Applying Learning Theory to Instruction

Video Transcription

Hello, and thank you for joining me for applying plane learning theory to instruction. Today's essential question is, how can learning theories be applied to units of study? For this tutorial, we're going to look at various theories, and we're going to talk about what they would look like in a unit of study.

For constructivist theory, we're going to think about this in terms of a classroom where students are participating in the scientific method. So you would have strong student engagement. Students would be interested in what they were doing, and they would be actively engaged in it.

And the tasks would be relevant and authentic. It wouldn't just be reading out of their chemistry textbook. They would actually be performing in a lab or an experiment.

There would be collaboration and communication among and between the students, as well as their teacher, who would be acting as the facilitator. So they'd be working in groups to come to the right answers.

They would also have voice and choice in some of the learning activities that were taking place. So they might be able to modify their experiment based on their interests.

There would also be students who are owning their learning. So they're constructing new meaning out of this new knowledge that they've created. So what does this chemical reaction teach me based on what I already know?

We would also see a transfer of these new understandings to different situations or even to different classrooms. So it doesn't have to necessarily be what the chemical reaction was, but it could be using that scientific method of thinking and taking that and using it in another class.

There would also be lots of higher order thinking skills, whether on the regular Bloom's taxonomy or on Digital Blooms. So students are analyzing, and synthesizing, and they're creating.

There would be student inquiry so students are going to be asking questions and generating questions. And then students would also learn and understand different perspectives in their classroom that would pop-up from having conversations and collaborating with their neighbors. Students would also reflect on what was happening in their classroom, and they would really build on their meta-cognition skills.

In a problem-based learning classroom, there would still be student inquiry. One really great example of student inquiry is the genius hour. And so, what the genius hour is where there's an hour a day for you to work on a pet project of your own. And lots of Silicon Valley companies use genius hour, and it's how they've come up with a lot of really great services that we use today. It is actually a real world authentic thing that promotes student inquiry.

You would also see the teacher walking around and acting as a facilitator, rather than a lecturer.

And then you would see that there would be an emphasis on several things, including flexible thinking. So just because one student group comes up with a way to solve the problem, doesn't mean that every student group has to come up with that way. The thinking can be flexible. And there's not one right way to solve a problem. We are being flexible with our thinking, and we're encouraging students to think outside of the box to solve the problems.

Students would also self-direct their learning. So if they're going at a slower pace or moving at a faster pace, they're able to self-direct.

There's also lots of collaboration going on in a problem-based classroom. Students are working together, and they're collaborating with each other and the teacher.

And students are motivated intrinsically. They want to learn because they want to know, not because they want to win a prize.

And there's active student engagement. Students are excited about the problem or the question that's been proposed. And they're excited to come up with the answers.

With cognitive flexibility theory, there's going to be an emphasis on the generalization of knowledge, and how it relates to the prior knowledge of the students. So this just means we're reading a short story, but we don't want to tackle it as a brand new short story. Instead, we're going to talk about, how does this relate to other short stories we've read or other text studies that we've done?

There's also a big emphasis on executive functions. And basically, that just means cognitive processes that help us connect our prior knowledge to our current knowledge. So what are some exercises we can do to make those connections?

There's also a differentiation in the teacher's presentation of the material to the students. So it's not one-size-fits-all. The same material is presented in multiple ways.

It's important to note that there is complex content in a cognitive flexibility theory classroom, and that complex content, though delivered in a variety of ways, is never dumbed down. We use the grade-appropriate or the content-appropriate instructional materials so that it's never oversimplified for the students.

And case studies are used quite often in the cognitive flexibility theory classroom. Case studies help the student connect on a level with the new learning. This helps students assimilate the knowledge that they've learned.

In a social learning theory classroom, it's important to understand that learning takes place through the observation, imitation, and modeling that students do with one another. So social collaborations are so important. You're going to be working in small groups. Your small groups are going to have students of varied abilities. And students are going to be scaffolding for one another so that they can learn.

There's also lots of positive reinforcement in the classroom, paying very close attention to not creating students who are extrinsically motivated, but helping them remain intrinsically motivated. And there's going to be the use of live models. There's going to be verbal instructions. There's going to be symbolic models.

So an example of this might be in an elementary school classroom when students are learning about insects. There's going to be small groups. There's going to be those social collaborations because of the group. The teacher is going to be reinforcing the learning that's happening.

And then they're also going to present the insects in a variety of ways. There's going to be the verbal instructions. There's also going to be the manipulatives in the classroom, which would serve as symbolic models. And then someone from the local insectarium or zoo might visit with some live models.

And with networked learning theory, this is where you're really going to see a lot of social interaction because it's based on social learning theory. So students are going to be constantly interacting with each other and with the teacher. There's going to be a lot of communication and collaboration going on in the classroom. And there's going to be authentic, real world activities, such as role-playing, or internships, or service learning.

So an example of this might be a sociology class or a psychology class where the students are learning from one another and reinforcing what they know. Maybe they are studying the different types of parent. They might interview their classmates-- that could be a social interaction and communication to see what type of parent they have. There might be a social service aspect of this lesson and more.

Let's reflect. Which learning theory are you most likely to use in your classroom moving forward? Why?

Today we answered the essential question of, how can learning theories be applied to a unit of study?

As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you may want to explore the Additional Resources section that accompanies this video presentation. This is where you'll find links to resources chosen to help you deepen your learning and explore ways to apply your newly acquired skillset Thanks for joining me, and happy teaching