Outcome

1. Explain some learning theories that can

be applied in Mathematics teaching; by
using examples, demonstrate the
application of these learning theories
and show how you would adapt your
teaching to suite the level of
development of the learners.
introduction

• How do learners learn

Mathematics?
• How can learners be
assisted to gain an
insight in the structure
of Mathematics?
Behaviourism

• between 1920s to 1950

• Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
• John B. Watson (1878-1958)
• concerned with observable behaviour
• Observable (i.e. external) behaviour can
be objectively and scientifically
measured.
• Behaviour is the result of stimulus –
response
• Later learning depends on earlier concepts being
grasped
• Sometimes learners need to drop back a level to
reinforce what they have learnt before.
• Behaviourism emphasises the effect of punishments
and rewards in learning.
• Positive rewards for correct answers and disapproval
for wrong answers result in learners practising until
they can perform the steps automatically.
• The emphasis is on developing Mathematics skills (drill
and practice) and less on concepts and strategies.
• A weakness is that learners are often unable to transfer
their skills to alternative contexts.
Constructivism

• Emphasizes the building or construction

that occurs in peoples‟ minds when they
learn.
• Prior learning is a key component: build
on what the learner knows.
LEARNING THEORIES

(a) Hilgard:
• Learners‟ capacity varies with age
• Motivation to learning makes the fixing of the
learning material easier
• Intensive motivation (anxiety, tension) distracts
the attention from the task
• Success and reward – more beneficial outcomes
than failure and punishment
• Intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic
motivation
• Success experiences lead to an ability to tolerate
failures
• Setting own goals – realistic formulation of aims
• Personal history – influence on reaction towards educator
• Active participation rather than passive acceptance
• Meaningful assignments and responsibilities are easier to
learn than meaningless contents
• Exercise leads to automatic response
• Learning is supported by knowledge of success and failure
• Transfer is supported by discovery and experience
• Spaced-out reviewing helps to fix contents
Cognitive constructivism
Piaget (1896-1980)
• three fundamental processes, which contributed to the
child‟s cognitive development., namely assimilation,
accommodation, and equilibrium.
• Assimilation involved the incorporation of new events into
pre-existing cognitive structures.
• Accommodation is the adjustment involved in the formation
of new mental structures needed to accommodate new
information.
• Accommodation is the adjustment involved in the formation
of new mental structures needed to accommodate new
information.
• When a child experienced a new event, disequilibrium set in
until he was able to assimilate and accommodate the new
information and thus attain equilibrium.
4 phases of development
(1) Sensor-motoric phase (0-24 months)
• Use of reflexes
• First habits and primary circular reactions
• Coordination of vision and understanding
• Coordination of secondary schemes and
application to new situations
• Differentiation of action schemes and
solving of some problems by deduction
(2) Pre-conceptual phase (2-7 years)
• Appearance of symbolic function and the beginning
of internalised actions accompanied by imaging
• Learns to use language and to represent objects
by images and words
• Thinking is still egocentric: has difficulty taking
the viewpoint of others
• Classifies objects by a single feature: e.g. groups
together all the red blocks regardless of shape or
all the square blocks regardless of colour
(3) Concrete operational phase (7-11 years)
• Imaging organisations based on either static
configuration or on assimilation
• Imaging regulations are stressed
• Can think logically about objects and events
• Achieves conservation of number (age 6), mass (age 7),
and weight (age 9)
• Classifies objects according to several features and can
order them in series along a single dimension such as
size.
(4) Formal operational phase (11 years and up)
• Can think logically about abstract propositions and
test hypotheses systematically.
• Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the
future, and ideological problems
• Hypothetic-deductive logics and combined
calculations (11-14 years)
• Structuring and grouping of 4 transformations (14
years - …)
(c) Van Hiele
3 levels (niveaux) of how a child learns Mathematics:
(1) Base niveau
• Concretely – there is a visual, tangible differentiation
of concepts
(2) First niveau
• Verbal description of concepts (intuitive descriptive
definitions). Qualities are tabulated. Generalisation
takes place.
(3) Second niveau
• Exploration of logical relations between qualities, e.g.
6 = 2 x 3 because 6 = 3 + 3
Achievement of niveaus by means of the learning process – not by
biological ripening
Following phases during learning progression from one niveau to the
next:
(a) Information: The child becomes familiar with the context of the
specific field of study.
(b) Bound orientation: The learner comes into contact with the most
important combinations of the relations net to be formed, for
example, two rows of three should be read as “three together with
three more”, or as “twice three”, or seen from a different
viewpoint, as “three times two”, etc.
(c) Explicitising: Here the language of the field of study is learnt, and
the learner can pronounce it.
(d) Free orientation: The learner learns to find his/her way in the
relations net using the available combinations, for example, he/she
learns what he/she can do with multiplication and division and
when he/she should use it.
(e) Integration: A synopsis of the various ways of thinking. General
rules are drawn up and own actions are reconsidered.
Social constructivism

