Showing papers on "Active learning published in 1991"

Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning

Abstract: 1. Making Meaning: The Dynamics of Learning. 2. Meaning Perspectives: How We Understand Experience. 3. Intentional Learning: A Process of Problem Solving. 4. Making Meaning Through Reflection. 5. Distorted Assumptions: Uncovering Errors in Learning. 6. Perspective Transformation: How Learning Leads to Change. 7. Fostering Transformative Adult Learning.

Active learning : creating excitement in the classroom

Abstract: "College teaching and lecturing have been so long associated that when one pictures a college professor in a classroom, he almost inevitably pictures him as lecturing." Few would argue with the statement that the vast majority of today's professoriate were primarily lectured to as both undergraduates and as graduate school students. It is not surprising, therefore, that lecturing continues to be our most prevalent mode of instruction. A host of national reports in the 1980's, however, challenged college and university faculty to develop instructional approaches that transform students from passive listeners to active learners. On first glance, like many of the recommendations provided by "blue ribbon panels," this would seem "easier said than done." The incorporation of active learning strategies into the daily routine of classroom instruction can, and should, be done. To help in this pursuit, this workshop will engage participants in specific, practical teaching strategies designed to model the use of active learning in the classroom. The handout summarizes the workshop's content and identifies resources for further study.

Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide

Abstract: Preface. The Authors. PART ONE: ADULT LEARNING IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY. 1 The Social Context of Adult Learning. 2 Learning Environments and Learning Concepts. 3 Adult Learners: Who Participates and Why. PART TWO: ADULT LEARNING THEORY AND MODELS. 4 Knowles's Andragogy, and Models of Adult Learning by McClusky, Illeris, and Jarvis. 5 Self-Directed Learning. 6 Transformational Learning. 7 Experience and Learning. PART THREE: NEWER APPROACHES TO ADULT LEARNING. 8 Embodied, Spiritual, and Narrative Learning. 9 Learning and Knowing: Non-Western Perspectives. 10 Critical Theory, Postmodern, and Feminist Perspectives. PART FOUR: LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT. 11 Traditional Learning Theories. 12 Adult Development. 13 Cognitive Development in Adulthood. 14 Intelligence and Aging. 15 Memory, Cognition, and the Brain. 16 Reflections on Learning in Adulthood. References. Name Index. Subject Index.

Self-Direction for Lifelong Learning: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice

Abstract: Part 1 The scope and meaning of self-directed learning: what is self-directed learning? the growth of interest in self-directed learning promise and limitations for education and training. Part 2 Four dimensions of self-direction: personal autonomy self-management in learning the independent pursuit of learning learner-control of instruction. Part 3 New theoretical insights on self-directed learning: understanding the individual nature of learning how learners approach learning situations factors that influence the capacity for self-direction. Part 4 Promoting self-direction in learning: developing skills for self-directed learning facilitating independent mastery of subject matter helping learners gain a sense of personal control. Part 5 Realizing the potential of self-direction in adult learning: enhancing self-directed learning in adult education directions and agendas for research resource - a profile of the autonomous learner.

Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. 1991 ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Reports.

Abstract: This monograph examines the nature of active learning at the higher education level, the empirical research on its use, the common obstacles and barriers that give rise to faculty resistance, and how faculty and staff can implement active learning techniaues. A preliminary section defines active learning and looks at the current climate surrounding the concept. A second section, entitled "The Modified Lecture" offers ways that teachers can incorporate active learning into their most frequently used format: the lecture. The following section on classroom discussion explains the conditions and techniques needed for the most useful type of exchange. Other ways to promote active learning are also described including: visual learning, writing in class, problem solving, computer-based instruction, cooperative learning, debates, drama, role playing, simulations, games, and peer teaching. A section on obstacles to implementJmg active learning techniques leads naturally to the final section, "Conclusions and Recommendations," which outlines the roles that each group within the university can play in order to encourage the implementation of active learning strategies. The text includes over 200 references and an index. (JB) ********************X************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document, ***********************************************************************

Approaches to Learning and Perceptions of the Learning Environment: Introduction to the Special Issue.

