Showing papers on "Active learning published in 1984"

The Relationship between Learning Conception, Study Strategy and Learning Outcome.

Abstract: Summary. The essential point of the present study is that human learning should be studied from a second-order perspective. This means that the emphasis is on how people see and understand the world around them. Attention is given to the ways in which students tackle the studying of a text, using the distinction introduced by Marton and Saljo between a deep-level and a surface-level approach. Also investigated is the extent to which these study strategies can be related to the views of students on learning itself (learning conceptions) and the quality of the learning outcome. It turned out that a learning outcome of relatively high quality must be especially associated with deep-level approach and a constructive learning conception.

Self-Directed Adult Learning: A Critical Paradigm.

Abstract: Research into self-directed learning constitutes a chief growth area in the field of adult education research in the last decade. This paper argues that the propensity and capacity of many adults to conduct self-directed learning projects is now well proven, and that researchers should now infuse a spirit of self-critical scrutiny into this developing field of research. The paper advances four criticisms regarding the current state of self-directed learning research and offers suggestion for shifts in the research paradigm governing this field. The criticisms voiced refer to (1) the emphasis on middle class adults as the sampling frame for studies of this mode of learning, (2) the almost exclusive use of quantitative or quasi-quantitative measures in assessing the extent of learning and the concomitant lack of attention to its quality, (3) the emphasis on the individual dimensions of such learning to the exclusion of any consideration of the social context in which it occurs and, finally, (4) to the absen...

The Organizing Circumstance: Environmental Determinants in Self-Directed Learning:

Abstract: This study reports a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with 78 self-directed learners with less than high school completion and who were currently engaged in a learning project. The analysis focused on how and why learners chose particular resources or made other decisions when early analysis failed to detect evidence of conscious pre-planning. Kurt Lewin's view, that to understand human behavior the proper area for study is the individual's life space of field, led the investigators in determining that the structure and direction of learning projects derive from the resources available and apparent to the learner in the environment. The concept of the Organizing Circumstance is formulated and four categories of environmental structuring of learning are identified.

Learning to use a word processor: by doing, by thinking, and by knowing

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter presents a study that examines three learning strategies: (1) learning by doing, (2) learning by thinking, and (3) learning by knowing. To be more usable, future application systems and their training support will need to accommodate the real or active learner, rather than what might have been—from the perspective of the system designer and manual writer—the ideal or passive learner. This chapter also outlines some general design proposals along these lines and attempts to theoretically bring work to bear on the analysis of human behavior and experience in realistic situations that is developing in current Cognitive Science. The research discussed in the chapter consists of studies of office personnel learning to use word processing equipment.

Learning how to learn: The significance and current status of learning set formation

Abstract: In honor of the memory ofHarry F. Harlow, this paper reviews the current status of learning set formation, the discovery of which represents one ofHarlow's major contributions to behavioral science. Learning set formation or “learning how to learn” refers to the learning of visual and other types of discrimination problems progressively more quickly as a function of training on a series of such problems. The general procedure thatHarlow used, his original learning set finding, and its significance are described first. A brief review of theories of learning set formation follows. Lastly, the attempt to use learning set formation as a tool for studying comparative behavior is discussed.

The Shame of Science Education

Abstract: Public understanding of science is appalling. The major contributor to society's stunning ignorance of science has been our educational system. The inability of students to appreciate the scope, meaning, and limitations of science reflects our conventional lecture-oriented curriculum with its emphasis on passive learning. The student's traditional role is that of a passive note-taker and regurgitator of factual information. What is urgently needed is an educational program in which the students become interested in actively knowing, rather than passively believing. The use of problem-based learning provides a rich vehicle for making our students active participants in the learning process. One of the most effective ways of implementing problem-based learning is to organize the students in small discussion groups. The potential of small, carefully structured learning groups in higher education has yet to be realized.

Verbal ability and cooperative learning: Transfer of effects

Abstract: This study examined the relationship of verbal ability and heterogeneous versus homogeneous pairing of students on cooperative learning tasks (i.e., two students interacting over textbook passages) to the students' performance after engaging in cooperative learning and to their performance on a subsequent individual learning task (transfer). As expected, individuals' scores on a vocabulary test, serving as an indication of verbal ability, were strongly related to performance after engaging in cooperative learning and on the individual learning task. More importantly, it was found that cooperative partners with dissimilar vocabulary scores recalled significantly more main ideas from the passage used in the individual learning task than did partners with similar vocabulary scores. Cooperative learning has been shown to be an effective technique for learning academic material (Spurlin, Dansereau, Larson, & Brooks, in press). Cooperative learning generally refers to two students interacting as partners with a cooperative goal of mastering academic material. This type of learning has been explored primarily in field studies conducted in grade school, high school, and college classrooms (see recent reviews by Sharan, 1980, and Slavin, 1980, 1983). Many of these studies have evaluated particular cooperative learning strategies (general procedures for interacting and processing the target material) in comparison with traditional teaching tehniques (e.g., lecture). Evaluations of strategies such as the Jigsaw classroom (Aronson, Stephan, Sikes, Blaney, & Snapp, 1978), Teams-Games-Tournaments

