2. LEARNING INTENTIONS FOR THIS
SESSION…
oReflect on significant points in our own learning
oConsider three classic theories of learning, their approaches to
knowledge and learning their associated theorists –
Behaviourism, Constructivism and Social Constructivism in
the context of the primary classroom
3. HOW DO YOU LIKE TO LEARN?
1. Do you feel you need a real, hands-on experience in order
to understand an idea?
2. Can you think of an occasion when the concept you were
presented with just did not make sense?
3. Can you remember a really good teacher and how they
helped you to learn? What did they do that was special?
4. Are you more motivated to learn when you know there is a
reward at the end of it? (e.g. a qualification…QTS)
4. SLIDE 4 DISCUSS ……………….
• What is a theory?
• Who creates theories?
• Who are the theorists in education?
• Is theory important once you are teaching
in the classroom?
5. SLIDE 5 WHAT WAS MR KEATING’S THEORY
REGARDING THE STUDY OF POETRY?
• What is a Theory?
• Who creates theories?
• Who are the theorists in education?
• Is theory important once you are teaching in the
classroom?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkpWk8FJsys
6. DEFINITIONS:
A THEORY OF LEARNING IS…
• A conceptual framework describing how information has the
potential to be absorbed, processed and retained during
learning.
• Cognitive, emotional and environmental influences
(remember Bronfenbrenner Session 1)- as well as prior
experience -all play a part in how understanding is acquired
or knowledge retained
7. BEHAVIOURISM AND CHANGES IN
BEHAVIOUR CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
AND REINFORCEMENT
• Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov
8. BEHAVIOURISM AND CHANGES IN
BEHAVIOUR OPERANT CONDITIONING
Figure 1: Operant conditioning with a laboratory rat
9. EVIDENCE OF BEHAVIOURISM IN 21ST
CENTURY CLASSROOMS?
•https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=H6LEcM0E0io
•Have you seen evidence of
behaviourism in a classroom?
10. HOW BEHAVIOURISM VIEWS IMPACT ON
LEARNING AND STUDENT MOTIVATION
• Do you think that motivation in this instance is EXTRINSIC and would therefore involve the
use of extrinsic motivation of learners?
• What are your thoughts in terms of the use of pedagogical (teaching) approaches that are
in line with this theory?
• What assumptions do you think are made about the learner?
• Learning is seen to come from outside, i.e. extrinsic, assumes no prior knowledge. The
students are regarded as ‘empty vessels to be filled’, or blank slates to be written on –
‘tabula rasa’ (Locke, 17th century)
• No account is taken of any prior knowledge or practical life experience
• Students are required to demonstrate certain behaviours, e.g. repetition of facts such as
tables, recitation of poetry
• Students’ behaviours are required to conform to a strict set of rules within the school and
classroom
11. PAUSE: HOW DO YOU THINK THIS THEORY
COULD BE USED IN RELATION TO AN
OBSERVATION IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT?
• Referencing:
Make a pretend book reference ‘Harvard Style’ for Pavlov.
• Developing your argument :
Do you think there are any limitations of the behaviourist theory?
Cannot make direct links between animal responses and humans
12. CASE STUDY 1: APPLICATION OF
BEHAVIOURISM
• What point do you think was being made about teaching and learning by Shayna?
13. LEARNING AND COGNITIVE
CONSTRUCTIVISM
• Guess the theorist?
• Key idea: Children have to construct their own
understanding from their interaction with the world.
• Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
Piaget differed from the behaviourists in being interested in the what was happening inside a
child's mind (cognition). He developed his theories of children’s learning by observing them
in their own environment. He believed that all children are born with the basic building blocks
of cognition and described children as ‘lone scientists’ who could set their own goals and
motivate themselves to learn- INTRINSIC motivation.
14. PIAGET’S STAGES
• Piaget classified the child’s development into four sequential periods:
• 1. Sensorimotor period (from birth - 18 to 24 months)
* Children actively explore the world
* Develop cognitively as they try to make
sense of it eg. What happens when I throw a
ball?
15. 2. Pre-operational period (approx. ages 2-7)
* can imagine future and reflect on past
(but still mostly in present).
* think along one line at a time
* trouble with understanding conservation
16. 3. Concrete Operational Period (7-11)
*period of significant cognitive growt
h
* understanding of reversibility
* development of reasoning
17. 4. Formal operational period (11+)
• Development of more complex
reasoning
• Hypothetical and abstract thought
• Ideal vs. Reality considered
18. CASE STUDY 2:
• Anna is initially working on her own, what role does the teacher play?