Abstract: It was in 1979 that the previous special issue on student learning was published in Higher Education. That issue reported some of the early work on the investigation of students' experiences of studying and learning in higher education. At that time the main emphasis was on establishing the concepts of deep and surface approaches to learning. Since then, these concepts have been firmly established in the research literature, and have also been accepted by practitioners involved in academic staff development and in advising students. Since that time other concepts have been introduced, creating both clarification and confusion in equal measures. The clarification has come, for example, from more refined definitions of ideas describing the reasons why students undertake courses in higher education (educational orientations Taylor 1983) and what adults believe learning entails (conceptions of learning Saljo 1979). Confusion has crept in with additional terms being used to describe overlapping concepts. The idea of students having clear preferences in the way they learn led Pask (1976) to introduce the terms learning strategy and learning style. 'Strategy' was used to refer to the preferences shown in tackling an individual task, while 'style' related to general preferences more akin to the psychological term cognitive style with its implications of relatively stable behaviour patterns rooted in personality differences or cerebral dominance. Unfortunately, the term learning style is also used in an even more general way to apply to any fairly consistent set of study behaviours, including approaches to learning (Schmeck 1988). Marton and Saljo (1976) initially described the distinction which they found among students reading an academic article as deep and surface levels ofprocessing, but later this was amended to approaches to learning (Marton and Saljo 1984) both to avoid confusion with the same term used in relation to memory processes, and to make clearer that 'approach' included not only process, but also intention. The term 'approach' was originally used to describe only the specific form of study activity provoked by the student's perception of a task instruction on a particular occasion. In other words, the approach was seen to depend crucially on both the context and the content. However, it became clear that students showed a certain consistency in their approaches to learning, at least at a fairly broad level of analysis. Thus, it made sense to develop questionnaires which would indicate the balance between approaches to learning which students were typically adopting in their studies. Biggs (1987) had initially used his own terminology for factors which he identified

Small-group interactions as a source of learning opportunities in second-grade mathematics.

Abstract: Small-group problem solving was used as a primary instructional strategy for all aspects of second-grade mathematics, including computation, for the entire school year. This gave rise to learning opportunities that do not typically occur in traditional classrooms, including those that arise from collaborative dialogue as well as from the resolution of conflicting points of view. The nature of these learning opportunities is elaborated and illustrated. The manner in which the teacher used paradigm cases as she initiated and guided discussion of obligations and expectations to make possible the mutual construction of classroom norms for cooperative learning is also illustrated. This and the use of cognitively based activities designed to be problematic for children at a variety of conceptual levels are the crucial features of a cooperative learning environment in the absence of extrinsic rewards.

Readings in Machine Learning

Abstract: From the Publisher: The ability to learn is a fundamental characteristic of intelligent behavior. Consequently, machine learning has been a focus of artificial intelligence since the beginnings of AI in the 1950s. The 1980s saw tremendous growth in the field, and this growth promises to continue with valuable contributions to science, engineering, and business. Readings in Machine Learning collects the best of the published machine learning literature, including papers that address a wide range of learning tasks, and that introduce a variety of techniques for giving machines the ability to learn. The editors, in cooperation with a group of expert referees, have chosen important papers that empirically study, theoretically analyze, or psychologically justify machine learning algorithms. The papers are grouped into a dozen categories, each of which is introduced by the editors.

Self-Directed Learning: Critical Practice

Abstract: Establishing a liberating learning climate analyzing the situation and helping learners do the same generating a competency profile self-assessment of learning needs drafting a learning agreement or contract self-management of learning reflection and learning evaluation and validation of learning co-ordinating self-directed learning.

