The Kinds of Knowledge Developed - Assignment Example

RUNNING HEADER: EXPERTISE AND DEVELOPMENT Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: Choose an instructional strategy or method that you could use effectively in your teaching area, Using a range of literature evaluate this strategy in terms of cognitive theories about the nature of knowledge, the acquisition of skills, the development of expertise, and the transfer of knowledge. Introduction Educators play a very important role in delivering knowledge to the society. Before an instructor delivers knowledge, one has to make selection from a wide range of instruction strategies. The strategy is founded on a number of conditions, among them, the subject being taught, student’s abilities, availability of learning and teaching resources as well as the main aim of the academic or training session. This assignment will broadly discuss the cooperative strategy of learning; this is a method that applies a wide range of motivational proficiency to make directions crucial and increase the responsibility of students. This is strategy that can be used in secondary as well as universities and most importantly in social sciences. This is a strategy that is used by an instructor basically to make students learn from each other and to increase their motivation through interaction. A good example is when an instructor groups the students or learners in a group to learn on specific tasks such as project management. Cooperative learning will be assessed in terms of the kinds of knowledge this particular method will develop, the expertise developed from this method. In addition the assessment will also focus on the comparison with other instructional methods and finally this assignment will show the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the cooperative strategy. Kinds of knowledge developed Cooperative strategy can be described as a prosperous teaching strategy whereby small teams comprised of student form different levels of powers, are involved in a variety of activities for learning in order to ameliorate the student’s understanding on any particular subject. In this kind of learning, each member of the group is able to learn on the subject being taught and also to help the other group members learn; this develops an atmosphere of getting an achievement. The kind of knowledge derived from cooperative strategy depends mostly on the type of subject taught, the age groups of the students. For example it difficult to engage cooperative technique in very young children as they may not comprehend what is going on. On the other hand it is a success to college and university students as they are able to organise themselves in teams, discuss the subject matter as well as drawing concrete conclusions and understanding. The cooperative strategy is very effective in promotion of leadership skills as described by Babatunde (2008). Trust building and communication are the kind of knowledge that cooperative strategy develops in the student. The learners are able to develop conditional knowledge; this generally involves an understanding of what time and when to have an application of the various kinds of knowledge and for what purpose. Purpose driven goals motivate the learners to acquire knowledge which is essential in their social life as well as during their academic life. Once knowledge is developed it does not easily get off from the student, it is therefore important for the teachers and lecturers to ensure that the instruction method they use is favourable to the student and is applicable within the social setting in which a student are in. Due to the flexibility of the cooperation strategy this kind of knowledge is easily attained. The conditional knowledge is a very important element of the process of developing expertise; this is well described as having the ability to carryout a particular job. Conditional knowledge directly relates to the development of expertise in different fields of study. Cooperation strategy develops very crucial flexibility knowledge; this involves personal knowledge, knowledge to strategize and the much needed knowledge to do a task. The person knowledge involves knowing and appreciating others, the task knowledge revolves around realization that different jobs call for different approaches to be accomplished. The knowledge to strategize requires that an individual makes an informed decision towards achievement of goals and objectives within an institution. The above mentioned knowledge is well developed through the use of the cooperation learning method. Knowledge developed is mutually shared among the teammates, thus encouraging further sharing of knowledge. It is crucial to encourage the entire participant to utilize all the resources that are available, to enable them get the best knowledge from the interaction process, mainly brought by the cooperation learning method. Skills development A skill can be defined as the ability gained by being trained; the behaviorist learning theory gives better chances of developing skills, therefore, the cooperative strategy gives wide knowledge, and this gives the learners better chances of developing skills in the entire learning process. Given that the learners work and learn in groups, it enhances skills development. Some of the skills that a learner may develop through the cooperative method of learning include: leadership skills; a learner gets to understand and to practice leadership. The students ability to make decision is enhanced, this is due to the interaction with other students who posses different abilities and through sharing of ideas, a learner is equipped with decision making skills. The other most important skill developed by cooperative method is the communication skill; communication is vital in all aspects of learning. When a student gets directly involved in sharing ideas among his or her team mates, communication skill is enhanced and especially oral communication skills. Conflict management skill, is another vital skill developed; a lot of students are not aware of how to handle a conflict, in most cases students crash with each other and without proper management a student may not be in a place to solve this conflicts. Therefore, in a group a learner is able to learn how the fellow team