Teaching, learning and psychology

We’ll look at:• The developmental milestones that

children go through• Recognition of difficulties and delay

(learning gap)• Defining some key educational

theories• Where are our pupils on the

developmental ‘checklist’?

Let’s look at how children develop

• Quick quiz...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZSjm0drIGM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0fnBTUuRIA

Why do some learners fail to succeed?

Nature

Nurture vers

us

•Discovery•Immersion•Puzzlement and challenge•Active engagement•Repetition of exposure•Insight and control over learning•Pleasure gained from achievement and understanding

Teaching and learning objectives

Barriers:•Lack of enthusiasm•Confusion•Alienation•Learning needs not taken into account

Stimulants:

What do the educational theorists say?

Social learning theory

constructivism

Behavioural learning theory

Alternative ideas

Behavioural learning theory•Changing learners’ behaviour rather than internal thoughts...•Programmed learning supported by reinforcement•Reward and ‘punishment’ Pavlov (1849-1936)

Skinner (1904-1990)

Social learning theory•Most learning takes place in a social setting•Children learn more through observation and imitation than structured learning•Identification and adoption of role-models, and acquisition of their behaviours (gender?)•Young children imitate adults more than peers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHHdovKHDNU

Bandura (b.1925)

Activity:•Can you think of particular situations where children might copy adult behaviour within particular social settings?

•Do children imitate particular gender-role behaviour?

•Are boys who watch violent TV and computer games (often portrayed by male figures) more likely to become aggressive?

•What positive riole models do you see children observing and imitating?

•Who were/ are your role models!!!?

ConstructivismModels of reality are constructed through an active interaction between innate capacity (what we are born with) and our environment (daily influences on our lives) Piaget (1896-1980)

Assimilation: our knowledge and understanding of the world, built up through experience ( concrete and abstract)

Schema: Our behaviour and thought patterns (prompts, codes of conduct, prediction)

Accommodation: new situations require changes in our behaviour and thinking

Equilibrium: unlearning and re-learning

Activity:Can you think of a time when you, as a TA, did, or did not, change your ideas about a new working environment you were in?

Can remember the outcomes of that piece of thinking and possible behaviour?

How might these ideas relate to, and explain, the behaviour of some of your learners?

Alternative ideasKolb’s (b.1939) Cycle of Experiential Learning

Learning occurs when a person adopts, or modifies, existing patterns of behaviour in a way which has some influence on future performance or attitudes.

Honey and Mumford’s theory of learner ‘types’

I like to have a go and see what happens, even if it goes wrong, and I wanted to ask lots of questions (ACTIVIST)

I like to gather information and mull things over. I was trying to work things out what it has to do with what I already know about the subject (REFLECTOR)

I like to tidy up and reach some conclusions. I asked questions to see how these new ideas fitted with my own ideas. Also, I was tring to work out if I could think of a logical way of solving the problem posed in the session (THEORIST)

I tried and tested techniques that are relevant to my problem (PRAGMATIST)

Can you identify pupils with these preferred learning styles? Are you able to teach to their perceived strengths?

Social constructivism

Vygotsky (1896-1934): Zone of Proximal Development

Joint learning: less knowledgeable paired with more knowledgeablechildren can be moved to new zones of knowledge and understanding by assessing where they are, and moving forward in ‘close proximity’.Collaborative learning strengths

The learning gap...

1 year

2 years

3 years

4 years 5 years birth

Recognises and responds to name

Sits without support

Walks well

Points to and names objects

Learns to use potty

Mainstream pupil

SLD pupil

PMLD pupil

Useful siteshttps://www.mostonline.org/membersonly/milestones.htm

Speech and language milestones:http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/speech/milestones.html