Learning_Theories_in_Teaching

MODULE LL113 LEARNING THEORIES INTRODUCTION I would like to discuss and evaluate a range of learning theories, linking these discussions of each theory to health and safety in the workplace and other such health and safety subjects that I teach to a range of learners. I am going to be looking at behaviorism, and how the learners adapt to enthusiasm, and their environment, when learning about health and safety. Secondly, looking at cognitive learning, helping my learners to recall on what they already know about health and safety in their workplace, and linking it back to new information given, with exams and tests to influence the memory. Finally I’ll be linking my teaching to constructivism and how I get the students to build up on the health and safety knowledge they have learnt, and implementing that in their workplace, and using a range of assessment tools throughout the sessions taken. MAIN BODY The first learning theory I will look at is Behaviorism: Behaviorism Behaviorism as a theory was primarily developed by B. F. Skinner. Skinner argues that the classic theories of freedom and dignity are outdated and no longer apply to the "modern scientific understanding of Man"(Skinner, 1971). A most interesting theory that Skinner puts forth in the book is the idea that, based upon his earlier research into animal motivation and control, that humans are essentially animals that could be controlled by using his previously discovered and published observations about the domination of animals through motivation and deprivation, subject to the same laws of stimulus-response that he observed in his "rat boxes" First, learning is manifested by a change in behavior. Students that want to learn OR need to be there at my class, because either they’re sent by their employer, or maybe a new section of health and safety legislation has come into place. Second, the environment shapes behavior. I try to make sure I am there for work early and the room is set and ready for my learners, showing a calm environment to learn, and of course professionalism, as health and safety is deemed as a very serious subject. And third, the principles of contiguity or how close in time two events must be for a bond to be formed, and reinforcement which is any means of increasing the likelihood that an event will be repeated, i.e. risk assessments in the workplace etc, are central to explaining the learning process. For behaviorism, l think I can best describe this learning is the acquisition of new behavior through conditioning. There are two main types of conditioning, the first as described by Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Pavlov, I. P. (1927). 1) Classical conditioning, where the behavior becomes a reflex response to stimulus as in the case of Pavlov's Dogs. Pavlov was interested in studying reflexes, when he saw that the dogs drooled without the proper stimulus. Although no food was in sight, their saliva still dribbled. It turned out that the dogs were reacting to lab coats. Every time the dogs were served food, the person who served the food was wearing a lab coat. Therefore, the dogs reacted as if food was on its way whenever they saw a lab coat. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning) 2) Operant conditioning where there is reinforcement of the behavior by a reward or a punishment. The theory of operant conditioning was developed by B.F. Skinner and is known as Radical Behaviorism. The word ‘operant’ refers to the way in which behavior ‘operates on the environment’. Briefly, a behavior may result either in reinforcement, which increases the likelihood of the behavior recurring, or punishment, which decreases the likelihood of the behavior recurring. It is important to note that, a punishment is not considered to be applicable if it does not result in the reduction of the behavior, and so the terms punishment and reinforcement are determined as a result of the actions. Tucker, M., Sigafoos, J., & Bushell, H. (1998). The conditioning theories explained are used in my workplace; I use the classic and the operant theories. Homework is set and the students must complete as part of the Nebosh health and safety course, punishment would be along the lines of failure to pass the exam at the end – a personal punishment to the delegate who has just completed 13 weeks’ worth of work. And a cost to the company as the course costs around £1000 pounds to sit and another £500 for to re-sit exams. Cognitivism Two key assumptions underlie this approach, as described by Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky. One that the memory system is an active organized processor of information and two, that prior knowledge plays an important role in learning. Vygotsky states that “Cognitivists consider how human memory works to promote learning”. Daniels, H. (Ed.) (1996). Vygotsky talked about language, He said “An infant learns the meaning of signs through interaction with its main care-givers, e.g., pointing, cries, and gurgles can express what is wanted. How verbal sounds can be used to conduct social interaction is learned through this activity, and the child begins to utilize, build, and develop this faculty, e.g., using names for objects, etc” Then he goes on to talk about thinking out loud, i.e. self talk. Self-talk "develops along a rising not a declining, curve; it goes through an evolution, not an involution. In the end, it becomes “inner speech" (Vygotsky, 1987, pg 57). Linking this back to my area of teaching, I believe that dialogue is an important tool of this process in the zone of proximal development, i.e. what more independent problem solving reveals. Vygotsky, L. (1978). I am looking to see if the adults on the health and safety course, (for example those attending the nebosh national course) can independently deal with tasks set on the nebosh, up to the degree of difficulty that has been set by the syllabus. We use Harvard referencing on the course, and set the tasks out using assessment tools, such as power points and flip charts, with question and answer sessions, and examples given relating to their place of work. All my students are of similar age, but I am careful not to assume they are all at the same mental development level, and this is why I use this theory, and set tasks out accordingly and look at the students to see if anyone needs a little guidance or help through the course. The last theory I am talking about is constructivism; Constructivism Formalization of the theory of constructivism is generally attributed to Jean Piaget. Constructivism views learning as a process in which the learner actively constructs or builds new ideas or concepts based upon current and past knowledge or experience. Constructivist learning, therefore, is a very personal endeavor, whereby internalized concepts, rules, and general principles may consequently be applied in a practical real-world context. This is also known as social constructivism. This constructivism theory is where I link in works by Honey and Mumford and their learning cycle, which in effect draws up on the student having an experience, reflecting on it and building upon their knowledge and experience by putting it into practice. Coffield,F.,Moseley,D.,Hall E. (2004) Learning is seen as the process by which individuals are introduced to a culture by more skilled members Constructivism itself has many variations, such as Active learning, discovery learning, and knowledge building. Regardless of the variety, I think in my area of work and teaching health and safety, constructivism in this are promotes a student's free exploration within a given framework or structure. I try to act as a facilitator whereby I encourage my students to discover principles of health and safety for themselves and to construct knowledge by working to solve realistic problems. Things like scenarios are given and the student has to come up with ten health and safety issues, i.e. fire, electrics, manual handling, construction, working at heights etc.