How do students develop & learn?

1. How do students develop & learn?

2. How does learning occur? • From birth children are engaged in learning • Making meaning is important because we are social beings who interact in a communicative way • We interpret and organise experiences to make sense of our world. • By 3 years of age the most important skill has been learned - talk

3. Personal reflection • ‘Your beliefs about the learning process will have an impact on the way you construct the teaching and learning experiences in your classroom. • Think Pair Share What are your current beliefs about learning?

4. Meet SID

5. 3 categories of learning 1. Cognitive learning Primarily concerned with mental or intellectual processes. Eg. Recalling information, learning rules, problem solving, concept learning and strategies for learning how to think etc.

6. 2. Psychomotor learning Refers to learning concerned with the development of bodily movements. Gross motor ––whole body, large muscle groups used in jumping and throwing etc. and fine motor ––precise physical movements such as cutting or drawing.

7. Affective learning Refers to learning that is concerned with personal and social matters. The development of attitudes, beliefs and values. • Learning usually involves the overlapping of all 3 categories.

8. Major theoretical approaches to learning • Behavioural • Cognitive • Constructivist

9. Behaviourist view of learning • BF Skinner (1957) • All learning was conditioned by external events • Actions that were rewarded in some way were likely to be repeated

10. Behaviourist view of learning • Children were little adults • Children are empty vessels to be filled with knowledge • Children are blank spaces on which to write information • Teachers transmit knowledge to students • All is known --it simply has to be transmitted

11. Cognitivists View of Learning • Piaget - stated the obvious very simply: • Children don’t think like an adult • Children are not simply empty vessels to be filled with knowledge • Behind their cute and seemingly illogical utterances were thought processes that had their own kind of order and their own special logic.

12. Cognitivists View of Learning • As items of information are learnt, the learner organises them (or stores them) long term in larger units called ‘schema’ – this organisation allows the information to be readily retrieved when needed • Learners integrate new knowledge with old knowledge and the ‘schema’ grows • Learners previously stored knowledge affects how new information is interpreted • Piaget saw student learning as complex with the students playing an active role in their own development

13. Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development • Sensorimotor stage(Infancy). In this period, intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity without the use of symbols. Knowledge of the world is limited (but developing) because its based on physical interactions / experiences.

14. Object Permanence • Children acquire object permanence at about 7 months of age (memory). • Physical development (mobility) allows the child to begin developing new intellectual abilities. • Some symbolic (language) abilities are developed at the end of this stage.

15. Pre-operational stage (Toddler and Early Childhood) • In this period intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols, language use matures, and memory and imagination are developed, but thinking is done in a non-logical, reversible manner. • Egocentric thinking predominates

16. Concrete operational stage • (Elementary and early adolescence). • In this stage (characterized conservation: number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, volume), intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects. • Operational thinking develops (mental actions that are reversible). • Egocentric thought diminishes.

17. Formal operational stage • (Adolescence and adulthood) • In this stage, intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. • Early in the period there is a return to egocentric thought. Only 35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many people do not think formally during adulthood.

18. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yhXjJVFA14&feature=related • Piaget thought that all people would develop through the four stages with maturation. • However it is now clear that while maturation establishes the basis a special environment is required for most adolescents and adults to attain this stage. • Piaget emphasised listening to children, valuing their stage of learning and thinking and ensuring learning activities were developmentally appropriate

19. Where to from here?

20. Constructivist View of Learning • In the last 30 years there is a growing realisation that learning is largely a social, collaborative process. • ‘Learning must be understood as a process imbedded in social relationships and cultural practices, a situated practice within a community of learners.’ (Toohey,2000)

21. The Constructivist Theory of Learning has a long history Tell me, I forget Show me, I remember Involve me, I understand Ancient Chinese Proverb

22. Maria Montessori Don’t tell them how to do it, show them how to do it and don’t say a word. If you tell them, they’ll watch your lips move. If you show them, they’ll want to do it themselves.

23. Read Characteristics of constructivist Learning and Teaching • http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emurphy/stemnet/cle3.html

24. Constructivists view of learning JeromeBruner • A major theme of Bruner is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge. • The learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions, relying on a cognitive structure to do so.

