Theories of teaching and learning Essay

Introduction

Theories of teaching and learning are mainly the steps taken in the process of educating children. Below are examples of theories of teaching and learning:

Bio-ecological theory

This theory is mainly characterized by change in a child’s development which is influenced by the relationship in the external factors.

Bronfenbrenners developed this theory associating a child’s development to its environment; the name of the theory was later changed to bio-ecological theory because he believed a child’s own biology is the primary environment that influences the child’s development.

Interaction between a child and its environment is different depending on how close they are and this can be discussed under the following subtopics; microsystem – the is the closest layer to the child mainly the parents who influence the development of the child (Berk & Winsler 1995).

Those close to the child also includes the family, church, school and neighbors, they can either bring the child closer or make the child move further away (Bronfenbrenner 1990).

Exosytem – this includes the larger social systems where the child is not involved directly but through those who are close to him but contributes to his development..

Macro-system and chrono-system-macro-system is the outermost developmental tool which comprises of beliefs, customs and law while chrono-system is mainly the time dimension of things as it relates to a child’s environment.

Intellectual development theory

Intellectual theory is basically a theory of knowledge that states that people get knowledge and meaning of things from interactions between their experiences and ideas.

In the past intellectual theory was not valued they viewed knowledge as us use of common sense for example people in the traditional set up did not see the value of children playing however Jean Piaget did not agree with the traditional view as he saw play as an important and necessary part of the student’s cognitive development.

He argued that knowledge is found from experience through the process of accommodation and assimilation (Woodfolk & Margetts 2007). Constructivist theories are influential and students are expected to learn main ideas on their own through discovery learning.

Teachers at this stage need to be innovative and creative; they should arrange the classrooms in a manner that will make students able to think beyond the literacy focus for example making use of the available technology like introduction of the interactive whiteboard with pictures and numbers (Leiteberg 1976).

Psychosocial theory

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The psychosocial development theory by Erickson explains eight stages under which a child develops from childhood through to be an adult.

The first stage in the theory is the infant stage from birth to one year. This is the stage where the child depends on the parents fully right from dressing, food, and comfort.

Parents are expected to expose the child to warmth, reliable, and dependable affection, hence making the child secure, also he is visited by friends and relatives in this stage. Childhood, 2 to 4 years – this is the stage where the child begins to explore their surroundings.

During this particular stage, parents are encouraged to be on the watch out especially in the activities their children are involved in as they tend to be curious of so many things some of which are dangerous. Kids also tend to develop their first interests like he wants to go out all the time and sometimes enjoy music playing on the radio.

Preschool, 4 to 6 years – during this stage, a child is noted to have the desire to do what the people around him/her are doing. A child who is at this stage is able to identify and note what is going on around them.

It is at this stage that as an adult one would make up stories that would explain to a child what is really going on around us. According to him the struggle experienced during this stage is resolved by identifying the social role of an individual (Honig Fetterman 1992).

School going Age: 6 to 12 Years – the stage marks the period where a child can learn create and achieve a number of things through acquired skills and knowledge.

During this stage a child is able to relate with his/her peers. Its important to note that when one a child experiences any social discrimination during this stage it is most likely to destroy the child’s self esteem and also creates room for other social problems to arise.

For this theory to be realized in the classroom, it is important for the teachers to have classroom principles from cognitive psychology which involves meaningful learning, organization, visual materials and good explanations given (Moll 1994).

Adolescence: 12 to 18 Years – this is the stage associated with identity and role of the kids. Young adulthood: 18 to 35 – categorized with solidarity and intimacy.

This is the stage where they believe to be grown ups and they can survive on there on they even get intimacy at this stage.

Middle Adulthood: 35 to 55 or 65 and Late Adulthood: 55 or 65 to Death – this is the final stages in this theory, they concentrate more on work adults may reach this stage and start being misery at their experiences and perceived failures.

Social cultural theory

Hewson, Posner, Strike & Gertzog, are the people who came up with the social cultural theory. This theory was developed by a team of competent scientific researchers and philosopher in the 1980s at the Cornell University.

It states that revolution has been taking place on a consistent pattern first a dominant scientific paradigm which was a way of seeing, thinking, valuing and doing things evolving from the interpersonal to the intrapersonal. (Wooldfolk 2004).

According to the theory, social interaction to the child results into step by step growth of the child as well as behavioral change. Vygotsky believes that development is of a child depends on the way the child interacts with the people around them and the things around them.

The theory is categorized into three stages: The first stage is learning through imitation, the second stage is by learning through instructions that requires the child to remember instructions from the instructor and use these instructions to self-control.

The last stage is through collaborative learning, these involves a group of people who understand each other and work together it can be categorized with peer pressure (Ormrod 2003). A supportive classroom is important where the child feels free and can talk freely to the teachers and other students promote his development.

Teachers should create an environment where there are lots of tools that can be used to manipulate the students’ way of thinking and develop an understanding, for example the teacher can use questions as a way of confirming if they recognized the concept and correct where they are wrong and also help refine their thinking, students learn new information more easily when they can relate it to something they already know (Kane 1996).

Those who are learning are normally resistant to change because they believe in what they know however cognitive conflicts have been used to develop strategies in teaching for conceptual change (Snowman 2009).

In conclusion the theories of teaching and learning are important because they help the teachers to meet the instructional needs of all the students and help them grow up from dependent to independent adult people.

The teachers in this case have a duty to set up a classroom that is attractive and comfortable so as to enable the children to be free and can discuss issues with there teachers without fear.

Finally the teachers must keep in mind that how they treat and educate the students will determine there future therefore they should set a good background in order to create a better future for them.

References

Addison, J. T. (1992). Urie Bronfenbrenner. Human Ecology, 20(2), 16-20.

Berk, E. & Winsler, A. (1995). Scaffolding Children’s Learning: Vygotsky and Early Childhood Education.

Berk, L. E. (2000). Child Development (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1990). Discovering what families do. In Rebuilding the Nest: A New Commitment to the American Family. Family Service America. Retrieved from http://www.montana4h.org/

Honig, W., Fetterman J. G. (1992). Cognitive Aspects of Stimulus Control. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.

Kane, R., (1996). The Significance of Free Will. Oxford: Oxford.

Killeen, P. (1987). “Emergent Behaviorism”, in S. Modgil and C. Modgil (eds.), B. F. Skinner: Consensus and Controversy, New York: Falmer.

Leiteberg, H. (1976). Handbook of Behavior Modification and Behavior Therapy, Englewoood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall.

McInerney, D.M. & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational Psychology: Constructing Learning (4th edition). Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education.

Moll, C. (1994). Vygotsky and Education: Instructional implications and applications of sociohistorical psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Ormrod, J. E. (2003). Educational Psychology: Developing Learners (4th Ed.). Merrill Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River

Snowman, J. (Ed). (2009). Psychology – Applied to teaching – 1st Australian Edition. Milton, Qld: John Wiley & Sons.

Woodfolk, A. & Margetts, K. (2007). Educational Psychology. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education.

Wooldfolk, A. (2004). Educational Psychology – International Edition. Boston: Pearson and Allyn & Bacon.