. In contrast Vygotsky observed that learning processes lead development” (Dahms et al, 2007) Vygotsky believed that a person may become more matured and may change his immature habits if he learns well. He believed that learning is the core of development. Development takes place only after learning. For example, a problematic child may become a better one if somebody made him aware of the consequences of his problematic behaviour. The teacher must realize these facts and must treat the students accordingly. Theory of Transmission “Vygotsky defined those who are to teach as the "More Knowledgeable Other." The MKO is anyone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, particularly in regards to a specific task, concept or process” (Dahms et al, 2007) Only a person with better knowledge than the student can teach them effectively. Because of internet and other computer aided technologies, the knowledge level of students may exceed that of the teacher. The teacher must realize these facts and must polish or update his knowledge regularly. Theory of Society “According to Vygotsky, "society is the bearer of the cultural heritage without which the development of mind is impossible." This 'society' allows the learner to develop cognitively through social interactions” (Dahms et al, 2007) Any changes that is happening in the society will affect the student’s development as well. For example, it is difficult for a Pakistani or Saudi Arabian student to think differently in a radical society because of the immense influence of religion on society. An American teacher who teaches in a Saudi school must realise such social differences and hence he must adopt suitable strategies for them. Theory of Opportunity “Every person is socialized in the society in which they are enveloped. Socialization is the process of cultural transmission, both unintentional and deliberate. According to Vygotsky, this process is central to education” (Dahms et al, 2007) The opportunity obtained for a student for education in a developed country and a poor country may be different. It is ridiculous to think that the opportunity obtained by an American student and an African student are equal. Better facilities and better environments are the core of learning. In developed countries most of the students have the access to internet and computer related technologies compared to the students from poor countries. Theory of Consensus “Depending on one's views, society can be seen in its natural or normal state as either a society of conflict or a society of consensus”. Vygotsky clearly was willing to work with and learn from others. Vygotsky did not put consensus building above what he regarded as truth seeking (Dahms et al, 2007) Learning is the process of seeking truth. It is not necessary that that the consensus reached may be always true. The teacher must seek the truth rather than arriving at consensus. Learning models in the classroom Classroom learning depends on the nature of the learner, learning materials, and learning situations. The nature of the learner is important in classroom learning since the intelligence of different learners can be different. Students in a classroom may come from different social, economical, cultural and religious backgrounds and hence their learning capacities may be different. Even the brilliant students may be problematic in the class because of his family or personal problems and hence his naughty behaviour can affect even other students as well. Another important element in the classroom learning is the nature of the learning material. Learning materials are unique for a given class even though the students may have different intellectual levels. Learning materials must be updated regularly in order to accommodate the most modern information. Because of knowledge explosion, every second new knowledge came into exist and hence the students must be updated on such new knowledge. All the students in a specific class have to undergo the syllabus strictly irrespective of their learning difficulties. Some students may have more interest in doing practical works rather than theory. Another segment of students may not have that much interest in practical work. Some may be interested only in the classroom lecture for learning while others may use internet or project works more for getting wider knowledge. In any case the nature of the learning material plays an important role in the learning task. Learning situations are also important for effective learning. As per the current trends, the teacher act only as a guide to the student rather than a teacher in its true sense. As per the ancient trends the teacher was trying to transfer his knowledge mainly based on his oral skills. But as per the new trends, the teacher creates a problematic situation in front of the students and he will ask the students to solve the problems. He will give only the tips needed to arrive at the solutions rather than giving the solution readily available. Everyday life of classrooms Life inside a classroom may be attractive to some students while for some others classroom environment may not be interesting. The teachers also have more or less the same attitude. Some teachers may have strong passion for teaching while others may consider teaching only as a profession. The combined efforts of teacher and students are essential for proper learning. The communication between the teacher and the students have strong role in developing a healthy atmosphere inside the classroom. The communication must be bidirectional. The teacher should administer democratic methods in which the students also actively participate in the learning and communication process. The students may not be hesitated in asking doubts to the teacher in a healthy classroom atmosphere. Students inside the class may come from different cultural, social and economical backgrounds and hence their learning difficulties may be different. The teacher must know well about each student and his abilities and he should administer his lessons in order to cater the needs of all the students. Brilliant students may require more depth in knowledge while the average or poor students may not be interested much depth in acquiring knowledge. The teacher must recognize the needs of all the students and he must distribute the assignments and project works based on the individual differences in the learning task. Classroom planning & preparation “Getting to know your students is an important part of classroom management. Some students will try and test the limits of your classroom procedures. This is where your classroom seating charts will begin to serve you. All new teachers should use a classroom seating chart in order to learn the names of the students fairly quickly.” (Sasson, 2007) Proper seating arrangement is important in classroom management. Some students may be problematic or absent minded. The teacher can arrange seats for them in convenient position where the teacher’s eyes can easily reach. The awareness about teacher’s notice will prevent such students from doing naughty works inside the class. Classroom procedures include the classroom arrangements like; group work, pair work and frontal work. For every classroom seating arrangement, students need to be taught and constantly reminded of the classroom procedures: listening to instructions before being directed to performing a given task, work procedures during the task and terminating the task on-hand (Sasson, 2007) Group work or pair work will increase the enthusiasm of students in learning tasks. The seats must be arranged in such a way that group work and pair work can be easily accomplished. The teacher should decide which student may go to which group or pair and based on that the teacher can arrange the seats. Classroom behaviour management Because of the individual differences, classroom behaviours of different students are different. The teacher needs to carefully analyse the psychology of