Theories that Underpin Teaching and Learning (level 7)

Learning has been defined in numerous ways by many different theorists, researchers and educational

practitioners. Major differences in theories lie more in interpretation than they do in definition (Ertmer

and Newby, 1993). Learners do not learn in the same way; each individual will adopt an approach to

learning with which they are most comfortable and leave behind with which they are not (Pritchard,

2014). Generally speaking, there are three types of theory of learning commonly associated with

learning; these are behaviourist, humanistic and cognitive.

It is important to draw upon the purpose of learning theories. They all seek to explain how we learn most

effectively, so that teaching can be adapted accordingly; therefore there is something to be taken from all

of them. In my specialist field of travel and tourism, all of the theories mentioned above will go some way

in explaining how the learners will best take in information. I will be further discussing other theories and

models such as social and situated learning, deep and surface learning, classical and operant conditioning,

psychomotor domain and constructivism.

Behaviourism is concerned with observable or external behavior, as opposed to internal events such as

thinking and emotion. This school of thought gained prominence with well-known works of Pavlov and

classical conditioning (Schwartz, 2001). Skinner further developed Pavlov’s reinforcement ideas by

teaching humans to respond voluntarily to stimuli through operant conditioning (Jordan, Carlile and

Stack, 2008).

Behaviourists argue that a person’s behavior is determined by his or her environment and that all

behaviour, regardless of its complexity can be reduced to stimulus and response; change in behaviour

occurs when learning takes place through responding to stimuli. The key assumption of behaviourist

theories is that all behaviour is learned through Pavlov’s classical conditioning and Skinner’s operant

conditioning (Mcleod, 2007). Pavlov explained that the idea of conditioning was to teach the subject to

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associate an unconditioned stimulus, which causes a particular reflex, with a conditioned stimulus, which

will cause the same reflex. Ultimately, behaviourists argue that the goal of instruction, or in this case,

teaching, is to strengthen the connection between stimulus and response by reinforcing positive

behaviour and punishing negative behaviour. An example of this would be by giving my learners positive

encouragement that they are doing well after each task, this will help them to improve with the aim to

motivate, behave well and work hard to gain a qualification (Petty, 2009).

Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory can be implemented with my evacuation or smoke alarm training.

As with Pavlov training a dog to salivate at the sound of the bell ringing, here learners will be

programmed to respond to an emergency through the sound of an alarm. Two different sounds of the

alarm will be played and heard by the students for them to differentiate which is an evacuation alarm and

which is a smoke alarm, the learners will be using their visual and audio skills. I will need to be careful to

avoid my students from being passive learners and focus more on active learning. Dale’s cone of learning

argues, “passive learning involves learners only receiving information, either verbally or visually. Active

learning means that as well as receiving information, learners also actively engage with and use the

material to be learned” (Francis and Gould, 2009, p.86).

Dale further points out that passive learning involves listening to the teacher, looking occasionally at the

PowerPoint and taking notes. The lesson may impart material to many learners in short period of time

but how much will they actually remember it? It seems quite little but the amount remembered would be

increased considerably if we were to include episodes of active learning, (Francis and Gould, 2009). For

example, most of my students are very active in their role-plays; in the customer service lesson, students

needed to demonstrate their interpersonal skills. At first I showed a couple of examples from video clips

and PowerPoint notes. If I had left it at that then my learners would not really get the first hand

experience that I want them to learn. By actively getting them involved in role-plays and practicals,

encourages my learners to think for themselves, teach themselves with my help and independent learning

where they can see video clips for and improve their skill in the particular task (Petty, 2009). With this

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particular lesson, the role-play was recorded and each student received a copy. By doing so, my aim was

for the student to evaluate their performance and strive to improve it.

The most obvious criticism of this approach is that it does not take into account personality or emotion.

In the terms of learning, it assumes that all learners are essentially the same, they have no free will and

their behaviour is merely a response to the environment that the teachers provides. This approach is

very teacher led and it is often questionable if learning is even taking place as the whole process of

learning is vey passive and focuses more on the memory than understanding. In practice, this model is

employed across the board in the education sector; teachers assess learning by requiring the learners to

produce an observable response (an answer) to a stimulus (the exam question) the most common form of

assessment in teaching institutions across the country (Schwartz 2001).

