Learning Theory as Applied to Teaching and Learning Programmes - Essay Example

Learning Theory As Applied to Teaching and Learning Programmes What is Learning? This is a question that educators have wrestled with since education began. It is not something that one can be adequately define in a sentence or two because it means different things to different people. Students have many learning styles and they learn in different environments. As an example, some students need to stand and move when they read while others can sit at a desk. A classroom that accommodates both styles helps both students become successful. The entire educational system wrestles with how exactly they are to teach children and adults and what factors influence these decisions. Our lives could be very complicated if we were unable to learn because it would mean that we would not be adequately available to our society. We would sit as vegetables or empty shells alone in some dark room because we would not know that there was anything else. We would simply sit because there was nothing to show us that there was more to life than what we were doing at that time. Because learning seems to be a complicated situation we as humans have identified that we need to understand what learning is all about and how it affects us and the world around us. We also want to know how it affects people on a global level. Since learning is so important to everything we do it is important to analyze learning theory to see why it relates to how we as teachers cerate learning programs. Learning Theories Early learning theorist had their basis in both education and psychology. Many psychologists studied learning and influenced the field. The first learning theorist that comes to mind is Jean Piaget. Piaget spent his time with very young children and decided that children did not think like adults but that they had their own thought processes that had their own order and logic (Papert, 1999, p. 1). Although he later created his four stages of development his real interest was in epistemology. The theory of knowledge was interesting to him so he studied extensively it from a scientific standpoint (Papert, p. 3). According to Papert, a former student of Piagets: The core of Piaget is his belief that looking carefully at how knowledge develops in children will elucidate the nature of knowledge in general. Whether this has in fact led to deeper understanding remains, like everything about Piaget, controversial. In the past decade Piaget has been vigorously challenged by the current fashion of viewing knowledge as an intrinsic property of the brain. (Papert, p. 3). Although education knows Piaget for his stages of development it seems that his basic theory was just the tip of the iceberg for what he saw in small children. The Behaviourists and in particular B.F. Skinner realized that there was another level to learning that was important to how humans vs. animals learned. Skinner is most famous for his Operant Conditioning. According to Skinner, it was important for an individual to have a reason that motivated them to do the task that was required. He believed that you could train people to do the behaviour you wanted if you gave them a stimulus that was important to them. He always gives the example of the rats that he conditioned to push a lever that gave them food. Although this is simplistic, it is an example of what people do with children in schools. If they practice behaviourism, a child is given a token each time they do a desired behaviour. Eventually the hope is that the conditioned behaviour will become habit and eventually the token can be stopped. In some situations this works and in others it can take longer. Many children respond to stimulus of some kind but within them they must have the motivation to learn. Cognitive The Cognitivists decided that there was a problem with Behaviourism because human beings were not programmed animals and should not be treated in that way. Instead, the mind should be examined to see how the mental processes worked. They saw that "thinking, memory, knowing, and problem solving need to be explored." (Learning Thoeries.com). They saw knowledge as a change in a learners "schemata" which referred to their "symbolic mental constructions" (Learning Theories.com, "Cognitivism"). One of the major learning theories in this category is David Merrills Component Display Theory (CDT). According to his theory, in order for learning to be effective an individual must have a goal of a performance that is desired and they should be able to understand what the goal is and how to achieve it. In this writers opinion this was the early idea of what is commonly known today as the rubric. In rubrics professors break down learning objectives into manageable pieces that allow the student to understand what is expected and how they will be graded. Merrill used a simple two-dimensional matrix as shown here: Source: Clark, 1999 as seen in White, 2001. Humanism Humanism became an important aspect of learning because it was seen that people learned differently. There was more of a focus on motivation and the things that promoted this motivation for how people learned. Central to humanist thinking were the theories of Abraham Maslow. Abraham Maslow Maslow believed that learning was based on human need. If an individual had a need he or she would act in a certain way and get the need fulfilled. He believed that human behaviour was directly related to goal attainment and any behaviour could basically satisfy more than one function. As an example, a college student may go to the cafeteria not so much for the food but for the fact that he gets to be with his friends. In this way his need for social interaction and self-esteem are fulfilled (Learning Theories.com, "Maslow"). Maslows Hierarchy of Needs is most often represented by a pyramid as shown here: (Source: Learning-Theories.com) According to Maslow the