A Webinar on Learning: From Cognitive Development to Identity Development

Jenna CondieUniversity of Salford

@jennacondie

This session is about making the connections:

Technology Globalisation

E-Learning Multiculturalism

Developmental Theory Educational Practice

Learning

Identity Development

Cognitive Development

Unpicking theory

Developing theory

Theory as underpinning your practice

Flickr: ogimogi Flickr: wallyg

During the webinar, consider the benefits and limitations of learning online.

Can this approachbe applied to yourassignments?

An Opportunity to Reflect & ApplyFlickr: London College of Fashion short courses

What can you rememberabout Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development from last year (this year)?

Image from Wikipedia

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

• Sensorimotor stage (birth to two years)

• Preoperational stage (two to seven years)

• Concrete operations stage (seven to eleven years)

• Formal operations stage (from about eleven years)

6Flickr: geonandoFlickr : Lee CourseyFlickr babypixel eyesFlickr: ecohen

Does the theory stand up to examination?

Consensus: Further theoretical development needed

• Formal operations– Children think differently, they are not mini-adults

(Mitchell & Ziegler, 2013)• ‘Naughty teddy’ (Donaldson et al., 1978)– Young children can conserve. – Must have misunderstood what Piaget was asking

them. Flickr: AndyNor

Misrepresentations of Piagetian theory?“First, the simple fact that during his productive lifetime – well over 60 years – he wrote more than any one person could keep up with; and his ideas, of course, developed, interacted, and changed in more and less subtle ways.” (von Glasersfeld, 1982)

Important to readoriginal work & makeyour own interpretations

Re-interpret Flickr: adesigna

von Glasersfeld (1982) An Interpretation of Piaget's Constructivism Link: http://elearnmap.ipgkti.edu.my/resource/dpli_r/index_htm_files/InterpretationPiagetConstructivism.pdf

Interpreting Piaget: The difference between development and learning?

Piaget (1964) – Development and Learning: http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/35piaget64.pdf

Linking cognitive development to learning to read

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJCa_0iZd0Q

Uta Frith (1985): A theory of reading acquisition

Logographic

stage

• Instant recognition of familiar words• Word order largely ignored• Phonological factors secondary• Willing to have a guess, no response if word unknown

Alphabetic stage

• Reading systematically decoding phonemes and graphemes

• Enables pronunciation of unfamiliar & novel words• Letter order and phonological factors now key

Orthograp

hic stage

• Written words as a whole• Fully systematic approach to reading that is non-visual• Internally representing letter-by-letter strings

Frith, U. (1985). Beneath the surface of developmental dyslexia. In K.E. Patterson, J. C. Marshall, & M. Coltheart (Eds.), Surface dyslexia , London: Erlbaum. Available here

Could you combine aspects of Piaget’s theory with aspects of Frith’s theory to develop your own theoretical approach for learning to read?

Flickr: ellajphillips

concept

have

goa

mappingat

The problem with stage theory explanations of learning…

Can you jump a stage? Can you be in more than one stage at a time?

Are these theories universal? How might learning to read differ across

languages? What about the style of teaching?Role of others? Role of culture?

Role of identity? Flickr: followtheseinstructions

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Piaget’s constructivism: an epistemology that knowledge is actively constructed by the individual

(Mitchell & Ziegler, 2013, p. 14)

Flickr 4nitsirkFlickr IMLS DCC

Piaget’s constructivist theory and the classroom

Epistemology: a theory of knowledge, how can we know (Willig, 2001)

Lev Vygotsky: taking constructivism furtherPiaget Cognitive constructivism

Learning as assimilating and accommodating information (revisit Slater & Bremner, 2011)

Vygotsky Social Constructivism Can not separate learning from the social context“Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and, later on, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals.” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 57)

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Social Constructionism*• What we experience or perceive is not a direct

reflection of objective environmental conditions. It is constructed in talk and interaction (Willig, 2001).

• Social Constructionist research identifies the ways in which people construct their social realities by taking into account the specific linguistic, cultural and historical influences (Burr, 2003).

Flickr: Leonard John Matthews

* Note the different and interchangeable terms (for further reading see Burr, V. (2003) Social Constructionism, Hove: Routledge)

Identity Development and Learning

Social constructionist view – identities as constructed in dialogue in the classroom.

