Saturday, April 11, 2009

Education Learning Theories

An applied definition of learning in relation to the educational learning theory is a process that brings together emotional, and environmental influences and experiences for enhancing, or making changes in one's knowledge or skills. The educational learning theories explain how the process of learning takes place, especially in relation to education.

There are two types of education learning theories. One is in providing us with vocabulary and a conceptual framework for interpreting the examples of learning that we observe which is also how infants learn how to shape sentences and phrases. The other is in suggesting where to look for solutions to practical problems with the help of the experience gained, hence it is something which is learned.

The education learning theory is pretty much in accordance with the basic learning theories and hence it is derived directly from it. There are many old learning theories such as: Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Constructivism. However, now that newer learning theories are being applied and modeled, the older ones are becoming almost obsolete.

The newer theories, called informal or post-modern deal more with a practical breakdown of the learning process, which has made it easy to better understand the process and help improvise the teaching methods and out them in together so that they are the most effective according to the learning theory. Nowadays, we all hear of learning theory which is focused on building concepts.

Most modern thinkers are in favor of this theory, as building an overall concept of what it is to be taught as a whole makes it more simpler, which is followed by several fill-ins to complete the topic. More modern learning theories suggest that the basic learning is all self-taught which can be related to the primitive times since the humankind began. Hence, they think that at basic level instead of putting children into classrooms they should rather be left to self-teaching on nature which will reflect their pace of learning in the future.

There are many more learning theories which have been developed. Connectivism is a theory which suggests in making links between the things taught or are to be taught which makes the grip on each individual topic more stronger and increasing the ability of the individual to make comparisons and recall information by relating to other connected topics.

Hence, the educational learning theories are developed out of the most suitable learning theories. Connectivism which has been mentioned earlier, helps in learning which is related to education as well as the self-teaching theories which can be seen implemented in kindergartens. More post-modern theories should be implemented to make sure that the educational learning process remains as smooth and efficient as possible with the advent in time.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

How to Create a Healthy Learning Environment at School

As mentioned in the previous article, it is necessary for there to be a healthy learning environment so that a student/learner is capable of learning more quickly and can grasp new concepts and ideas more quickly. In schools, it can be one of the effective strategies which can help a school in allowing students, especially the children in the elementary to be provided with a healthy learning environment.

What exactly do I mean by a healthy learning environment?
A healthy learning environment is an environment which promotes and fosters learning and helps an individual stay focused while learning.
Hence, it is very important for schools to have a healthy learning environment in order to foster and promote the love for learning and knowledge in the hearts of the students. It is not very hard to develop such an environment in the school due to the high level of discipline which is usually maintained in schools, and so the following steps can be undertaken to create a healthy learning environment, first we will talk about the infrastructure:
  • The infrastructure needs to be setup in such a way so that it is least distracting and clear.
  • The walls of the classroom should be painted mostly in white at secondary level, whereas colorful walls and paintings may create more creativity in students at the primary level.
  • The teachers should add interactivity into their lessons making use of objects, toys (at primary level), projectors and computer based activities.
  • The time-table of the student should also be made with the priorities of the subjects to be taught, with the ones that require the most brain-work to be the first for example:maths. It is because the concentration level of a student is at maximum in the morning time, but as the student goes through the weary day, his brain becomes more tires and is not able to concentrate properly.
  • The teachers should be given special training regarding the style and attitude to adopt while teaching the students, a friendly approach would always be the best one rather than discouraging students by scolding them, etc.
  • The course-work should be presented to the student in an interesting manner so that he/she does not feel that it is boring and moreover grasps the concepts quickly.
These are some ways which a school principle or administrator can keep into view so that the environment in school is good for student learning. This is a key to proper education because a healthy learning environment can save twice the job of teaching the students in a way in which they do not learn anything. Hence, it is best to create healthy learning environments to keep the minds of the students focused onto the topic.