- What is learning?
Piaget theorizes that learning takes place when disequilibrium occurs and either through assimilation or accommodation schemas are developed and equilibrium is acquired through adaptation. This is similar to my original post where I said, "People have preconceptions (usually misconceptions) about how things work because we inherently want to make sense of the world around us. Learning takes place when the preconceptions are changed."
- How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher/trainer?
In the formal operational stage we, as educators, need to help students learn how to solve problems and be able to articulate that information to others. Also by having them actively solve problems in groups or pairs and asking them for comparisons and explanations. One way I accomplish this is in my classroom when a student has a problem solving a math problem, I will have a peer explain it to them. By doing this, they are learning to work together and the student that is explaining is then required to enter into formal operations by having to explain/articulate how to solve the problem.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Week 6 – Human Development
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I like to use the peer help idea in my class as well. I think this method is less obtrusive for the student that needs help. I find that many students don't want to ask help from the teacher because they don't want their classmates to think they are dumb. I've been playing with the idea of assigning each student a week or some period of time to be the "expert of the week". I will give he student extra help to ensure the expert will really be an expert. In doing this I hope that the student helper would learn more through teaching, and the rest of the class will not feel stupid for asking a question, because they are just asking a classmate.
ReplyDeleteI agree that students work and learn better when actively solving problems. One of the concepts I got from Piaget's article was the idea that we can more effectively promote learning in some students by "challenging" former beliefs. Interestingly enough, this goes somewhat against the schema theory which proposes that we avoid conflict with a person's previous learning and/or background.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I was watching a video clip just last week of a math class where students were working together and teaching each other how to do the homework assignments. One of the students perceived benefits of doing this is that it was easier to understand their peer (they think similarly) and the students were not accidentally made to feel stupid. Group work is productive work.
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