1. Teaching
1.1. How can a teacher add value to a learning experience?
1.1.1. A teacher can add value to a learning experience by being engaging and knowledgeable towards students.
1.2. What are the qualities of effective teachers?
1.2.1. Qualities of an effective teacher: - Confidence - Understanding and knowledge of what they are teaching and the world around them - Engaging - Make children excited about learning a - Encourage children to want to learn - Allow children to feel comfortable and safe in the classroom
1.3. How do we measure learning?
1.3.1. Assessment Tasks, such as spelling tests, quizzes and games that monitor children's learning and their ability.
1.4. How do we encourage learning?
1.5. How do we enable learning?
1.5.1. Being engaging
1.5.1.1. Energetic and enthusiastic.
1.5.1.2. Knowledge and understanding.
1.5.1.2.1. Knowledge of history and the world.
1.6. How can we effectively assess learning?
1.6.1. Learning can be assessed effectively by preforming assessment practices, such as spelling tests, quizzes etc. This enhances an individuals learning because it monitors their knowledge and understanding of what they have learnt, therefore enhancing learning.
2. You: the learner…
2.1. What does your Learning Profile tell you about learning?
2.1.1. My Learning Profile demonstrated that I was a kinesthetic learner.
2.1.1.1. I am better preforming physical tasks rather than sitting in a lecture and taking notes.
2.1.2. I learn better visually and by being creative due to the right hemisphere of my brain scoring higher in the Whole Brain Quiz.
2.1.2.1. I enjoy art and music.
3. Learning Theories
3.1. Cognitive learning theories
3.1.1. Piaget
3.1.2. “Cognitive learning theories view learning as a process of understanding and internalizing….aspects of the world around us.”
3.1.3. Distinct stages of cognitive development
3.1.4. Develop mental tools to help process information
3.1.5. Influenced curriculum development
3.1.6. Vygotsky
3.1.7. Requires social interaction
3.1.8. Zone of estimated ability
3.1.9. Scaffolding
3.2. Social learning theories
3.2.1. Learning leads development
3.2.2. Vygotsky
3.2.3. ‘Zone of proximal development’ (ZPD)
3.2.4. Help from teachers/ peers/ caregivers
3.2.5. Children’s learning becomes increasingly complex as the child grows
3.2.6. Active participants in learning
3.3. Constructivist learning theories
3.3.1. Learners actively construct frameworks of understanding
3.3.2. Prior knowledge and new information
3.3.3. Prior ideas must be engaged and re-worked as new information
3.3.4. Learning is therefore an active process
3.3.5. Cognitive schema
3.3.6. Develop new ideas and concepts based upon their existing knowledge.
3.3.7. Brune
3.3.8. Scaffolding
3.3.9. Support teachers give to students to construct and extend skills
3.3.10. Human interaction
3.3.11. Shifting responsibility
3.4. Experimental learning theories
3.4.1. How an experiences motivate individuals and their learning
3.4.2. Meaningful experiences
3.4.3. Experiences change an individual’s knowledge
3.4.4. Social and constructivist theories of learning
3.4.5. ‘Self-initiated’ learning
3.4.6. Rogers
3.4.7. New learning influences existing learning
3.4.8. Learning can only be facilitated: we cannot teach another person directly
3.5. Multiple Intelligences
3.5.1. Gardner
3.5.2. Each person’s level of intelligence actually comprises a number of distinct faculties
3.5.3. eight intelligences
3.5.4. Linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal
3.6. Communities of Practice
3.6.1. Lave and Wenger
3.6.2. “The relational character of knowledge and learning…the negotiated character of meaning, and … the concerned (engaged, dilemma-driven) nature of learning activity for the people involved…there is no activity that is not situated.”
3.6.3. Learning is most effective when it occurs in communities
3.6.4. Learning is said to occur most effectively within ‘communities of practice’
3.6.5. Learner-centered classrooms
4. Key Issues
4.1. Curricula trends in Learning
4.1.1. 20th century there has been a shift in theoretical understandings of how people learn
4.1.2. Past: emphasis on understanding and planning
4.1.3. Present: emphasis on understanding how development is defined
4.1.4. American DAP curriculum
4.1.5. Te Whariki curriculum
4.1.6. Vygotsky: just as a mould gives shape to a substance, words can shape an activity into a structure’
4.1.7. Sociocultural theory has likewise produced new curricula
4.1.8. Sociocultural model of learning
4.2. Emotion
4.2.1. “Emotions function cognitively only when they embed beliefs. For example, an emotion such as ‘fear’ cannot be genuine if one does not believe in danger.”
