EDN:204– Learning Process

30th August, 2010B.Ed II(S) Sci

-------------------------------------------------------------Topics: Cognitive views of Learning

1. Cognitive developmental theories

• developmentally appropriate learning experiences

• cognitive apprenticeship • Zone of proximal development • scaffolding

Developmentally appropriate learning experiences

•Cognitive developmental theories of learning

strongly support the belief that any learning

experiences should be appropriately designed and

organized to ensure that children experience

meaningful and joyful experiences.

• Developmentally appropriate teaching ensures

success in the early grade.

Four major areas for developmentally appropriate learning experiences:

1. Environment (Classroom)

Contains areas in which children can select and plan their activities

Have areas for quiet and active social interactions.

Contains clearly labeled areas with words and pictures to encourage independence.

• Has a variety of materials to encourage meaningful experiences

• Setting is not over-stimulating.

2. Curriculum

Curriculum planning and design should be based on what is known about how young children develop and learn

Constructing developmentally appropriate curriculum

Integrated across all domains of child development

(physical, social, emotional, linguistic, and cognitive)

Relevant, meaningful, and based on prior experiences allowing children to make connections.

Is challenging yet achievable with sufficient adult

support.

Designed to allow children to be active learners

Integrated across content areas.

3. Instructional Strategies Include a balance of active and

passive activities

Offer variety of novel experiences, stimulating

ideas, and opportunities for problem solving.

Encourage children to choose and plan their own

learning activities.

Model and demonstrate specific skills.

Provide a balance between self-initiated and

teacher directed learning.

Encourage children to revisit and reflect on their

learning experiences.

4. Assessment Helps to show progress and growth over

time.

Observation and evaluation of each student’s

learning styles are keys to assessing learning

growth.

Is standard based and authentic.

Teachers and parents share useful information

about children’s learning strengths and needs.

Is ongoing with many opportunities for the

teachers to observe and reflect on students’ accomplishments.

COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIPIs a method of teaching aimed primarily at teaching the processes that expert use to handle complex task.

Methodsi. Modeling: Involves an expert’s carrying out a task.

ii. Coaching: Observing students while they carry out a task.

iii. Articulation: Getting students to articulate their knowledge, reasoning, or problem-solving processes.

iv. Reflection: Enables students to compare their own problem-solving processes with others.

v. Exploration: Involves pushing students into a mode of problem solving on their own.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

“ Is the distance between what children can do by themselves and the next learning that they can be helped to achieve with competent assistance” (Raymond, 2000., p.176)

SCAFFOLDING

“It is the role of teachers and others in supporting the learner’s development and providing support structures to get to that next stage or level”It facilitates a student’s ability to build on prior knowledge and internalize new information.

Cognitive Views of Learning Cont.

•Discovery learning

•Guided discovery learning

•Gestalt views of learning

•Experiential learning

Gestalt Theory

Origin: The work of Max Wertheimer and his students Kohler & Koffka.

Gestalt is a German word for “pattern”, “figure”, “shape”, or “form”, which refers to wholes, systems and complete structures rather than seeking ever smaller components of a phenomenon.

In learning, it concentrates on the way in which the mind insists on finding patterns in things, and how this contributes to learning, especially the development of “insight”.

Learning is seen as the understanding of a total, meaningful relationship in a given situation.

What do you see in these figure?

SEAL OR HORSE?

We perceive objects as well-organized patterns rather than separate components.

“The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.”

How we recognize patterns and give meaning to sensory events are being explained by the terms – Bottom-up and Top-down processing.

Bottom-up Processing (figure analysis). This explanation suggests that we search a new stimulus for defining elements or features.

Top-down Processing: We do not need to analyze every feature in a particular stimulus to make sense of it.

Essentials of a Gestalt approach for education:

For teachers:•Provide for insightful learning, which

is the key to effective meaningful learning.

•Structure the learning environment with

materials necessary for satisfactory discoveries to be made, such as in

learning centers.

•Motivate learners through their intrinsic

interest in solving problems.

•Deal with principles rather than specifics.

•Demonstrate how abstract principles can be

drawn from specific concrete examples.

For learners:• Actively search for pattern in

apparently unconnected materials. •Brainstorm the draw together ideas

into similar or dissimilar concepts. •Create puzzles for others to solve.

 

Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception

We impose visual organization on stimuli

W.E. Hill, 1915 German postcard, 1880