19. PAUSE: HOW DO YOU THINK THIS THEORY
COULD BE USED IN RELATION TO AN
OBSERVATION IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT?
• Referencing:
Make a pretend book reference ‘Harvard Style’ for Piaget.
• Developing your argument :
o Observations restricted to his own children
o Stages of development are too rigid- not all children develop in such a linear way.
o Children can be ‘taught’ how to achieve different levels at an earlier age through adult
input and carefully designed lessons.
20. EVIDENCE OF CONSTRUCTIVISM IN
21ST CENTURY CLASSROOMS?
•Have you seen evidence of in a
constructivism classroom?
21. What key differences do you think there are between
Behaviourism and Constructivism?
What aspects of learning do they fail to address?
BEFORE WE LOOK AT ANOTHER
THEORY:
22. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM:
VYGOTSKY
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) Vygotsky not known in the
west until 1978.
Vygotsky disagreed with Piaget’s view of children as
‘lone scientists’ and proposed that a child’s learning
was the result of social interactions.
He emphasised the significant role that language plays
in the development of abstract thought.
Vygotsky’s early work on the mind and children’s
learning was banned by the Russian government-
viewed as pandering to western culture.
23. THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL
DEVELOPMENT
Why do you think that some some tasks remain beyond a child’s current
ability level, even with support?
26. ICONIC (PICTURING)
• Think about objects
that are not
physically present
• Manipulate them
and consider their
properties
27. SYMBOLIC (LANGUAGE AND
SYMBOLS)
• Use of language or
mathematical
notation
• Most powerful
because can reason
abstractly by using it.
28. EVIDENCE OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM
IN THE 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM
•Have you seen evidence of in a social
constructivism classroom?
•How do you feel Bruner and Piaget's
stages of development align
themselves with one another?
29. EVIDENCE OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM
IN THE 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM
• Group activities and collaborative learning
• Mixed-ability grouping
• The use of teaching assistants and learning mentors to support individuals and groups
• Emphasis on language and communication from the early years
Criticisms of Vygotsky’s work
Over emphasises on the need for language development- what about those children with language
development delay?
Do they have no basis for learning?
Too focused on Marxist ideology (the good of the state), rather than developing children as individuals
Assumes that all children have positive social and cultural experiences – many do not.
30. VYGOTSKY AND BRUNER
• Learning is constructed through active participation with others and the environment
• Affected by social group, norms, beliefs, values, mores
‘one child’s learning in terms of social constructivism may be very different from
another’s, even when they live in the same area’
Wilson and Kendall-Seatter (2010:433)
32. CASE STUDY 3
• This case study is making the point that even ‘advanced’ learners can be scaffolded in
the right situation.
• Have you ever experienced this, yourself or when teaching?
33. TASK: OVERVIEW OF THEORIES OF
LEARNING
• Work with your group to match the statements to the headings
Behaviourism Cognitive
Constructivism
Social
Constructivism
View of
Knowledge
View of
Learning
View of
Motivation
Implications
for Teaching
34. APPLYING WHAT YOU KNOW: LEGO
CHALLENGE!
Review and complete your tasks, reflect on the level of
engagement with the task.
List the benefits and draw backs of each way of
working.
36. REFERENCES
• Bates, B. (2016) Learning Theories Simplified. London: Sage
• Gray, C. and MacBlain, S. (2015) Learning Theories in Childhood (2nd edition) Sage:
London
• Haste, H. (2016) Jerome Bruner 1915-2016 https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/jerome-
bruner-1915-2016
• McLeod, S. A. (2008). Bruner. Retrieved from
https://www.simplypsychology.org/bruner.htm
• Pound, L.(2006) How Children Learn. Practical Pre-School: London
• Schunk, D. (2014) Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective. Pearson: Harlow.
• Wilson, V. and Seatter, S.K. (2010) Developing Professional Practice 7-14 Essex: Pearson
37. APPLYING THEORY -
SCHEMAS
B A P R I M A R Y E D U C AT I O N H E L E V E L 4
M A R I A . E L S A M @ C A N T E R B U R Y. A C . U K
38. LEARNING INTENTIONS FOR THIS
SESSION…
• To explore how schema are involved in
learning
• To begin to consider how to apply this
knowledge to learning experiences in the
primary and early years classroom.
