“General methods of teaching” Lecture # 05 (Qudsia Kalsoom)

“Conceptual change, learning theories and modeling process”

Lecture # 05

Lecture objectives:

By the end of the lecture, you will have reflected upon:

 The term conceptual change.

 The formula for teacher’s growth.
 Theories on how children learn.
 Social cognitivism and modeling.

Outline of the lecture:

 Conceptual change
 Teacher growth
 How do humans learn
 Beliefs on learning
 Modeling effects
 Modeling process
 Social cognitivism

Most of the times, teachers required memorization of the facts and concepts from students.

Howard Gardner is very famous because of his theory of multiple intelligences. He says,

“Even students who have been well trained and who exhibit all the signs of
success . . . typically do not display an adequate understanding of the materials
and concepts with which they have been working.”

Conceptual change:

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What actually most of the teachers do is that they focus on the missing knowledge of the
students instead of conceptual change. Conceptual change is important but it does require time. It
is difficult to accomplish conceptual change. We must not provide the students with superficial
knowledge but the deep learning is a conceptual change.

(Teacher is more interested in covering the syllabus instead of bringing conceptual change in the
students)

Teacher growth:

Teacher growth is also a conceptual change:

Knowledge + Experience + Reflection = Growth

If any single element is eliminated or missed from the above statement then it is not growth. If
you have knowledge and experience, it is necessary for growth that whatever you have gained
from your experience you must reflect on that. E.g. if you teach mathematics to grade 2 students
a year and then you are supposed to teach mathematics again in the next year to grade 2. You
have same notes and textbooks that you used earlier. You teach mathematics to grade 2 for the
next 5 years in the same way then there is no growth. You are just using your experience but
there is no change. But if a teacher gains experience to teach mathematics to grade 2 students and
at the end, reflect upon his experience is actually growth. By the end of the year, he will think
that what techniques must be use to improve students learning. What motivational strategies
work and which motivational strategies do not work. These things are actually part of your
reflection. If you are reflecting on the things, it means that you will teach the students the next
year in a much improved way. It means that you are developing yourself professionally. So,
teacher growth is also a conceptual change and it requires three elements. These are: knowledge,
experience and reflection.

How do humans learn?

Before we discuss theories on how children learn, there are some questions that must be taken
into consideration. And there answers will be discussed through theories.

1. How does a child learn to talk?

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2. How did you learn different skills like cooking/ gardening/ stitching/ cycling/ using
dictionary?
3. How do people learn to debate?
4. How do people learn to perform in drama?
5. Did you learn multiplication before addition?

Nolan and Francis (1992) believe that:

- Knowledge is actively constructed by learners.

If you look at the question # 2, can you learn cooking without you cook? Can you learn stitching
without doing it? Can you learn to use dictionary without using it? Definitely, no. so it is true
that knowledge is actively constructed by learners. What do we teachers do in the classroom is
we start teaching concepts to the students. The students are just listening to the lecture; they are
not actively involved in learning.

If you look at the question # 1, that is how a child does learn to talk? If we do not allow a child to
talk or to explore different words of vocabulary, he cannot lean a language. It again shows that
knowledge is constructed by learners.

- Prior knowledge greatly influences learning.

Why is it necessary to learn addition before multiplication? Because multiplication is repeated

addition. If a child does not know addition, then he can’t learn multiplication. If a prior learning
of a student is good, then you can bring conceptual change very easily. It is important for a
teacher to know that what is the students’ existing knowledge or prior knowledge. Because it
actually influences learning. If a student has no prior knowledge about a concept, then he will
take more time in getting it. E.g. if a person has seen how to use injection, and you teach him to
use it. He will learn quickly as compare to the one who has never seen an injection. So prior
knowledge influences learning.

- Learning is there when teachers try to help learners change their cognitive
structures instead of focusing on their own teaching.

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We have to judge the prior knowledge of the students and help them in learning new concepts by
recognizing their prior knowledge. So that they may have cognitive change and deep learning.
What do we teachers do that we focus on our own teaching e.g. a teacher is asked to cover the
syllabus in 2 weeks, his focus will be on covering the syllabus and not on the learning of the
students. So, good learning shift on focus to students.

- Learning is a social endeavor.