mates handle conflicts. As indicated by Kenneth (2005), cooperative learning promotes the self-esteem as well as development of the student’s ability to retain and remember what have been learned. Socialization through cooperation learning strategy enhances student’s motivation towards the desired common goals. When students interact with each other, they also get to learn on how to motivate each other, motivation is a skill that is acquired after a long time of patience; this is manifested in cooperation strategy. Skills development requires concerted efforts from the instructor, the learners as well as the social setting in which learning is taking place. An instructor must be able to monitor each individual to ensure that each one grasps something beneficial. This is to encourage the learners to, keep on with the learning process. Cooperative strategy needs time to make prepare the learners on how to work in teams and an instructor must initially make a decision on the skills to be learned. After preparation of the learners the instructor has to group them into manageable numbers so that it will be easy for the group to learn. Skills acquired must be in line with the objectives of the topic covered. This particular learning method is effective in skill development due to interaction and cooperation among the student to students and learners to learners. Development of expertise Expertise is the possession of a special knowledge, given that cooperative learning involves a variety of techniques, it therefore, promotes the development of expertise in various fields of study. A learner is well equipped to handle different areas through the skills acquired. Expertise development is not easy to accomplish, it takes the learner a long time and practice. Team work is a good method of ensuring that learners often practice and it is easy for them to specialize in a particular field for example on social sciences; after practising this fro a while learners through cooperative learning are able to have specific are of expertise (Patricia 2003). Cooperation learning method is very demanding especially on the side of the learner as he or she must get directly involved and attentive in the group’s activities. These groups strengthen the ability of the students to make concrete decisions and to increase their level of concentration as well as improving their skills towards a particular task. This is the initial steps in developing expertise. A good example is when a group is entitled in carrying out a research; when this is repeatedly carried out through a group, each member grasps the main ideas and the processes involved. In this case a student is able to develop expertise in research and research methods. Development of expertise is a hard task to accomplish especially when a student is not motivated. Cooperative learning method is very effective in ensuring that the students are motivated towards goal achievement. This results into development of expertise. Expertise development is also as a result of commitment that a student has towards the concept being studied. Therefore even if the system is favourable to development of expertise, students and teachers must be dedicated towards a common goal. Focus is always not lost when instructors use the cooperation learning technique. Expertise demands that an individual must be competent enough, must have proficiency and must be self sufficient. Knowledge transfer Knowledge transfer in the field of education is basically, the development and transfer of knowledge from one individual or group to another. There are various ways of transferring knowledge; the most important thing to note here is that cooperative strategy plays a vital role in ensuring that students get a mutual interaction with each other, this enhances transfer of knowledge to from a one student to the other, from a group to the other as well as from the instructor to the students. This kind of knowledge transfer is necessary in learning institutions. Knowledge transfer as indicated by Martin (1980), knowledge transfer must be put into consideration when an instructor is choosing on the best strategy to use when teaching. Cooperation strategy builds a positive teacher student relationship; this increases the level of involvement of the learners in a system that promotes cooperation in an intense and in a personal manner. This ensures that a lot of learning goes on, therefore exchange of information and knowledge sharing. Students can easily share information with their teacher. There is creation of empowerment from the interactions leading to development of positive attitudes making it easy for transfer of knowledge. Practical examples can be used in cooperative strategy to ensure that knowledge is directly transferred to the learners. Knowledge transfer is a challenge to the students who are loners; this is as a result of the student not being able to interact well with others while students who know that they are bright, have a possibility of acting as if they are superior. This is a challenge to the transfer of knowledge from among the learners. Comparison with other approaches The above analysis of cooperative strategy of learning shows the strengths and the weaknesses that the strategy has in relation to cognitive learning theory. However to be able to make an assessment of the importance of the strategy a comparison must be made between it and other instructional strategies. Some of the other strategies include lecture method and the experiential learning strategy. The lecture method is mostly found in the universities and colleges; it is the direct interaction of a lecturer with the students, it involves transmitting knowledge to the learner through a lecture. This method can be used in transmitting knowledge to a very large group of learners unlike the cooperative technique, whereby it is sometimes difficult to group large number of students as it may become difficult to manage these groups. The cooperative strategy is different from the lecture method as it depends on group working to deliver knowledge whereby the learners form a team of a few members and they are in most cases given topic to discuss among themselves. Later the groups may share what they have in an interaction session with the other groups assisted by