3. What is Learning?
• I want to talk about learning. But not the lifeless, sterile,
futile, quickly forgotten stuff that is crammed in to the mind
of the poor helpless individual tied into his seat by ironclad
bonds of conformity! I am talking about LEARNING - the
insatiable curiosity that drives the adolescent boy to absorb
everything he can see or hear or read about gasoline
engines in order to improve the efficiency and speed of his
'cruiser'. I am talking about the student who says, "I am
discovering, drawing in from the outside, and making that
which is drawn in a real part of me." I am talking about any
learning in which the experience of the learner progresses
along this line: "No, no, that's not what I want"; "Wait! This
is closer to what I am interested in, what I need"; "Ah, here
it is! Now I'm grasping and comprehending what I need and
what I want to know!" Carl Rogers 1983: 18-19
4. Responses to question
What is learning ?
• Learning as a quantitative increase in knowledge.
Learning is acquiring information or ‘knowing a lot’.
• Learning as memorising. Learning is storing
information that can be reproduced.
• Learning as acquiring facts, skills, and methods that can
be retained and used as necessary.
• Learning as making sense or abstracting meaning.
Learning involves relating parts of the subject matter to
each other and to the real world.
• Learning as interpreting and understanding reality in a
different way. Learning involves comprehending the
world by reinterpreting knowledge.
5. Learning as a Product
• an outcome - the end product of some process.
• It can be recognized or seen.
• This approach has the virtue of highlighting a
crucial aspect of learning - change.
• Does a person need to perform in order to
determine whether he/she has learnt
• Are there other factors that could have resulted
in the changed behaviour
• Is the change long term/ short term?
6. Is there a difference between
‘Knowing that’
vs
‘Knowing how’
7. A man knowing little or nothing of medical
science could not be a good surgeon, but
excellence at surgery is not the same thing as
knowledge of medical science; nor is it a
simple product of it. The surgeon must indeed
have learned from instruction, or by his own
inductions and observations, a great number
of truths; but he must also have learned by
practice a great number of aptitudes.
(Ryle 1949)
8. • Learning how or improving an ability is not
like learning that or acquiring information.
Truths can be imparted, procedures can only
be inculcated, and while inculcation is a
gradual process, imparting is relatively
sudden. It makes sense to ask at what
moment someone became apprised of a
truth, but not to ask at what moment
someone acquired a skill.
(Ryle 1949:
9. Learning as a Process
• Task-conscious or acquisition learning -
on-going, concrete, immediate; confined to
specific activity
• Learning-conscious or formalized learning-
Facilitation learning; people are aware of this
task called learning
Which is present in our Jamaican schools?
10. Behaviourist
Learning theorists
• Thorndike, Pavlov, Watson, Guthrie, Hull, Tolman, Skinner
View of the learning process
• Change in behaviour
Locus of learning
• Stimuli in external environment
Purpose in education
• Produce behavioural change in desired direction
Educator's role
• Arranges environment to elicit desired response
Manifestations in adult learning
• Behavioural objectives
• Competency -based education
• Skill development and training
11. Behaviorism
• Weakness -the learner may find themselves in a
situation where the stimulus for the correct response
does not occur, therefore the learner cannot
respond. - A worker who has been conditioned to
respond to a certain cue at work stops production
when an anomaly occurs because they do not
understand the system.
• Strength - the learner is focused on a clear goal and
can respond automatically to the cues of that goal. -
W.W.II pilots were conditioned to react to silhouettes
of enemy planes, a response which one would hope
became automatic.
12. Cognitivist
Learning theorists
• Koffka, Kohler, Lewin, Piaget, Ausubel, Bruner, Gagne
View of the learning process
• Internal mental process (including insight, information processing,
memory, perception
Locus of learning
• Internal cognitive structuring
Purpose in education
• Develop capacity and skills to learn better
Educator's role
• Structures content of learning activity
Manifestations in adult learning
• Cognitive development
• Intelligence, learning and memory as function of age
• Learning how to learn – mnemonics , gems etc
13. Cognitivism
• Weakness - the learner learns a way to accomplish a
task, but it may not be the best way, or suited to the
learner or the situation. For example, logging onto
the internet on one computer may not be the same
as logging in on another computer.
• Strength - the goal is to train learners to do a task the
same way to enable consistency. - Logging onto and
off of a workplace computer is the same for all
employees; it may be important do an exact routine
to avoid problems.
14. Humanist
Learning theorists
• Maslow, Rogers
View of the learning process
• A personal act to fulfil potential.
Locus of learning
• Affective and cognitive needs
Purpose in education
• Become self-actualized, autonomous
Educator's role
• Facilitates development of the whole person
Manifestations in adult learning
• Andragogy
• Self-directed learning
15. Constructivist
Learning theorists
• Bandura, Vygotsky,
View of the learning process
• Interaction /observation in social contexts. Movement from the periphery to the centre of a
community of practice
Locus of learning
• Group dialogue and collaborative problem solving model and guide
• Learning is in relationship between people and environment
Purpose in education
• Full participation in communities of practice and utilization of resources, practical, authentic
situations
Educator's role
• Works to establish communities of practice in which conversation and participation can occur.
Manifestations
• Socialization
• Social participation
• Problem solving
17. What is motivation?
• Motivation is the inner power or energy that
pushes one toward performing a certain action.