Motivation of adults: implications of adult learning theories for distance education

Abstract: This paper attempts to address the problem of motivating adults, particularly but not only in the context of distance teaching. Its approach is needs based, in that it identifies in some detail the needs and interests of adults, due to an acceptance of a viewpoint promoted constantly in adult learning theories – that effective learning should be based on the needs and interest characteristics of the adult learner. Thus this paper will attempt to: review the general principles of adult learning; describe in detail the nature of the adult learner; as suggested by current literature; provide suggestions for the design of learning programmes for adults; review some implications for tertiary colleges and their staff, particularly those engaged in correspondence teaching, of accepting ideas about motivation derived from adult learning theories.

Creating learning environments conducive to change: The role of fear/safety in the adult learning process

Abstract: This paper addresses the adult educator's responsibility to establish an emotionally safe learning environment. Such a climate enables students to address constructively the fears they bring to the learning event. This empowers the learner to risk change-the goal of adult education. The research of Maslow, Rogers, Knowles, and Freire supports an atmosphere of mutual respect as the key to adult learning. Trainers/Teachers of adults were interviewed to identify the kinds of fears that adults bring to the learning event. This paper explores the attitudes and techniques used by the facilitator to create an atmosphere of respect.

Making School Learning Activities More Playlike: Flow and Mastery Learning.

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 85, Number 1 ? 1984 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 00o1-5984/85/8501-0005$0o1.00 Elementary school educators have been beset by a host of problems in recent years. Economic issues aside, no problem has been more persistent than the one of eliciting greater self-disciplined learning from many more students. Parents, press, and public alike have pressed for greater student involvement in learning. Some researchers have responded by encouraging elementary educators to make their school learning activities more worklike. Drawing on what Jackson (1968) has referred to as the "economic" perspective on teaching and on Grannis's (1967) school as "factory" or "corporation" metaphors, these researchers have encouraged the design of activities that are more "tasklike," elicit more "time-on-task," yield better learning "products," or link schools closer to the "work place." I propose, however, to take a different tack. Rather than encouraging elementary educators to make their school learning activities more worklike, I propose they make them more playlike instead. I realize that in the current no-nonsense and backto-basics climate, this proposal seems heretical. As we shall see, however, the playlike school learning activities I have in mind are not at all inconsistent with the current educational climate. They involve challenge, excellence, and responsibility in learning, not coddling, mediocrity, and license.

Research in Learning Style and Reading: Implications for Instruction.

Abstract: (1984). Research in learning style and reading: Implications for instruction. Theory Into Practice: Vol. 23, Matching Teaching and Learning Styles, pp. 72-76.

Learning how to learn: Concept mapping for meaningful learning

Abstract: THE NATURE AND USES OF CONCEPT MAPS C oncept maps are intended to represent meaningful relationships between concepts in the form of propositions. Propositions are two or more concept labels linked by words in a semantic unit. In its simplest form, a concept map would be just two concepts connected by a linking word to form a proposition. For example, “sky is blue” would represent a simple concept map forming a valid proposition about the concepts “sky” and “blue.” Except for a relatively small number of concepts acquired very early by children through a discovery learning process, most concept meanings are learned through the composite of propositions in which the concept to be acquired is embedded. Although concrete empirical props may facilitate concept learning, the regularity represented by the concept label is given additional meaning through propositional statements that include the concept. Thus, “grass is green,” “grass is a plant,” “grass grows,” “grass is a monocot,” and so on lead to increasing meaning and precision of meaning for the concept “grass.” A concept map is a schematic device for representing a set of concept meanings embedded in a framework of propositions. Concept maps work to make clear to both students and teachers the small number of key ideas they must focus on for any specific learning task. A map can also provide a kind of visual road map showing some of the pathways we may take to connect meanings of concepts in propositions.

Teaching Nursing: A Self-Instructional Handbook

Abstract: Trends in nurse education - towards the 21st century. Deciding what to teach. Helping students learn. Managing the learning session. Fostering clinical learning. Teaching and learning in the workplace. Learning about values, human rights and ethics. Assessing learning. Evaluating teaching.

Visual-Verbal and Analytic-Holistic Strategies, Abilities, and Styles.

Abstract: Learners were told to study a science chapter by using either an imagery or verbal repetition strategy and were also told to be either analytic by focusing on details or holistic by relatin...

The Computer in the Classroom

Abstract: The project that will be described in this paper focussed on three topics: (a) the extent to which the computer may be used to facilitate the adaptation of the learning process to the individual differences found between pupils; (b) the impact of the computer on the learning environment as an enrichment, especially because of the opportunities it can provide for problem solving behaviour; (c) the possibilities of the computer for training cognitive skills in the classroom situation

Why speech is “basic”;

Abstract: The present essay shows the “basic”; nature of speaking skills and argues for increased emphasis on speech at all levels of instruction—especially elementary levels. Speech instruction promotes active learning and literacy as well as effective interpersonal communication.

