"The only way to be totally free is through education" - Jose Marti

Every individual comes to the classroom with a slightly different learning style. As a teacher, it is important to understand the different ways in which our students best receive knowledge in order to create effective learning experiences. Many scientists have studied learning and education in an attempt to better understand the way that our brains work and how we learn best. In class and in the flex learning activity we looked at four differrent learning theories:

 

Behaviourism: learning is a response to stimulus

and you can condition yourself to learn through

repitition. An example in the classroom is mad-minute

tests for math

 

Cognitivism: the key to learning is prior knowledge,

we build new knowledge as an extension of what we

already know. An example in the classroom is mind

mapping to organize concepts.

 

Constructivism: learning is a combination of

technology and discovery set in the context of an

authentic task. An example in the classroom is 

using a 3D printer to build a heart for biology.

 

Connectivism: since knowledge is always growing

and changing, we acquire knowledge through

building strong and diverse connections in a

network of resources. An example in the classroom 

is using twitter to connect to experts on a subject.

 

After reviewing the information, I feel that I am most similar to a cognitivist learner, I learn best though connecting new information to knowledge that I already have. I like to use methods such as mnemonics and mind-mapping to create concrete connections to new knowledge.

 

In Module 10 we were asked to create a presentation explaining our learning style and review some tools that could be used to help those who learn with this style. I elected to use emaze to create my presentation, and I focused my learning tools on my subject interests for high school teaching: Mathematics, Biology, and Spanish. Check out my emaze presentation on cognitive learning theory by clicking here, or by looking at the embedded link below.