EDN:204 – Learning Process Autumn Semester B. Ed II (S) A - 2010

EDN:204 – Learning Process • Autumn Semester • B. Ed II (S) A - 2010 • -------------------------------------------------------------Understanding Learning • Definition, principles, and factors affecting learning; meaningful and rote learning • Domains and taxonomies of learning objectives, Gagne’s outcomes of instruction, • and sequence of instructional events • Approaches of learning: Behaviourists and Cognitivists – a brief introduction

1. Understanding Learning List down all the things that you have learned since your birth till today. What is ‘Learning’? Is it a change in behaviour or knowledge? Write down your own definition of learning

Definitions of learning i. Learning is usually defined as a relatively permanent change in behaviour or behaviour potential that occurs through experience. However, it does not refer to behavioural changes that can be explained by temporary states of maturation. ii. Learning is the acquisition and development of memories and behaviours, including skills, knowledge, understanding, values, and wisdom. It is the goal of education, and the product of experience.

Therefore, learning is a process whereby individual changes his/her knowledge or behaviour as a result of experience. Characteristics of learning ● change of behavior – relatively permanent ● may not be directly observable ● depends on experience and practice

What is not learning? • instinctive behavior • imprinting • maturation • Fatigue, illness, use of intoxicants etc. • Why are the above not learning….???

Principles of Learning 1. Learning is a stratified process The human learning does not take place on a single level, but is a stratified process. This characteristic is worldwide accepted as a didactic principle. The way in which the school system throughout the whole world is organized is an acknowledgement of this.

2. A "Pyramid of repetition” has to be constructed The importance of repetition in the learning situation cannot be denied. 3. Opportunities for applicatin While a person is learning to master the skills that form the basis of reading and mathematics, he should already be given opportunities to apply these skills.

Some General Principles of Learning 1. Wanting (intent) to remember 2. Meaningfulness Exercise 1 2 3 4 ---------------------------------------------------- KQZ BLT SIT WAS NLR TWA WIN THE XOJ SOS LIE CAR BTK CBS SAW RUN YSW NFL NOT OFF

3. Categorization & Labelling If you had to buy the following items from the Sunday market and you could not write them down, how are you going to remember them? Beef, apples, milk, toothpaste, bananas, eggs, soap, mutton, oranges, shampoo, butter, mangoes, fish, cheese, grapes, pork… It is always easier to group them under the following categories…. Meat Fruits Diaries Toiletries

4. Association • 5. Spaced Study • 6. Memories • Factors Affecting Student Learning: • Academic Self-Confidence • Value of course / task • Level of Intellectual Development / Maturity • Perceived effectiveness of & relationship with instructor • Thinking / Behavior Preference • Internal / External Motivation • Attributes of success and failure • Learning Style

Meaningful learning Vs. Rote learning • What is meaningful learning? • Meaningful learning • - is achieving deep understanding of • complex ideas that are relevant to students’ lives. • Well organized. • Presented in vocabulary that makes sense to the students. • New terms are clarified. • Use of old information.

Meaningful learning – characteristics (Jonassen, et al. 1999) ● Active ● Constructive ● Intentional ● Authentic ● Cooperative

Rote learning • is a learningtechnique which avoids understanding of a subject and instead focuses on memorization. • Learn by heart/memorization. • Information has little inherent meaning. • It provides basic building blocks for other learning

Possible Strategies • Rote Learning • Part Learning • Distributed Practice • Meaningful Learning: Verbal information, ideas & relationships among ideas taken together. • Use of Expository Teaching Model (explanation or the setting forth of facts and ideas).

Expository Teaching Model Characteristics A great deal of interaction between teacher and students. Expository teaching makes great use of examples. Expository teaching is deductive. It is sequential.

Laws of Learning (Thorndike- Theory of Connectionism) Law of Readiness Law of Exercise Law of Effect These LAWS govern the Learning Process. ..\..\..\Desktop\When any conduction unit is not in readiness to conduct.doc

The Law of Readiness When any conduction unit is not in readiness to conduct, for it to do so is annoying. ii. When any conduction unit is in readiness to conduct, for it not to do so is annoying. iii. When any conduction unit is ready to conduct, for it to do so is satisfying.

The Law of Exercise • The Law of Use: When a modifiable connection is made between a situation and response, that connection’s strength is increased. • ii. The Law of Disuse • When a modifiable connection is not made between a situation and response during a length of time, that connection’s strength is decreased.

3. The Law of Effect When S – R connection is followed by satisfaction (reward), the connection is strengthened and when the connection is followed by annoyance (punishment), it is weakened. Bloom’s Taxanomy (Handouts)

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction • Robert Gagne (1965) published book called “The Conditions of Learning” • Identified the mental conditions for learning. • It is based on the information processing model of the mental events that occur when adults are presented with various stimuli. • He created a nine-step process called the events of instruction, which correlate to and address the conditions of learning. (Handouts)

Approaches to learning • I. Behavioral approach • Learners learn by doing, experiencing, and engaging in trial and error. Focus on observable performance or behaviour. Thus behaviourism. • Primary belief: • organism operates on the environment • focus on response • reinforcement and punishment

II. Cognitive approach Focus on mental processing such as thinking, problem-solving, language, concept formation and information processing. De-emphasized the concern on overt behavior and replaced it with covert behaviour. The learner is viewed as having a more proactive role in his/her own learning.

Primary belief • emphasize the human mind’s active attempts to make sense of the world. • Contexts/situations, beliefs, expectations, and feelings influence what and how we learn. • What an individual brings to the new learning situations influence learning.

Discussion on Implications

I. Behavoural Approaches Figures in the history of Behaviourism 1. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) Russian physiologist (Nobel prize for work on digestion, 1904). Pioneer of the theory of “classical conditioning”. The association of automatic responses with new stimuli is known as classical conditioning. 2. Burrhus Frederic Skinner(1904-90) Best known of all behaviourists, and explorer of operant conditioning: the process whereby the probability of behaviour being repeated is increased if it is reinforced.

These deliberate, goal-directed actions are called operant. The learning process involved in changing operant behavior is called operant conditioning Behavior reinforcer strengthens the expected behavior

3. Albert Bandura (1925 – present) • Social Cognitive learning theory – • Observational learning • Conditions • hero • observe the behavior of the model • learn and value • Forms of observational learning • ● Modeling • ● Vicarious modeling • Process • attention • retention • reproduction • motivation

4. Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949) US animal and later educational psychologist, developed the theory of trial and error learning through experiments with animals having to escape from puzzle boxes. 5. John Broadus Watson (1878-1958) Apostle of Behaviourism, building on Pavlov's ideas to maintain that the reflex was the basic unit of behaviour. With the brief understanding of behavioural approaches to learning what do you think are some implications that we may consider in our teaching learning processes?

EDN:204 – Learning Process Autumn Semester B. Ed II (S) A - 2010