WEEK 6 COMPARING THEORIES

COMPARING THEORIES

1.BEHAVIORISM

This theory focuses on the behaviour of the learner and changes in behavior that occurs when learning takes place.All behaviour is explained without the need to consider internal mental states or consciousness.The learner is passive and respond to environmental stimuli.And behaviorists believe that learner bhaviour is shape by positive reinfrocement and negative reinforcement.But the learner doesnt have any opportunity for evaluation or reflection with in the learning process.Teacher is the dominant person in the classroom and decides what is right or wrong throughout the process.Learning only focuses on the external changes of the learner and have no any importance to the emotions or mental states of them.We can give as an example;rote Works,repetitive practice bonus points,participation point or verbal reinforcements to behaviorist view.But whne we think all these feedbacks A teacher can encourage or discourage a student by using positive or negative rewards.

COGNITIVISM

This theory focuses on mental process,including how people think percieved and

Learn,to solve problems an their attention to one stimulus.It focuses the prcessing of information,how the learner organizes new information with in the pre existing one.

It is totatlly different with behaviorist view.It supports that learning occurs through internal processing of information.

In cognitivism student has an active role in the classroom.They should think deeply to answer questions about the topic to further develop their understanding.They use sensory,short term memory and long term memory to store imformation to acqire learning in class.Technology can be used to organize information into charts graphs concepts maps,etc..

We can give asn an example; classifying or chunking information,linking concepts,discussions and problem solving activities.

The teacher just assists the learner application of the proper learnşng strategies and the learner is active in the process.In the chapter it also mentions that while instructing students giving them both text and Picture or sound,they had a chance to remember and encode the information.Each student has a differemt type of intelligence so teachers should implement different learning styles in the classroom.

CONSTRUCTIVISM

This theory is based on observation and scientific study about how people learn.Learner constructs their own understanding and knowledge of the World through experiences and reflecting on these experiences.This theory is totally student centered the learner is self directed creative, control their own learning process and they are innovative.This theory is close to learnşng through social learning and Project based learning.Teacher is only a guide and he just facilitates discussions.In order to support student teacher has 3 roles;

1.Behavioral modeling: how to perform activities identified in the activity structure.

2.Cognitive modeling: identifies reasoning that learners should use while engaging in the activities.

3.Coaching: Good coaching enables learners to analyse their performance.

Scaffolding: providing temporary frame work to support learning snd student performance beyond their capacities. 

All three theories are important to understand. When deciding which strategies and when to use, it is important to consider:

• the level of knowledge of the learners 
• the thought processing demands, and 
• the desired outcome (generation of new ideas or a single answer) 

After reading all these theories I just thought that on which avarage teachers use these different types of strategies in their classes,are they really capable of doing this on the right time,according to their stundets needs and ofcourse when its really necessary?

And except teachers if all schools had an instructional designers or teachers who had a deep knowledge of designing learning process, wouldnt it be more efficient to build a 21st century learning process for learners?