the class initially to determine which strategy better suited to the class. Rewards and punishment are some other methods most of the teachers adopt to manage the class effectively. Rewards will include the recognition of best student of the week, star of the week, or month, allocation of class leader responsibilities etc. Punishment may include, making the student stay out of the class for a particular period, asking the problematic student to meet the head teacher before entering the class again, asking the problematic student to bring their parents to the school to inform them about their naughty behaviour etc. Lateness, losing class materials, coming to class with a hangover, not engaging in lessons, temper tantrums, various disabilities, inter personal conflicts between class members, particular students dominating class discussions, disrupting the class by interrupting with questions not related to the topic, students not carrying their weight in group discussions etc are some of the common problems a teacher may face in the management of classroom. Kemmis & Smith) The classroom management strategies cannot be standardised. The problems may occur in different forms in the class and the teacher should have the skills of devising strategies suitable to each class based on each problem. For example the strategy adopted to manage a late coming student may not be suitable for another late coming student since the reason associated with lateness may be different in both the cases. Custom made strategies often found more effective in managing the class effectively. Practical implications of differentiation and dimension of learning “Differentiation is the adjustment of the teaching process according to the learning needs of the pupils. It can be aimed at: a whole class, group within the class or individuals” (CLARE) Learning needs of each student may be different because of the intellectual differences. Tough topics may not be easily learned by average students and hence the teacher must adopt different simple strategies to teach such tough lessons. For example, consider the topic of relativity. Einstein’s famous equation E = mc2 may not be understandable to the average students easily. Average students may be confused, how matter can be transformed to energy. The teacher needs to explain the inter-convertibility of mass and energy based some simple examples like the way in which electrical energy is transformed to mechanical energy, sound energy, and light energy based on convenient examples. Differentiation may be intended to the whole class or the group of average of poor students or individuals. Differentiation by Content, Differentiation by Activities, Differentiation by Negotiation, Differentiation by Support, Differentiation by Extension, Differentiation by Response, Differentiation by Group Work, Differentiation by Gradation, and Differentiation by Role are some of the common differentiation methods. (CLARE). Same activities may not be suitable enough to teach the same content because of the difference in class structure and intellectual levels. The teacher can think of some tough strategies for a brilliant class while he should adopt simple methods to an average class. The support required by the students is also different. For example, a mathematics problem may be easily done by a brilliant student. On the other hand an average or poor student need more support from the teacher in solving the same problem. Some people may have particular interest to some subjects in which they may score higher grades, but the same student may not score the same grade for another subject. So intelligence cannot be decided based on the grade obtained by a particular subject alone. Relation between classroom practice and learning theories An algebra teacher asks her students to find several different ways to solve the same mathematical problem and then justify their solutions to their classmates. By allowing students to problem solve and share, she encourages her students to justify the procedures they advocate on the basis of sound mathematical concepts and principles. As such, they are encouraged to make meaningful connections between mathematical procedures, on the one hand, and mathematical concepts and principles, on the other. They have discovered meaning, rather than “the teacher said to do it this way.” Another perspective is that the approach is likely to promote the epistemological belief that mathematics doesn’t necessarily involve a single “right” procedure, that several different procedures might be equally effective (Implications of Learning Theories for Effective Classroom Practice, 2006) The above approach encourages students to find out new ways of solving problems. Most of the problems may have more than one solution. Classroom learning may describe only few solutions of the same problems. Self solving of problems will increase the problems solving abilities of the student. Self learning will increase the depth of knowledge and hence as per the current trends in education the teacher’s role has been considerably reduced. Nowadays teachers act as only a guide to the students rather than a lecturer. Every learning theory the teacher adopted in the class must have a well defined objective and the teacher must ensure that the goals of his strategy has been obtained. For example, a teacher who wants to teach about the sound may ask the student about different type of sounds they might have come across in their daily life in order to motivate the students to the topic. The students may respond with different types of sounds and consider that the teacher was a music lover and one student might have cited music sound. If the teacher was inspired by the answer may teach music lessons to the class instead of the causes and characteristics of sound. In other words he may shift his attention from the main objectives to some other things (Regression) The teacher must try to avoid regression and he must pre planned his strategies well before the class starts. Conclusions Learning is one of the core elements of every human’s life. A person’s learning may last till he dies. Most of the learning though happens in the classroom, a person can learn lot of lessons from his personal life and environment in which he sustains his life. Classroom learning mainly depends on the nature of the learner, learning materials, and learning situations. As per the renowned Russin teacher, Lev Vygotsky’s learning theory, cvarious parameters associated with learning are Value, Knowledge, Human Nature, Learning, Transmission, Society, Opportunity and Consensus. Classroom life is different from that of a home life since classroom focuses mainly on learning aspects. Classroom planning and preparations are important for the effective learning to take place. Seating arrangement in the class plays an important role in student’s learning. Theory and practice must function together for learning a lesson properly. Classroom practice must support the learning theories. References 1. Sasson Dorit, (2007) Planning Classroom Procedures, Retrieved on May 22, 2009 from http://classroom-organization.suite101.com/article.cfm/planning_classroom_procedures 2. Kemmis Roslin Brennan & Smith Erica, 2006, Classroom Behaviour and Management Retrieved on May 22, 2009 from http://www.icvet.tafensw.edu.au/ezine/year_2006/may_jun/litreview_classroom_management.htm 3. CLARE, JOHN D. 2004, 'Differentiation',  at Greenfield School Website Retrieved on May 22, 2009 from http://www.greenfield.durham.sch.uk/differentiation.htm 4. Implications of Learning Theories for Effective Classroom Practice, 2006, Retrieved on May 22, 2009 from http://web.uncg.edu/dcl/courses/alo/psychology/pdf/c3.pdf 5. Dahms M., Geonnotti K., Passalacqua D.. Schilk J. N., Wetzel A.,and Zulkowsky M. 6. (2007), The Educational Theory of Lev Vygotsky: an analysis, Retrieved on May 22, 2009 from http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Vygotsky.html Read More