Many initial learning experiences occur in an environment that may not be conducive to the needs of the student. There are several factors associated with one’s ability to translate the cognitive skills necessary for learning, to a mental process of ascertaining true meaning within the content being presented.
Many children’s initial experience as learners, in a classroom setting, is one of apathy, that lacks the motivational characteristics associated with being considered a model student. This problem may easily proliferate throughout ones formative years into adulthood, culminating with a negative outcome towards an individuals lifelong learning capabilities. Displaying vibrant imaginations, students may be caught playing with objects, drawing pictures or just simply day dreaming.
Before current teaching research was applied to instructional methods, educators would often react with penal solutions, focused on addressing the students attitude or behavior. This was sometimes due to frustration, or perhaps even a lack for an understanding of non-traditional teaching techniques and learning styles. Memorization was the primary method of assessing ones academic ability. Some students might have found this boring. The teacher was more of a depository of information, charged with the task of distributing knowledge to those who were gathered before them, that is the “learning audience”. Parents of those who were unable or disinterested in adhering to this particular paradigm were led to believe that perhaps there was a deficiency that required an alternative method of instruction, separate from the conventional setting.
As learning theories continue to evolve, educators are presented with additional perspectives, based on alternative means for attacking this dilemma. We now know that various human conditions including environment, personal experience, and social issues are a fundamental aspect of ones ability to perform in a learning environment. For example, Interpretive Constructivists perspectives regarding research (Mertens 1998), suggest researchers should attempt to understand the “complex world of lived experience from the point of view of those who live it”. (Schwandt, 1994, p. 118). In other words, experimental research is most effective when participants play an active role in the process by expressing their views in a realistic environment, reflective of their personal experiences. The one method fits all approach to experimental research in education, has expanded to include the various aspects of ones personal realities in our society.
In the spirit of interpretive/constructivist theory, individuals possess the ability to better assimilate information obtained in a constructivist environment-that is a setting where “knowledge and truth are constructed by the learner and do not exist outside of his mind” (Duffy & Jonassen 1992). Individuals construct knowledge and create meaning through problem solving and through a personal identification that can only exist through doing, not just hearing. In other words, learners have to actively participate in a personal construction of knowledge, through learner assisted activities. Activities that exercise our cognitive skills, help us to better absorb the information being presented. Therefore, rather than the teacher being utilized as a depository of information, they become a facilitator for learning, while the student becomes a repository of information gathering and self expression.
An example of this type of learning would be in a product that would address the functional needs of students by having them participate in the instruction as it is actually being relayed. In the case of computer or network based training, a software model that incorporates an interactive tutorial that walks the student through a repetitive process of completing the task, would allow them to better utilize the cognitive skills needed to meet the learning objective.
Unauthorized use of this content is not permitted without expressed consent.