As I teach first aid skills and medical equipment, my learners will need to change their behaviour by

responding to stimuli; this particular task will require teamwork and work the steps of Bloom’s

taxonomy. I will need to demonstrate to my learners how to respond to a passenger if they suddenly

collapse in front of them on a plane; assuming the passenger in question has had a cardiac arrest; here I

will use a dummy in a mock-up plane to demonstrate how to perform CPR. After demonstrating how to

perform CPR on the dummy, my learners will need to behave and assume the role of a first aider and go

through step by step from knowledge, comprehension and application. Analysis, synthesis and evaluation

will have my learners stretch their thinking and mental skills individually and collectively as a team when

assessing the patient (dummy) in the scenario.

Pavlov’s classical conditioning and Skinner’s operant conditioning will not be a fully affective learning

model here because the person collapsing is not voluntary. However, I can argue that in the event of that

happening, the first aider (learner) automatically will try to save the person’s life. This, I believe is

classical conditioning and when the person recovers, it will serve as a positive reinforcement from

operant conditioning. But should a patient not respond to the first aider, then there is a likelihood that

the learner may take this as negative reinforcement, which may demotivate them for purpose of this task.

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In this instance, classical and operant conditioning is not suited here. This is where Bandura’s theory will

work well when I teach customer service module. Bandura’s social learning, modelling or observational

learning as Bandura called it, has five principles of learning, availability, attention, retention, reproduction

and motivation (Pritchard, 2014).

I did a role-play with my students in the mock-up; I had twenty students; two played the role of a cabin

crew and the rest as passengers. My aim was for learners to follow Bandura’s availability, attention,

retention, reproduction and motivation; this would give me the perfect opportunity to differentiate

reinforcement and punishment to my learners. I filmed the role-play, which would be played back to

them in class for them to analyse and reflect upon their behavior. If a learner does well in customer

service’s task, for example serving drinks and snacks with a pleasant interaction to customers (their

peers), they may receive a positive comment forwarded to the purser (teacher), this will serve as their

positive reinforcement (reward). On the other hand, if the learner has poor skills, the comment would be

negative or probably receive no comment (no reward). Here I would like to use the term negative rather

than punishment as this suggests an unpleasant feeling for my learner; by not receiving any positive

comments will serve as a punishment.

Positive reinforcement will encourage my learners to shape their behaviour to adopt good skills and

continue to develop; but as a teacher I will need to consider the nature of the reinforcement that needs to

be established. I will need to consider “the rewards need to have value to the learners, if extrinsic

rewards are used, it is important that everyone receives one for their best efforts” (Pritchard, 2014).

Other things I will need to consider with reinforcement is to be careful that rewards can belittle or

demean a learning experience, they can engender feelings of unfairness or competition as with the

comments received from peers during the role play in the mock-up and finally rewards can detract

learners from the real issue involved in completing the task (Pritchard, 2014).

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‘Availability’ where learners need to see the behaviour available to be learnt; my behaviour as a teacher

when demonstrating practicals must be available for them to see. I can also present this availability in the

form of video clips.

Bandura follows availability with ‘attention’ where the learner must pay attention to the behaviour for it

to be learnt. Cabin crew course focuses on attention to detail, especially when opening and closing an

aircraft door in the correct procedure or locating aircraft equipment. Analysing this principle, I will need

each of my learners to pay attention to any practicals I demonstrate first. As these practicals are based

around what could happen in real life events; my teaching will take place in an aeroplane mock-up to help

my learners to understand the scenarios and situational awareness. This will give an insight to my

learners how it feels to work inside an aircraft; it will give them an idea of the size of the aircraft, pace and

pressure of working inside a confined space. With this approach, my aim is for my learners to model

themselves on my behaviour for them to successfully reproduce the outcome of the task.

