It’s
reflection time. Easier said than done when you have the same professor
teaching you three classes in the same classroom, and two of them are on the
same day.
We
learned about 27 educational philosophers throughout history. We also learned
about the three main educational philosophies – behaviorism, cognitivism, and
constructionism. We read some case studies and discussed the “Spelling B” situation
as well as the menu example. We also challenged and tested our concise teaching
abilities as we all tried – with differing degrees of success – to clearly teach
a skill or idea in 5 minutes.
I will
keep the “observation” section of this short and move on to the analysis and
action. I feel that both of those will be more fulfilling for each of us.
Here
are a few passionate thoughts about module learning and teacher-given options
that I didn’t share while in class today. I find that the ability to make choices,
when compared to a single option, either makes a situation significantly better
of significantly worse. There isn’t really a middle ground. The situation
becomes better when a person is open-minded, curious, disciplined, and an
independent thinker. This type of individual will take advantage of such on
opportunity to try new methods of learning, much as he would likely be open to
try new menu options at a restaurant. On the other hand, many individuals in
this situation will often stick with what they are good at, what they know, and
what they feel comfortable doing. This is not to say that the person is
apathetic; rather, the very situation coupled with human nature invites this
lack of exploration. Human nature is defined by Newton’s law of motion: an
object in motion or a person with previous experience will not change unless
acted upon by an outside force. I seldom pick up my phone and discover new
music – I stick with my own library unless another person makes a
recommendation. The same way, most people will stick with what they know in a
situation where multiple learning opportunities are presented. This minimizes
the possibility of a breakthrough of knowledge. Unless a classroom is filled
with independent, motivated learners, the majority of students will learn more
if they are given a set assignment by their teacher, or given a limited number
of more rigidly defined choices that are each designed to stretch the students’
knowledge and ability.
One
more thing I’d like to talk about for just a moment. I’m not sure about these
three educational philosophies – behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.
Yes, I agree they all seem legitimate and make sense to me. But I would argue
that there are additional educational philosophies as well. (Perhaps there are.
I plan to research this more on my own. That’s part of the “action” portion of this
reflection.) For example, what if my idea were to teach extremely difficult
concepts first, making all the easier concepts seem exceptionally easy and
quick by comparison? Perhaps impractical in some areas – actually, I’m almost
positive we could easily rattle off many places where that would be an
impractical technique – bit still a valid opinion and a viable course of
action. This idea directly opposes the concepts of constructivism, but doesn’t really
fit into behaviorism or cognitivism either. I am sure there are many more
educational ideas that fall into their own categories, and I would be
interested to see what other philosophies have been created to categorize them,
and what other ideas have been presented that fall into philosophies other than
the three we learned about in class.
And of
course, there’s my action. How will this change me? Well, as I prepare to
become a better teacher, I will pay more attention to what my professors do well
and what could be improved. Every time I go to class, it’s an opportunity to
perform my own real-life case studies. And of course, I will
research/invent-if-necessary my own educational philosophies. I’m sure there
are a lot of unique, uncategorized teaching methods that are just waiting to be
discovered and analyzed.
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