How People Learn...

1. Cognitivists cannot account for human (collaborative) learning  because of their narrow focus on cognitive architectures and  mental  representations

2. By imitating others By reading By thinking By practicing By discussing By listening By trial and error By solving problems By studying examples By negotiating By observing By working By getting feedback By reflecting By teaching others By elaborating By questioning By being rewarded And 1000 more! How People Learn...

3. Levels of Explanation • some types of learning deal with social processes of knowledge construction • But all types of learning are affected by the psychological laws of learning • In dance, you have limited freedom to design your choreography because the movements of dancers are determined by the laws of gravity Tough ... • In social constructivist teaching, some “scientists” design learning arrangements without bothering about the psychological laws of learning

4. Who is Narrow Minded? • Cognitive architectures are basic to understanding all types of human learning • Social constructivists are not only narrow-minded, because they study just a part of the many types of human learning, but also ignorant, because they seem to be unaware of more basic, necessary levels of explanation

5. Social-constructivist methodology leads to teaching methods that make it impossible to distinguish science from nonsense

6. Process-focused Research methodology • Knowledge is socially constructed, and thus cannot be ‘true’ or ‘false’ • Teaching = scaffolding and supporting the process of knowledge construction

7. Implications for Teaching • Quality of knowledge is determined by the constructive process rather than external (agreed) criteria such as available evidence (science), effectiveness (praxis), elegance (arts) ... “Truth is what works” William James (1842-1910) ... And we should teach what has proven to work (often over many generations...)

8. What it leads to...