Flickr : USAG-Humphreys

Learning Identities

Talk

Thought

Identity as socially constructed

• Identities seen as something which requires “ongoing negotiations within a complex web of relationships and practices” (Gough & McFadden, 2001, p. 89).

• Identities as negotiated in interactions and the “telling” of “stories” (Seaton, 2009, p. 304).

• Identities as relational to others (Mason, 2004)

Developing dialogues for learning• Mercer (2008) social constructionist research, ‘learning

talk’ & construction of identities. • Vygotskian influence, relationship between language and

thinking

“One of the strengths of bringing a sociocultural perspective to bear on education, I believe, is that it encourages us to

recognize that the quality of education cannot be explained in terms of 'learning' or 'teaching' as separate processes, but rather in terms of the interactive process of 'teaching-and-

learning” (p. 18, in press version)

Mercer (2008) Developing Dialogues, Link: http://people.ucsc.edu/~gwells/Files/Courses_Folder/documents/Mercer.DevelopingDialoguepdf.pdf

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Where is The Self?

“When you ask people to localize their self, they will point to their body and tell you that it is somewhere inside.” (Hermans, 2004, p. 298)

Flickr: hanspetermeyer.ca

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Constructing identities

“The choosing, deciding, shaping human being who aspires to be the author of his or her own life, the creator of an individual identity” as “the central character of our time”

(Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 2001, p 22–23)

Flickr: AhmadH

amm

oud

Teaching as dialogical

“Teaching involves communication; whether its purpose is to enable students to gain access to inalienable truths, or to promote intellectual or social exploration for its own

sake.” (Stables, 2003, p. 1)

Vygotskian influence: learning through dialogue with a more learned other in a ‘zone of proximal development’

Classroom dialogue can impact positively or negatively on children’s identities and sense of self.

Stables, A. (2003) Learning, Identity and Classroom Dialogue, Journal of Educational Enquiry, 4 (1) Available here: http://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/EDEQ/article/viewFile/528/398

Learning through blogging

• Remember quadblogging? • Blogging and development of writing skills (McGrail & Davis, 2011)• Ownership creativity, expression, experiment, exploration, audience, self-directed (Ducate & Lomicka, 2008)• Learning identities?

Flickr: kpwerker

Link: http://zororomubaya.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/reflection-my-unique-experience/

Link: http://www.doubleblind.org/

Teachers as learners too

Link: http://hub.salford.ac.uk/salfordpsych/2012/11/07/labels-hurt/

Need ideas & inspiration for your seminar?

Check out Salford PGCAP Website

Narratives in the classroom: Interrogating practice (Karen Gallas)

• ‘Sharing time’ in a socio-economic and racially diverse classroom in city suburb.

• “Discourses of power”, dialogical approach• Jiana – six year old African American girl, lives in shelter – Said to Gallas “my mother must not have gone to the

same kind of school as you” – Initial assessment (pre-kindergarten level)– Wait and see approach – Jiana enjoyed ‘sharing time’

Screenshot from Riessman, C. (2008) Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences, London: Sage

Screenshot from Riessman, C. (2008) Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences, London: Sage

Narratives for development and learning

• Stories became part of the “fabric” of the classroom. Stories as “power” (Gallas, 2003)

• “Identities were formed and transformed in group performance” (Riessman, 2008, p. 136)

• The role of classroom dialogue in enhancing the student learning experience (Stables, 2003)

• Teaching-and-learning interaction (Mercer, 2008)

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During the webinar, consider the benefits and limitations of learning online.

Can this approachbe applied to yourassignments?

An Opportunity to Reflect & ApplyFlickr: London College of Fashion short courses

Conclusions

What is your stance on learning and development? Same, different, fence?

What’s your theoretical position on learning?Cognitivist, constructivist?

What has influenced your learning identity? How does your identity link to your learning?

Underpin your work with theory. Take a stance!

Flickr: derekbruff

A Webinar on Learning: From Cognitive Development to Identity Development

Jenna CondieUniversity of Salford

@jennacondie

A Webinar on Learning: From Cognitive Development to Identity Development

Jenna CondieUniversity of Salford

@jennacondie