4.2.2. “An emotion provides a frame of reference. For example, parental love is a framework within which one organizes a set of feelings, attitudes and actions.”
4.2.3. “Emotions can help or distract our focus.”
4.2.3.1. I believe emotions are distracting to learning.
4.2.3.1.1. For example, emotions such as sadness cause people to over think and disrupt learning.
4.2.3.1.2. Children may be very energetic and happy and therefore can not concentrate in the classroom causing their learning to be affected.
4.2.4. “Emotions can make things stand out by heightening our awareness and redirecting our attention.”
4.2.5. Recognise emotional responses in oneself and others can lead to self-control both socially and educationally
4.3. Learning communities
4.3.1. Knowledge and values are acquired and theorised within an individual’s particular community
4.3.2. Family, neighbours, friends, and colleagues
4.3.3. Belonging to a community
4.3.4. Different types of learning communities
4.3.5. Collaborative learning
4.3.6. Collaborative curricular structures within institutions
4.3.7. “ Purposely restructure the curriculum to link together course or course work so that students find greater coherence in what they are learning as well as increased intellectual interaction with faculty and fellow students.” (Gabelnick et al. 1990:5)
4.4. Surface and deep knowledge
4.4.1. Surface knowledge and learning is unreflective studying of a fragmented curriculum, unthinking acceptance of texts or other authorities and memorizing without understanding.
4.4.2. Deep knowledge requires time to study in depth a limited number of topics and subjects. It demands an enquiring and analytical approach to information and interpretations, and it requires subject expertise on the part of teachers.
4.4.3. Deep thinking and learning also have social and emotional dimensions
5. Learning
5.1. What is learning?
5.1.1. Knowledge gained through experiences and study to increase understanding
5.2. How do we learn?
5.2.1. By absorbing information and knowledge. Everyone learns differently.
5.3. When do we learn best?
5.3.1. We learn best when in a social setting because it is more effective to work in “communities”, it allows us to work together to create understanding.
5.4. Is learning the same for children and adults?
5.4.1. Children and adults do not learn in the same way. Children absorb new knowledge and what they have learnt, compared to adults due to having previous experiences, knowledge and set views on specific topics to draw on.
5.5. What are learning outcomes?
5.5.1. The development of knowledge and understandings.
5.6. What is the process of learning?
5.6.1. Individual learns from study, experiences, teacher and absorbs information.
5.7. How is learning value based and driven by our beliefs?
5.7.1. Learning is influenced by our values and beliefs because they affect how we perceive things.
5.7.1.1. Prior experiences affect learning because it causes an individual to develop certain views due to the situations they've previously been involved in.
6. Factors of Learning
6.1. What factors affect learning?
6.1.1. There are many factors that affect learning, emotions, social settings, cognitive development, experiences and the influences of others and the environment.
6.2. Why is emotion an important factor affecting learning?
6.2.1. Emotion is an important factor affecting learning because emotion influences how a person may think, feel or act resulting in learning being affected. Emotion can distract focus but in some cases in can cause an individual to become focused.
6.3. Why is our social setting an influence on learning?
6.3.1. The social setting in a classroom is important to learning because learning is more effective in communities with peers working together, to learn from each other and work together to solve problems. Social setting influence our learning because it allows us to gain knowledge from others.
6.4. How do people and relationships affect learning?
6.4.1. People and relationships affect learning because they influence how individuals perceive certain values and beliefs, the change in values in beliefs will create a change in others understandings.
6.5. What is lifelong learning?
6.5.1. Lifelong learning is developing skills and knowledge that is necessary for general capabilities and specific performance in work situations.
6.6. Why learn discipline knowledge?
6.6.1. Discipline knowledge is important because it allows thinking to be expanded and to gain an insight on knowledge retained from past learning experiences.
6.7. Why learn in groups?
6.7.1. It is beneficial to learn in groups because it involves collaborative learning, allowing communities/groups to acquire knowledge from one another and broaden understandings and absorb information from others involved in their groups.
6.8. What are the benefits of rich tasks?
6.8.1. The benefits of rich tasks are that rich tasks draw on knowledge, skills and practices across disciplines.
6.9. What is the difference between learning about ICTs and learning with ICTs?
6.9.1. The different between learning about ICTs and learning with ICTs is learning about ICTs is the learner understandings how ICTs impact society, and how values and power are used and communicated in technology. Whereas, learning with ICTs involves learning how to communicate, project management, publish, managing digital artefacts and problem solving through the use of ICTs.