WEEK 9-TYLER, CHAPTER 2: HOW CAN LEARNING EXPERIENCES BE SELECTED WHICH ARE LIKELY TO BE USEFUL IN ATTAINING THESE OBJECTIVES?
WEEK 9
TYLER, CHAPTER 2: HOW CAN LEARNING EXPERIENCES BE SELECTED WHICH ARE LIKELY TO BE USEFUL IN ATTAINING THESE OBJECTIVES?
Desired learning objectives are inherently part of a student’s learning process. In chapter 2, Tyler provides the general principles in selecting learning experiences, followed by 4 characteristics of learning experiences that educators might find useful in attaining various learning objectives.
What are learning experiences?
Tyler states that learning occurs via the experiences and reactions a learner has to the environment in which (s)he/they is placed, in other words, the reactions of the learner to the environment determines what is learned.
Some important things to note:
General Principles:
Examples of the characteristics of learning experiences useful in attaining various types of objectives
1.Learning experiences to develop skill in thinking:The behavior implied is the relating of two or more ideas
Types/ kinds of thinking:
Inductive: thinking involves drawing generalizations to specific cases from several items of specific data
Deductive: thinking involves applying on or more generalizations to specific cases
Logical: thinking involves the arrangement of assumptions, premises and conclusions
2. Learning experiences helpful in acquiring information- the behavior implied is developing understanding of particular things, developing knowledge of various things.
There are 5 common defects in learning experiences for teaching information:
1.Memorization is a rote process (memorization without understanding is common).
2.Students have a rapid rate of forgetting.
3. Students remember information in isolated bits and are unable to relate these items in an organized or systemic fashion.
4. Students recall vaguely and inaccurately.
5. Students have limited familiarity with sources of accurate and recent information.
How to overcome these defects?
3. Learning experiences in developing social attitudes
4 chief means by which attitudes develop:
1.assimilation from the environment
2.emotional effects of certain kinds of experiences (unsatisfactory or favorable experiences)
3.traumatic experiences that have a deep emotional effect (not likely to be used in school because intense emotions are difficult to control in a systematic educational environment)
4. fourth -through direct intellectual process (the least frequent type)
4.Learning experiences helpful in developing interests
I really enjoyed the value that Tyler places on the experience of learning in this chapter. I realized how elaborate the process can be and how important it is to be thoughtful in planning for experiences. This chapter reminded me of a question previously posed in class: How do you know if a student has successfully learned? Perhaps part of the answer is to gauge how a student reacts and interacts or is stimulated in the classroom through the posed activities discussed in this chapter. I personally have felt that my post secondary experiences have been far more stimulating than my experiences in grade school and high school. I often wondered why I was a passive learner in my earlier schooling but I think this chapter has helped identify and understand why.
TYLER, CHAPTER 2: HOW CAN LEARNING EXPERIENCES BE SELECTED WHICH ARE LIKELY TO BE USEFUL IN ATTAINING THESE OBJECTIVES?
Desired learning objectives are inherently part of a student’s learning process. In chapter 2, Tyler provides the general principles in selecting learning experiences, followed by 4 characteristics of learning experiences that educators might find useful in attaining various learning objectives.
What are learning experiences?
Tyler states that learning occurs via the experiences and reactions a learner has to the environment in which (s)he/they is placed, in other words, the reactions of the learner to the environment determines what is learned.
Some important things to note:
- Learning experiences are not the same as content, and instead refers to the interaction between the learner and the external conditions (s)he/they react to.
- The learner is an active participant because aspects of the environment or external factors arouse interest/attention and therefore incites a reaction.
- Educators can manipulate an environment to gain control of the learning experience and should be thoughtful in selecting learning experiences that stimulate the desired reaction
- In order to evoke the desired reaction, the educator must have some insight to the kinds of interests and background the students have
- Learners can have diverse reactions to learning experiences (are they distracted/ engaged?), so it is important to set up a multi faceted learning environment that can reach all of the students
General Principles:
- Identifying objectives is supreme in learning experiences. Equally important, is the opportunity for the student to practice the behavior that is being implied by the learning experience
- Students should receive satisfactions from carrying out behavior that is implied by the objectives. With no satisfaction, the objective is likely to not be accomplished.
- The educator should know what experiences are appropriate for the students in order to assure that the desired behavior is attainable. Questions educators should ask themselves when identifying if a behavior is attainable:
- What are the students’ present attainments? Predispositions? background of knowledge? mental sets ?
- There are many experiences that can be used to attain the same educational objectives
- The same learning experience will usually bring about several outcomes ( student may develop certain attitudes, interests, dislikes)
Examples of the characteristics of learning experiences useful in attaining various types of objectives
1.Learning experiences to develop skill in thinking:The behavior implied is the relating of two or more ideas
Types/ kinds of thinking:
Inductive: thinking involves drawing generalizations to specific cases from several items of specific data
Deductive: thinking involves applying on or more generalizations to specific cases
Logical: thinking involves the arrangement of assumptions, premises and conclusions
- Learning experiences to develop thinking will utilize various problems which students cannot immediately answer which will lead to various kinds of thinking
- The problems utilized should be real problems to stimulate a reaction and set up in the same manner as they arise in life
- The answers to the posed problems should not be immediately obtained through referential material or easily attainable
- The learning experience should give the student the opportunity to follow essential steps to problem solve
2. Learning experiences helpful in acquiring information- the behavior implied is developing understanding of particular things, developing knowledge of various things.
- The type of information being acquired usually includes Principles, laws, theories, experiments and the evidence supporting generalizations, ideas, facts and terms.
- The objective is assumed to be important and functional/useful in connection with guiding the student’s practice, or aiding the student to attack problems.