Motivation and Lifelong Learning

Abstract: Promoting lifelong learning has received increased attention recently from the educational and business communities. Scholars and trend forecasters, looking toward the needs of the 21st century, have reached nearly unanimous agreement about the importance of a constantly improving and technologically competent workforce that can compete in global markets. There is also general agreement about the importance of various attitudes or motivations as underlying lifelong learning in general and in particular technical fields. HOW can educational psychologists best apply what they know about motivation and learning to the issue of promoting lifelong learning attitudes and skills, from elementary through postsecondary educational levels, and in training settings that include business and industry? Implications for the role and preparation of educational psychologists for the 21st century include a greater emphasis on "grand theories" that integrate principles of learning and motivation, of cognition and affect, a...

Restructuring for Learning with Technology: The Potential for Synergy.

Abstract: The agendas of active learning, technology, and restructuring - each a powerfiul vehicle for changing learning and teaching in schools - need to be pursued concurrently to be maximally effective, Ms. Sheingold maintains.

The-Asian-Learner-as-a-Rote-Learner Stereotype: Myth or Reality?.

Abstract: Two studies are reported which compare the responses of 14‐16 year old Filipino and Nepalese school students to learning process questionnaires based on the 3P Model of Learning (Biggs & Telfer, 1987) to those previously reported for similar aged Australian and Hong Kong students. Evidence was found for a similar structure of learning processes in each culture. Moreover, in each culture students who reported deeper and more achievement‐oriented approaches to learning tended to be more successful academically and to have higher academic self‐esteem. However, little evidence was found to support the contention that Asian learners were more prone to rote learning than were the Australians. The Nepalese students in particular tended to report higher levels of both deep and achieving approaches to learning than the other students. A possible explanation for this is that the conceptions of learning on which the 3P Model is based may not be appropriate in Nepalese culture.

Research on cooperative learning: implications for practice

Abstract: This article provides an overview of research on cooperative learning with an emphasis on issues related to the implementation of cooperative learning groups. Specific benefits of cooperative learn...

Assessing Individuality in Learning: the learning skills profile

Abstract: A typology of learning skills is developed that is congruent with the learning style descriptions of experiential learning theory. The typology is holistic, allowing both idiographic and normative comparisons of individuals and situations, and the ‘fit’ between them. Learning style describes basic and generalised dimensions of individuality in learning, while a learning skill is more situational and subject to intentional development. The Learning Skills Profile (LSP) is a 72‐item, modified Q‐sort assessment instrument designed to assess learning skills. Data from numerous studies are reviewed and reported to establish the LSP's reliability, relational validity, criterion and construct validity. The LSP can be used as a vehicle for providing personal and organisational feedback on skills, and to describe the skills required by different jobs and educational programs.

Personalization and Active Learning in the Large Introductory Psychology Class

Abstract: Addressing selected issues and strategies in teaching the large introductory psychology class, this article focuses on personalizing the large class, making large classes into small classes to faci...

When Teaching Becomes Learning: A Theory and Practice of Teaching

Abstract: Part 1 Learning: introduction and preliminaries motivation and learning the learning process perception and learning real learning. Part 2 Teaching: the transmission method and an alternative approach the teaching process classroom interaction overview.

The Role of Cooperative Learning in Increasing Problem-Solving Ability in a College Remedial Course.

Abstract: This study was conducted in a college remedial mathematics course to determine whether a minimal level of teacher intervention could induce cooperative learning on the part of students and whether cooperative learning would help students increase their problem-solving skills in mathematics. The intact, four-credit semester course included high school algebra and geometry. Practical methods that induced cooperation, with only three direct teacher interventions during the semester, are described. Instruments for evaluation of achievement included multiple-choice skills tests and open-ended teacher-made tests. Students using cooperative learning performed as well as or better than the control on every measure. Outcome variables that showed significant differences in favor of cooperative learning were solving word problems in algebra and proofwriting in geometry. It was concluded that the resulting increase in students' problem-solving abilities justified use of the method.