Motivation has much to do with desire and
ambition, and if they are absent, motivation is
absent too
• Motivation is a desire to achieve a goal,
combined with the energy to work towards that
goal. Students who are motivated have a desire
to undertake their study and complete the
requirements of their course.
18. Are you a motivated student?
• Being a motivated student doesn’t mean you
are always excited or fully committed to your
study, but it does mean you will complete the
tasks set for you even when assignments or
practicals are difficult, or seem uninteresting.
19. Can you motivate a person?
• As educators we need to provide the
environment that will cause persons to be
motivated.
20. Basic principles of Motivation that can
be applied to Learning
• The environment can be used to focus the student's
attention on what needs to be learned.
• Incentives motivate learning.
• Internal motivation is longer lasting and more self-
directive than is external motivation, which must be
repeatedly reinforced by praise or concrete rewards.
• Learning is most effective when an individual is ready to
learn, that is, when one wants to know something. If a
student is not ready to learn, he or she may not be reliable
in following instructions and therefore must be supervised
and have the instructions repeated again and again.
• Motivation is enhanced by the way in which the
instructional material is organized.
21. What is Brain based Learning?
• A comprehensive approach to instruction using current research
from neuroscience.
• Emphasizes how the brain learns naturally and is based on what we
currently know about the actual structure and function of the
human brain at varying developmental stages.
• Using the latest neural research, educational techniques that are
brain friendly provide a biologically driven framework for creating
effective instruction.
• This theory also helps explain recurring learning behaviors, and is
a meta-concept that includes an eclectic mix of techniques.
• Currently, related techniques stress allowing teachers to connect
learning to students' real lives and emotional experiences, as well
as their personal histories and experiences.
22. BBL involves
This form of learning also encompasses such newer
educational concepts like:
• mastery learning,
• experiential learning,
• learning styles,
• multiple intelligences,
• cooperative learning,
• practical simulations,
• experiential learning,
• problem-based learning,
• movement education.
23. Core Principles of BBL
• The brain is a parallel processor. It can perform several activities at
once.
• The brain perceives wholes and parts simultaneously.
• Information is stored in multiple areas of the brain, and can be
retrieved through multiple memory and neural pathways.
• Learning engages the whole body. All learning is mind-body:
movement, foods, attention cycles, and chemicals modulate
learning.
• Humans search for meaning is innate.
• The search for meaning comes through patterning.
• Emotions are critical to patterning, and drive our attention,
meaning and memory.
(Caine and Caine)
24. • Meaning is more important than just information.
• Learning involves focused attention and peripheral perception.
• We have two types of memory: spatial and rote.
• We understand best when facts are embedded in natural spatial
memory.
• The brain is social. It develops better in concert with other brains.
• Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by stress.
• Every brain in uniquely organized.
• Learning is developmental.
(Caine and Caine)
25. BBL -Implications
• Learning environments are created that immerse students in a
learning experience.
• Relaxed alertness: An effort is made to eliminate fear while
maintaining a highly challenging environment.
• All students are accepted with their various learning styles,
capabilities and disabilities. A relaxed accepting environment
pervades the room.
• Children are stretched to maximize their potential.
• Active processing where the learner consolidates and internalizes
information by actively processing it.
• Information is connected to prior learning.
• The stage is set before a unit of study is begun by the teacher
preparing the students to attach new information to prior
knowledge so the new information has something to latch onto.
(Jensen; Caine & Caine)
26. What does the class look like?
• Rich, stimulating environments using student created materials and products are
evident on bulletin boards and display areas.
• Places for group learning like tables and desks grouped together, to stimulate
social skills and cooperative work groups. Have comfortable furniture, for casual
discussion areas. Areas with large pillows who prefer not the work at a desk or
table.
• Safe places for students to be where threat is reduced, particularly in large urban
settings.
• Variety of places where children prefer to learn
• Change displays in the classroom regularly to provide a stimulating situations for
brain development.
• Have students create stage sets where they can act out scenes from their readings
or demonstrate a science principle or act out a dialogue between historical figures.
• Have multiple resources available. Provide educational, physical and a variety of
setting within the classroom so that learning activities can be integrated easily.
Learning centers. Multiple functions of learning is our goal.
(Darcangelo, 2000)
27. • Flexibility: This common principle of the past is relevant. The
teachable moment must be recognized and capitalized upon.
Dimensions of flexibility are evident in other principles.
• Active and passive places: Students need quiet areas for reflection
and retreat from others to use intrapersonal intelligences.
• Personal space: Students need a home base, a desk. All this allows
learners to express their unique identity.
• The community at large as an optimal learning environment:
Teachers need to find ways to fully use space a primary learning
setting. Technology, distance learning, community and business
partnerships, all need to be explored by educational institutions.
• Enrichment: The brain can grow new connections at any age.
Challenging, complex experiences with appropriate feedback are
best. Cognitive skills develop better with music and motor skills.
(Darcangelo, 2000)
28. References for BBL
• Caine, G., Nummela-Caine, R., & Crowell, S. (1999)
Mindshifts: A Brain-Based Process for Restructuring
Schools and Renewing Education, 2nd edition. Tucson,
AZ: Zephyr Press.
• Caine, G., Nummela-Caine, (1997) Education on the
edge of possibility. Alexandria, VA: ASCD--Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
• D'Arcangelo, M. (2000). How does the brain develop? A
conversation with Steven Peterson. Educational
Leadership, 58(3), 68-71.
