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In many countries of the wolrd homeschooling is a legal option for parents who wish to provide their children with a different learning environment than exists in nearby schools.
Homeschooling(also called home education), home learning or homeschool – is the education of children at home, typically by parents or professional tutors, rather than in a public or private school, homeschooling in the modern sense is an alternative in developed countries to formal education.
Synthesis
Compile information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions
Questions like: Can you predict an outcome?
Evaluation
Present and defend opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria
Questions like: Do you agree with.....?
Some critiques of Bloom's Taxonomy('s cognitive domain) admit the existence of these six categories, but question the existence of a sequential, hierarchical link (Paul, R. (1993). Also the revised edition of Bloom's taxonomy has moved Synthesis in higher order than Evaluation. Some consider the three lowest levels as hierarchically ordered, but the three higher levels as parallel. Others say that it is sometimes better to move to Application before introducing Concepts. This thinking would seem to relate to the method of Problem Based Learning.
Lecture 5. Education theories / Learning theories
A Learning theory is a system of ideas attempting to explain the process of learning.
Learning is the apparent modification of a persons behaviour through his activities and experiences, so that his knowledge, skills and attitudes, including modes of adjustment, towards his environment are changed, more or less permanently.
A number of 'schools of learning theory' have emerged. These include:
Thorndike's theory consists of 3 laws. The primary law (law of effect ) can be summarised as: 'an act which results in an animal's experiencing satisfaction in a given situation will generally become associated with that situation, so that when it recurs the act will also be likely to recur'.
The theory represents the original stimulus-response (S-R) framework of behavioural psychology. The classic example of this is a cat learning to escape from a puzzle box by pressing a lever inside the box. The cat learns to associate pressing the lever (S) with the opening of the door (R). Satisfaction is achieved by escape from the box.
Thorndike's theories stressed that external reward is a more effective factor than punishment in the modification of a learner's behaviour. His theories also suggested the importance of 'doing' and of repetition in the learning process. They also serve to remind teachers of the importance of motivation in the preparation for learning and of the teacher's role in contributing towards a learner's motivation.
These theories underpin (support) basic teaching activity that would include lesson planning, ensuring an orderly classroom, providing clear learning objectives, progress from simple to more complex concepts, the importance of practice and repetition, strengthening learner motivation, ensuring learners are aware of the significance of the subject matter and providing them with an ultimately satisfying outcome.
Cognitivism is about how we gain knowledge and use that knowledge to guide decisions.
This theory suggests that learning takes place more readily if conditions match human cognitive capabilities. For example, human short term memory is limited in the number of elements that it can carry at any one time and human long term memory consists of 'sophisticated structures that permit us to perceive, think and solve problems'. These structures are known as 'schemas'. Learning results in a change in the schematic structures of long term memory.
From a teaching perspective material presented must first be processed in the working or short-term memory. Teaching and instruction should be designed to reduce the load upon the short term working memory. Cognitive load theory is concerned with reducing the short term memory load in order to facilitate changes in the schematic structures held in long term memory.
These theories apply significantly to the presentation of cognitively complex or technically challenging material. Cognitive load theory suggests that effective learning material must keep the cognitive load of learners at a minimum during the learning process.
Formalization of the theory of constructivism is generally attributed to Jean Piaget, who articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by learners. He suggested that through processes of accommodation and assimilation, individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences. When individuals assimilate, they incorporate the new experience into an already existing framework without changing that framework. This may occur when individuals' experiences are joined with their internal representations of the world. When individuals' experiences contradict their internal representations, they may change their perceptions of the experiences to fit their internal representations. But according to the theory, accommodation is the process of reframing one's mental representation of the external world to fit new experiences. Accommodation can be understood as the mechanism by which failure leads to learning: when we act on the expectation that the world operates in one way and it violates our expectations, we often fail, but by accommodating this new experience and reframing our model of the way the world works, we learn from the experience of failure, or others' failure.
It is important to note that constructivism is not a particular pedagogy. In fact, constructivism is a theory describing how learning happens, regardless of whether learners are using their experiences to understand a lecture or following the instructions for building a model airplane. In both cases, the theory of constructivism suggests that learners construct knowledge out of their experiences. However, Constructivism is often associated with pedagogic approaches that promote active learning, or learning by doing.
