INTRODUCTION TO PEDAGOGY AND LEARNING THEORIES

We understand from the lectures and the readings that we have done for this module, the teacher must not only have a mastery of the content and curriculum or the appreciation of the various forms of standards, an awareness of assessment, and the ability to organize the lessons, but also for these skills and techniques to be effective, the teachers should also be able to engage students. The teachers should know students well enough to make appropriate decisions. Pedagogy is the science of teaching which the teachers use to put skills, techniques, teaching and content together to bring out the learning experience in children. The concepts put forward by instructional design and other teaching methods are vague and even the word itself is pronounced incorrectly often and misspelt too!

Like any other professional teachers are carefully trained to be experts in the techniques and theories of the profession, just as doctors and lawyers are trained. Further, in this age of technological advancements teachers should have an open mind to integrate ICT and pedagogy. Further in the tertiary sector, those who design adult learning with the purpose of encouraging appropriate and robust use of new technologies should start their instructional design process by asking how they might help teachers learn strategic classroom practice.

The second concept explored in this module will be the concepts put forward by various learning theories. Learning theories provide a basis for understanding how our students learn. Since the context in which the learning takes place can be dynamic and multi-dimensional, some combination of the three learning theories and perhaps others should be considered and incorporated into the instructional design process to provide optimal learning. I will be discussing in some more depth about the concepts of pedagogy and learning theories in the coming postings.

Why do we need teachers?

Teachers can inspire a lot of students. Some research has given us the idea that it is the social status which determines who is going to learn and who is not going to. However, some educational psychologists did not accept this concept. Studies have been conducted to find the effects on student-teacher relationships and how badly students suffer due to poor teaching. Below is a research that proves effective teaching does make a difference in the learning experience of students.

The role of caring and a more knowledgeable person in helping a child learn new skills and concepts does not diminish as the child matures. There are critical interactions that take place between the care-givers, parents and teachers which are central to the process of learning (Vygotsksy, 1978).

Good teaching

Effective and ineffective teachers do make a difference in bringing out the best in learning. A study reported by Sanders and Rivers in 1996 showed that when a controlled group of students were exposed to effective teachers for three years, their results improved considerably high while a group which had been exposed to some ineffective teachers for three years had their academic records fallen considerably low. Best teachers encourage good gains in achievement for all students which shows that the effects of good teaching were residual. An effective teacher must spend much time on strategic questions -pedagogy - how to manage and manage well, how to reach child individually and give her or him the lesson needed.

Different people may define good teaching in different ways. For me good teaching comes from a combination of skills. Firstly a teacher should have outstanding knowledge in the field that he/she teachers. He/she has to be an excellent communicator, orally and in writing and should be able to listen to students. The excellent teacher should show personal interest in the subject and should therefore be very up-to-date in recent developments in the areas of teaching. Further, a teacher should be a respectable person who is known to parents and students alike in this manner. If a teacher has these, he/she will be able to deliver effective lessons through the methods prescribed by instructional design and formulated by learning theories.

Starting off as a new teacher

Whether we are beginning or experienced teachers we all share our concerns, including classroom discipline, motivating students, accommodating differences among students, evaluating students’ work, dealing with parents and getting along with other teachers. These are not as simple as they sound.

Many teachers experience what is called a ‘reality shock’ when they first take their job because they really cannot ease into their responsibilities. With experience, hard work and good support seasoned teachers can focus on the students’ needs and judge their success by the accomplishments of their students. Especially, the situation for Maldivian teachers is troublesome and some experienced teachers question the feasibility of using their training to implement their lessons due to time and policy restrictions.

Educational psychology and teaching

The role of the teacher, the relationship between teacher and student, methods of teaching, the nature and order of learning, the role of affect in learning – are still topics in educational psychology today. The view generally accepted is that educational psychology is a distinct discipline with its own theories, research methods, problems and techniques. Educational psychologists do research on learning and teaching and at the same time work to improve educational practice. So educational psychologists study child and adolescent development, learning and motivation – including how people learn different academic subjects such as reading, or mathematics; social and cultural differences on learning; teaching and teachers, and assessment, including testing.

Can research in teaching and learning give us any edge?

Reports of descriptive studies often include survey results, interview, responses, samples of actual classroom dialogue, or audio and video records of class activities. Often the results of descriptive studies include reports of correlations. A correlation is a number that indicates both the strength and the direction of a relationship between two events or measurements. Experimental studies allow educational psychologists to go beyond predictions and actually study cause and effect. Instead of just observing and describing an existing situation, the investigations introduce changes and note the results. I strongly think that research is the only way to develop our understanding of the learning and teaching concepts already developed. Through research we can find flaws and further refine original theories. We urgently need research to be conducted in Maldivian schools and the learning and teaching atmosphere in Maldives to see if at all the concepts that are taught in pre-service training is effectively being in the field.

Can we make sense of the theories of learning?

 

Theories on development, learning, motivation and teaching are important to be mastered by prospective teachers. The theories that I will be discussing in the other topics will be used as cognitive tools to help us examine, inspect and interpret the claims that we hear and read about throughout the career as teachers.

Certainly I am of the view that the theories developed by the educational psychologists hold a wealth of knowledge for us developed through numerous research and observation. It does make sense and most of the concepts developed has been tested further by experimentation and other research scientists and apart from minor flaws and corrections proposed, the main schools of thought related to those theories still are regarded to be sensible.