Becoming a teacher, knowledge, skills and issues, Colin Marsh
Chapter 3
Piaget (1896-1980)
A schema is a concept or framework that exists in an individual's mind. When new information causes cognitive disequilibrium or cognitive conflict, it can be resolved by assimilation or accommodation.
Learning Stages
Children think differently at various stages
Learning requires active involvement, mentally or physically
Children build their own cognitive structures (my bold emphasis)
Children think differently to adults
Sensori-motor (0-2)
Preoperational (2-7) – use symbols
Concrete operational (7-11) – still concrete thinking
Formal operational (11+) - abstract thinking , adults may never achieve in some domains
The book discusses Piaget's criticisms but cognitive load theory and explicit instruction are not mentioned.
also see:
Bruner
Factors in the development process
React directly to stimuli
Information and storage using a symbol system (language)
Ability to describe past and future
Systematic interactions with tutor/adult
Language to communicate with others
Stages
enactive – learning by doing
iconic – imagery but not language
symbolic – language logic and mathematics
Teachers should combine concrete, symbolic and pictorial representations (my bold)
Discovery learning. See Kirschner, Sweller and Clark above.
Vygotsky
Social constructivist – social interaction is the major determinant of learning
The ZPD is the point of optimum learning. "the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86)
Scaffolding
Development stages (around speech)
non verbal (0-2)
merging thinking and speech
Egocentric (overt) speech
Egocentric speech becomes overt
(Following on my interest in game based learning, does the ZPD need to be provided by real people? Do peers need to be more capable or will numerous peers do OK? When a game gets as detailed as World of Warcraft, does the ability to match challenge to ability serve a similar role? Can in game agents including AI provide a ZPD?)
Other theories, Erikson, Kohlberg,
Chapter 4
Intrinsic motivation
Motivated students “are likely to be students who are confident about their own self worth” Does this explain the apparent failure of constructivist teaching to disadvantaged groups?
I would have liked the relationship between play and learning to be mentioned here.
"Games are thus the most ancient and time-honored vehicle for education. They are the original educational technology, the natural one, having received the seal of approval of natural selection. We don't see mother lions lecturing cubs at the chalkboard; we don't see senior lions writing their memoirs for posterity. In light of this, the question, "Can games have educational value?" becomes absurd. It is not games but schools that are the newfangled notion, the untested fad, the violator of tradition. Game-playing is a vital educational function for any creature capable of learning."
Crawford, The Art of Computer Game Design
and me on Johnson, Everything bad is good for you. pp1..62
Strategies to encourage intrinsic motivation
novel situation
personal anecdote
challenging questions
contradictory information
unfamiliar examples
case studies
I would add to this list teacher modeling good learning behaviour
“there is such a thing as becoming a good learner and therefore … teachers should do a lot of learning in the presence of the children and in collaboration with them.”
What is Logo? Who Needs It? by Seymour Papert Logo Philosophy and Implementation© Logo Computer Systems Inc. 1999
Extrinsic rewards, gold stars etc do significantly undermine intrinsic motivation.
Motivation declines in grades 7-9 but rises again in year 11 as a result of career motivation.
- Warmth and enthusiasm
- Meaningful goals
- Fostering climate
- Maintaining equity
At p44, simulations and games are mentioned see me at http://tonyforster.blogspot.com
My list
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