DED 101 EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF ZAZNZIBAR 19 TH JULY, 2011

OUTLINE  Learning Approaches  Principles of Learning

DEFINITIONS  (Biggs:1999) defines learning approaches as a theory describing what students do when they go about learning and why they do it.  (Säljö: 1978) defines learning approaches as the theory that describes how students study depending on the perceived objectives of the course they are studying.

TYPES OF LEARNING APPROACHES  Learning approaches are of two main types namely: 1. Deep approach and 2. Surface approach (it includes another approach known as strategic approach)

Approaches to Learning  Surface - Reproducing  to learn without reflecting on the purpose or a strategy  Strategic - Organising  putting effort and time into learning, working in an organised fashion  Deep - Transforming  relating ideas, looking for patterns/underlying ideas, gaining an understanding

SURFACE LEARNING  is often short term of memorizing.  is the tacit acceptance of information and memorization as isolated and unlinked facts.  It leads to superficial retention of material for examinations and does not promote understanding or long-term retention of knowledge and information.

STRATEGIC APPROACH  Is a very well-organized form of Surface approach, and in which the motivation is to get good marks. The exercise of learning is construed/interpreted as a game, so that acquisition of technique improves performance.

DEEP LEARNING APPROACH  Is more long-term learning and comes from understanding and internalizing something.  It is less likely to be forgotten.  It involves the critical analysis of new ideas, linking them to already known concepts and principles, and leads to understanding and long-term retention of concepts so that they can be used for problem solving in unfamiliar contexts.

FEATURES OF DEEP AND SURFACE LEARNING APPROACHES DEEPSURFACE An intention to understand material for oneself An intention simply to reproduce parts of the content Vigorous and critical interaction with knowledge content Ideas and information accepted passively Relating ideas to one's previous knowledge and experience Concentrating only on what is required for assessment Discovering and using organizing principles to integrate ideas Not reflecting on purpose or strategies Relating evidence to conclusionsMemorizing facts and procedures routinely Relating evidence to conclusionsMemorizing facts and procedures routinely Examining the logic of argumentsFailing to distinguish guiding principles or patterns

REMEMBER  The major influence on the students' approach to learning is the assessment methods.  Learning approaches are not the same as learning styles. Students can use different learning approaches for different tasks. These are not inherent personality traits and they are produced by the interaction of the student with the learning task

PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING  Teaching is designing for learning  Designing for learning is an art form  As in any art form, there are principles that  guide good design.

Principles of Learning CONDITIONPRINCIPLE Many heads are better than oneCOLLABORATION We don’t automatically have the necessary skills to learn DEVELOP SKILLS - cooperative - organisational - thinking - operational - The brain needs to be stimulated to learnCHALLENGE CURIOSITY MYSTERY/INTRIGUE EXCITEMENT RELEVANCE We need to feel secure to learnPROTECT SELF SAFE, SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT NON-THREATENING We can be challenged/stimulated by the standards set by others HEALTHY COMPETITION

Principles of Learning CONDITIONSPRINCIPLE The brain needs to talk to learnSHARING DISCUSSION DEBATE We learn when we have a purposeFOCUS/GOAL We learn by copyingMODELLING We need to know how we’re goingFEEDBACK Learning is constructing and reconstructing meaning VALUE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE Mastery in learning requires practice and persistence PERSEVERANCE CONSOLIDATION PRACTICE

Can You Answer these?  What sorts of assessments allow students to take a surface approach to learning?  How do you encourage students to apply a deep approach to learning?

END OF LECTURE NINE THANK YOU FOR LISTENING