Learn
like a the
insatiable curiosity that drives the adolescent boy to absorb
everything.
"No, no, that's not what I want"; "Wait! This is
closer to what I am interested in, what I need"; "Ah, here
it is! Now I'm grasping and comprehending what I need
and what
I want to know!" Carl Rogers 1983: 18-19.
Educational
Psicology theories about human learning can be grouped into these
perspectives:
Behaviorist:
Learning
theorists: Thorndike, Pavlov, Watson, Guthrie, Hull, Tolman,
Skinner.
POV.
of learning process: Change in behaviour.
Action
on: Stimuli in external environment.
Purpose
in education: Produce behavioural change in desired direction.
Educator's
role: Arranges environment to elicit desired response.
Cognitivist:
Learning
theorists: Koffka, Kohler,Lewin, Piaget, Ausubel, Bruner,
Gagne
POV
of learning process: Internal mental process.
Action
on: Internal cognitive structuring
Purpose
in education: Develop capacity and skills to learn better.
Educator's
role: Structures content of learning activity
Humanist:
Learning
theorists: Maslow, Rogers
POV
of learning process: A personal act to fulfil potential.
Action
on: Affective and cognitive needs.
Purpose
in education: Become self-actualized, autonomous
Educator's
role: Facilitates development of the whole person.
Social
and situational:
Learning
theorists: Bandura, Lave and Wenger, Salomon
POV
of learning process: Interaction /observation in social contexts.
Action
on: Learning is in relationship between people and environment.
Purpose
in education: Full participation in communities of practice,
utilization resources.
Educator's
role: Establish communities in which conversationand
participation can occur.
And face it, on two point of view about what's learning:
Learning
is something external to the learner. It may even be something that
just happens or is done to you by teachers. In a way learning becomes
a bit like shopping. People go out and buy knowledge "it becomes
their possession".
Learning
as a quantitative increase in knowledge.
Learning
is acquiring information.
Learning
is storing information that can be reproduced.
Learning
as acquiring skills, and methods that can be retained and used as
necessary.
Or
is something internal or personal aspect of learning. Learning is
seen as something that you do in order to understand the real world.
Learning
as making sense or abstracting meaning.
Learning
involves relating parts of the subject matter to each other and to
the real world.
Learning
as interpreting and understanding reality.
Learning
involves comprehending the world by reinterpreting knowledge.
(quoted in Ramsden 1992: 26)
Your
choise has strong implications, not only on what are you interested
but on how your are going to learn.
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