~Week 4-Learning Theories~

The topic for this week lecture is ' Learning Theories'. There are 2 learning theories such as Behaviourism, and Cognitism/Construtivism.However, these learning theories were not new to us since we already have learnt in our previous semester in Language Development and Child Psychology.

This week, we immersed the learning theories in Science education. Personally,I believe that all these learning theories are vital and crucial in guiding the teacher to educate effectively the students.Each theory has their own significant function which an be used by the teacher in order to teach his or her students effectively.Hence, I believed that this theories help us to make the right approach in tackling our young learners to learn science.Let's look about the theories:

Behaviourism

Behaviorist focus on the changes of behavior and the emphasis is on the product. According to behaviorist, they believe that stimulus should be given to the students because stimulus will produce reaction. The repeated reaction will then create long-term behavior.

Constructivist/ Cognitism

On the other hand, constructivist believes that learning is a process whereby it connects the prior knowledge to the new experience gained from the environment. Besides that,learning is also viewed as an active process whereby the learners are actively constructing mental models and theories of the world around them. The knowledge is constructed through logical organization, interaction among learners or teachers and from the integration of prior and new knowledge. Basically, also can be considered as Piaget's theory of cognitive development proposes that humans cannot be "given" information which they immediately understand and use. Instead, humans must "construct" their own knowledge. They build their knowledge through experience. Experiences enable them to create schemas - mental models in their heads. These schemas are changed, enlarged, and made more sophisticated through two complimentary processes: assimilation and accommodation.

Personally,I believe that all these learning theories are vital and crucial in guiding the teacher to educate effectively the students.Each theory has their own significant function which an be used by the teacher in order to teach his or her students effectively. Hence, I believed that this theories help us to make the right approach in handling our young learners to learn science better.For example, the constructivist approach focus on hands on activity and independent learning. Therefore, a teacher should let the students to think and figure out the answer or the concepts on their own. As a result, it can develop the students critical and creative thinking. However, we would find some cons in using this approach whereby the students may not have the existing schemata that she or he can relate to with the new schemata (concept) that bring into their brain. Therefore,as a future teacher I believe that we should have the knowledge of this learning theories before we can really use it in the teaching and learning process.

Other than that, Professor Dr.Rohaida Mohd.Saat also discuss about constructivist theory by asking a question which makes me to ‘open-up’ my mind. She asked ‘Which food is suitable for the astronauts to bring to the space?

From this discussion, I realized that basically constructivist theory are not about making the correct decisions but it is more to the thinking process that can enhance students learning. For instance,in this case, we need to choose a food based on our own interpretations and nothing to do with the knowledge about the gravity in space.Hence, it shows that critical thinking is crucial in the Constructivist Theory.Personally, I think that Professor had made a good job whereby she able to activate our schemata easily just by asking a simple question that needs deep thinking to answer. Hence, I can also use such strategy in future too in order to impart some knowledge that will help the students to think appropriately before they can construct science concepts or knowledge regarding the subject matter.

Next, in groups, we were required to find any science educational websites that used the learning theories as its approach.In brief, today lesson taught me to learn and apply the learning theories meaningfully in classroom and not just for sake of it.This eventually helps me to be a better teacher in the future.