1) - Teaching Philosophy - A brief statement about your views in relation to your assumptions, attitudes and expectations toward your responsibilities and obligations as a teacher and how this impacts on your approach to teaching". Mainly it is about your strengths that you believe yourself as a teacher.
It is important to understand teaching philosophy in order to deliver our lessons in the classroom setting most effective and efficient manner.
2) Understanding Pedagogy & Theories of learning
Pedagogy is the the methods we used to teach the students.
Learning is getting knowledge (new ) to the person through his environment by different means. Such as; observing, hearing, seeing, touching etc. Different people have different way of learning things. Learning improves our behaviour through modification by applying what we have acquired from the environment.
There are 5 theories of Learning;-
1) Behavioral Learning Theory
2) Cognitive Learning Theory
3) Piaget's developmental theory
4) Vygotsky's Developmental Theory
5) Motivation
1) Behavioural Learning Theory - BF Skinner developed this theory. He believed that learning is mostly by behaviour change or modification of an individual. The individual behaviour is shaped or modified through his environment with the help of reinforcement (positive or negative reinforcement) but his brain activity remain without any change. Where the individual will give response when there is a stimulus. Therefore in this theory leaning process is focus on the stimulus and the response.
In this theory there are 3 types of learning
1) - Classical conditioning - involuntary response
2) - Operant conditioning - voluntary response
3) - Contiguity leaning - reinforcing stimuli (involuntary behaviour elicits)
There 4 consequences that alter the behaviour of an individual:-
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2) Cognitive Leaning Theory - Many cognitive theories focus on how people think about the information they receive from the environment.
Edward Proposed:
- Learning can occur without reinforcement
- Learning can occur without a change in behaviour
- Intervening variables must be considered
- Behaviour is purposive
- Expectation of fact behaviour
- learning results in an organized body of information.
Gestalt - He emphasized the importance of organizational processes of perception, learning, and problem solving.
• Perception is often different from reality. This includes optical illusions.
• The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
• The organism structures and organizes experience.
• The organism is predisposed to organize experience in particular ways
Basic assumptions of cognitive learning theory;
1. Memory system is an active organized processor of information.
2. That prior knowledge plays an important role in learning.
3. Some learning processes may be unique to human beings.
4. Learning involves the formation of mental representations or associations that are not necessarily reflected in overt behavior changes.
5. People are actively involved in the learning process.
6. Knowledge is organized.”
7. Objective, systematic observations of people’s behavior should be the focus of scientific inquiry
8. Many cognitive theories focus on how people think about the information they receive from the environment-
9. How they perceive the stimuli around them,
10. How they put what they’ve perceived into their memories,
11. How they “find” what they’ve learned when they need to use it, and so own…collectively known as “information processing theory” (Ormrod, 2008, p. 163).
1. Memory system is an active organized processor of information.
2. That prior knowledge plays an important role in learning.
3. Some learning processes may be unique to human beings.
4. Learning involves the formation of mental representations or associations that are not necessarily reflected in overt behavior changes.
5. People are actively involved in the learning process.
6. Knowledge is organized.”
7. Objective, systematic observations of people’s behavior should be the focus of scientific inquiry
8. Many cognitive theories focus on how people think about the information they receive from the environment-
9. How they perceive the stimuli around them,
10. How they put what they’ve perceived into their memories,
11. How they “find” what they’ve learned when they need to use it, and so own…collectively known as “information processing theory” (Ormrod, 2008, p. 163).
3) - Piaget's developmental theory - Piaget is a Swiss psychologist. He started his work just before second world war. The main research areas of Piaget were how children develop and learn. He compared his theory with pervious laboratory experiments and he developed the theory from child’s observable behaviours. This theory
Piaget’s stages of Development
Stage
|
Stage defined
|
Explanation/ Implications
|
1 Sensorimotor
|
0-2 years
|
Use of imitation, memory and thought
Recognize that objects do not cease to exist when they are hidden
Moves from reflex actions to goal-directed activity
|
2 Preoperational
|
2-7 years
|
Develops use of language and ability to think in symbolic form.
Think operations through logically one direction.