With ‘retention’ the learner must be able to remember the behaviour that has been seen to be able to

learn from it. Here, I feel retention can be combined with attention as the learners should pay attention to

the demonstration of opening and closing doors and then remember it to be able carry it out for

Themselves. Surface learning is characterised by rote learning, memory and low-level cognitive activities

rather than understanding (Scales, 2008). Deep learning is based on student centred activities such as

problem based learning, reflection, application, evaluation and analysis; deep learning is long lasting. For

example, from my own personal experience, learning where aircraft equipment was located on an aircraft,

most of us in the class were just merely remembering where the equipment was by simply practising on a

blank aircraft diagram over and over again rather than thinking why certain equipment was located at a

particular place on the aircraft. Once my assessment was done, passed and on the job, I had completely

forgotten where these equipments were.

If I lay a heavy emphasis on surface learning then learners may be able to open and close an aircraft door;

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however, whilst doing that, the learner may not be able to critically analyse and understand that in the

event that the door doesn’t open or close as intended, and if this was an emergency situation, then what

procedures should the learner follow? Firstly I can show them videos of how to operate a door in a

normal and emergency situation. Then in the mock-up, step by step, I will need to demonstrate the door

and how to operate it in an emergency. Next each student will need to demonstrate to me how its done

while I will change scenarios between each demonstration, for example how to operate the door if the

aircraft lands on water or ground and if there is fire outside or smoke in the cabin etc. Whilst doing so,

the learner will be able to use their thinking skills and critically analyse the situation for each scenario;

this is also part of Bandura’s reproduction where leaners show their ability to carry out their behaviour

they learnt from me and cabin crew training videos.

Bandura lastly mentions motivation, where students will know how to perform the behaviour but may

not actually have the motivation to do so. Motivation is either intrinsic, meaning the learner wants to

learn for their own fulfillment or goal as in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in self-actualisation or extrinsic,

meaning there maybe an external factor motivating the learner; for example a promotion at work or

gaining a qualification as in the case of this course (Gravells, 2011). Learners have to adopt all aspects of

opening and closing a door, which they may not actually feel confident enough to carry out this procedure.

It’s a procedure where great emphasis is laid on the safety of its passengers in real-life events. However,

if I can reinforce my strategy and motivate them by explaining to the learner that they are in charge and

that all passengers will look up to them in an event of an emergency to give directions, then hopefully the

learner will feel empowered and awarded with this authority.

A further approach worth mentioning in addition to the above is the social and situated learning

approach. This theory asserts that people learn from observing others and gain knowledge by social

participation. Clearly, this approach is well suited to apprenticeships and placements but the downside is

that the learner can only take away as much as the situation has to offer. It is therefore limited in its

application and use, especially for subjects that are primarily classroom based and where situate

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learning simply isn’t feasible; in such instances it would be more apt to use simulations and role-plays

(Pritchard, 2014).

Lave and Wenger have suggested that “learning can be situated in social and cultural settings and that if a

learning activity falls beyond the cultural understanding of the learner, then learning is likely, at best, to

be less successful than if it had been situated in a more familiar setting” (Pritchard, 2014)

If my class was to learn any aspect of the cabin crew course, then simply just taking role-plays in class will

not help with their learning. This is not to say it cannot be done but to make my learner grasp a better

understanding of their surroundings, carrying role-plays and demonstrating the functions and procedures

of the doors in a mock-up plane adds value to their learning. If in the class I tried teaching any practical

aspect of the cabin crew module, it wouldn’t work as well. For example, if I asked my learner to assume

the classroom door was an aircraft door then without the authentic look and feel of a real door my

learners may find it difficult to understand and learn from. Consequently they may not sufficiently

develop their mental activity and fully engage with the information and activity.

Lave and Wenger’s theory of situated learning believe that situated learning gives the learner an

experience when participating in daily life. “Learning which is meaningful and authentic, preferably in a

work situation is likely to be deeper and more effective” (Scales, 2008). Another example of this model is

when a group of students from level 3 travel and tourism course, hospitality module, made a trip to the

French ski-resort. The main purpose of this trip was to place students on work placements in various job

roles such reception desk, handling of ski equipment, catering and cleaning. The aim was for learners to

practice everyday life skills and build up on their skills to integrate within the job role. Situated learning

is an excellent way to gaining authentic and social skills however, as it may work in some part of my

teaching it cannot work at other times, for example when I’m teaching students on the cabin crew course,

learners cannot have situated learning or work placements; this is simply down to airline and airport

security on the premises, which proves to be impossible. However, to overcome the work placements at

airports, each student was able to access a placement at various hotels; similar to the French ski-resort.

