Anne Carpenter
TLS- 6
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For the United States, to compete successfully in a global economy we as
a society need to educate our youth in a manner that encourages individuals to
achieve their best. Our nation must implement new regulations to promote our
youths’ education. Each state needs to be free of unfunded federal guidelines, to
put into practice different learning, teaching and schooling methods for the
betterment of our children. Our current method of educating our youth is falling
short of global standings. Youth need to be a part of society as a whole instead
of segregated into age levels. Students learn best when they are encouraged to
work in diverse groups; diverse in age, skill, ability, gender and race. Teachers
should be encouraged to learn each child past experiences, so that they can
build on previous knowledge and teach to the whole child. Schools built with the
children in mind. “Research indicates that well-planned learning environments
stimulate learning and reduce discipline problems” (Jensen, 2005, p.91). .
Learning
To learn is to internalize the process of knowledge accumulation through
experience. Students learn best when their teachers know them. This can only
occur when children are encouraged to engage in active learning in the
classroom. Children enforced to be quiet and acquiescence prevents the
individual from disclosing their real natures (Dewey, 1938).
There are several different theories on what is learning. As educators, we
need to be aware of different theories and be willing to work with them and see if
they might work to reach some children. Everyone’s brain works in the same
manner but uses their past experience to make sense of new learning. Then the
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TLS- 6
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more experiences we as teacher can expose our students to the better they will
learn.
Learning according to Skinner takes place out side the brain where we
can observe the behavior and reward or punish. Children learn through positive
or negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is child is rewarded for doing a
behavior that is wanted. Like getting all the answers, correct on a test and the
child receiving a good grade. The child studies harder to keep getting good
grades. Negative reinforcement is parents nag child to clean it up his room. The
child cleaned the room; the parents do not nag. The child cleans the room
without the nagging. Punishment is the child takes the car without asking. The
child is not allowed to use the car for a month. The behavior changes as the child
will now ask to use the car. Extinction is the behavior is ignored and the behavior
is decreased. The child uses inappropriate language; the adult ignores the
language. The child does not use the inappropriate language (Skinner, 1971)
Piaget believes that children learn by going through stages. A child must
be ready to learn something before they will be able to remember it. A child
experiences something if it is something the child has already encountered then
the child assimilates the experience. If it is something new, the child finds that it
does not fit in with previous experiences and so the experience must be
accommodated into a new metal map (Singer & Revenson, 1979/1996).
The brain learns by creating new dendrites. New information is
transformed into neurotransmitters that pass from one dendrite to another
through the synaptic gap. Then the neurotransmitter is changed into an electrical
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TLS- 6
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charge that travels though the axon to the terminal bud. In the terminal bud, the
electrical charge is changed back to a neurotransmitter and passed on to the
next dendrite. With practice, the new information strengthens the axon sheath in
a process called myelination. If the information is gained in a new way then more
dendrites are created. If the information is not used then the dendrites die in
synaptic efficiency (Jensen, 2005).
Learning is based on previous cultural practices and the use of cultural
tools. These tools may be how the culture does math or writes. Some cultures
appreciate slow, careful thought before answers and other cultures want quick
answers (Rogoff, 2003)
Teaching
Teaching is according to Skinner is a guide to help the child change
behaviors from the ones we do not desire into ones we do (1971). The use of
rewards or punishment is the primary way to change behavior. Jensen states that
the brain gets use to the reward and wants to up the value of the reward. A
reward that works for one pupil will not work for another (2005).
Trail and error learning is need for our brains to get the information
correct. Our brains do not get the information right the first time because we have
too much stimulating our brains to be able to figure out the first time what should
be remembered. Making mistakes makes us smarter. “Feedback-driven learning
makes more accurate and complex connections” (Jensen, 2005).
Teachers need to be aware of what learning stage the child has attained
to help guide the child through the stage and on to the next. Teachers are
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TLS- 6
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constrained by government regulations and do not have the freedom to teach to
the child.
Teaching is culturally based; each culture wants their children taught to be
a member of their society. When western schools influence the teachers they do
not want to take risks by looking like they do not know what they are teaching.
They teach to the many exams that the western school system requires (Rogoff,
2003).
Schooling
Schooling is a wide-ranging institution made up of buildings, bureaucracy,
social thoughts and cultural values. Rogoff (2003) stated, “…segregation of U.S.
schoolchildren by age became formalized with the advent of compulsory
schooling, which required a standard starting age to verify that children were not
truant. Age-grading served bureaucratic needs in the face of great increases in
the numbers of schoolchildren, due in part to industrialization, urbanizations of
the population, and huge influxes of immigrants” (p. 126). To accommodate all
participants equitably current systems must evolve. “Schools with shattered
windows, broken-down restrooms, leaky roofs, insufficient lighting, and
overcrowding have a significantly negative impact on cognition” (Jensen, 2005, p.
91).The thoughts and values of current society must progress and accommodate
all styles of schooling. “Research indicates that well-planned learning
environments stimulate learning and reduce discipline problems” (Jensen, 2005,
p.91). Granted, it will take time to change and become more open to teaching all
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TLS- 6
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children individually, however we must begin somewhere and we can initiate the
change.
Individualizing learning, teaching and schooling brings out the best in all
children. “Physical environments influence how we feel, hear and see. Those
factors, in turn, influence cognitive and affective performance (Jensen, 2005,
p.82)”. New school design should be with young people in mind. Chairs, tables
and bathrooms need to fit the size of the child. Most buildings have poor lighting,
are noisy, have bad air quality and are not conducive to learning. Success as a
society in educating our youth will occur when we change the way we currently
teach and accommodate the whole child.