Learning conversations : the self-organised learning way to personal and organisational growth

Abstract: General Introduction: Personal Myths About Learning. Part 1: Learning Prospective Commentary: Creating a Language for Discovering What Learning Might Become 1. The Learning Process: A Search for Meaning 2. Constructing Understanding: Meaning as Modelling. Retrospective Commentary: S-O-L as a Way of Increasing Your Learning Capacity by Reflectively Organising Your Own Learning Processes Part 2: The Learning Conversation Prospective Commentary: Task-Bound, Task-Focused and Learning Focused Activity - The Way to Self-Organised Learning 3. On Becoming Aware of Personal Processes of Learning 4. How to Conduct a Learning Conversation. Retrospective Commentary: How to Take Control of Learning and Enable Others to Internalise the Learning Conversation Part 3: Self-Organised Learning Environments Prospective Commentary: Creating the Conditions to Enable Self-Organised Learning 5. The Learning Practitioner: Organising a System of Learning Conversations 6. Conversational Evaluation and Purposive Change: The Enterprise as a Self-Organised Learning Environment. Retrospective Commentary: The Implications of Systems 7 for Industrial and Commercial Training and Education. A Functional Taxonomy of Reflective Tools Introduction: Increasing the Power of the Learning Conversation - a Resource for the Learner and the Learning Practitioner A. Tools for Increasing Awareness of Learning Processes: Representing Personal Meaning for Reflecting on Experience B. Tools for Increasing Awareness of Learning Processes: Reconstructing Experience by Talk-Back Through Records of Behaviour C. Experience and Behaviour Expanded into Purpose and Review: An Elaboration of the Functional Taxonomy D. Charting Progress as a Self-Organised Learner E. Tools from Education and Training. Conclusions: S-O-L and the Enhancement of the Quality of Learning . General Implications: Towards the Self-Organised Learning Society. Postscript: the Centre for the Study of Human Learning S-O-L Environment and Information Technology. Index

Cooperative learning and group contingencies

Abstract: This paper discusses the similarities and differences between cooperative learning and group contingencies. Cooperative learning refers to any methods in which students work together to help one another learn, while group contingencies refer to rewarding students based on the performance of a group. Research on the achievement effects of cooperative learning finds that these methods are effective primarily when they incorporate group contingencies, when groups are rewarded based on the average of their members' individual learning performances. The use of group contingencies within cooperative learning is hypothesized to motivate students to do a good job of explaining concepts and skills to their groupmates, and elaborated explanation is the principal behavior found to account for achievement gains in cooperative learning.

Learning to Learn Revisited: Computers and the Development of Self-Directed Learning Skills

Abstract: Research on computers and learning suggests several ways computers can be used to encourage students to be self-directed, autonomous learners. This review considers three main components of self-directed learning:topic knowledge, procedural skills, and self-monitoring. It presents research evidence indicating that computer assisted instruction and computer based information management tools, if used in a properly designed curriculum, can help (a) teach the three components explicitly, (b) provide coaching and other forms of scaffolding as learners begin to apply new skills, and (c) increase motivation to learn autonomously. The review then evaluates several educational software programs designed to foster independent problem solving, and presents ten recommendations for educators who plan to incorporate computers into instruction emphasizing self-directed learning skills.

Aspects of effective learning environments

Abstract: This chapter describes a personal journey to a working definition of learning environments and suggests how ingrained views of these environments can be changed when they impede the learning process.

Why Is Cognitive Instruction Effective? Underlying Learning Mechanisms:

Abstract: If we are to design efficient and effective instructional environments for students with learning difficulties, we must understand and build on the learning principles that undergird the most productive interventions. After an overview of several studies of cognitive instruction that addressed problem learners, we describe two learning mechanisms that explain why such cognitive interventions work—prolepsis and reflective abstraction, derived respectively from Vygotskian and Piagetian accounts of development.