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The cognitive approach offers a different outlook; it deals more with mental processes like memory and

problem solving. By emphasizing mental processes, it places itself in opposition to behviourism, which

largely ignores mental processes (Glassman, 2011). Cognitive theory is rooted in the learner’s active

storage of information in an organised and meaningful manner. Therefore, it is vital that the learner

processes the information to form an understanding, rather than just memorise it and recall it parrot-

fashion. In a way, cognitivism seeks to explain what occurs in the brain between the stimulus and

response stages. Cognitivist theories place emphasis on the learning of skills such as applying principles,

reasoning, solving complex problems etc; here prior learning plays a crucial role. The model asserts that

once the brain has processed the information, it stores it in the long-term memory. The brain will then

recall it into the short-term memory when it requires it, so there is a constant exchange happening

between the two stores (Schwartz, 2011).

A criticism of this approach is that it is too learner dependent. Not all learners are of the same ability and

teaching methods that are centred on this approach, may not be understood by everyone. This approach

works well in scenarios/role-plays, problem solving and evaluation, which will be effective in practical

situations when students carry out the role-plays. This is where the cognitive domain of constructivism

will be implemented. My aim will be for learners to use their thinking skills, which will allow effective

mental activity to take place. “Learning always necessitates mental activities being undertaken by the

individual learner…it requires the engagement of mental process” (Pritchard, 2014, p.29)

This is because in certain role plays the students will need to demonstrate their mental ability and

problem solving for example, in an aircraft evacuation, if what they have learnt doesn’t go according to

plan, then what steps should be taken in order to still carry out a successful evacuation? This is where

the student’s thinking skills and problem overtake beyond what they have learnt; this will challenge their

minds.

“Constructivists argue that behaviour is determined and both learner and environmental factors are

critical” (Ertmer and Newby, 1993, p.43). Even though I will be teaching in a mock-up plane, it is almost

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an identical replica of the inside of a plane. Appropriate and effective use comes from engaging the

learner in the actual use of the tools in real-world situations; which will help the student to adapt to that

situation with confidence. This approach will also help students with their mental and thinking skills.

As there is a wide range of skills to be learnt in the role of a cabin crew such as emergency procedures,

customer service, duty-free and first aid, Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive and psychomotor domain is well

suited with this, together with deep learning. These theories are significant with first aid, as this requires

Bloom’s pyramid step from knowledge to evaluation and psychomotor display, imitation, manipulation,

precision, articulation and naturalisation. The leaners will need to demonstrate “a motivation to

understand at a deep level as possible for the material to be studied” (Jarvis, 2005). First aid requires that

from learners; by memorising and storing what they have learnt. This will help when they recall that

information and put in to use their skills and methods as and when necessary.

Cabin crew courses always try to give learners as much near experience to the situated surroundings

hence practicals are always carried out in mock-ups and other learning such as survival, destinations,

security, announcements, aircraft types and aircraft equipment can be carried out in the classroom

environment. Apart from the theories I have mentioned, I would also like to add metacognition. It refers

to the individual being aware of understanding his or her own mental (cognitive) process. Their own

awareness of their own thoughts process will have a bearing on the way that they view their own

learning, leading to recognition of ways they might learn most effectively. The learner will use a strategy

that will suit each individual; share with group and discuss them; then encourage learners to experiment

with different approaches. Some methods may not suit an individual learner but exposure to alternative

methods, in a metacognitive mode will allow learners how to approach the task in question, (Pritchard,

2014).

An example of this model is learning cities and countries around the world. A learner for example

will associate Eiffel tower with Paris, the Vatican city with Rome or clogs and windmill with Holland.

