Learning is an individual process of which many factors can contribute to our effectiveness and willingness to learn. We each learn in different ways and there are many differing theories in practice today in educational settings that are currently being used. This assignment looks at these theories and how, by offering an effective learning experience for children, play and education is developed to meet individual children’s requirements in the classroom. This will be delivered in a written assignment and a presentation. The presentation will focus on an individual whole class session taking pedagogy into account.
The assignment will cover the class session and look into relevant theories and learning styles that can be used effectively in the classroom. My Activity My activity was based on Year 1 literacy following a full week lessons. This came about following a discussion with the class teacher that, as I was to organise, plan and deliver a lesson that fitted in with what was required from the National Literacy Strategy, it would be more beneficial for the children and my own professional development, that I completed the full week as this is how the children are used to working – a topic building up for completion over the full week.
My assignment fitted in very well with the schools’ target of trying to use each learning strategy of audio, visual and kinesthetic into each lesson taught; which is what current planning always needs to include. In order to cover many learning styles, I chose the Drama option set by the NLS that needed to be covered that term (see appendix 1). Although I covered five literacy lessons, for the purpose of this assignment, I will focus on the Wednesday Lesson (see appendix 2).
Whether a full class or small group is used, it is paramount that different learning styles are taken into account in each session in order to fulfill each child’s needs of how they take in and interpret information. The information given in the presentation details what was required to deliver in the lesson. A lot of positive encouragement, rewards, remodeling speech and fun activities are used with the children to help all forms of language improve. This is working in accordance with Skinners theory that operant conditioning helps a child to consolidate their learning.
In each child’s development, several barriers to learning may be present which may affect the learning process – these need to be recognized and considered to allow effective learning to continue. Many scientific experiments/studies of how we grow and develop from birth onwards look at the “Nature versus Nurture” debate. These debates look at how much development and learning is to do with the natural maturing process (nature) and how much we progress as a result of our different experiences and our environments (nurture). “Most of the research seems to support the ‘nature modified
by nuture’ view that most psychologists hold today” Davenport G. C. Page 230 Psychologists have been exploring how children learn for many years and their theories have been separated into four most influential groups: The Biological Theory proposes that our behavioural tendencies and our patterns of development are programmed into our inherited genotype. Nativists study genetic factors what nature has given us. This theory also proposes that we are programmed to learn in a certain way and that no outside influence is possible.
The Learning Theory suggests that we acquire knowledge by response to a stimulus or by positive reinforcement. “Learning is provoked. Learning occurs in a specific situation, at a specific moment, or when a specific problem needs to be tackled. People help children to learn by creating environments and atmospheres which promote learning” Bruce T. and Meggitt C. page 73 Learning can be shaped by predictable processes e. g. Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning. Classical Conditioning is the way in which responses come under the control of a new stimulus.
A well known example is Pavlov (1849 – 1936) who used dogs in his experiment. During my activity, I used this type of conditioning as I praised each child that gave an answer, whether right or wrong e. g. when given an incorrect response I enforced the correct response through different questioning i. e. “That is a really good try of how Handa felt and behaved, but how do you think YOU would feel when your friend turned up with a surprise? ” This gave enforcement to children listening and tries to target others who are not focused.
Operant conditioning is concerned with shaping behaviour. An undesired behaviour could be negatively reinforced e. g. a child missing play time because of bad behaviour. This type of conditioning can produce quick results but is often limited to a particular situation and does not always help the child to transfer what they have learned to other situations. The Psychoanalytic Theory by Sigmund Freud is that children learn naturally in a particular order. He suggested that 3 parts made up our personality – not all present at birth.
The ‘id’ is the instinctive part governed by needs such as hunger. This is only present when born. The ‘ego’ has a planning role. It works out how to get the ‘id’s’ need’s met. E. g. smile to get cuddle, cry to get fed etc. This would also be used by children in my activity when we were trying to act out how each character might act and feel. The child trying to fulfill the task properly will be trying hard to ‘plan’ to get required attention such as “excellent” off the teacher.
The ‘superego’ develops in later childhood as their maturity develops – it gives us our conscience and tries to control the ego. Cognitive Theories are the belief that a child development depends on their interaction with other people and their environments and that children learn by building their own understanding of the world. A famous contributor to this theory is Jean Piaget (1896-1980). Piaget’s research in cognitive development led him to divide the intellectual development of children into 4 stages.
Piaget’s theories have often been criticized, and some researchers, especially those who specialize in behaviour, have suggested that a child’s development can not advance in stages, but moves along gradually, continuing at the appropriate rate for one particular child. Put more about Brunner hereJerome Bruner, however, has shown that five-six year olds can be taught conservation when encouraged to think about the problem, therefore solving it themselves.