Learning Sciences

I've watched the video twice and in the end I've felt some concerns about the results of the studies. In the "how people learn" part, researchers were testing the storage and connection system of the brain through some high-tech tools. However, does neuropsychology provide enough evidence on the functioning of the brains? Can we generalize the results to all people from all cultures? I am not the one who is against neuropsychology, but for me one discipline may not give an appropriate answer to such a deep question. My second concern is about the integration of computer programs into the curriculum as a major learning tool. We see a program where "Betty" is speaking and giving feedback on the video. The program seems user friendly, but what about the negative aspects and limitations of the integration of technology into learning? Ok, I agree that we have to adapt to the rapid technological changes in the society. However, is technology the key to all learning processes? Plus, the program is designed on the mapping of the concepts. Does concept mapping make a curriculum compelling all the time? I am not sure about all characteristics of the program, but if it hasn't been designed in a challenging style and if all students come up with the same products, then how will they develop their knowledge and reasoning abilities? I couldn't find an answer to that. As for the part "effective teaching", I am in the same opinion with the researchers that there should be a connection between the real world and the subject taught. Moreover, I think the integration of the disciplines is difficult but a very good way of giving meaning to life. Besides, in the video we see teachers as a guide, as a facilitator and there is no doubt that providing individual support to the students helps students feel more involved.

Firstly, even if it is designed by utilizing modern technology and different understanding, which makes it a more developed and complicated one, the program used in the video reminded me the teaching machines of old times. It gives the priority to the cognitive aspect of learning. This seems to be a one-dimensional approach which underestimates the social aspect of learning. I think the value of classroom interaction for effective learning cannot be replaced by any kind of computer programs. Research on brain is really important and it provides very useful insights for learning and instructional activities. However, it should be supported by the findings of research by social psychologists as well. The very same individual may perform at varying levels when he is taught with the same methods in different environments. I personally experienced many times that even the absence of one individual in my classes affected the teaching an learning processes in a negative or positive way depending upon the classroom dinamics.

It is the most fascinating metaphor for learning according to neuroscientific view. Actually I do not have some much information about how learning takes place in our brains but this video made some parts clear for me. I do not whether it can be an appropriate conslusion from this video or not, but I think that learning without assistance of someone more competent than us could be very difficult, as the older man in the video helped the younger one. so that is why we, teachers are priceless ;)

What a good way of showing an unknown concept through known ways..Thank you, The bridge is a very well-selected metaphor:-) When we think about our own way of learning, isn't it the same? It's always difficult to make the first link but then everything becomes easier...step by step...

In the video, there exists a really interesting metaphor about how we learn. Through this video some neurological concepts and comments about learning became concrete in my mind. I think there is a smooth transition from difficulty to easiness in our brains during the learning process.

it seems that we will try to go to some Chinese Universities in ten years time, instead of Europe or States.

In my opinion education policy of the countries do not be planned based on the students' academic achievement. Real achievement of an education system could be observed as individuals' adaptation to life. For example the main vision of the elementary science curriculum defined by Ministry of National Education of Turkey [MONE] (2005) is that regardless of the individual differences of students, they are educated to become scientifically literate, the uniqueness nature of the learner; background and culture of the learners and motivation of the learners were taken into consideration in the development of the curriculum (MONE, 2005), but putting those in the practice is very difficult.

Also, as mentioned in the text "… those results come at the cost of one of the highest levels of student anxiety in the world." Anxiety is very important and big research area in educational psychology also the news in the link http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-04/10/content_9710997.htm exemplifies its importance in Chinese case.

The article totally reflects my opinions about blended learning. Technology integration is necessary but to what extent?

I agree with you Sermin, use of technology is considered as a must for effective instruction by most of the teachers nowadays. However, in some cases using traditional methods and techniques can be more feasible, cost-effective and practical.

The professor made a distinction between learning and deeper learning and he says deeper learning differs as it does not suggest superficial comprehension. Actually, deeper learning is not something specific to science learning; it is learning with understanding (as far as I understood). Deeper learning is what we mean by learning, is not it?

Deeper learning is what we are supposed to teach our students. Not superficial but deep and comprehensive knowledge. I don't think that the professor limits it to science learning since he doesn't focus on one subject area "science". What he says is that no matter what students learn, they should be guided and provided help in order to let them get comprehensive and permanent knowledge. Superficial knowledge which is gathered through memorization is more likely to be forgotton soon.

It is an interesting video related to learning which occurs around the world.

I agree with the idea that we are all really fortunate and We should never stop learning regardless of our status, gender, and etc. also, the video advises us to make a distinction between right and wrong . once people believed that the earth was flat but at those times there were people that they knew that the earth is round. so, in order to be like the ones who are always at the right side we should be very careful and should nor accept every information as it is and question it.

If the education would be completely trading thing, that would be an affective commercial! It gives an overview to several kinds of education and its oppurtinities as well as motivation!

I think this is a good article by Knud Illeris to read as an introduction or brief view towards contemporary learning theories.

Thanks sharing this Burcu. Knut Illeris is one of the scholars who writes on particularly on adult learning. I will bring one of his recent books to the class.