Another learner may use a different approach and identify languages or foreign currency to associate with

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the country such as Hebrew spoken in Israel or white flag with red circle in middle with Japan. Locating

aircraft equipment on plane is another good example, as it is not an easy task to learn. Each learner will

have its own approach what suits him or her best and a challenge their own cognitive process. From my

own personal work experience, I too can share my approach to the class who can then share their ideas

within the group.

Humanistic theories, on the other hand, place leaners at the centre of the learning process. Teachers are

seen as facilitators and merely provide the environment in which the learning will take place. The key

notion of this approach is that students ought to manage their own learning; this will make the learners

feel empowered as they are given control over the learning process (Atherton, 2011). Tasks and

assignments, which allow the learner to follow their own interests, are preferred, as they allow the

learners to develop and explore their creativity.

Rogers theory suggests that learning will take place if the person delivering it acts as facilitator (Gravells,

2011). For example, when teaching students how to open and close an aircraft door or locating aircraft

equipment, I can teach them how it’s done practically or where each aircraft equipment is located; the

students may have their own way of digesting that info, like I did when I was learning to become cabin

crew. From my own personal experience, I absorbed my learning my own way because at times the

information can be too much to grasp especially emergency procedures and identifying and locating

aircraft equipment throughout the aircraft. By sharing my own learning experiences, students can then

manage their own individual learning and have control over their pace of learning and what makes it

easier for them. By acting as a facilitator I can then guide them with their independent learning.

I want my students to appreciate that when they do become cabin crew, as well as working as part of a

team, they will sometimes need to work on their own initiative. By giving them some freedom of

independent learning this will encourage them to recognise their own strengths and weaknesses.

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Maslow considers motivation to be intrinsic. Individuals are driven by inner needs, with some needs

taking priority over others; they exist in a hierarchy (Francis and Gould, 2009). Psychological, safety,

social, esteem, aesthetic and self-actualisation are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow explains that

psychological needs take precedence over needs in the hierarchy because the needs of a person take

precedence (Francis and Gould, 2009). I need to ensure that my learners’ needs are fulfilled; because

when learners satisfy their needs at one level, they should be able to progress to the next level (Gravells,

2011). I will need to make sure that my classroom fulfills my learners’ needs and especially the aircraft

mock-up is safe and comfortable for the learners. Rooms can often get stuffy or cold so I will make sure

the room and mock-up is adequately ventilated, also the mock-up will be used quite often to carry out

practicals and role plays, so safety is paramount. I will do this by checking equipment is handled and

stowed away correctly; I will teach my students to do the same with regards to their own, mine and their

peers’ safety. Role plays and practicals can often be long as each students is assessed, for this reason I will

give regular short breaks to keep them going and motivated (Francis and Gould, 2009).

Conclusion

In conclusion, whichever teaching method the teacher adapts, the method that will prove to be most

successful are the methods, which reflect the subject matter such as role-plays, practicals and scenarios.

This approach will work best, as the learner is required to apply their knowledge and understanding to

problem solving practical scenarios. However, some learning will inevitably encompass the humanistic

approach, as some of the learning will need to happen independently, such as identifying cities around the

world, world culture, time zones and reading out personal announcements on board, which can be learnt

without too much input from the teacher. The teacher will not have time to go through each topic so will

have to guide the students in widening their understanding through private study. In terms of practical

aspects of the course, situated learning will prove to be the most effective, as students can only really

appreciate the organisation of an aircraft if they see it first hand. These practicals are based on real

events from the past so the learner is expected to recall these events from memory (learnt) extract the

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principle and then apply it appropriately to the situation (role-play and assessment). This will also

prepare the student to reproduce the behaviour they have learnt and the ability to carry it.

Ultimately, depending on what subjects you are teaching, and in my case my specialist field of travel and

tourism, I can use a wide range of theories and models. Each theory that I have mentioned has some

relationship with each other, whether they are overlapping or used as a stepping stone from one theory to

the other within the same lesson. It will almost be like pinching and borrowing ideas from one theory to

the other and making my own model for my learners to grasp the lesson rather than strictly sticking to

the whole theory. Unlike some skills of cabin crew where learners can easily follow my teaching with

Bandura’s social model or Lave and Wenger’s situated learning model, all have some elements of passive

and active learning.

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