# Understanding and Using Educational Theories  ## Metadata - Author: [[Karl Aubrey and Alison Riley]] - Full Title: Understanding and Using Educational Theories - Category: #books ## Highlights - There are three main psychological schools of thought which are of relevance to education and learning theory: behaviourism, constructivism, and humanism. ([Location 128](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=128)) - Behaviourism is a school of thought which contests that ‘behaviour can be predicted, measured and controlled, and that learning is simply a matter of stimulus and response’ (Wallace, 2008: 32). ([Location 131](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=131)) - The constructivist school of thought argues that learning is not something that can be delivered to students by them passively listening to a teacher dispensing knowledge. The constructivists believe that meaningful knowledge and understanding ‘are actively constructed by learners … which builds on what they already know causing them to change and adapt and invent ideas’ (Wallace, 2008: 61). ([Location 142](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=142)) - The humanism school of thought argues that education should focus on the needs of the individual learner, and that what is important are the aspects of personal and emotional growth. ([Location 150](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=150)) - Dewey argued that by accepting pupils from different classes, cultures and abilities, schools would thereby lay the foundations for building notions of democracy for children. ([Location 280](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=280)) - He called for a ‘common school’ which embraced and reproduced the similarities and differences found in the community. ([Location 283](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=283)) - The ongoing importance of the influence of Dewey is also evident in the work of more contemporary thinkers. In his seminal text Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire warns against an information-giving or ‘banking’ approach and calls for a learner-centred education based on the needs and wants of individuals (Freire, 1996). ([Location 376](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=376)) - Learner-centred pedagogy Teachers empower children to explore their interests and experiences in depth as part of their learning process. In doing so, the teacher facilitates the learner to follow their curiosity and enthusiasm so that they can develop intellectually and as a whole person. ([Location 518](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=518)) - Both Montessori and Piaget were constructivists, believing that children constructed their knowledge from the world around them. ([Location 762](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=762)) - Montessori’s work must be seen as a key driver for the child-centred approach to education that we see today, as were her views of the teacher as observer, preparing and adapting materials to meet the specific needs of the child. ([Location 869](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=869)) - Prior to the evolution of his theories those working with young children merely assumed that the child thinks much the same as the adult, the only difference being that the adult has more knowledge on which to base their thought. Piaget was responsible for reversing this view and, rather than assuming that intellect develops gradually as the child matures to adulthood, he demonstrated that thought actually develops through a series of stages, with each stage having its own unique characteristics in relation to the development of thought. ([Location 1204](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=1204)) - According to Wertsch (1991, cited in Keenan, 2002) there were three aspects which Vygotsky felt were important for cognitive development. Firstly, that it is a historical process; secondly, it is social in nature; and thirdly, it is enabled by the idea of mediation by employing the ‘tools’ of language, numbers and symbols. In sum, Vygotsky contested that cognitive development was transformational and: … results from processes which occur first between people and then occur within the individual. Vygotsky referred to this process of functions moving from the interpersonal to the intrapersonal as internalisation. (Keenan, 2002: 133) ([Location 1313](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=1313)) - Learning in play and learning in school should be perceived as equally important and they should both generate a zone of proximal development (ZPD). In each of these contexts children build upon cultural and social proficiencies and information that develops through internalisation and interaction with more knowledgeable others (Vygotsky, 1978). ([Location 1386](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=1386)) - Scaffolding, therefore, is the nature of the assistance the child has from, and with, the adult or more ‘capable peer’ to undertake a task or solve problems (Scott, 2008). ([Location 1411](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=1411)) - Although there is a certain similarity between the ideas of Vygotsky and Piaget in that they both considered learning to be active, there are significant differences. Piaget considered that children move through a succession of age-related stages of individually constructed development and learn through teaching which is confined to the child’s stage of development. Unlike Piaget, what was important for Vygotsky was not the age of the child, but the notion of cultural history and the use of speech and thought in a socially interactive environment to shape their thinking (Wood, 1998). ([Location 1429](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=1429)) - Therefore, it is the scaffolding skill of the adult to make the major points of a problem, or task, clear to the child which is paramount to teaching. From a Vygotskian viewpoint it is at the heart of how lessons are planned, how resources are selected, what learning and teaching strategies are employed, how questions are asked and how feedback is given (Urquhart, 2000). ([Location 1503](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=1503)) - ‘Modern societies no longer can content themselves with the selection of talent; they must find the means for developing talent’ (Bloom, 1976: 17). ([Location 2094](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=2094)) - For example, practical and skill-based sessions should employ the psychomotor domain, group projects and activities the affective domain and classroom-based sessions the cognitive domain. ([Location 2182](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=2182)) - Note: Cognition