Learning Theory Final Paper

Learning Theory Final Paper

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Introduction

Education is an essential aspect for everybody in this world. This is why there are very many organizations globally that support education especially for children, girls among others. UNESCO or the united nations education, scientific and cultural organization, UNICEF or the united nations international children’s emergency fund, the association for childhood education international, education international are among the most renowned organizations that have the goal of ensuring that education is accorded to children globally. They all believe that quality education is not only a right but a fundamental aspect in our society to ensure that poverty is eradicated and that the work had people who are curious, innovative and contribute to development over the years. Proverbs 22:6 indicated that “train up a child in the ways he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” and that is why I strongly believe that a good education foundation is essential for every child out there. This paper will, therefore, look into a detailed theory of learning and development.

Learning theory

Learning has different approaches but there are three basic approaches including behaviorist, social as well as cognitive constructivist. This means that with behaviorists, the student learns through repetition of a concept or having positive reinforcement. In cognitive constructivism, the student is encouraged to discover different concepts on their own. In social constructivism, the students are encouraged to be part of a community where there is assimilation and where they are in a position to accommodate new information. In this case, we all know that children learn by observing their immediate environment whether it is friends, siblings, parents of television (Hedegaard, 2017). According to Bandura, they are likely to imitate the person closes to them who is of the same gender, that person may respond differently depending on what is being imitated by either rebuking or encouraging (Harinie, 2017).

Reinforcement can either be positive or negative when children observe a certain action is encouraged, then they are likely to repeat it or do it. He stated that there are four stages incorporated when meditating about a behavior including attention, whereby it is observed how long a certain behavior is repeated for the child to get its attention, Retention meaning how well a child can remember the behavior, reproduction is how well the child can perform the observed behavior, do they have the physical ability to do so? And finally the motivation behind trying out the behavior that is it encouraged or will there be punishment. Learning, on the other hand, is not solely behavioral, it also involves development especially morally. According to Kohlberg, moral development happens in different stages and for children, it is mostly through observation, punishment, self-interest, interpersonal consensus, and conformity depending on the moral dilemma that they face.

Effective teacher

Parents are the first teachers that children interact with within their life, therefore, it is safe to say that education begins at home (Freeks, 2015). According to the holy scriptures in Deuteronomy 11:19, “You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house and when you are walking by the way and when you lie down and when you rise.”. It is important that during the foundation of children’s upbringing that they have a religious aspect that guides their moral judgment and it does not matter whether the child has ADHD, is gifted or requires special attention Jerimiah 29:11 says that “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”.

In the classroom, various aspects make a teacher effective inclusive of being organized and clear when giving instructions. Being prepared such that you can break down a concept to the easiest version such that even the student who grasps concepts slowly understands and giving examples is key (Darling, 2017). Having a synthetic approach, being diverse, dynamic and enthusiastic is enough to show the students that you are confident, know what you are talking about, that you enjoy teaching and are ready to accommodate any questions or comments. Interactions are also important in classes whether individual or in groups such that the quality of education is enhanced by encouraging students to participate through presentations that build their confidence. Having humor and intelligence encourages students to have an interest in the subject. Fair evaluation and encouraging participation make a teacher great.

Effective learning environment

Discipline is quite important in any learning environment considering that in each class there is diversity in terms of personality and upbringing. According to Proverbs 12:1 “whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates criticism is stupid”. Therefore, an effective learning environment needs to have rules that need to be observed, for instance, to ensure that there is an optimum concentration in class, students need to maintain silence and have their electronic gadgets off or on silent mode. Rules are important to ensure uniformity in the learning environment such as what time a class starts and what time it should end. Interaction is also important in that it encourages bold conversations and asking a question to ensure that everyone has understood. Breaking monotony of listening to a teacher can be done by having charts, games, and images when teaching. Making the effort to learn the names of the student will help the teacher challenge random students and allowing taking over the class. Relevant material is all students wish to have to ensure that the evaluation does not have ambiguous questions.

Actively including and engaging learners with diverse needs and exceptionalities

First of all, teachers need to ensure that they take their time to research and understand the needs of their students such that they are can customize education to suit the students. In the case that the student with special needs is in a class where most of his or her classmates do not have special needs, then it is up to the teacher to ensure that the student gets an equal opportunity in the class and that they are not necessarily favored. Various techniques can be implemented in such a class including question formulation, this can be in the form of having case studies where students formulate questions and objectives that they should research on as the teacher guides or elaborates (Gray, 2016). It could also be in the form of images and students formulate a different question that they are curious about.

Music is a great way to engage students, especially children. If the song is simple and has detailed information about a particular subject, then the students are more likely to remember. Activities are also important to ensure that the students are actively engaged. Having challenges that have rewards keeps the students alert throughout the lesson because children love prizes. If the teacher is keen, they are supposed to notice that there are concepts that students may have more interest in and that is where strategies need to be implemented to ensure that it is a learning opportunity.

Behavior and Character development

According to Erik Erikson, there are stages that everyone experiences in their lifetime. Different stages of development trigger curiosity require different needs and there is a lot of influence in all the stages and they all shape behavior. Trust and lack thereof begin when we are infants whereby our mothers shape whether we feel safe or fear (Osher, 2020). It is followed by shame, doubt or independence whereby different behavior is either encouraged or corrected. Initiative and guilt are also influenced by whether a particular behavior is right or wrong. Hard work or being inferior is shaped by the environment we are in and for children they realize that they are different and that they have different interests. In this case, therefore, in children, it is evident that their behavior is shaped by the environment they are in. This means how they behave and interact with others at home, in schools, church and even in the kind of friends they make. Their character and behavior are shaped by their moral code even during self-discovery as they grow and that is why the foundation of a child needs to be secured. Parents also need to realize that children need room to discover themselves on their own.

Engaging students

There are very many reasons why children may hate school including being bullied, punishments, conflicts from home, biased teachers among others. It is therefore important to ensure that they are motivated to go to school and participate in class (MacLeod,2018). When children or students face moral dilemmas or different challenges, they need to ensure that they can solve some without the help of an adult. This can be taught in class in life skills or the different ways discipline is implemented at home.

Conclusion

According to various psychologists, learning and development are shaped and affected by the environment that children are in. It is, therefore, the mandate of both teachers and parents to guide them into doing what is right and learning how to handle challenges on their own. A good learning environment is diverse and has discipline, an effective teacher should be passionate, intelligent, enthusiastic and creative in their ways of teaching.

References

Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional development.

Freeks, F. E. (2015). The influence of role-players on the character-development and character-building of South African college students. South African journal of education, 35(3).

Gray, J. A., & DiLoreto, M. (2016). The effects of student engagement, student satisfaction, and perceived learning in online learning environments. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 11(1), n1.

Harinie, L. T., Sudiro, A., Rahayu, M., & Fatchan, A. (2017). Study of the Bandura’s Social Cognitive Learning Theory for the entrepreneurship learning process. Social Sciences, 6(1), 1.

Hedegaard, M. (2017). The significance of demands and motives across practices in children’s learning and development: An analysis of learning in home and school. In Introduction to Vygotsky (pp. 213-225). Routledge.

MacLeod, J., Yang, H. H., Zhu, S., & Li, Y. (2018). Understanding students’ preferences toward the smart classroom learning environment: Development and validation of an instrument. Computers & Education, 122, 80-91.

Osher, D., Cantor, P., Berg, J., Steyer, L., & Rose, T. (2020). Drivers of human development: How relationships and context shape learning and development1. Applied Developmental Science, 24(1), 6-36.