Paul Cobb's blog
Final Blog for INST 6325
My final definition for learning is the same as it has been all semester. Learning is understanding ourselves and the world around us. What has changed as the semester has progressed has been my idea about how to facilitate learning. I always knew that everyone learns in different ways but what I have learned is some of the ways. Personally, I do not believe that we have even scratched the surface of how people learn. I think that in reality learning is as diverse as people themselves. This means that as educators we need to be as flexible as possible in our teaching styles and to teach and allow our students to learn in whatever style works for them.
Social Constructivism.
I still believe that learning is understanding ourselves and the world around us. After this class and thinking about learning so much I don't know if my personal definition will ever change. How I facilitate learning will always change though. If I learned anything from this class is that everyoe learns differently and that I have to be flexible enough in my teaching style to provide the needed instruction for my students. I think that is why I like Vygotsky's ideas. He argued against standardized testing, which does not take into acount different learning styles, and argued for looking at a students ZPD instead. Like I have said before I wish the government would look more at the science of teaching and less at the politics.
Bruner
Ok, I really do not have much to add this week besides what I have said already. My definition of learning is the same and I don't think that studying Bruner really changed how I think educators should facilitate learning. It seems to me that Bruner really just rehashed old ideas and said them in a new way. Maybe I am missing something. I do have to say though that I feel like after learning all the new theories that I have more to work with. I did not learn all of this in my teaching program. It would have been nice to understand all this at the beginning of my teaching career. Oh well, better late than never.
Situated Cognition
Once again I look at my definition of learning and I don't think it has changed too much.Click here to read more »
Case Based Learning
If learning is understanding the world around us then learning by storytelling only makes sense. I taught my kids to ride a bike using stories about how I leaned to ride a bike and how they first learned to ride a tricycle. So it is important for educators to be able to explain educational facts in the form of stories to help facilitate learning. This can be tough when you are trying to teach chemical equations or science facts. But a teacher today needs to be a edutainer if they are going to reach our students and storytelling is a necessary tool to do that.
Submitted by Paul Cobb on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 2:11pm
Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here, except as specifically noted, are those of the individual authors or commenters and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, or Utah State University.