Rabbiea Manzoor Dr.

Mckenzie EDUC 424 4 Februay 2014 Three ways of looking at how students learn: Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Social Constructivism Behaviorism Outside view Classical conditioning (Pavlov) and operant conditioning (Skinner) o Both work on a stimulus/response Rewards for desired behavior o Intermittent reinforcement is more successful because students dont know when they will be rewarded, so they behave more Shaping: teaching the correct behavior and reinforcing it so the behavior is repeated in the future. Extrinsic rewards are things they are given (treats, stickers, etc.). Intrinsic rewards are within themselves (good feelings, feeling accomplished, etc.). Ignore students who just want attention. o Maybe give them a job or responsibility to prove themselves in the class and make them feel important. Cognitivism Inside view The mind is a physical entity with nerves passing electrochemical signals Piaget: levels of cognitive development o Some people never move from concrete to abstract thinking Try to study what/how people think by interviewing, examining writing, and observing behavior. Constructivism: o Learning occurs from connecting pre-existing electrochemical signals (thoughts, ideas, memories, etc.) to new ideas (this is called scaffolding) to form conceptual frameworks. Social Constructivism Vygotsky Outer speech is conversation that leads to causes Inner speech o We learn from debating what we know and new information we learn to make it all fit together and make sense. Inner speech has to happen for you to reflect and argue with yourself so your brain can reframe. Learning is messy and takes time! We all have misconceptions

A cognitivists classroom would have small groups to discuss and the teacher would have to set aside time for students to reflect. Children always try to connect to prior knowledge automatically by figuring out what a situation is similar to in their own lives. Let students bump heads and talk through their learning. 3 types of group work: o Peer tutoring: students teaching students. o Cooperative learning: individual jobs to complete a talk together. o Peer collaboration: give them a challenge to work through together. *This is the best strategy.