emotion volition as dimensions of individ grouo cosmic - Rogers put forward a theory of experiential learning which addressed the needs of the learner through the building of mutual relationships, which arguably formed the basis for Knowles’ assumptions of self-directedness, experience and problem-centered learning (Blondy, 2007). ([Location 2455](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=2455)) - Tags: [[favorite]] - Knowles suggests, therefore, that the facilitator should arrange the classroom before the students arrive in a manner which reinforces a delivery style more conducive to group activity and discussion, such as having chairs in a circle or table groups, with furniture designed with adult learners in mind. In this way a clear message is given to the adult learner about how a session will be delivered, dispelling any preconceived ideas. ([Location 2518](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=2518)) - Of even greater importance, according to Knowles, is the psychological climate for learning, which he stresses should be ‘one which causes adults to feel accepted, respected and supported’ (1980: 47), believing that there should be a spirit of mutuality between students and facilitators as joint enquirers. ([Location 2521](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=2521)) - For Bruner, this constructivist phase was rooted in problem solving and discovery learning. Discovery learning, for Bruner, assisted learners to make their own meaning by engaging ‘in discussions and the use of concrete materials, which causes learners to gain insights into the processes of knowledge’ (O’Donnell, 2007: 134). An approach which adopts discovery learning is scaffolding, which is akin to the ideas put forward by Vygotsky. ([Location 2738](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=2738)) - For such notions to be productive, both scaffolding and spiralling require teachers who know when to help, when to let go, how to motivate and, possibly more importantly, know the individual needs of the children. ([Location 2820](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=2820)) - Note: Spiralling as revisiting learning with vigor - Here they coined the phrases single loop learning and double-loop learning, suggesting that in single loop learning reflection is centred around the action and consequence, whereby changes occur in response to the action taken when an unexpected situation occurs. In contrast, in double-loop learning the practitioner returns to the governing variables and examines whether changes need to be made at this level before considering alternative actions. ([Location 4223](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=4223)) - (Kolb, 1984: 38), and in this respect he saw learning as proceeding through concrete experiences which were then transformed into abstract conceptualisation through the processes of reflective observation and active experimentation (Dennick, 2008). ([Location 4436](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=4436)) - Learning Style Inventory (LSI). Through the LSI he explained how learning can be categorised into four individual learning styles: diverging, assimilating, converging and accommodating. ([Location 4459](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=4459)) - Kolb’s learning cycle is then constructed through the following four stages or learning modes: concrete experience (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualisation (AC) and active experimentation (AE) (see Figure 13.1). ([Location 4496](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=4496)) - Tags: [[favorite]] - Although in the past the study of learning has been examined through a psychological rather than a sociological lens, it has become increasingly obvious that learning is a social activity, a notion supported by the works of Vygotsky and Bruner (see Chapters 4 and 8). ([Location 4834](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=4834)) - They use the term ‘communities of discoveries’ as an ‘extension’ to the concept of communities of practice, ‘to describe the creative engagement of citizen-learners at all stages of their lives in tackling the collective problems we face in new ways’ (Coffield and Williamson, 2011: 12). ([Location 4936](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=4936)) - Vygotsky and Bruner’s ideas were from a social constructivist standpoint where the purpose of learning was to gain non-specific knowledge and skills. Conversely, Lave and Wenger’s notion was that communities of practice engage in particular shared activities with an exclusive purpose. It is this shared purpose in becoming a more adept member of a particular community of practice which Wenger’s Communities of Practice: Learning, meaning and identity (1998) explored in greater depth. In this work he suggested there were three essential characteristics in true communities of practice, which were mutual agreement, joint enterprise and a shared repertoire. Moreover, the components of successful socially situated learning were meaning, practice community and identity (Wenger, 1998). ([Location 5037](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=5037)) - In an article which explores who will be the successful learners in the future, she states that ‘The twenty-first century will belong to the passionate and resilient learners’ and urges teachers to ‘foster the growth mindset in our students so that they can be among them’ (Dweck, 2009b: 9). ([Location 5895](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=5895)) - The word ‘yet’ is valuable and should be used in every classroom. Whenever students say they can’t do something or are not good at something, the teacher should add, ‘yet’. This simple habit coveys the idea that ability and motivation are fluid. (Dweck, 2010: 19) ([Location 6152](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=6152)) - Tags: [[favorite]] - Growth mindset Those people with growth mindsets welcome challenges, enjoy the process of learning, react positively and developmentally to their mistakes, and learn from negative comments from educators. ([Location 6197](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=6197)) ## New highlights added May 18, 2022 at 10:43 AM - Intelligence, according to him, is not a single fixed commodity but a combination of habits of thinking which can be refined to deal with the challenges of real-life learning. ([Location 5212](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=5212)) - ‘Instead of being markers for giftedness, speed and perfection are enemies of high-level learning. Real learning comes from a lot of hard work’ (Matthews and Folsom, 2009: 22). ([Location 6015](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C5S5XCW&location=6015))