Learning Theories Wk4 T2P

If/Then/Because      

Evidence      Pedagogical Terminology       Theory       Instructional Event      

Moral/Ethical Values

First T2P of the day

If the classroom environment is creating in such a way that the students can feel comfortable in and encourages social engagement then it is more likely that the students will learn and be active in the class because they feel are able to be a part of the learning process. Students that are secure in the classroom will participate in discussions and provide and receive relevant insights from their classmates. Vygotsky's theory would agree that a social environment is the most effective to improve learning because humans are social by nature and having the ability to discuss and create together can be beneficial for all. Also important in a social, engaging environment is making the student feel that what they are saying is important, they are more likely to stay interested in the content and participate more.  I believe that students should be able to discuss and enhance their ideas with the teacher and with each other in order to build up their self-confidence in those ideas and knowledge base. 


T2P for Vicki Davis and self-determination theory
If a teacher provides students with opportunities to demonstrate autonomy, competence and chances to relate to classmates, then the students will remain more engaged and more focused on the tasks at hand because they are more in charge of their personal learning and they have solid backing in their class to help them reach their optimal level of learning. Vicki Davis presents her students with numerous opportunities to present and teach their own work to classmates and to Davis, making them gain confidence in their abilities through application and practice. Because of this responsibility to learn and teach information, the students need to be engaged in the class in order to fulfill their role adequately. In her classroom, Davis also had created smaller groups within each class that were focusing on specific topics depending on their personal interests, making them more knowledgeable and competent in certain areas. From there, these groups can then help the rest of the class become 'experts' on that topic. There is also a lot of interaction with a global network of students that can provide students with a broader, more cultural knowledge of the topic they are blogging or posting about on wikis. This is a direct example of self-determination theory created by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, which stipulates that these three qualities (autonomy, competence and relatedness) are necessary to improve the performance and creativity among the students, ultimately leading to increased self-determination. 


Final T2P of the day
If a student is to reach their optimal learning level, then a teacher will need to present their material in such a way that the students are able to relate to and apply the information to their daily lives because having a background base of experiences and knowledge will allow students to better understand and retain new material by adding it to what they already know. This idea goes along somewhat with Piaget's idea of accommodation. By presenting information that students will have a 'schema' for already, there will be a pre-existing location in their minds in which to store the information, making it easier to recall. Another theoretical ideal that goes along with this definition of learning is the ideas of Jean Lave. She believes that applied, relevant learning is the only way to learn. If the students already have some societal or cultural knowledge of the information, they can further explore what they are learning and be confident in what they say and know. I believe that ways of making this work in a classroom are numerous. Studying current events, making applications of problems more known to the students as well using hands-on examples of the problems. As a math teacher, I know that having students build and create simple objects they see every day using geometry or trigonometry will help solidify the information in the heads because they are physically building on something that they know. In my opinion, I believe that this is an important aspect of creating connections between new and old information. 




Learning Theories Spreadsheet