It is said that “Learning is social by nature.” It is because learning is enhanced when you are
learning in a group. We said in previous lectures that schools have group orientation. It is
because the learning in schools is in groups. There are many things that cannot be learnt
individually but in groups. In one in one process, a student made a mistake that is corrected by
the tutor individually. But when a student makes a mistake in a class, many students learn from
that mistake. Whether it was their mistake or not but they learn from them also. So students learn
in a social environment. And learning is definitely a social process.

Social cognitivism and modeling:

We will discuss the modeling process in social cognitivism. There are some questions to take
into consideration:

1. How does a child learn to hold spoon?

2. How does a child learn to wear clothes?
3. How does a child learn to play?

The answer to these questions can be formulated by a video in which a child is copying an adult
in studying, playing and praying. But according to assumptions and from books, the answer to
these questions is:

“Much human behavior is learnt by observing the behavior of others (Bandura 1978).”

There are few things that can be learnt by observing others. According to Bandura, there are
three things in modeling:

1. Observational learning.
2. Inhibitory effect.

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3. Disinhibitory effect.

1. Observational learning:

Observational learning is something that we learn by observing others. There are

number of people who learn things by just observing other people. If someone is
cooking, you can observe them and learn how to cook food. You can learn cycling
by observing, you can learn using computers by observing others. It means that
we can learn many things by observation. Teachers are said to be role models
because whatever teachers do, students used to copy them and learn. E.g. a small
survey was conducted on impressions and it shows that the teacher whose hand
writing was very good on the board, his students’ handwriting was also very good
and clear. But a teacher with average or poor handwriting on board shows the
poor hand writing of the students as well. This is a new learning that is learnt by
observing others.

2. Inhibitory effect:
When you learn something, and then observe others, you think that it is not right.
So you left that thing. E.g. if a person is wearing new style clothes, you have
bought the same dress as well. When you observe the other person and feel that
the dress is not looking nice, you reflect on yourself and think that it might not
suits me as well so you stop doing it. This is not a new learning. It is what you
leave by observing others. To unlearn something that was learnt.
3. Disinhibitory effect:
Disinhibitory effect takes place when you think that whatever you have learnt is
right and you can carry on with it. That is not a new learning. E.g. when a child is
writing an alphabet wrong and his teacher is also writing it in the same way. The
child gets ensure that the way in which he is writing is right because the teacher is
also writing it in the same way. His learning gets strong in this way.

So we may claim that modeling does affect children’s learning.

Modeling processes:

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There are 4 important modeling processes and research has established these modeling
processes. These are:

1. Attention

In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that detracts your
attention is going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If the model
interesting or there is a novel aspect to the situation, you are far more likely to dedicate
your full attention to learning.

2. Retention

The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning process.
Retention can be affected by a number of factors, but the ability to pull up information
later and act on it is vital to observational learning.

3. Production

Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is time
to actually perform the behavior you observed. Further practice of the learned behavior
leads to improvement and skill advancement.

4. Motivation

Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be

motivated to imitate the behavior that has been
modeled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role in motivation. While
experiencing these motivators can be highly effective, so can observing other experience
some type of reinforcement or punishment?

Modeling can be made very effective if you take care of these four things. These are attention,
retention, production and motivation. And motivation is the most important term or process
because attention and retention are the initial levels but motivation takes place through out the
learning process. There is not only a single way to motivate students. Different teachers use
different strategies to make children attentive in the class and make them motivated.

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Social cognitivism:

We discuss in the learning theories that learning is an active process. Basically, students can get
involved actively alone but the social process is still necessary. Because we are social beings,
human beings are social animal and we live in groups. So when we live in groups, our learning
will be enhanced due to group orientation.

Comments:

 Social cognitive theory, used in psychology, education, and communication, posits that
portions of an individual's knowledge acquisition can be directly related
to observing others within the context of social interactions, experiences, and outside
media influences. In other words, people do not learn new behaviors solely by trying
them and either succeeding or failing, but rather, the survival of humanity is dependent
upon the replication of the actions of others. Depending on whether people are rewarded
or punished for their behavior and the outcome of the behavior, that behavior may be
modeled. Further, media provide models for a vast array of people in many different
environmental settings.

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