• Vygotsky (1896-1934)
• Emphasizes the importance of social
interactions in the learning process.
• Vygotsky and Activity Theory
• Emphasizes the collaborative nature of learning.
• Learner must be actively involved in the learning process.
• Zone of proximal development (ZPD) which is defined as the
“distance between the actual development level as determined by
independent problem solving and the level of potential
development as determined through problem solving under adult
guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.
• This zone is seen as the gap between the actual development level
and the potential level a learner can reach.
• The way this zone can be crossed is through mediation by a more
competent peer.
• “more knowledgeable other,” (MKO). The MKO in a community of
practice might be a teacher who represents a „keystone‟ species
(master teacher). The role of a keystone species as mediator is that
of providing collaborative dialogue and scaffolding to assist other in
their development.
• Motivation according to this theory is seen as both extrinsic and
intrinsic and teachers learn through team work and gain knowledge
as they develop by way of social interactions with peers.
Reuven Feuerstein

• born 21 August 1921 in Botoşani, Romania

• Disagreed with Piaget who considered
cognitive development as a result of
maturation and experience with objects.
• Human interaction is essential and calls it
mediated learning experience (MLE).
• Renowned for his theory of intelligence which
states “it is not „fixed‟, but rather
modifiable”.
• “Intelligence is not a static structure, but an
open, dynamic system that can continue to
develop throughout life”.
• Intelligence can be modified through mediated
interventions.
• These interlocked practices provide educators
with the skills and tools to systematically develop
students‟ cognitive functions and operations to
build meta-cognition.
• The theories of Structural Cognitive Modifiability
and Mediated Learning Experience and a definition
of intelligence as "the capacity of the individual to
use previous experience in his adaptation to new
situations."
• A belief that all learners can learn, irrespective of age or stage of
development
• Mediated learning experience
• Dynamic assessment
• A cognitive development programme, known as instrumental
enrichment.
• He believes that human cognitive structures can be modified and
that all individuals can change the way they think and learn at any
age or stage of development.
• He stressed a social and cultural origin of cognitive development or
intelligent behaviour.
• Cultural beliefs, customs and habits are passed on, or mediated, by
the older to the younger generation.
• He suggested two ways of acquiring cognitive processes:
1. By direct learning through interaction with the stimuli from
the environment
2. By mediated learning experience (MLE) via interaction with a
human mediator.
Howard Gardner

• (1943- )
 What is a learning style?
Learning styles

• Sensory pathways through which learners

prefer to receive information.
• It is a biologically and developmentally
imposed set of characteristics that
explain why the same lesson, readings,
interactions, classroom settings and
teachers affect individuals differently.
three categories

1. Perceptual modalities that define

biologically based reactions to our physical
environment and represent the way we most
efficiently adopt data.
2. Information processing distinguishes between
the way an individual senses, thinks, solves
problems and remembers information. (Refer
to De Bono‟s hats).
3. Personality patterns focus on
attention, emotion and values. These
reflect the way an individual will react, feel
about and value different situations.
perceptual modalities: learning
styles
 (a) are the prefer seeing what they are learning. As teachers
Visual learners
we must bring a wide variety of visuals and colour to our classrooms:
visual,
posters,auditory, kinaesthetic
charts, models, pictures, slides, etc. and
tactile.
 (b) Auditory learners prefer spoken messages and learn by listening
and verbalizing. Some individuals may even need to hear their own
voices as they construct mental dialogues. In these cases we should
provide opportunities for oral
presentations, debates, discussions, radios, videos, films, question-and-
answer sessions, and so on.
 (c) Kinaesthetic learners want to sense the position and movement of
what they are working on. We can accommodate these learners best in
field trips, simulation games, role playing sessions, and other activities
encouraging movements.
 (d) Tactile learners want to touch and feel learning materials. By
including laboratory activities, field trips and other forms of practical
work, allow this group to handle and manipulate
equipment, materials, and objects we accommodate these learners
best.
Assessment

1. Discuss behaviourism, cognitive

constructivism and social
constructivism as learning theories
and give examples how these learning
theories are applied in Mathematics
education.
2. Discuss perceptual modalities as a
learning style category and the
implications it have on your teaching
of Mathematics?
School experience learning
guides
 Study material division
 D1 Lab K05
 5-22 February 2014