Constructivism emphasizes the importance of the learner being actively involved in the learning process, unlike previous educational viewpoints where the responsibility rested with the instructor to teach and where the learner played a passive, receptive role. The instuctors have to adapt to the role of facilitators and not teachers. This theory emphasizes that learners construct their own understanding and that they do not simply mirror and reflect what they read. Learners look for meaning and will try to find regularity and order in the events of the world even in the absence of full or complete information.
The German word 'Gestalt' means a configuration, structure or pattern. The essence of Gestaltist psychology is that 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts'. It is the total structured form of an individual's mental experience with which a teacher should be concerned.
Wertheimer suggested that a coherent whole possesses properties which are not discoverable from its isolated parts. For example, a piece of music is a lot more than the notes played by the instruments involved.
Wertheimer said that productive thinking, leading to the solution for a problem, involves a process, not a single act. The process begins with a situation and a goal that cannot, at a given moment, be reached. The learner's thinking leads to an urge to bridge this gap and achieve the desired goal. This thinking is informed by the learner's past experience and two individuals may present different reactions to a problem depending on their past experiences.
The concept of 'insight' is at the heart of Gestalt psychology. The term 'insight' is used by Gestaltists in a very specific manner. Insight is said to be 'the result of the unforeseen reorganisation by the learner of their field of experience.' The learner experiences the classic 'flash of inspiration' or 'Eureka moment' as 'the penny drops'. This instantaneous perception of how parts relate to a whole is well known in the history of scientific discovery but it should not be confused with the random lucky guess.
The Gestaltist approach to learning may emphasise the importance of structuring lessons and exercises. These may require the learner to find a path to a solution for a problem and to see that their efforts are directed towards this solution. Learning may be facilitated by providing an 'overview' of the course and how the course topics relate to one another. Presenting scraps of disconnected information in a lesson should be avoided. Also the importance of practice is stressed by the Gestaltists.
It is also very important for the teacher to be aware of the individual needs of learners who will each have unique past experiences and thus each have unique needs.
The humanistic psychologists said that education has the task of 'helping each person to become the best that they are able to become'.
Maslow developed a theory of 'self-actualisation' based upon the person as a whole being allowed to grow to their 'optimal stature'.
Rogers' humanistic approach to education places emphasis on feeling, thinking and the recognition of a learner's personal values and interpersonal communication. The task of the teacher is the provision of conditions in which learning can be facilitated, the outstanding quality of the teacher being empathy.
In studying motivation Maslow defined a hierarchy of needs which basically says that a persons behaviour in the classroom, workplace or elsewhere, will be dominated by those needs which have the greatest potency. This hierarchy is often represented as a pyramid with fundamental physiological needs (food, drink, warmth etc.) are at the base. Next level up we have safety and security needs. At the third level we have belonging needs such as friendship, being part of a group, affection etc. The fourth level is the requirement for self-esteem which relates to competence, adequacy, attention and recognition. At the very top of the pyramid is the need for self-fulfilment or self-actualisation.
This model clearly shows that basic needs must be met before effective learning can take place. It also serves to explain how short term motivational issues may occur when certain key needs of a learner are not being met.
Rogers' Experiential Learning
Carl Rogers shares much thinking on education with Maslow. He opposes conventional education and learning which is primarily cognitive and calls for 'student-centred education' based on active discovery. Rogers believes that all humans have a natural propensity towards learning and the role of the teacher is to facilitate this learning. This would involve:
Significant learning takes place when the subject matter is perceived by the learner as relevant to their own purposes. Much significant learning is achieved in doing practical exercises, investigative work and problem solving. The most socially-useful learning in the modern world is the learning of the process of learning, learning to learn.
The development of understanding how we learn is ongoing with research taking place in many areas that are relevant to teaching work. An example of how theories may be applied practically might be the use of cognitive load theory in regard to the teaching of technically challenging material. An awareness of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is also clearly relevant and the effects of these needs not being adequately met (e.g. not enough sleep) can be immediately apparent in a student's behaviour (ie. they fall asleep).