Theories and Models of Learning & Instruction

1. Distinguish epistemology from instructional methods or theories. What are the differences between theories, methods or models of learning and epistemologies or underlying beliefs about ways of knowing?

                                         

In our textbook on page 46 , Epistemology is defind as abranch of psychology concerning knowledge, the study of how we know what we know. At some point we all have epistemological beliefs. These beliefs help to influence our own decision making process, how we design instruction for students and how we will choose to deliver that instruction. We need to understand how we think so we can determine what is true and what is fiction.In a classroom full of students their will be many learning styles it is important to have epistemology .

Instructional Methods are the ways in which we present the information to our students, basically it is an educational approach used to turn knowledge into learning.

Learning Theories tell us in general how different types of people learn.Those theories have evolved over the past century. The behavioral learning theory talked about on page 36 in our text states Skinner believed that learning could be understood, explained and predicted simply be observing events surrounding the student and the consequesnces for the behavior. Basically stating that behavior is subjective to the the response received for a particular action. If a student answers a question correct and gets a positive reaction from his peers and the teacher he will be repeating that behavior, but if he gets the answer wrong and is corrected and peers make negative comments,that student might not ever try to answer another question in class.

1. Reflect on whether your stance is primarily positivist, relativist, or contextualist.

I have a mixed view, leaning more toward relativist and contextualist. I believe learning is an active process, hands on with cognative engagement. My belief is, more learning takes place when the student is concentrating and using their own experiences to solve the problem. Most students percieve  new information based on their past experiences.Learning takes  place when students are allowed to discover on their own, they are engaged in the task, motivated, and independent,the students perception might not be the same as his classmates,but his experiences will influence how he receives the information . Social interaction and collaboration are necessary componets to learning as well, if the student has developed independent knowledge through his experiences he will be more confident in his collaboration. Have you ever noticed when you assign gropu work, there is always one participant that becomes the leader in most all assignments, that student has become confident enough in his own knowledge to lead collaboration.

 

1. Identify an instance when your perception or stance as a learner conflicted with that of your instructor.

I will most likely be telling my age here but the first thing that comes to mind after reading these chapters is, when I was in first grade the teacher made the class practice writing for several minutes each day, and she used a ruler to swat the back of your hand if you were not  writing with your right hand. So, needlesss to say everyone in her class was right handed. In the 60’s education was influenced more by behavior and less by information and instruction. I wanted to use my left hand to write with but I learned to write with my right hand after seeing her whack a couple of other students for using their left hand.

 

 

1. Explain differences in problem solving  when approached from behaviorist and constructivist perspectives.

When problem solving from a constructivist approach.  The teacher might ask students if they have questions.  She can assess their understanding by evaluating their answers.  This helps her develop future lessons. The teacher might emphasis a big concept with many questions, then assign interactive group work. In the constructivist classroom questions are awesome, they create emerging theories, assessment of those theories on multiple assignments will let the teacher know if learning is happening and goals are being met.

When problem solving from a behaviorist approach. In this classroom the teacher will present a fixed set of curriculum usually textbook and /or workbooks. In this classroom the teacher bases her students learning on the number of questions they answer correctly. The students usually work independantly, with very little if any collaboration from other students.There exist a lot of repetition in this classroom.

1. What effect might these differences have on learner motivation?

The motivation for the behavorism learner is said to be the reinforcers,some teachers have treasure boxes or classroom store where the student can earn a prize. Many of the critics state the behavorial approach to motivation using reinforcers detract from intrinsic motivation and causes the student to focus on the reinforcer not the learning. I have observed children who would hurry to get work done (even if they answered the questions wrong) so they could be the first one to the treasure box. They were definatly more focused on the reinforcer.

The motivation from the constrictivist learner  is based on the idea that each individual is motivated by different stimuli. For instance what motivates one student might bore another student to tears. In constrictivist motivation a key component is individuality, each student has a different intelectual idenity because they each have different experiences based on their  social environment and  cultural influences. The group work that is promoted in the constructivist classroom causes children  to build self esteem and develop more critical thinkg skills. Group work is active learning, groups compete with other groups, and students compete to learn within the group, thus  motivating  everyone in the group to learn from everyone else.