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The Principles of Learning

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The Principles of Learning
The principles of Learning

Unit 112 (City and guilds 7407 2003 /2004)

Arnie Sacknusem

Introduction

“The history of education is littered with failed theories, even those that were the result of years and years of research.”
Page 213, David Minton Teaching Skills in Further & Adult Education

The “Principles of Learning” are a broad collection of learning theories that have been and developed over time. This essay aims to show how these different theories underpin current educational policy in the United Kingdom. None of the theories singularly explain how we learn fully but most have some relevance and are useful when trying to understand the learning process. I aim to cover briefly the main theories involved, pointing out their dominant strengths and weaknesses and relating them to my own experience as a tutor.

Student Group

The student group that I will relate to from my own teaching practice is an ECDL (European Computer Driving License) class. This course covers three terms and meets for 4 hours per week. The group consists of 15 students and it is diverse in economic, social, ability, religious and ethnic terms.

Old for New

It is easy to think of educational theory as a new thing however people have been pondering this subject for millennia.

"Tell me and I 'll forget. Show me and I 'll remember. Involve me and I 'll understand."
Confucius (551 BC-479 BC) Chinese Philosopher

"There are two modes of acquiring knowledge, namely by reasoning and experience. Reasoning draws a conclusion and makes us grant the conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, nor does it remove doubt so that the mind may rest on the intuition of truth, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience." Roger Bacon (1561-1626) English Philosopher

A Theory About Learning Theory

In “Teaching Training and Learning” by Ian Reece and Stephen Walker the writers state that educational theorists tend to separate



Bibliography: Reece, Walker (2003)“Teaching Training and Learning” Minton (2002) “Teaching Skills in Further & Adult Education” Sotto, Eric (1994) “When Teaching Becomes Learning” Searle, John R (“Andragogy or Pedagogy” Bob Monts, Illinois State University, April 2000) “http://www.coe.ilstu.edu/scienceed/jinks/ci538/papers/monts.htm Internet based sources

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