Learning Philosophy

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it would live its whole life believing that it is stupid." is the best explanation to why I am passionate about the cognitive constructivism theory on learning. Many of the other popular methods of today seem to leave out pieces of the puzzle that are vital to a student’s growth. If we look at Behaviorism, you are focusing on the teacher as having all the knowledge that needs to be passed onto the student. I’m not sure, in the 21st century, you can consider for a moment that one person possesses all the information that a

student needs and that one person can answer all the inquisitive questions that students possess. If we look on the other end of the spectrum to a more naturalist approach of social constructivism, we see ideas of informal learning and learning focused more on interest and a person’s day to day activities. The main concern I have with this theory is that there are parts of formal education that may not be used day to day but help stimulate the brain and bring in new ideas that a person may not have realized they were interested in learning.

I have been teaching in one form or another since 1995. I am convinced that the learning environment and learning styles are essential to learning. If I had to label my belief system, I would lean towards Cognitive

Constructivism. My reasoning for believing in this theory of education stems from how I learn and how I was taught. In the schools, I attended there was a tremendous amount of drill and kill, note taking,

testing with regurgitated answers, no checking for understanding, no reteaching, no knowledge of tactile or kinesthetic learning, and no knowledge of learning environments.

Then at home the environment was loud with drummers in the house, a TV on level fifty out of 55, this was not conducive to the environment in which I thrive. If you were a verbal learner who can block out noise, then you would have found success in my education setting. I, however, did not.

I had a friend, Jennifer, who was in school with me starting in kindergarten and we have had many discussions on her success in school and the challenges I faced. We both flourish in the same type of have the same type of learning environment. We both need to have tactile learning experiences, reviewed several times, and use different forms. Though we were always in the same classes she always made better grades than me, was it because she was so much smarter or more intelligent? Recently, I dug deeper into her education history. Came to find out, Jennifer had three years of Montessori schooling before kindergarten, and her dad, a professor at UTA, took studying very seriously. Their home was as quiet as a library when they were working on homework and when she was struggling to understand a concept she had someone who could collaborate with her to find the answers.

Jennifer does not necessarily have more cognitive ability than me, but what she had was more prior knowledge to fall back on starting as far back as kindergarten. Jennifer also had a learning environment that was conducive to her needs. Once I started college and was out on my own I was able to graduate with honors. Graduating with honors was not due to learning to study, beginning to care, or gaining intelligence overnight, but I was able to create my learning environments, without even having cognition of what I was doing.

My learning philosophy is that students can learn to be independent learners and they can use their metacognition to grow and to learn about the world around them. They have the ability to create their learning environment that is conducive to their needs. I want to help develop collaboration, while always being aware of a student’s learning environment. I use manipulative materials, books, and several different resources when teaching math.

I believe in creating a climate that has interaction built in and building on students prior knowledge and experiences. I want my students to learn how to collaborate, to search for the answers, to use the resources available to them responsibly, and to become independent learners.

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Annotated Resources

Bates, T. (2014). Learning theories and online learning . Retrieved from https://www.tonybates.ca/2014/07/29/learning-theories-and-online-learning/

This site is part of a larger publication. This resource explains different learning theories, and I used it to read about the (online collaborative learning theory (OCL). In this theory, the online collaboration is more about increasing communication to create knowledge. The teacher in the OCL environment is the link between the community and the knowledge.

Harapnuik, D. (2016). Four Keys to understanding learning theories. Retrieved from http://www.harapnuik.org/?p=6344

This sites list out 7 specific learning theories and then narrows them down to 3 main theories of where most text and searches will send us currently. This site also exams 4 key points as to why it is important to understanding why learning theories are so important

Harapnuik, D. (n.d.). It's about learning: creating significan't learning environments . Retrieved from http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=95

This post has a quote that edifies how I see education, “Tell me, and I forget, show me, and I remember, involve me and I understand.” I like to take this a step further by adding “challenge me and I learn.” Reading this post explains the difference between being a teacher and a facilitator of learning and what they mean. Dr. Harapnuik goes into detail about what it takes to build an environment that invites inquiry, free from fear of failure, and open to real-world learning that can come from many forms.

Hung, D. (2002). Beyond information pumping: Creating a constructivist e-learning environment. Educational Technology, 42, 48-54. http://dx.doi.org/http://hdl.handle.net/10497/4735

This article focuses on e-learning and what it really is. The article explains the positive aspects of learning online from the 24/7 access to the collaboration tools. This article takes you through the constructivist learning theory as it relates to e-learning and gives examples of how concrete learning can occur in the virtual setting.

Innovative Learning . (2018). Learning Theories. Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/

This site has a plethora of information about an assortment of learning theories. Many theories that are mentioned on this site are not mainstream theories that you may come across during a general google search. However, this site also provides examples and information about the most common theories you may want to research too. This site is a gold mine when trying to research where your beliefs may fall on the broad spectrum of learning theories.

Overview of learning atyles. (2018). Retrieved from https://learning-styles-online.com/overview/

I was able to use this site as a quick preview of the 7 learning styles and to see a brief description of each. This is more of a quick reference page than an actual article.

The University of Hong Kong. (n.d.). What teachers should know about learning theories. Retrieved from http://kb.edu.hku.hk/learning_theory_history.html

This site gives a brief description of the history of learning styles and links to understanding the 5 most distinct learning styles from the 1900's to current. The site also gives more links and details to understanding the 5 styles, behaviorism, humanism, cognitivism, cognitive constructivism, and social constructivism.