lower level needs of food, shelter and safety would have to be satisfied before the higher growth needs of belongingness, esteem and self-actualization could be met. Maslow also realized that in education there had to be an intrinsic motivation for an individual to learn that keeps them going when the external or extrinsic motivators are not present. Unfortunately many students today are encouraged to look at extrinsic motivators and eventually these take the place of those internal motivators (Ardord, 2006). When applying his theory to education Maslow saw that a student could not learn well if his basic physiological needs were not met. Further, they would not experience a sense of belonging until his physiological and need for safety was satisfied. In retrospect we can see that this is true for many children and adults. They do their best learning if they have food, shelter and safety. David Kolb Kolb suggested that learning was more a cycle than a pyramid and he believed that “learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (1984, p. 38). His learning theory is visually adapted here: Source: Learning Theories.com, "Kolb" In his theory an individual learns through the use of four cycles. They can start anywhere in the cycle but they will follow it in sequence. As an example, if an individual starts at observation and reflection, they will naturally follow to forming abstract concepts, testing in new situations and then move to concrete experience (Learning Theories.com, "Kolb"). Kolb also identified four learning styles that matched his theory: 1. Assimilators -- learn best with logical and sound theories. 2. Convergers -- need practical applications of concepts and theories 3. Accomodators -- they need a more hands on experience 4. Dirvergers -- the need to observe and take in lots of information in order to learn. Blooms Taxonomy Blooms Taxonomy has been used largely in education to create rubrics that are supposed to give students a better way of learning material. Bloom identified three areas of learning that he called, "domains." These are: 1. Cognitive: mental skills (knowledge) 2. Affective: Growth in feelings or emotional areas (attitude) 3. Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (skills) (Clark, 2006) In order for students to learn most effectively they must have all three areas covered in their learning. This program was created specifically for education although it has been adapted for many other types of learning. The skills that a student would use on the older model of Blooms Taxonomy were situated along a pyramid. In 1991 a former student of Blooms used the same technique as he did to gather people together and discuss what had already been done. The point was to create a new pyramid that would be more up-to-date for the 20th Century. What happened was that they changed from nouns to verbs on the pyramid as shown below: Source: Forehand, 2005. The revised pyramid lets teachers examine how their students learn and provides a better way to set up each task within the classroom. It provides a method for students to understand a task and exactly what they need to do in order to complete the task. A rubric that uses these levels of thinking will promote a way for students to choose how hard they want to work because they will see the requirements for each level of learning. Putting It All Together: How Learning Theories Influence Educational Direction Learning Theories are central to the way that education presents itself in the classroom. As people have studied learning they find that communicating information to students has changed over many years. With technology the centre of every society, online teaching is more established than in previous years. Teachers have had to adapt their teaching styles to the needs of students online. The online environment creates many challenges for student motivation, assessment and preparation. In many schools in order to teach students effectively, technology has to be a part of the learning classroom. There is also an emphasis on teaching students in alternative ways because they are not learning as effective in traditional classroom programs. According to Kiggins (2007), students and teachers must work together collaboratively in the classroom in order for teaching to be effective. This creates a new way for some teachers to think because they are used to being in front of the classroom leading the discussion. This is a concept that is being widely adopted across the globe because of the different challenges that students can present in a classroom. Kiggins suggests that teacher training should create this type of learning environment and her research was based on this principle. Out of her research came four principles or "pillars" that were important to learning: Taking responsibility for own learning; Learning through professional collaboration; Identifying and resolving professional problems; and Becoming a reflective practitioner. (Kiggins, 2007, p. 7). Kiggins suggests that when these four pillars are working adequately together they create a more positive environment for students and teachers to learn within. Learning theories have allowed teachers to examine the way they deliver concepts in the classroom and has helped them rearrange their thinking and working within this framework. Today they have to create a more useful classroom geared towards student retention. They have created assessments that use rubrics so that students can see better what they are to do in each task. They have used evaluation criteria that clearly helps the student understand exactly what they need to do in order to get the best grade from a course. They also understand different types of learning advantages so that each student can be evaluated based on the same criteria. Principles And Application Of Effective Communication Communication is essential to the classroom and between teacher and student