deve - willinghams learning theory Flashcards
describe who daniel willingham is
a cognitive scientist who stuxies thinking and brain activity.
he explains his own idea and the prpblems of others such as piaget and his three mountain tasks
work can be applied to the classroom
what did he have to say on factual knowledge?
knowing facts helps building the skills of problem splving and reasoning. to learn and developskills previous knowledge is often required.
Willingham suggested that someone already knowing facts leaves more processing power to solve a problem and aids in understanding
What is working memory?
has different parts for processing information coming in from senses also involves decision making part
prior knowledge can free space in our working memory, allowing us to use mental skills, such as problem-solving
a part of working memoru is used for making decisions about the information and working memory is limited
what did willingham say on practice and effort
emphasises thay practice and effort enable the mastery of knowledge and skill.
important to practise enough to be able to do things automatically.
necessary in order to leave enough working memory for learning new things
skill must be reeated many times and kept up
describe the importance for building knowledge
short term memory involves practise which means rehearsing to remember.
what is learnt goes to the long term memory where material had to be reviewd and practised in order to rmeember it
when material is fixed in the long term memory so well it is much less likely to be forgotten than if not practised and focused on
ways of practicing to build knowledge is quizzes or different tasks to help u learn the material
what was the importance for building skills
problem solving and creative thinking are skills a stufent needs to learn and these skills use working memory
skills need to be developed so they are automatic and use little space in working memory
what were the strategies willingham thought helped support development
- cognitive development
- physical development
- social development
describe cognitive development in detail
suggested teachers should
- use problems that are new and within a stufentd ability but that also required some effort
- understand a stufdnts likely stage of development when planning activities
- remember that a stufents abilitied are variable and can change from day to day
- consider fsctors other than developmentsl level such ad students may not understand the tasks
sescribe physical development in depth
willingham believed that practice and effort would improve phydical development such as motor skills.
related muscle movements to brain processing, suggesting that
- focus in what movements will be suitable and in what order they need to be carried out
- practise the movements in that order enough times to make the muscle commands automatic(to build a skill set)
- use conscious effort such as raising the bar when developing jumping skills
describe social development in detail
- build on a childs ability to take the view of someone else, once able to take anothers viewpoint a child can behave in helpful ways which is the start of forming social relationships with others
- demonstrate appropriate socisl behaviour as child will use social learning where childrenimitate the behaviour of others in certain circumstances
- help a chuld sto impulsive behaviour, which means allowing then to consider consequences. this allows them to spend energy with somethinh more productively such as paying attetion.
by stopping impulsive behaviours a child can develop more suitable responses in social situations which helps in building friendships. - encourage practice which requires self regulation, willingham states self regulation comes from both nature and nurture as influenced
- delay giving a reward for a task to encourage a child to keep working which requires them to have self control
describe willingham and piagets differing views
willingham disagrees with piagets view that chuldren cannot see other peoples view until theu are 7 yrs old.
he thinks thid occurs closer to 18 months,
in practice piaget later changed his view of egocentrism and decentration and agreed with willingham
what is decentration?
being able to separate yourself from the world and take different views of a situation, so not being egocentric
what is self regulation?
limiting and controlling youself without influence from others
str and wk of willinghams learning theory
str
has practical application as it can be applied to education and other situations to promote a childs development in a positive light.
has validity through other studies that support willinghams work such as repacholi and alison gopniks 1997
experimental evidence is a str as rxperiences are carried in a control way
wk
could not be easily generalized as he did not emphasize the importance of individual diffeeences for learning, though some of his theory related to genes.
what id in someones genes cannot be changed easily using strategies, his aims were to give univerdal strategies thought he acknowledged genetic differences
lacked reliability as his idea csmr from many fields such as neuroscience memoru theory and cognitive development, bc his ideas are not really a singular theoru thst can be tested by gathering data