25. Approaches to Constructivist Learning Inquiry learning – asks questions and finds solutions to problems and questions they pose And Discovery Learning- manipulates materials and ideas and discovers connections between them Problem Based Learning - students identify what they already know, what they need to know, and how and where to access new information that may lead to resolution of the problem. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSzhge2uAqI St Mary’s Erskineville – Science Investigation

26. Co operative learning • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEh8Z0sbiRE&feature=fvw

27. Co operative learning • 5 Key Elements: • Positive interdependence • Face to face interaction • Individual accountability • Social skill development • Group evaluation (Brady,2006; Killen,2007)

28. Co operative learning skills • Team work • Problem solving • Responsibility • Effective communication • Co operative groups are a key pedagogic strategy for teachers

29. Constructivist – Socio Cultural Learning The major theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition.

30. Vygotsky––An Introduction to Developmental theory. • http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=634376752589779456# • The potential for cognitive development depends upon the “zone of proximal development”(ZPD). A child needs to be in this zone to learn. • Full development of this zone depends upon full social interaction. • Vygotsky defines ZPD as ‘ the distance between the actual development level as determined by individual problem solving and the level of potential development through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.’

31. ZPD Child’s potential Teacher support and guidance Child functions on their own

33. This then is the reverse of Piaget’s theory – a child’s stage of development leads the learning process • Vygotsky argues that it is the learning that allows development to occur • ‘The challenge for teachers is to provide experiences and contingent instruction within the ZPD. These experiences need to be challenging and yet supported so that development occurs.’ (Dufficy 2002) • Bruner (1978) Teaching as a scaffolding process

34. Scaffolding supports those parts of the building not yet ready to stand alone • It enables construction to go forward • Once that part of the building can stand alone the scaffolding is removed and placed in another part needing support

35. For teachers • Seen as a facilitator of learning rather than a transmitter of knowledge that is to be learnt. • As the student learns the skill or concept less support is needed and the student becomes independent. • Appropriate provision of resources and activities together with probing questioning allows the students to explore concepts and ideas more quickly than if left alone

36. Key Principles of Constructivism – Socio cultural theory • Learners are active participants in their learning – ‘Learning by doing’ • Learners are self regulated • Social interaction is necessary for effective learning • Individuals make sense of information for themselves – construct their own meaning within a social and cultural context • Learning occurs through an attempt “to accommodate the complementarities between individual construction and social interaction”.

37. In addition • ‘Creating a supportive learning environment, which focuses on developing interpersonal relationships is a cornerstone to constructivist teaching and learning and helps to promote greater learning performance’ • (Millwater & Beutel 2009)

38. The importance of language in the learning process • Vygotsky saw language as the most important mental tool • Cambourne(1984) by the age of 3, the conditions for successful language learning: • Immersion or involvement in the process being learnt • The importance of modelling or demonstrating what is to be learnt by a more experienced knower • The need for joint construction or scaffolding of the process with the learner as an apprentice • The expectation that the learner will succeed in learning to talk

39. As teachers: • We need to provide explicit learning experiences that will provide opportunities for all learners to extend their use and understanding of language in ways that will enhance their learning as well as their growth as individuals • ‘It is clear that learning will not happen unless the whole person is engaged in the making of meaning. We cannot separate out a learner’s intellectual, affective, spiritual and physical dimensions. All students need opportunities to develop the full range of their intelligences as well as to discover their own learning strengths.’ • (Groundwater-Smith, Ewing & Le Cornu 2011)

40. Think Pair share – looking at the images discuss - How do children learn?

41. Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and later on the individual level; First, between people and then inside the child. …… • All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals. • The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone.

42. All children have special talents and gifts • The task of the teacher, school, parents and society is to fully develop these gifts. • This development requires an environment that is inclusive. • That gives opportunities for everyone to thrive and be happy in their lives.

43. Models of teaching and learning Retrieved from: http://www.myread.org/scaffolding.htm

44. Education – a paradigm shift?? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U • How many different ways do you take in information?