edci335 – Captivating Questions & Enchanting Explorations

REPLY 1

Learning, Motivation, and Theory

I definitely see where are you are coming from Megan; however, I do think that the previous classes that you (and I) have taken have resulted in a “confirmation bias” (Veritasium, 2011). The previous classes we were enrolled in seemed to paint behaviourism in a negative way and often didn’t consider the positive side of things. While I agree with your statement in the third paragraph about how individual’s basic needs and motivation are important, I think that they can still be accommodated within behaviourism if it is used efficiently. For example, if you were to be teaching a group of students new math concepts such as addition and subtraction, leaving them to try and figure this out on their own may not be effective. “What might be most effective for novice learners encountering a complex body of knowledge for the first time, would not be effective, efficient or stimulating for a learner who is more familiar with the content.” (Ertmer & Newby, 2018). This does not mean that you cannot include and use other theories in your practice as well. Maybe you use a combination of theories. Begin with behaviourism techniques for the initial lesson of a new concept and then move into inquiry-based project etc. In addition, I also believe that purposeful positive reinforcement can boost individual motivation. Verbal reinforcement and encouragement can be a great source of motivation especially if it is done purposely and not just to boost one’s ego. For example, if a student has a breakthrough with something they were really struggling with and you offer purposeful praise concerning their learning, the process they took, and how hard they worked, this can be very meaningful to them. This is straight out of the behaviourist handbook! I totally see where you are coming from and often struggle with the same thoughts and questions; but, I think we have to take the time to remind ourselves of the potential benefits of behaviourism as well. Pulling certain beneficial aspects from each of the learning theories can create a productive learning environment where students can prosper.

References

Ertmer, P. A. & Newby, T. (2018). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective. In R. E. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivism

Veritasium. (2011, March 17). Khan Academy and the Effectiveness of Science Videos [Video]. YouTube. Khan Academy and the Effectiveness of Science Videos

REPLY 2 –

Learning, Motivation, and Theory

Breanne, I loved hearing about your experiences! Not only were they insightful, but they provided me with some ideas I could utilize myself in my classroom. I loved the ideas you mentioned for teaching students about blood. Super cool!

I agree with you that growing up most classrooms seemed to centre around a behaviourist model. I too have experienced similar systems to the card system you mentioned. I recently saw a classroom that had everyone’s name on the board, and they would slide the names up and down to different categories which consisted of excellent, good, average, poor, and very poor behaviour. Names would get slid up and down in front of the whole class based on how students were behaving. To me, this does not seem like a good way to meet students’ needs of psychological safety and belongingness. As you mentioned in your final statement of this paragraph, I completely agree that we cannot fully break away from the behaviourist theory of learning, and sometimes it is even necessary, but there are appropriate times to use it in a way that’s beneficial.

I really appreciate your final statement in the third paragraph about how allowing individuals to learn in their own way allows them to succeed and get the most out of their learning opportunities. We are all unique individuals, and we all learn differently. In an interview I did with a behavioural specialist from Alberta, she told me that her teaching philosophy was that every student learns differently. It is not fair to them for us to expect to teach one way and have everyone pick it up. It is our job as teachers to learn about each student, find their strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles, and teach towards that. She explained that teaching in multiple ways such as showing a video clip, lectures, hands on work, incorporating movement, etc. as much as possible with each lesson can provide students with the chance to showcase their strengths, find an outlet that they actually enjoy and are engaged in, and help their overall learning experience.

Finally, I agree that each theory has its place and can be utilized in a beneficial way. For me personally, I plan on utilizing all these in an intertwining way in attempts to create a classroom environment that meets everyone’s needs and helps individuals learn and prosper. For me, I would like to use constructivism but am still a little fuzzy on how to execute this in a classroom with young students. This is something I would like to look into further! If you have any insights or resources that would be helpful, please feel free to share them with me!

