Week 2: Connecting Technology with Learning

Standard 3 Diverse Learners: A teacher must understand how students differ in their approaches to learning and create instructional opportunities that are adapted to students with diverse backgrounds and exceptionalities.

Brief Description of Evidence Provided

Explain how assessing student learning from a behaviorist perspective might differ from that of a cognitive psychologists.

            A behaviorist’s perspective of learning focuses on external and observable behaviors. Behaviorists look at the observable behaviors and how the outer environment might change ones behavior. Also, they state how behavior is supported through reinforcement or by exercising a concept to encourage the desired behavior. Moreover, behaviorists believe that learning comes in a sequential, structured way. Learners gain more knowledge with bits of information at a time, but should learn in a specific order.

            On the other hand, cognitive psychologists look at internal and mental actions that cannot be seen or observed openly. Their view of learning focuses on how knowledge is changed internally. Cognitive theorists believe this changed knowledge is transformed into an understanding more in depth from prior knowledge and learners are not born with “blank slates.” They also view learning as a step-by-step instruction guided by an adult. Learners would need to rearrange their thoughts and accommodate to new ideas to help them understand new information or knowledge.    

Create a one-page summary that describes the major contribution of these theorists toward an understanding of how students learn: Piaget, Bruner, and Vygotzky. Insert a graphic that supports your discussion of this topic.

            Lev Vygotzky’s contribution to help us understand how students or young people learn was that they learn first, from prior knowledge and information they already have stored in their minds. Building bits and pieces of small information at a time, young learners are guided by adults or educators in a step-by-step instructional way to build deeper meanings to the information they just received. Vygotzky’s idea supports a student’s opportunity at developing more knowledge and skills to engage in different activities.

            Jean Piaget’s contribution to students’ learning process has helped us understand that these young people come with prior knowledge of certain concepts. Teachers and adults should use the knowledge these young children already have and build on top of it. This process would give students the opportunity to use what they already know and engage in the activity. When students start thinking, they would apply the new information they just learned to prior knowledge and make better understanding of what is being taught. Piaget calls this the “assimilation and accommodation” process.

            Jerome Bruner’s contribution to understanding how students learn has assisted us to know that young learners need to be questioned and challenged about something to fully comprehend. Bruner’s “scaffolding” process tells us that teachers or adults need to guide young learners with tools and skills and provide these in a structural way to help increase student understanding. Moreover, students need to be engaged and give them an opportunity to make decisions so students are constantly thinking with new ideas and information.

Reflection on How the Evidence Demonstrates My Competence in Meeting the Standards