- Information is not of value as in itself
There are 5 common defects in learning experiences for teaching information:
1.Memorization is a rote process (memorization without understanding is common).
2.Students have a rapid rate of forgetting.
3. Students remember information in isolated bits and are unable to relate these items in an organized or systemic fashion.
4. Students recall vaguely and inaccurately.
5. Students have limited familiarity with sources of accurate and recent information.
How to overcome these defects?
- Information can be acquired at the same time students are learning to solve problems
- Set up learning situations where information can be obtained. Because information is acquired when it is part of problem solving, the reason for obtaining the information becomes clear and less likely to result in rote memorization.
- Select only important information that is worthy of remembering or that the student is likely to frequent, making it easier to remember with accuracy and precision
- Set up learning situations in which the intensity of impression and the variety of impressions of the information will increase the likelihood of remembering
- Use the important items of information frequently and in varied context
3. Learning experiences in developing social attitudes
- Attitudes are defined as a tendency to react even though the reaction does not take place.
- Attitudes influence behavior (overt action)
4 chief means by which attitudes develop:
1.assimilation from the environment
2.emotional effects of certain kinds of experiences (unsatisfactory or favorable experiences)
3.traumatic experiences that have a deep emotional effect (not likely to be used in school because intense emotions are difficult to control in a systematic educational environment)
4. fourth -through direct intellectual process (the least frequent type)
- The school and community environment should be modified/ controlled to promote the desirable attitude outcome; unity of community and school is key to provide consistency in social attitudes
- When developing social attitudes through learning experiences that are emotionally satisfactory it is important to provide the student the opportunity to behave in the way it is desired and to get satisfaction
- Shifts in attitudes stem from the students’ change of view through new insight/knowledge about a situation or through the satisfaction/dissatisfaction obtained through views previously held( or a combo)
4.Learning experiences helpful in developing interests
- Interests are of concern in education - both as ends and means
- Interests are being considered as objectives (in this context) and as motivating forces in connection with experiences to obtain objectives
- Because interests are major determiners of the kind of person one is, they should enable the student to derive satisfaction from the area of experience in which the interest is to be developed, resulting in satisfaction from these explorations.
- Types of satisfactions: From social approval; meeting physical needs (food); rest, success
- An activity can also be satisfying if linked to another experience which is satisfying
- For younger students satisfaction is usually from sheer sensations and a variety of activities but these activities should not negate fundamental satisfactions because it produces negative results.
- The learning experiences should be interesting and approached with new materials and new context that is enjoyable and not repetitive.
- The process of planning learning experiences is not mechanical and should be creative
I really enjoyed the value that Tyler places on the experience of learning in this chapter. I realized how elaborate the process can be and how important it is to be thoughtful in planning for experiences. This chapter reminded me of a question previously posed in class: How do you know if a student has successfully learned? Perhaps part of the answer is to gauge how a student reacts and interacts or is stimulated in the classroom through the posed activities discussed in this chapter. I personally have felt that my post secondary experiences have been far more stimulating than my experiences in grade school and high school. I often wondered why I was a passive learner in my earlier schooling but I think this chapter has helped identify and understand why.
Thank you for the blog. I felt like Tyler could have said more about what to do when students introduce negativity into a classroom. This has consistently been the hardest part of crafting the learning environment for me as a teacher, because while I always strive to stay positive and upbeat in the classroom, many of my students do not, and their negativity does affect the classroom environment and the learning experiences for everyone. I suppose Tyler would say that teachers need a 'multifaceted approach' to make the learning environment successful for everyone, but it is difficult to do that, in practice, as one person, particularly without guidance in how to do so. So I feel like Tyler could have done a better job laying that out. But thank you for doing a great job succinctly summarizing his main points!
ReplyDeleteHi, Yesenia. Thank for your clear main points. I have insufficient in logical thinking what plays a vital role in daily life, so I was wondering how to develop my students’ this ability. Besides, I totally agree with the 5 common defects in learning experiences for teaching information because I have experienced these in my learning process, especially in my primary and middle school. As for the solution he mentioned, I think it is difficult to “select important information” that is worthy of remembering. How to identify the important one? I mean, there is a standard curriculum syllabus in China which include knowledge point required to remember. The question is if it is the “important” one, the teachers have nothing to relieve students’ memory burden but have to follow the standard. Therefore, “select important information” maybe won’t work.
ReplyDeleteThis reading makes me think about our efforts to appropriately prepare teachers for the classroom. Are we providing concrete examples of what a good learning environment looks and feels like ? Are we doing this prior to teachers entering the classroom? Should there be a summer orientation program for first year teachers ? Should universities be mandated to include coursework dedicated to this section os professional responsibilities? AS many of us know, you do not learn many things about the education field until you are already in the field. This prohibits many educators from setting the tone from the very beginning.
ReplyDeleteThank you for summarizing the article and providing your perspective. Tyler made great points about creating optimal learning environment, but to Steven's point, he did little to address adverse learning environments. The learning environment is essentially the neighborhood the school is situated in, and if you're in the suburban homogenous kind then an educator can apply Tyler's strategy easily.It lacks a trauma informed lens, because regardless of neighborhood young people bring in traumatic experiences, whether it's divorced parents, violence, addiction, or even bullying.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, if I close my eyes I can still see my 5th grade learning environment. I know exactly where SWBAT and the objectives and the word of the day is on the board. I remember where I sat and how my teacher did her best to sit us in groups where we could help each other learn and where she could focus particularly on students who needed additional assistance. How highly reactive, yet independent students sat in single desks. How we didn't have name tags on our desk to distract students who liked to peel them off or how we had exit tickets before P.E and music class.