A simple but powerful concept poses a challenge for the teaching and learning of social work practice

Abstract: The concept of incremental (first-order change) and transformational (second-order change) learning is applied to the setting up of teaching objectives and subsequent identification of appropriate learning material in classroom and field practice instruction. Students' first-order change reflected in social work teaching, relies upon step-by-step incremental learning, expansively building upon previous capabilities while simultaneously modifying what has been learned before. In contrast, second-order change toward professional competence demands fundamental shifts in the students' thinking: a reframing of previous learning which serves as a springboard for a transformation to new levels of comprehension. The differentiation between these two diverse processes of learning is also useful in the application to curriculum planning. Additionally, this kind of conception is suggested as a possible thinking screen for direct practice.

Helping students to begin hospital field placements: an active learning approach.

Abstract: Hospitals are high impact settings that tend to exacerbate the student anxieties which are normally associated with beginning field placement. Even though they are experiencing stress, incoming students are challenged to begin to learn in several different areas simultaneously. A carefully planned orientation can help students cope with the stress of beginning while absorbing needed new information. This paper describes an orientation strategy that utilized knowledge of how adults learn. Students were provided with written orientation objectives designed to enable guided independence in learning.

Theory and Practice in Learning to Read

Abstract: The aim of this chapter is to examine, with reference to a recently completed study (Pidgeon, 1981), the relationship between certain theoretical aspects of the learning-to-read process and classroom practices. Teachers concerned with the task of teaching beginners are not always cognizant of the theory underlying their activities, and indeed some have such little interest they question that it has any relevance at all. The intention, therefore, is first, to take a brief look at different theoretical views; second, to examine the actual practices found in a sample of reception classes; and, finally, to relate the two, outlining the model prepared for the study mentioned. It should be made clear at the outset that the concern here is with the process and practice of learning to read and not with the actual exercise of reading once the elements of the task have been mastered. Indeed, the study dealt not only with the early stages of reading but also with what are usually described as prereading activities, it being appreciated that the two are very closely linked.

The Polyphony of Learning in the Learning Disabled

Abstract: The predominant view in the learning disabilities field conceptualizes the development and continuation of dysfunctional cognition as something that can be described primarily in terms of neurological functioning, perception, information processing, or problem solving. I have criticized this viewpoint maintaining that social relationships, which by the standard learning disabilities (LD) definition are excluded as being responsible for the disabilities, need to be regarded as the context in which disabled cognition is created and embedded (e.g., Coles, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984). In this article I will discuss some of these social relationships in the learning of the learning disabled by analyzing the process in a clinical session during which an illiterate adult successfully learned. Surprisingly, with few exceptions (e.g., Feuerstein, 1979; Stone & Wertsch, 1984), few studies have been conducted on the process of successful learning by the learning disabled in an instructional situation. I say surprisingly...

Learning how to learn: Learning about learning

Abstract: WHAT IS THIS BOOK ALL ABOUT? W e are concerned with educating people and with helping people learn to educate themselves. We want to help people get better control over the meanings that shape their lives. Educating is powerfully liberating; failures in educating are powerfully oppressive. Wherever educating occurs, in schools and out, we think we can help people get better control over the events of educating, and thus over that part of their lives that is being transformed. “Seek simplicity, but distrust it,” claimed Alfred North Whitehead. We share this view, and desire in seeking simplicity to preserve complexity. Sometimes simple ideas are so obvious they are obscure. We will try to illustrate simple but potentially powerful strategies to help students learn and to help educators organize learning material. The two principal educational tools we will discuss are concept mapping (see Figure 1.1), which is a way to help students and educators see the meanings of learning materials, and knowledge Vee diagramming (see Figure 1.2), which is a way to help students and educators penetrate the structure and meaning of the knowledge they seek to understand. In addition, we will describe some strategies that help students and teachers move toward what we will call shared meanings and feelings. This task is ambitious, but our experiences have shown that it is not unattainable. We invite you to join us in an exploration that is still very much in progress, for we (the authors) and our students are continuing our search for ways to become better teachers and/or learners and to help students learn what it means to learn.

The Interaction Between Methods of Instruction and Individual Learning Style

Abstract: Individual learning differences under competitive and co‐operative methods of instruction were investigated. It was hypothesised that: (a) students would learn more when the method was matched to the student's preference and that (b) the co‐operative (and tutorial) methods would promote more favourable attitudes toward peer students. One hundred and thirty‐two female students participated in the experiment. In the first part of the experiment they were asked to state their preferences and in the second part, half of the students received their preferred method of instruction. Both hypotheses were confirmed. In addition, it was found that students who preferred competition had better initial knowledge of the material, learned more during the learning experience and held somewhat less favourable attitudes toward their peers. The analysis of the results suggests that the interaction between goal, individual, subject‐matter and learning methods needs to be taken into account when determining an optim...