Learning Theories for Teachers

1
Learning Theories for Teachers

• Morris L. Bigge S. Samuel Shermis
• Chapter 6
• How does Vygotskys thought and language imply a
  theory of learning?

2
How did Vygotsky approach the study of psycholgoy?

• Summarized and evaluated each psychological
  positions of eminent psychologists
• Vygotsky favored the Gestalt position represented
  by Wolfgang Koehler and Kurt Koffka

3
What is the Problem and the Approach of Thought
and Language?

• Understanding of interfunctional relations is
  important
• Analyze complex psychological wholes into either
  elements or units
• Developed the theory of human unit analysis

4
How did Vygotsky relate persons histories to
cognitive structures?

• Word meanings change for a child as they
  accomplish each stage of development
• Words reflect the relationship between thought
  and speech
• Empiricist View
• One who thinks that people learn through
  cognitive experience as contrasted with their
  experiences

5
How did Vygotsky relate persons histories to
cognitive structures?

• Within human development there are two main
  lines individual and cultural development
• These main lines are centered in language and
  thinking
• The two lines intersect when a child reaches 3
  years.

6
What, for Vygotsky, is the nature of human
learning?

• Proposed a genetically based invariant ontology
  as contrasted with phylogeny for the development
  of thinking in individuals.
• Ontology is the study of the nature and relations
  to beings
• Phylogeny is cultural improvement of
  psychological functions
• Generalization of concepts are acts of thought,
  so meaning is thinking.

7
How has Vygotsky dealt with childrens
development and learning?

• Study scientific concepts that are real concepts
  yet are formed almost in a fashion of artificial
  concepts
• The meaning of every word is a generalization or
  concept.

8
How is learning a developmental process assisted
by parents and teachers?

• Learning occurs in childrens acquiring both
  scientific and spontaneous everyday concepts.
• Parents and Teachers are advised to keep tasks
  within Childrens zones of proximal development
  (ZPDs)
• Challenge children but in activities that can be
  accomplished by children.

9
What is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

• The discrepancy between a childs actual mental
  age and the level that child may reach, with
  assistance, in solving problems.
• The dynamic zone of sensitivity within which
  learning and cognitive development occur.

10
What is psychological scaffolding?

• The engagement of children in interesting,
  culturally meaningful collaborative
  problem-solving activities.
• One goal is to promote intersubjectivity to
  create a common ground.