Difficulties in seeing other persons viewpoint
|
3 Concrete Operational
|
7-12 years
|
Able to solve concrete (hands-on) problems in logical fashion, Understands the law of conversation and is able to classify and seriate. Understands reversibility
|
4 Formal Operrational
|
12s plus years
| Able to solve abstract problems in logical fashion. Becomes more scientific in thinking. Develops concerns about social issues, identity. Overcoming talent develops Own beliefs and attitudes develops gradually |
Therefore the students should be treated according to his / her stages of the development. Because the Cognitive development results from the interactions that children have with their physical and social environments.
Criticisms of Piaget’s Stage Theory
- Stages of learning are too rigid ( the stage implications may differ from child to child and it can not be generalized)
- Individual differences ignored. (The effect of cultural and SES (Socia-Economic Status) on Learning is ignored)
- Piaget gave little importance on construction of new knowledge through social interaction and constructivist ideas.
4) . Vygotsky's Developmental Theory
Central Ideas and Contribution to Learning theory:
1. Vygotsky emphasis on language development and its effect on learning. He believed its not the maturity element that improves one’s cognitive but the social interaction for conceptual understandings.
2. Complex mental processes began as social activities. Vygotskycalled this process of social activities being internalized as mental activities "internalization."
3. Children can often accomplish more difficult tasks when they have the assistance of other people more advanced and competent than themselves.
4. Tasks within the zone of proximal development promote maximum cognitive growth. This is the zone of learning for a child where he can learn something with the assistance of others.
5. The idea of scaffoldinglearning comes from Vygotsky'szone of proximal development theory.
Scaffolding refers to learning situations in which adults and other more competent individuals provide some form of guidance or structure that enables students to engage in learning activities within their zone of proximal development.
6 He believed that it is co-operation that act as a basis of learning.
5) - Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory defines learning as an internal mental process that may or may not be reflected in immediate behavioral change (Bandura, 1986).
In this theory;
- People learn by observing others.
- Learning is internal
- Learning is Goal-directed behaviour.
People emphasize on learning by
- Observing
- Modeling
- Experience - reinforcement (learn experience from others)
This theory identifies human behaviour as an interaction of personal factors, behaviourism and environment.
Modelling - Modeling is a general term that refers to behavioral, cognitive, and affective changes deriving from observing one or more models. There are 3 types of modelling: - (1) Direct modelling, (2) Symbolic modelling, and (3) Synthesized modelling.
Reciprocal Causation/Determination
Learning involves the interaction of several factors, such as behavior, environment, storing information in memory and personal factors (i.e., beliefs & expectations: e.g., relevant to ability). Such interactive effects are considered "mutually influencing" -- usually referred to as reciprocal causation / determination. For Bandura, it is through the observations of models that an individual's perceptions and actions influence their cognitive development.
Example.: You get a low score on an algebra test (environmental factor) which influences your belief (personal factor) about your ability to do algebra. Your belief, in turn, influences your behavior -- in this case, it's your study habits -- and your behavior influences the environment -- in this case, you got a tutor to help you study
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Bandura (1961) conducted a study to investigate if social behaviors (i.e. aggression) can be acquired by imitation.
24 Children watched an adult model behave aggressively towards a blow up toy called a bobo doll. Another 24 children were exposed to a non-aggressive model and the final 24 child were used as a control group and not exposed to any model at all
24 Children watched an adult model behave aggressively towards a blow up toy called a bobo doll. Another 24 children were exposed to a non-aggressive model and the final 24 child were used as a control group and not exposed to any model at all
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Application in Learning and Teaching
General educational implications of cognitive theories:
1. Cognitive processes influence learning.
2. Learning difficulties often indicate ineffective or inappropriate cognitive processes, especially for children with learning disabilities, who tend to process information less effectively. Therefore, teachers need to be aware that all students are trying to learn something, as well as what they are trying to learn.
3. As children grow, they become capable of increasingly more sophisticated thought.
4. People organize the things they learn. Therefore, teachers can facilitate students' learning by presenting information in an organized manner. This organization should reflect students' previous knowledge and show how one thing relates to the other (i.e., helping students understand and make connections).
5. New information is most easily acquired when people can associate it with things they have already learned. Teachers should then show how new ideas relate to previous learning.
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