(H.S.E 2010). Thus theory helps them to draw on their own experiences. One could argue here that social influences may affect the learners though, as demonstrated by Heinrich’s Domino theory. (H.W.Heinrich, 1931). This is something I use in health and safety quite a , as Heinrich’s Domino Theory has 5 dominoes, It states that accidents result from a chain of sequential events, metaphorically like a line of dominoes falling over. When one of the dominoes falls, it triggers the next one, and the next…but removing a key factor , (such as an unsafe condition or an unsafe act) prevents the start of the chain reaction. Using accidents for example, Of accidents, Heinrich says, “The occurrence of a preventable injury is the natural culmination of a series of events or circumstances which invariably occur in a fixed and logical order.” (12-13) He defines accidents as, “events such as falls of persons, striking of persons by flying objects are typical accidents that cause injury.” (12) . What Henrich, and later when Bird and Loftus joined and updated his theory, are trying to say is that an incident may occur due to the social environment, and the way the person has been brought up by the influences in their life, thus them thinking it’s the norm for them to commit an unsafe act or accident and cannot directly be blamed. However by 1994, and Jeffery W Vincoli’s book (Jefferry.,W,Vincoli 1994) the dominoes had been re-labeled and updated (with a new emphasis on management, and incident as property loss), but the basic structure and premises of the theory were still in place. The revised model relabeled the dominoes as Management: Loss of Control, Origins/Basic Causes, Symptoms/Immediate Causes, Contact: Incident, and Loss: People – Property. Thus linking back to constructivism theory, It has become a lot better to use in the class. Conclusion In conclusion I’d like to compare these theories of Behaviorism, Congnitivism and Constructivism that I have discussed in the main body of my assignment. Behaviorism focuses only on the objectively observable aspects of learning. Cognitive theories look beyond behavior to explain brain-based learning. And constructivism views learning as a process in which the learner actively constructs or builds new ideas or concepts. When comparing these theories and contrasting them to my area of teaching, I think the Constructivism process is the one I use the most, and relates most strongly to my own style of teaching and learning as well. In my subject area, I find health and safety is a process in which the learner will build upon experiences and knowledge by the practical aspects, by actually doing the job, which makes up of 90 per cent of learning in health and safety. They can build upon the theory and invent new ideas for a better way to safe guard people and prevent accidents, the learning never ends as the student must continually monitor and review their findings in health and safety, to continue the safeguarding process. As I am trying to link this back to constructivism, I am trying to be careful when talking about using this theory and students having an experience, reflecting on it and building upon their knowledge and experience by putting it into practice, because the student might blame an incident, when something does go wrong as the fault of their ancestors and the way they have been brought up. The assumption is that psychologically one knows enough about the mind to know what ought to be learned by people, why it ought to be learned, how it ought to be learned, and by whom each thing ought to be learned. Together these assumptions are the lenses through which people have been socialized in our culture to judge whether learning is occurring or not; (and not laying the blame on a theory) and a further assumption is that once one knows aptitudes, one also knows how to track a person so he will in fact reach the goal that is being set out for him. The whole approach is the ultimate in pedagogical and psychological technology. Bibliography * http://www.who2.com/ask/bfskinner.html - accessed 14th may 2010 * Beyond Freedom And Dignity – B F Skinner – 1971 pg 118 * Pavlov, I. P. (1927). Conditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral Cortex (translated by G. V. Anrep). London: Oxford University Press. * Rescorla, R. A., & Wagner, A. R. (1972). A theory of Pavlovian conditioning. Variations in effectiveness of reinforcement and non-reinforcement. In A. Black & W. F. Prokasky, Jr. (eds.), Classical Conditioning II New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning (accessed 14th May 2010) * Domjan, Michael, Ed., The Principles of Learning and Behavior, Fifth Edition, Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2003 * Tucker, M., Sigafoos, J., & Bushell, H. (1998). Use of noncontingent reinforcement in the treatment of challenging behavior. Behavior Modification, 22, 529–547 * Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Oxford, England: Macmillan. * Daniels, H. (Ed.) (1996). An Introduction to Vygotsky, London: Routledge (accessed on line via wikepedia on 14/05/2010). * The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky, 1987 (also accessed via wikepidia on 14/5/10) * Vygotsky, L. (1978). Interaction between Learning and Development (pp. 79-91). * Coffield,F. Mosley,D.,Hall E,& Ecclestone, K (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post 16 learning and critical review – accessed via http://www.isda.org.uk/files/PDF/1543.pdf * Honey P & Mumford,A (2000) The learning styles helper’s guide. Maidenhead:peter Honey publications Ltd. * www.hse.gov.uk * H.W.Heindrick. Industrial Action Prevention pg 12-15(1994) Fourth edition, New York: McGraw-Hill accessed via www.behavior.org/safety/safety_references.cfm 14/05/10 * Jeffrey W. Vincoli. Basic Guide to Accident Investigation and Loss Control (1994), accessed via www.bomerangbooks.com/basic guide to accident investigation. 14/05/10 * | | *