their instructor. On the other hand experiential method of leaning involves going to the fields to get practical experiences. This encourages the learners to develop varying outcomes, some of these outcomes relate closely with the cognitive theory. In most cases this differs with the cooperative technique mainly because the outcomes of the cooperative theory are generally through interaction not via the experiments as it is in the case of experiential strategy of learning. A good example is when the learners undertake a field trip to learn practically on the topics in their courses work; learners may visit a tourist site or even a mine to learn on the management and conservation measure. This will enhance practical knowledge. The cooperation techniques have various advantages over the lecture method and the experiential method. These include: development of attitude; working in groups promotes the growth of self esteem; this acts a motivation to the student and encourages participation in the entire learning process. This also results to a high degree of accomplishing the task being done from all the participants. Cooperative method is applicable to students with special needs unlike the lecture method and the experiential methods of learning (Robert 1995). It is quite difficult for students with disabilities to make to get involved in the filed work mainly due to the tedious nature of field work. Cooperation method encourages diversification among the learners; students are encouraged to use the differences that they possess to help one another. This is because students are all placed in situations there is a possibility of them interacting with one another. As indicated by Remal (1999), students are given a lot of time to offer defense to their way of reasoning. This is contrary to the lecture method and the experiential method, whereby there is very little interaction among the students. In addition to this, the students under the cooperative method of learning are appreciative of the culture differences and learn to accept each other; this is not the case with the other methods which are less interactive. The skills of solving social problems are achieved through the use of cooperative method due to the interactive nature of this teaching and learning method. If we take a typical university class there is very little time left for the students to reflect and discuss the concepts learnt, but it is easy in the cooperative learning for the students to have a continuous discussions and debates thus getting clarity of the concepts being taught. Working together towards a common goal is the main aim of the cooperative method of learning; this encourages the learners who see themselves as failures. Lecture method of learning presents materials that are factual in a direct and coherent manner, this is timely and may result into accurate delivery of information from the lecturer, and it also provides a good experience that inspires the students. It is very useful for in when lecturing large number of students unlike the cooperation and the experiential learning techniques. Lecture method has few limitations regarding interaction of the lecturer and the students; there is no ample time to share ideas among the students and their lecturers due to fixed schedules of lecture hours. This limits interaction and socialization. Socialization is vital in development of motivation and when it lacks in the process of learning, definitely the students are not encouraged towards goal achievement. Lecture method demands a lot from the lecturer and this can repress the teachers creativity in terms of content, the lecturer must spend a lot of time making preparation and must possess excellent communication skills to effectively deliver ideas and knowledge to the student. This is centrally to the cooperation method, whereby the students in most cases learn from each other, a teacher just gives guidelines and directions on what is to be covered. Conclusion Cooperative instructional method is very effective especially when learners are eager to get a common goal which in most cases cannot be achieved when a learner is working a lone. The main aim of cooperative strategy is to get students to actively get involved in the process of learning. This level has no possibility in the lecture or the experiential learning. Learning under the cooperation method ensure that the students have dialogue but within a social setting. The effectiveness of the cooperation is mainly enhanced by the students understanding through involvement of various steps that require the student to make a creation, an analysis and apply it to the concept being discussed. The most important this to note here is that both the learner and the social setting that he or she is, are active forces in the process of learning and this makes the students to make an imitation of the real life situations. It is evident that by the combination of team work and the accountability of each student, the learners are able to work towards gaining social skills as well as gaining knowledge. Students are encouraged to learn due to the interaction that is well balanced as t involves varying talents, powers and different backgrounds. In conclusion the cooperative strategy has several limitations, but when appropriately chosen to fit in the context and concept plus the instructor’s ability to use it, it definitely produces positive results of delivering knowledge as well as skills. References Babatunde, A. (2008) .Effects of cooperative learning and problem solving strategies on Junior secondary school students’ achievement in social studies. Journal of Research in Education Psychology, 16 (6), 691-708. Kenneth, D. M. (2005). Effective instructional strategies: From theory to practice. SAGE: California. Patricia, A. A. (2000).The development of expertise: the journey from acclimation to Proficiency, Education Research, 32(8), 10-14. Martin, M. B. (1980), The lecture method of instruction, Educational Technology: United Kingdom. Robert, E. S. (1995). Cooperative Learning: theory, research and practice. Allyn and Bacon: Massachusetts. Remal, D., Ataman K. & Jukru, A. (1999).Effects of two cooperative learning strategies on teaching and learning social science. World Applied Sciences Journal, 7(1), 34-42. Read More