PSTHE

• Plato and Aristotle


  Rationalist philosophers who emphasized the role of the mind in acquiring knowledge
• Plato


  Believed in nativism - that knowledge is inherited, has a natural or innate component
• Aristotle


  Called an empiricist, focused on sensory information as the basis of knowledge
• Aristotle's laws of learning

  • Law of similarity - recall of similar objects
  • Law of contrast - recall of opposite things
  • Law of contiguity - recall of frequently related activities
• Rene Descartes


  Studied the relationship between mind and body, believed the mind can initiate behavior
• John Locke


  Believed the infant's mind at birth is a tabula rasa ("there's nothing in the mind that is not first in the senses, except the mind itself")
• Franz Joseph Gall


  Examined the shape of the skull, believed faculties are located in specific parts of the brain (phrenology)
• Charles Darwin


  Introduced the theory of evolution, perceived human beings as a combination of biological heritage and human experience
• Herman Ebbinghaus


  Studied learning and memory experimentally, famous for using nonsense materials
• Learning


  The process by which experience or practice results in a relatively permanent change of behavior
• Learning does not apply to temporary changes in behavior from drugs, illness or fatigue, nor changes from maturation or biological influences, nor changes from vicarious experiences

  
• Theory


  A set of interrelated constructs, concepts, principles, and hypotheses which attempts to explain, predict or control a set of phenomena
• Essential aspects of the learning process

  • Motivation
  • Goal
  • Readiness
  • Obstacle
  • Response

  
• Learning curve


  A graphic device showing the quality of a subject's performance after successive units of practice
• Types of learning curves

  • Positively accelerated - performance increases every trial
  • Negatively accelerated - performance slows down or decreases for every trial
• What we learn


  • Simple responses
  • Muscular habits (motor learning)
  • Perceptual responses
  • Motives
  • Attitudes
  • Emotional responses
  • Problem solving
  • Language
  • Personality

  
• No education is ever neutral, education is designed to maintain existing conditions, and each individual has their own views and opinions about an issue, different from others
• Education should be relevant and important to the learner
• Problem solving approach


  People are thinking-beings capable of identifying problems, seeking solutions, and working to change situations
• Education is a mutual learning process where everyone can learn from others
• Reflection and action are important in the learning cycle - look, think, plan and do

  
• Learning


  A process that brings about a relatively permanent change in an individual's way of responding as a result of practice or other experience
• Learning processes


  • External events that stimulate the learner
  • Internal events that occur due to interaction with the external environment

  
• Events of learning


  • External stimulation like written/spoken information
  • Internal changes of state from not learned to learned, including 8 phases that outline a series of events constituting a single act of learning

  
• Two groups of learning theories

  • Behaviorism
  • Cognitive
• Logical acts


  Teaching activities that can be evaluated independently of their consequences
• Strategic acts


  Teaching activities evaluated by their consequences, concerned with getting someone interested to learn
• Elements that assess and describe teaching models

  • Scenario
  • Syntax
  • Social system
  • Principles of reaction
  • Support system
  • Application
  • Instructional and nurturant effects
• Linear thinking


  Thinking process proceeds in a sequential, straight-line manner
• Geodesic thinking


  Point-to-multipoint thinking, proposing many paths to learning something, like many paths between two points on a sphere
• Complete abandonment of structure and linear processing is not the answer, but keeping the goal and potential impact in mind when performing each activity is recommended
• Course development


  Viewed as a system - a set of interrelated and interdependent elements functionally integrated to achieve a purpose
• Role of a teacher

  • Instructional expert
  • Manager
  • Counselor
• Teaching


  An attempt to assist students in acquiring or changing some skill, knowledge, ideal, attitude or appreciation
• General teaching skills


  • Pre-instructional
  • Instructional
  • Post-instructional
• Pre-instructional planning steps


  • Identifying content
  • Writing objectives
  • Introducing the lesson
  • Selecting instructional strategies
  • Closing the lesson
  • Evaluating
• Types of instructional competencies for teachers

  • Pre-instructional
  • Instructional
  • Post-instructional
• Competencies that teachers need to become effective planners

  • Identifying content
  • Writing objectives
  • Introducing the lesson (set induction)
  • Selecting instructional strategies
  • Closing the lesson (lesson closure)
  • Evaluating the lesson
  • Identifying new content to be taught
• Planning


  Key to effective teaching
• Steps in planning


  1. Identifying content

  2. Writing objectives

  3. Introducing the lesson (set induction)

  4. Selecting instructional strategies

  5. Closing the lesson (lesson closure)

  6. Evaluating the lesson

  7. Identifying new content to be taught