Theory Today
Write a 2- to 3-page paper exploring how the critical ideas of a chosen theorist are impacted by or impacting (positively or negatively) a current contextual issue in learning and schooling.
Support your statements with evidence from the required studies and your research. Cite and reference your sources in APA style.
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This course will address many aspects of learning from the classic theorists to the latest updates of cognitive science. You will look closely at how this is (or is not!) influencing recent innovations in pedagogy, and you will explore how this informs, updates, and otherwise alters your philosophy of learning. During this first week, you will focus on the theorists who have provided many of the founding insights about learning and refresh your knowledge of learning theory.
Mortimer Adler and John Hutchins, in designing the Great Books compendium, said reading a great author’s words was like having a conversation with him or her. This week you will be conducting great conversations with great thinkers, specifically Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson and Kohlberg, and Gilligan.
Many questions arise when reviewing early theorists. Why study them when so much information about the brain and its functions is available? While some of the theorists’ assertions cannot be supported (presently) with scientific studies, you may be wondering, How will learning these theories help me, a teacher? How can they help me in my workplace, daily interactions, or in my family?
It is important to compare these theorists’ works, critically analyze them, and take from them what is meaningful and useful to create your own understanding. No one theory is comprehensive and various theories give several perspectives; some more useful than others in specific situations.
Consider the old with the new when evaluating educational theories and regard theories with a critical eye, noting the pieces that theorists may have missed (due to lack of technology, for example), as well as the way the theories complement and contradict one another.
This exposure to a wide variety of observations from over a century of trying to understand the learner provides valuable insights and perspectives. This will ensure that you have a common foundation for exploring and understanding current beliefs about learning as well as current classroom practice.
Through participation in the following activities, the candidate will:
The following materials are required studies for this week. Complete these studies at the beginning of the week, and save these materials for future use. Full references for these materials are listed in the Required Course Materials section of the syllabus.
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