child development and children’s learning. introduction to learning theory

Child Development and Children’s Learning.

Introduction to Learning Theory.

Child Development and Children’s Learning.

Introduction to Learning Theory.

Learning OutcomesLearning Outcomes

• To know how children develop and learn.• To be aware of key theories of learning and

the implications of these for classroom practice.

• TS 1, TS 4, TS 5, TS 7

A tiny human in a sperm, drawn by a 17th century microscopist

(Hartsoeker, 1694)

MaturationMaturation

• Sequential patterns of change that are governed by instructions contained in the genetic code and shared by all members of a species.

• Any maturational pattern is marked by 3 qualities: It is universal, appearing in all children across cultural

boundaries It is sequential, involving some pattern of unfolding skill or

characteristics It is relatively impervious to environmental influence

Stages of development:Stages of development:

• Periods of development which can be seen as distinctly different from each other and during which children experience the world in different ways.

• At each stage children have unique, characteristic patterns of thought and behaviour

• Continuity - discontinuity

The whole childThe whole child

The physical child

•Physical development

The social child

•Social and emotional development

•Spiritual and moral development

The thinking child

•Language Development

•Cognitive development

What develops?What develops?

Bruce and Meggitt (2006) Physical developmentIntellectual developmentLanguage developmentEmotional developmentSocial developmentSpiritual development

The Physical Child – Physical developmentThe Physical Child – Physical development

• Gross motor skills which use the large muscles of the body

• Fine motor skills which involve single limb movements and precise movements of hands and fingers

• Locomotion

• Balance

• Hand-eye co-ordination

The social child – social developmentThe social child – social development

• Concerns the child’s developing relationships with the people around him or her.

• Vertical and horizontal relationships

• Attachment

• Social cognition

• Emotional intelligence

• Interpersonal and Intrapersonal intelligences

The social child – emotional developmentThe social child – emotional development

• Is concerned with the child’s developing ability to understand emotions, both his own and those of others

• Impulse control

• Self-concept

• Self-esteem

• Personality

The Social child – Spiritual and moral developmentThe Social child – Spiritual and moral development

• The developing sense of relationship with self, relating to others ethically, morally and humanely and a relationship with the universe

• Piaget – moral realism, moral relativism

• Kohlberg – pre-conventional, conventional and principled morality

The Thinking Child – Language developmentThe Thinking Child – Language development

• ‘Inside-out’ theories – we are born with a language making capacity

• ‘Outside-in’ theories

- imitation

- reinforcement

- constructivist; language

development is part of the

broader process of cognitive

development.

Four main areas of language competenceFour main areas of language competence

• Phonology

• Semantics

• Syntax

• Pragmatics

The Thinking Child – Intellectual or Cognitive developmentThe Thinking Child – Intellectual or Cognitive development

Learning can be seen as:

‘Relatively permanent changes in behaviour or in potential for behaviour that result from experience.’

(Lefrancoise, 1999)

The Thinking Child – Intellectual or Cognitive developmentThe Thinking Child – Intellectual or Cognitive development

• Knowledge• Concepts• Skills• Attitudes

are

o Acquired

o Understood

o Applied

o Extended

(Pollard, 2008)

Learning can be considered as the process by which:

Operant conditioning B.F.Skinner

Rat in Skinner Box

Operant conditioning B.F.Skinner

Rat in Skinner Box

Stimulus (cage)

Consequences- (food reward)

Implication- More pressing

Response (lever)

Child in the classroomChild in the classroom

Stimulus(Teacher asks question)

Consequences(Teacher rewards

Child)

Implication(Child responds in

Future)

Response(Child gives correct answer)

PedagogyPedagogy

‘Science of teaching’

Oxford English Dictionary

Pedagogy

Learning and learners

Teaching Curriculum

Break and reading!Break and reading!

What is learning?What is learning?

