I was originally from the school of thought that behaviour wasn\u2019t something that was changed easily. Everyone has heard the all too familiar line that \u201cyou can\u2019t teach an old dog new tricks\u201d (I have no idea how far back that quote goes, it\u2019s not mine). Truth is, it\u2019s possible. From my experience though, it\u2019s easier to teach them the way that\u2019s best for them from the beginning.<\/p>\n
From my beginning in learning and technology, I have always been in an adult learning environment. By that I mean teaching adults, mostly the new software that is required for them to hit targets, or run their business. That\u2019s a make or break situation. I have tried made the effort to pair up with peers in this MALAT program with individuals who are not in the adult learning field. Now in my new job (I say job because I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m cut out for it); I have a new found respect for those that are in the K-12 area. I have joined them and I\u2019m terrified.<\/p>\n
I always believed I was both a behaviourist and a cognitivist. Now that I am experiencing K-12 for the first time, I realize I am part of the cognitivist tribe. However, as far as I am concerned; they are intertwined. Sometimes, we have no idea how we learn best. I\u2019m reminded of a slogan which was my elementary schools slogan (I guess I took it to heart). It was \u201cLearning to Care, Caring to learn\u201d. Funny, isn\u2019t it? I think behaviorism and cognitivism go hand in hand like the slogan I just mentioned. If you are learning and being encouraged; your behaviours will change. Encouragement is a large portion of it. Expectation and encouragement are two very different things.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not even sure why or how I constantly want to learn. Is it inherent? Is it because my mom would spell words out when she thought I wasn\u2019t listening? Sometimes our childhood memories will tell us a lot. I am starting to believe it has nothing to do with behaviours and everything to do with the ways in which people learn, maybe how they are taught.<\/p>\n
In my current role, we are a three to one teacher ratio. If you think about most classrooms today, they are one teacher to thirty students; if they are lucky, less. Thing is, everyone learns differently. \u201cBehaviourists would focus on the design of the environment to optimize that transfer, while cognitivists would stress efficient processing strategies\u201d (Ertmer and Newby, 2013, pp.53).<\/p>\n
As far as I\u2019m concerned, one doesn\u2019t come without the other. Transfer of knowledge is extremely important, but the cart doesn\u2019t come before the horse. Learning styles play a large role. How do we find out how a student learns? \u00a0In my current position, we do an in depth cognitive and academic assessment of where they stand based on age and grade level. More often than not it\u2019s a problem with spelling and reading. \u00a0If you cannot read a question, you probably cannot complete the question. It doesn\u2019t mean that you are bad at any subject. It starts with one. \u201cThe designer must have the ability to diagnose and analyze practical learning problems. The way a doctor prescribes effective remedies with a proper diagnoses\u201d (Ertmer and Newby, 2013, pp.44).<\/p>\n
Instead of saying you have to know this to run your business successfully (adults have to jump on board). Instead you say, what do you want to be when you grow up? Superman? Well Superman definitely knows math because he has to avoid kryptonite. \u201cLearning is promoted when new knowledge is integrated into the learner\u2019s world\u201d (Merrill, 2002, pp. 45).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
References<\/p>\n
Ertmer, P., & Newby, T. (2013).\u00a0Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing critical features<\/p>\n
from an instructional design perspective.\u00a0Performance Improvement Quarterly<\/em>,\u00a026<\/em>(2), 43-71.<\/p>\n Merrill, M. D. (2002).\u00a0First principles of instruction.\u00a0Educational Technology Research and <\/em><\/p>\n Development<\/em>,\u00a050<\/em>(3), 43-59.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was originally from the school of thought that behaviour wasn\u2019t something that was changed easily. Everyone has heard the all too familiar line that \u201cyou can\u2019t teach an old dog new tricks\u201d (I have no idea how far back… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions\/299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}