After completing Ertmer and Newby’s (2013) reading on behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism two things became more apparent to me:
- How one shouldn’t marry themselves to a particular learning theory as different theories of learning should be applied in various situations
- How the hell haven’t I wrapped my head around these theories!…We are 8 months into the program!
Let’s focus on point #1 first…
Although as we move through this program I find myself leaning towards a constructivist way of teaching and learning, this reading solidified my beliefs that one needs to be adaptable depending on the context, environment, and stage of learning that the student is in. The authors note that we should recognize stages of knowledge (they draw our attention to Jonassen’s three stages of knowledge acquisition: introductory, advanced, and expert) when we are designing learning and base our design on these. A focus on a behaviorist and cognitivist would be more appropriate for introductory knowledge, and as the learner moves on the continuum towards expert knowledge acquisition a focus on constructivist approaches may be more appropriate. This thought had been in the back of my mind for a while as some of the content I teach is very introductory and a stimulus-response approach seems very applicable and effective. However, as the content moves towards more mastery of skill my approach becomes much more based on immersing my students in real-world experiences. The authors note that using an apprenticeship approach (which I do in our carpentry class) aligns with constructivist theory well.
Now point #2…
This may sound strange but I feel a little lost, although I’m not? Just when I think I have a handle on theories and such, I read another article that slips me up a bit. This reading did help clarify the differences between behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, but it opened a new can of worms and got me thinking that I should be reviewing all learning theories(not just these three) as I design my classes. Considering each one would be way too time-consuming as I can barely keep ahead just thinking about one learning theory.
I am open to any suggestions of a solution that would help save time in this?
Resources
Ertmer, P., & Newby, T. (2013 Online). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71.
.