it is imperative. In order to help students communicate with each other a community atmosphere must be created so that students learn to trust each other and work collaboratively together. Hall (2005) suggests there are five principles for effective communication: getting effective feedback, connect with your audience, listen and understand, understand how to interpret other peoples messages (another form of feedback), and respect. These can also be simplified into attention, interest, desire and action. In application, effective communication must engage both the learner and the teacher. Students must be engaged in the learning and they must be motivated to stay with the learning. Effective communication will create specific reasons why students enjoy learning. As an example, as students learn math some do very well and some do very poorly. The difference in the way students take in the concepts of math will determine which outcome is provided. If a teacher can teach math in a way that is engaging and fun to all students more students will learn in their classrooms. Math has a tendency to be a dry subject. When teachers engage students with online tasks, in classroom collaborative projects and immerse them in a total experience of math and how it works, students can communicate the mathematical formulas that are necessary for them to succeed. This also creates both intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for them to learn. When we look at Blooms Taxonomy it clearly allows for a broader base of opportunities for teachers to create learning environments for students that engage them and keep them motivated in the learning. If assessment in classes is based on Maslows work the teacher can help students find a way to belonging so they can acquire the higher level needs. They can do this through the collaboration with other students and the hands on projects that are provided. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors that Influence Learning There are a variety of factors that influence the way that students learn and there are emotional needs that have to be taken into consideration. Maslow saw that students needed to have basic physiological needs for food, shelter and safety met before they could go to higher need levels. This can be shown within the framework of elementary schools because children who do not eat breakfast in the morning have a tendency not to learn as well as those who do. This has been shown in many reports by school districts which is why the school lunch programs were created to make sure that students received at least one meal a day that was nutritionally based. When a student is young, they take most of their training from the extrinsic factors that surround them. They want to get good grades, their parents expect good grades, their teachers present ways for them to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. They are basically moulded into a framework that keeps them working until they get older. All students must feel safe in their classrooms and this happens on several levels. Not only should they feel safe that they can interact easily but it should also mean that they are protected from outside influences. As students mature, it becomes more difficult to engage them in the learning because they are beginning to think for themselves. The extrinsic models do not work for them because they are looking at the "Why?" of learning. They want to know why certain things must be learned and how it will affect them in their lives. This created the opening for different learning styles. Howard Gardner created the 7 Intelligences Model because he could see that children learned differently and had skills in a variety of areas. His work created a way for teachers to see that students had many areas of their world that came together when they were learning. His information went along with Kolbs theory because it brought out the aspects of the child that were most necessary in learning. Gardners work also created thinking among teachers to look at the various learning styles of their students to find ways to motivate them where they had the most strength. He suggested that curricula should be flexible enough to include all of the intelligences (Gardner as cited in Hall, 2008). As in Blooms revised Taxonomy suggests and Kiggins reinforces students are learning to take charge of their own learning when they get to college level. Sanacore (2008) suggests that reluctant learners can be turned into motivated learners by relying less on the extrinsic factors and more on the intrinsic factors. He suggests that environments have to be engaging and challenging, encourage them to make choices for their learning so they can learn to act responsibly and give them more to do in the classroom (p. 42). When taking everything into consideration it is apparent that learning must move away from the old paradigm of expecting students to learn from an extrinsic model of teaching where the teacher gives the learning to students either through lecture and repetition to a model where students take responsibility for their learning and are encouraged to develop intrinsic motivations for learning. When they learn from their own motivation they are prone to take in more and relate it to their daily lives. This is important if they are to gain the ability to think and learn for themselves. Teachers who pay attention to curricula in such a way that it touches many different learning styles become more successful teachers. They also are able to be flexible in the classroom and know when they need to change things to fit the needs of their students. References Ardord. (2006). Definitions, Types and Theories of Motivation (01 September 2006) Motivation and Education Performance. [WWW] . [10 September 2009]. Clark, D. (2006). Learning Domains or Blooms Taxonomy. (6 November 2007) Performance, Learning, Leadership, & Knowledge.[WWW] Read More