39. SCHEMAS
• Early childhood pioneers – Frobel, Montessori, Steiner- all
recognised the importance of repeated behaviour in children's
play and learning.
• Their thinking now forms part of the EY curriculum.
‘For example, children may need to run, jump and walk through
puddles many times to check out what happens. In this was, they
begin to understand more about the effects of force on water’
(EYFS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-hmoWVU7vE
Note – not all schemas are seen to be desirable – and you may read that
they could be indicators of autistic behaviour – this is a debatable point!
What do you think?
40. PIAGET AND SCHEMA THEORY
Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980)
Piaget was the first to recognise patterns in play and
learning in under fives
His thinking was that all learning is active and must be
constructed and re constructed. Do you agree with this?
Piaget describes schemas as ‘mental maps’ and
‘ideas in action’
Schema theory is a basis to understand child
development.
Knowledge should be presented according to a
child’s level of understanding
41. BRUCE AND SCHEMA THEORY
Tina Bruce worked with the Froebel Institute (link to
Chris Athey)
Children learn through play but unlike Frobel, play
should not be unstructured.
The adult and the learning environment are vitally
important – this remains in the EYFS documents
today-which theory of learning does this relate to?
3 levels in which schemas operate:
Sensori-motor – senses and movement
Symbolic representation –pretend play
Functional dependency – cause and effect
42. NUTBROWN AND SCHEMA THEORY
Cathy Nutbrown built on work of Piaget,
Vygotsky, Athey and Bruce working from 1999
Her book, ‘Threads of Thinking’ draws on her
observations of children over a ten year span.
Thought internalising action – so their play
demonstrates their knowledge
• Thought telling a story – children create stories
to show their knowledge and understanding
based on first hand experiences.
• Many children’s schemas had mathematical or
scientific roots
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSW58hQDqw0
46. CASE STUDIES
Read the studies
What does the observation tell you?
Remember that this is a single observation and
that knowledge is built up over time
47. • Exploring
• Messy play
• Inspiring
• Treasure
Basket
• Creativity
• Gross motor
skills
• Fine motor
skills
• Stories,
rhymes and
songs
48. WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN FOR
OLDER LEARNERS?
• Return to Piaget – schemas help us to develop mental models for
the future as learners move through the stages of development
• Schemas develop our memories
• Schemas allow learners to rehearse and reapply learning and then
are elaborated as we move into adulthood
• Examples include:
• how we behave in certain situations – restaurants, cinemas – we
develop a ‘script’ of what to expect and what we need to do.
• Problem solving based on experience
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+early+years+training&qpvt=youtube+early+years+training&view=detail&mid=E3FC420BE17CB5
D57899E3FC420BE17CB5D57899&&FORM=VDRVRV
49. REFERENCES
Bruce,T. (2001) Learning through play; Hodder and Stoughton
Louis,S., Beswick.C,. Magraw,L., and Hayes,L. Ed Featherstone,S.
(2009)
Again!Again! Understanding schemas in Young Children London:
A&C Black
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSW58hQDqw0
Schema and Fairies Kathy Brodie
http://www.kathybrodie.com/articles/schema-and-fairies/
Hinweis der Redaktion
Historical Context
Behaviourist theories originate in 19th century with Ivan Pavlov, who used classical conditioning (when an involuntary response becomes associated to a stimulus) and trained dogs to salivate in response to a bell ringing.
Question- can direct links be made between animals and humans in this way?
Belief that behaviours are shaped by stimulus and response-feedback, reinforcement
Rewards –stickers, praise, golden time
In 20th century B.F Skinner explored operant conditioning (behaviour and response) with laboratory rats.
Skinner's rats quickly learned to press a lever to get a reward (food) or to turn off an electric current (stop a punishment).
Responses to bells, e.g. break and lunchtimes
Raising hands to speak, use of thumbs up
Lining up
Didactic teaching, with little opportunity for pupils to demonstrate their knowledge
Use of positive reinforcers e.g. praise, stickers, house points
Use of negative reinforcers, e.g. loss of play time, name on a cloud
Close links to Behaviour Management Policies
E.G Training of Royal Marine Commandoe- I want to be a drill instructor
Can you define the actual development?
Schools arranged in year groups according to age
Key Stages: EYFS, KS1-4
Opportunities for first hand experiences and play
Involving children in their own learning
Ideas of ‘readiness’ to learn concepts or acquire skills