Photo Credits: Header photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash

Thinking back to my various learning experiences, there are experiences that stand out as outstanding opportunities and others that either challenged me or left me wanting more. On one side of the spectrum, I am reminded of a course I took about the historical and philosophical background of teaching and how politics affects education. This course really challenged me as I had little interest in the subject, which Park’s (2018) refers to as “intrinsic motivation”, and I found it hard to connect with the material and see its learning benefits and applications. As a result, my motivation levels plummeted, and I found it extremely difficult to devote my full attention to the content being covered. As noted by Park (2018), “Students without motivation feel no impetus or inspiration to learn a new behaviour and will not engage in any learning activities.” (p.1) and this was the exact situation I found myself in. In addition, a lot of the topics in this course were controversial. We were presented with various ideas from different philosophers and some of them were so different than anything I had heard that they were very hard to understand and accept. As I am older, my neural plasticity is more rigid (SmarterEveryDay, 2015) and integrating new knowledge into my schema can be difficult when it is vastly different from what I am used to and know. Finally, the way the class was run reflected the behaviourist theory of learning. Emphasis was put on recalling facts and we were often, “provided with conditions and prompts in attempt to elicit a specific response (Ertmer & Newby, 2018, p.5) . Although this type of learning has its place, I struggled not having the opportunity to discuss content and take an active role in my learning. With content that I found dry and hard to accept, and my motivation lacking, this environment really did not work for me. In order to succeed and do my best, I had to be very self-sufficient and go about the course in a manner that I knew was effective for me. Personally, I am very organized and goal orientated. “Goal setting is a key motivational process” (Park, 2018, p.3) and for me, this could not be more true. With this in mind, I knew that these measures were absolutely necessary if I wanted to succeed in this course. I took time outside of class to make various handwritten lists such as assignment due dates, weekly to-do lists, and what I like to call “inspiration and correlation” lists. These lists helped me know what I needed to do and when and helped me find inspiration and establish various connections to the content. This helped increase my motivation and engagement in the class allowing me to succeed; but make no mistake, this class was quite the challenge for me.

On the other side of spectrum, I have had experiences that have been outstanding and have shaped me as an individual and a learner. The first thing that comes to mind is a less formal type of learning experience. One day, my friend lent me a book that she thought I would like called “Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win”. I began reading this book and was blown away with how well I connected to the material. Clearly, I am no Navy SEAL; but the way they wrote the book really tapped into multiple techniques that reach various individuals and help them understand. They provided facts but also provided multiple stories and examples to explain these facts. Each fact was accompanied by a story of how it is used by SEAL teams, as well as examples and stories of how it connects to the real world. When considering that this is just a book and must stand alone, it does a really good job at teaching in various ways to vast audiences. I think that the book was able to effectively utilize cognitivism by creating a resource that allows you to reason, problem-solve, and process information actively. It provides the reader the opportunity and ability to “internally code” and, “…store information in an organized, meaningful manner.” (Ertmer & Newby, 2018, p.8).

Another thing that stands out to me as a “good” learning experience are the various inquiry projects I have encountered throughout my educational journey. To keep this brief and simple, picking a topic you are interested in and getting to construct meaning and actively learn, have resulted in extremely high levels of learning for me. When participating in inquiry projects, your motivation often increases as it is something you are interested in. The intrinsic motivation that Parks talks about is there in full effect. In addition, you get the opportunity to find facts and associations, process information, reason, compare things to other viewpoints, discuss, relate content to the real world, reflect, and more. These skills and learning outcomes are related to behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism. Inquiry-based projects allow room for all of the theories of learning to work together in a way that enhances learning and produces more in-depth knowledge. Inquiry-based projects are very individualistic and therefore can utilize various learning theories for various students. You may also progress throughout these theories as the individuals needs change and/or progress. Finally, inquiry-based projects allow students to become strong and independent learners which results in increased self-efficacy and motivation.

In conclusion, as mentioned by Ertmer and Newby (2018), “…successful instructional practices have features that are supported by virtually all three perspectives…” (p.15). I agree that all of the learning theories have their time and place. I also agree that effective use of learning theories play a critical role in student engagement and learning. This in combination with motivation are the key to successful learning. With that being said, how do we raise motivation in individuals? What can we do to help motivate students? I would like to provide this article as a starting point for these question. In “The Science of Raising Courageous Kids” by Martin Brokenleg and Steve Van Bockern, it is suggested that we must first fulfill individuals basic needs (belonging, autonomy, mastery etc.) in order for them to reach a state where they feel safe, comfortable, and motivated to learn. This is where this blog post is taking me next. I would love to hear my peers’ thoughts on this, and I look forward to exploring the questions about motivation more in my own time.

Photo Credits: Header photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash

Resources:

Park, S. (2018). Motivation Theories and Instructional Design. In R. E. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/motivation_theories_and_instructional_design

SmarterEveryDay. (2015, April 24). The Backwards Brain Bicycle – Smarter Every Day 133 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0&t=282s

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