Learning Theory

At this point I have not settled on exactly one learning theory. I have found myself borrowing from various theories and slowly forming the pieces into my own coherent idea. Constructivism is what I seem to borrow most heavily from and what seems to make the most sense when I compare it to how my own mind seems to process new information. Constructivism states that new information is assimilated best when it is integrated into the brain with information that is already successfully known. This scaffolding type of learning has been shown to work on both large and small scales.

 

I already feel my learning theories and teaching philosophies changing as the semester has gone on so it is a bit difficult to try to nail down some ideas now that I feel are in transition. That being said, at this particular moment in time I feel drawn most to the behaviorism philosophy. Unfortunately, I see these theories as being class and age dependent at times and I do not think that is the intention of the model. I believe there is a time and a place for most things. I do well in an environment when I know exactly what is expected of me. Similarly, I do well in a “crawl, walk, run” environment and I noticed many of my students did as well. In this type of model a student initially learns things with significant help from the teacher and slowly learns to handle the problem on his or her own. This type of scaffolding approach builds a student’s confidence level and gives them the self-assurance to attempt more independent problems.  

 

There are aspects to Child and Community Centered Schooling, Social Reconstructivism and Multicultralism/Socioculturalism that really speak to me but I think I have just not had any real experience with those to base any opinion on a successful trial. My main concern is the time needed to teach both the academic and social issues that come with these philosophies.  Again, I think this just comes from my lack of experience with these methods. I would very much like to see these in action.