Here is the link to the this week's assigned reading (The Death of Theory in Educational Research) by Geelan (2003).

Contemporary Theories of Learning - Learning Theorists...in Their Own Words - Knud Illeris >>> http://tr.scribd.com/doc/152409290/Contemporary-Theories-of-Learning-Learning-Theorists-in-Their-Own-Words-Knud-Illeris#download

Thank you for the source, I found it last week too and I believe it is a very comprehensive source that can guide us in this course.

Thanks for sharing the link. I found it in the METU library too. I can bring it to our class on Thursday. We can benefit from it for the discussion sessions or refer to it in our personal learning theories.

I am interested in social learning theory and this famous experiment can let us discuss this alternate view on learning in the classroom. Is it influential after 50 years?

Yes actually following this experiment, we know that it has been influential in education. But still today, it provides us with alternate views for our classrooms.

Canan, I think social learning theory will be alive until societies will die..:) Main concern of the theory is related to people who is living in the society. However we could not mention the social learning in online learning or distance education settings which is without interaction between learns and instruction. Interaction at least observation of someone leads revealing social learning in every settings.

We should completely be aware of the informal learning through gaming. they can be more motivating than any type of instruction as they have lots of insteresting aspects.

Here is news about the scientists who stored data in DNA. I really wonder what the next step is. Maybe they are going to store all knowledge in DNA and then find ways to use it. Most probably, the only thing that our grandchildren do will be learning how to use and transfer the stored data. Who knows:)

LD is frequently mistaken as laziness or associated with disorders of emotion and behavior.

In my undergraduate education, I had chance to be involved in a project on the learning disability; dyslexia, problems of sounds and words. We gathered data from children in various elementary school children in Istanbul. This was a fruitful experience to learn on the topic learning disabilities.

I wanted to share a topic on learning disabilities as I have encountered such students studying at the college I work for and did not know what to do with them. When I tried to involve parents to acknowledge them they preferred blaming the education system or the school itself. It must be very difficult for a parent to accept it but as teachers we need to be more knowledgeable about what to do and how to deal with it to save these learners with learning disabilities from exclusion and failure.

Here is the reminder of 12 different learning styles and how they intersect with Multiple Intelligences

The existence of learning styles is debatable if I am not mistaken or at least there are researchers arguing against categorizing learners according to these styles. Also there exists different categorizations for them. However it is also true that they are useful in the instruction process and teachers can make use of them if used effectively.

Yeah, I think most of the learning theories to some extent depend on or connect to the said learning styles such as problem-based learning, inquiry based learning or project-based learning. We cannot separate them from our instruction methods.

I found his video highly interesting in that it begins with a thrilling question "when does learning start?" , it talks about the research that shows how much we learn in the womb -- from the lilt of our native language to our soon-to-be-favorite foods.

Language acquisition process of babies is a real miracle.They are born with certain tendencies towards their mother language which is an indicator that they strart language learning before birth as mentioned in the video recording. Moreover, they acquire their native language in an incredible speed without any special training. Thus, this video reminded me a major debate in understanding language acquisition: Is language an innate or learned abilitiy?

I agree that such research can be influential in discussing precautions or alternative perspectives for pregnant women and also for all involved in the study of learning. About the language acquisition, the very interesting question you raised has a long history of debate as you already mentioned. Maybe additional research in the future will help to put more light on the issue.

The article has talked about the importance of communication with parents for learning as well as what problems we as educators may confront with by asking parents to help their children in order to enhance learning.

Thanks for sharing this:) Actually, it is not only important but also vital to include parental communication into education procedure. I think school, parents and the student himself/herself compose the core family in education process rather than the biological family of the student. In the literature about this issue, it has been put forward that there is a positive relation between parental communication and student learning or achievement both academically and psychologically.

One of the most difficult tasks that educators are to achieve is ensuring positive parental involvement in education. As parents are very sensitive about their children's education, nowadays most of the teachers have difficulty to create fruitful communication with parents. Parents question and crticize everything at school as they do not have confidence in educators because of improper practices they experienced or witnessed. Having training sessions, meetings and home visits can be useful in this framework. In this way, parents will be informed about the activities at school and can be involved in decision making process which will change their perceptions in a positive way.

Here is an interesting example how learning is practiced in social media. If you want to find out more about the theoretical background, google "Professor Sreenivasan".

Some of social media samples can be used during some spesific classes such as History, English, Biology and likewise. But as a Maths teacher, I do not believe that I can use it as a tool to teach a subject. However, I definately aggree that it is obviously a great thing to exchange new ideas, to make brain storms, to create a discussion platform and broaden ideas according to several perspectives.

I liked the idea of integrating social media into instruction. But the teacher or instructor should be extra careful and strategic as it may be risky. Such devices or technology are mostly to capture the attention of the students or to keep students engaged in the lesson. I still think that the magic is in the hands of the teacher to keep the students attention and ensure effective learning. It may be too much technological to use facebook or tweeter in each lesson, which constitutes a balance issue. The students need to be close to the books, pencils and notebooks, papers etc. The dose of social media should be arranged carefully and strategically.