‘Learning can be considered as the process by which knowledge, concepts, skills and attitudes are acquired, understood applied and extended…Learning is partly a cognitive process, and partly social and affective.’

Pollard (2008)

What is learning?What is learning?

‘Learning is provoked. Learning occurs in a specific situation, at a specific moment, or when a specific problem needs to be tackled. People help children to learn, by creating environments and atmospheres which promote learning.’

Bruce and Meggitt (2006)

Learning theoriesLearning theories

• Behaviourism• Constructivism• Social constructivism

Behaviourist theoryBehaviourist theory

• A behaviour followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of that behaviour occurring in the future

• Aversive stimuli – something we find unpleasant or painful

• Behaviourists cast learners in a passive role• Extrinsic – Intrinsic motivation

Constructivist theoryConstructivist theory

• People learn through an interaction between thinking and experience, and through the development of more complex cognitive structures.

• Jean Piaget – placed action and self-directed problem solving at the heart of learning and development

• Accommodation and Assimilation

Piaget’s Stages of DevelopmentPiaget’s Stages of Development

• Sensori–motor 0-2 yrs

• Pre-operational a) pre-conceptual 2-4 yrs b) intuitive 4-7 yrs

o Concrete operations 7-12 yrs

o Formal operations 12 yrs

Intellectual / Cognitive developmentIntellectual / Cognitive development

Cognition‘Knowing…distinct from emotion’ Oxford English Dictionary

Jean PiagetSwiss, clinical psychologist1896-1980

Piaget’s theory: Stages of cognitive development

Piaget’s stages of cognitive developmentPiaget’s stages of cognitive development

Sensori-motor  (Birth-2 yrs)  Pre-operational  (2-7 years)  Concrete operational  (7-11 years) Formal operational  (11 years and up)

PiagetPiaget

SchemaAdaptation

Assimilation and Accommodation

Constructivism

• 3 Mountains video

Challenges to Piaget’s TheoryChallenges to Piaget’s Theory

‘Human sense’Donaldson M (1984) Children's Minds London;

Fontana. Wood D (1998) How Children Think and Learn

(2nd edition) Oxford; Blackwell.

Social Constructivist theorySocial Constructivist theory

• Children as active learners

• Significance of social processes

• Vygotsky

• Appropriate intervention by more knowledgeable others

• Zone of Proximal Development

The zone of proximal developmentThe zone of proximal development

‘ the distance between the actual developmental level as determined through 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)

The Zone of Proximal DevelopmentThe Zone of Proximal Development

Appropriate intervention

Potential development

Actual development

‘Scaffolding’ children’s learning - Bruner ‘Scaffolding’ children’s learning - Bruner

Scaffolding has distinctive aspects:

• Recruitment – engage the interest and motivation of the child

• Reduction – simplify the task by reducing the number of acts needed to reach a solution (manageable chunks)

• Direct maintenance – encouragement

• Marking critical features – highlight features of the task that are relevant

• Demonstration - modelling

BrunerBruner

All learning should move through three set phases:

• Enactive – by doing (sensori-motor)

• Iconic – pictorial representation (concrete operations)

• Symbolic – abstract representation (formal operations)

• The spiral curriculum

What is a learning style?What is a learning style?

• An individual’s preferred method of learning

• Estimated to be over 80 learning style models

The brainThe brain

• Left Hand Side– logical

• Right Hand Side– affective

• Greenfield– Neurotransmitter connections

Multiple intelligencesMultiple intelligences

• Gardner– Linguistic intelligence– Logical-mathematical intelligence– Musical intelligence– Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence– Spatial intelligence– Inter-personal intelligence– Intra-personal intelligence

VAKVAK

• Dominant sense• Visual - sight• Auditory - sound• Kinaesthetic - touch

How do we learn?How do we learn?

Effective pedagogy includes

understanding of…• Learning theory

– How learning happens

• Needs of individual learners– Learning content– Preferred approaches to learning