THE DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING PROCESS OF CHILDREN

HOW CHILDREN LEARN

Research

Is a Learning Process Cognitive Activities Teacher must help the student

In the Classroom

The teacher create interesting and challenging learning environment.

Avoid Provide students with hands on activities Encourage participation Organise short visit Allow student to take control Assist the children

Social participation Parents should interact According to the psychologist children Social collaboration Social activities

Work in groups Share the resources Modelling and coaching

Many school activities are not meaningful There are cultural differences

Teacher can made classroom activities more meaningful by situating them in an authentic context An authentic context is one in which the activity is typically used use in real life Example students can improve their oral language , communication skill and the writing skills . Teacher must aware of the cultural differences of the children in classroom and respect these differences

Research

The idea that peoples ability to learn something new follows from what they already know is not new. Recent research shown that the ability to relate new information to prior knowledge is critical learning. Some knowledge is necessary to understand the task at hand. People must activate the knowledge in order to be able to use it for understanding and for learning. Students do not consistently see the relationships between new material that they read and what they already know. Learning is enhanced when teacher pay close attention to the prior knowledge of the learner.

Teacher can help student Teacher can discuss the content of a lesson before starting Teacher need to investigate student prior knowledge in detail so that false belief and misconceptions can be identified. Teacher Teacher can ask question to the student to see what they already know. Effective Teacher is the teacher who can help the student to grasp relationships and make connections. They can provide a model or scaffold that students can use as support in their efforts to improve their performance.

Research findings: Children develop strategies to help themselves solve problems from an early age Students gain great benefits when teachers make systematic attempts to teach strategies to students The broader the range of strategies children could use appropriately, the more successful they can be in problem solving, in reading, in text comprehension and in memorizing Why strategies are important? Help understanding and solve problem appropriately, improve learning, making learning faster Real life application: Can be taught directly or indirectly (i.e. giving students a task and provide a model of inquiry process, asking key questions, etc.)

Real life application: In reading, teachers could: Show students how to outline the important points in a text, and how to summarize them Ask students in groups to discuss a text and summarize them Participate in the discussion by asking critical questions In science, teachers could show students: how to conduct experiments, how to conduct form hypotheses, how to keep a systematic records of their findings, how to evaluate the records and data How to make acronyms to help students remember facts Important tips to teachers: Ensure student learn to use these strategies on their own Ensure students do not always rely on teachers for support Gradually let students to make mistakes and learn independently Allow students to take greater responsibility for their learning

Research findings on self-regulation: Is used to indicate students ability and awareness to monitor their own learning, to understand when they are making errors, and to know how to correct them Requires reflection in the sense of being aware of ones belief and strategies Research findings on reflection: Reflection in the sense of being aware of ones belief and strategies Develop through discussion, debates and essays, where children are encouraged to express opinions and defend them Being able to distinguish appearance from reality, common beliefs from scientific knowledge, etc.

Real life application: Teachers should provide opportunities on: To plan how to solve problems, design experiments and read books To evaluate statements, arguments, solutions to problems of others and ones self To check their thinking and ask questions about their understanding (i.e. Why am I doing what I am doing? How well am I doing? What remains to be done?, etc.) To develop realistic knowledge of themselves as learners (i.e. I am good in reading, but need to work on my mathematics, etc.) To set their own learning goals To know what are the most effective strategies to use and when to use them

Research findings on why misconceptions occur: Because our current understanding of the physical and social world is the product of thousands of years of cultural activity that has radically changed intuitive ways of explaining phenomena Real life application: Teachers need to be aware that: Students have prior beliefs and incomplete understandings that can conflict with what is being taught at school Ignoring prior beliefs can lead to formation of misconceptions

What teachers have to do to facilitate? To create situations where alternative beliefs and explanation can be externalized and expressed To built on existing ideas of students and slowly lead them to more mature understanding To provide students with observations and experiments that have potential to show them that some of their beliefs can be wrong To present scientific explanations with clarity and exemplified with models To give enough time for students to restructure their prior misconceptions To design curricula that deal with fewer topics in greater depth

Research findings: When information is superficially memorized, it is easily forgotten When something is understood, it is forgotten easily and can be transferred to other situations Students must be given opportunity: To think about what they are doing To talk about it with other students/teachers To clarify it To understand how it applies in many situations

Real life application: How to teach understanding? Ask students to explain a phenomenon/concept in their own words Show students how to provide examples that illustrate how a principle is applied or how a law works Ask students to solve characteristic problems in the subject matter area When students understand the material, ask them to give the similarities and differences, to compare and contrast, and generate analogies Teach students how to abstract general principles from specific cases and generalize from specific examples

Learning becomes more meaningful when the lesson are applied to real life situation

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Finding: Students often cannot apply what they have learned at school to solve real-world problems Thus, transfer is very important.
In the classroom: Teachers must be the helping hand to assist students transfer the learning to real-life situation. Insist on mastery of subject matter. Help students to see the importance of transfer and explain to them why. Teach them for understanding rather than for memorization.
References: Bruer, 1993; Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 1999; Bereiter, 1997.

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Learning is complex cognitive activity that cannot be rushed. It requires considerable time and periods of practice to start building expertise in an area.

Look at this pictures..

Amanda had been learning to stack blocks for a month.

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Finding: Students must carry out a great deal of practice to acquire expertise an area. Example: a 35-year-old chess master who has spent 50,000 hours playing chess must have spent 4 to 5 hours on chessboard. Everyday. Similar to reading and writing skill, it requires a lot of hours practicing.

In the classroom: Here are some recommendations for teachers that can help students spend more time on learning tasks. Put more hours on learning. Provide learning tasks that are consistent with what they already know. Do not cover too many topics at once. Engage in deliberate practice that includes active thinking and monitoring of their own learning.
References: Bransford, 1979; Chase and Simon, 1973; Coles, 1970.

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Children learn best when their individual differences are taken into consideration.

They are an individual...

The crying or clingy type.

The happy one.

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Findings: Children are different individually Some children a gifted in music, others have exceptional spatial skills, or bodily / kinesthetic abilities, or abilities to relate to other people. School must create the best environment to cater the children differences. In the classroom: Here are some recommendations for creating the best environment. Learn how to assess children knowledge, strategies and mode of learning adequately. Introduce children to a wide range of materials, activities and learning tasks. Now.., they are ready!! Identify students area of strength. Support students area of strength and utilize these areas to improve overall academic performance. Guide and challenge students thinking and learning.

References: Case 1978; Chen et al., 1998.

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Learning is critically influenced by learner motivation. Teachers can help students become more motivated learners by their behaviour and the statement they make.

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Findings: Motivated learners have a passion for achieving their goals and are ready to expend a great deal of effort. They show determination and persistence. Two kinds of motivation: extrinsic motivation used of positive rewards & intrinsic motivation do not require rewards. In the classroom: Here are some recommendations for creating the best environment. Learn how to assess children knowledge, strategies and mode of learning adequately. Introduce children to a wide range of materials, activities and learning tasks. Identify students area of strength. Support students area of strength and utilize these areas to improve overall academic performance. Guide and challenge students thinking and learning.
References: Deci & Ryan, 1985; Dweck, 1989; Lepper & Hodell, 1989, Spaulding, 1992.

With proper upbringing we turn out OK!!!!

WE ARE GOING TO BE SUCCESSFUL!