Theoretical Framework

Theoretical Framework ESP310 – Human Movement Pedagogy 1

4 Areas of Concern • Why teach? • Growth & Development • Theories of Learning • Other Theorists

Why Teach? • Your new text will take you through some of the reasons you’re here • Other reasons may be relevant for some of you • Answer the questions: • Why are you here? • What made you choose teaching as a career? • & why HPE teaching particularly?

Growth & Development You should be familiar with the physiological changes that occur through the ages – if not, REFRESH YOURSELF with the Stages of Development. See McInerney & McInerney, 1994, p. 48-56 for growth patterns & p.64-66 for key features of development.

Stages of Development • Prenatal development & the new born • Infancy: 2 months - 2 yrs • Early Childhood: 2 yrs – 6 yrs • Middle & Later Childhood: 7 yrs – puberty • Adolescence: puberty – 18 yrs • Adulthood • (McInerney & McInerney, 1994:48-56)

Growth & Development There is a need for you to understand the: • importance of physical activity from the broadest perspectives - to support the normal growth of children - to establish good life habits - to facilitate the development of other systems (cognitive, social, personal, etc)

Growth & Development There is a need for you to understand the: • impact of hereditary and environment on physical and motor development (McInerney & McInerney, 1994, p. 69-71) • importance of developmental patterns being fundamental to an understanding of children • causes of variations in development being essential to an understanding of each individual child

Theories of Learning There are 3 major categories of learning: • Cognitive • Affective • Psycho-motor (Barry & King, 1993, p. 16) *They do NOT exist in isolation & there is a certain amount of overlap between them.

Theories of Learning • Cognitive Learning - is primarily concerned with mental and intellectual processes (eg. problem solving, learning rules) 2. Affective Learning - is concerned with personal and social matters (eg. development of attitudes, beliefs, values) • Psycho-motor Learning - is concerned with the development of bodily movements (eg. gross motor & fine motor skills)

Theories of Learning The theorist most commonly referred to in conjunction to this information is Bloom (1956). He referred to these divisions of learning as a taxonomy, hence the term used being: Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives.

Theories of Learning The cognitive domain has 6 levels: • Knowledge • Comprehension • Application • Analysis • Synthesis • Evaluation These levels operate from the least to the most complex.

Theories of Learning The affective domain has 5 levels: • Receiving • Responding • Valuing • Organising • Characterising by value These levels also operate from the least to the most complex.

Theories of Learning The psycho-motor domain is arranged into 6 levels: • Reflex movements • Basic fundamental movements • Perceptual abilities • Physical abilities • Skilled movements • Non-discursive communication These levels also operate from the least to the most complex.

Theories of Learning ACTIVITY: For each level for each domain write down a verb which could be used when stating objectives in this area, eg. in the cognitive domain, level 1 – knowledge, a relevant verb is ‘define’. You will do more work on this when you do Lesson Planning in a few weeks.

Theories of Learning * No student in a class is at the same cognitive, affective or psycho-motor level * Children think differently to adults • Therefore, we have to consider each student as a unique individual with his/her own pattern of development and match our teaching accordingly. • When planning to match teaching to a student’s level of development we have a number of theories and a great deal of literature about human development to look at.

Theories of Learning The main ones we’ll be looking at are: • Piaget – theory of cognitive development (1896 – 1980) • Vygotsky – dialectical theory of cognitive development (1896 – 1934) • Erikson – theory of personality development

Theories of Learning Piaget • 2 key dimensions • Intellectual development occurs through a series of stages characterised by qualitatively discrete cognitive structures • Children construct their own tools for understanding & discovering the world through interaction with their environment

Theories of Learning Stages of Cognitive Development • Sensorimotor (Birth – 2 years) • Preoperational (2 – 7 years) • Concrete Operational (7 – 12 years) • Formal Operational (12 –15 years) • Piaget believed that there was a characteristic way children thought about the world and solved problems in each of these stages. • The child develops increasingly sophisticated mental processes at each stage. • Progression from 1 stage to the next is dependent on the previous stage being attained

Theories of Learning Current status of Piaget’s theory 2 main criticisms: • It underestimates young children’s reasoning capacity • It neglects individual differences

Theories of Learning Vygotsky A number of themes are evident in his work: • Cognitive development can be understood as the transformation of basic, biologically determined processes into higher psychological functions • Cognitive development is socially based, developing primarily through the use of language, particularly in terms of interacting with other people • The optimal place for cognitive development is the zone of proximal development

Zone of Proximal Development • This zone is the “ distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance and under the direction of more capable peers” (Barry & King, 1993: 23).

Theories of Learning Other terms used by Vygotsky & which are his guiding principles include: • Scaffolding – guidance or help given in solving a problem • Holistic – the unit of study should be the most meaningful unit rather than the smallest or simplest • Social – social interaction between adults & children must occur, with the adults acting as guides and mediators • Change – the child will change & develop

Theories of Learning ACTIVITY: Write down some of the educational implications of Piaget & Vygotsky’s theories. For eg. in terms of Piaget, think of a teacher teaching students in a particular stage & answer the question – what teaching & learning strategies should the teacher emphasise? For eg. in terms of Vygotsky, think of where a teacher might provide scaffolding for a student to learn some new material.

Theories of Learning Erikson - In developing our personality we pass through 8 developmental periods with a specific developmental task at each stage: - 4-5 yrs develop initiative - 6-12 yrs develop industry (mastery) - 13-18 yrs develop a sense of identity - young adulthood – develop intimacy with others - middle adulthood – develop productivity, creativity, concern - old age – develop a sense of integrity or acceptance of one’s life as it has been lived

Theories of Learning • In conclusion, as our understanding of learning develops, there is still no single all-encompassing theory of learning which is accepted by educational psychologists and teachers. • In fact, there is a wide acceptance of there being a wide range of beliefs and theories as to how we learn.

References Barry, K., & King, L. (1993). Beginning teaching (2nd ed.). Wentworth Falls, NSW: Social Science Press. McInerney, D., & McInerney, V. (1994). Educational psychology. Sydney, Australia: Prentice Hall.

Theoretical Framework