DINGLASAN, ANDREA CELINA B.

201711449
TCP 2A

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

a. Why learning is illustrated with different directions in slide no. 2? Will they have the
same destination?
In my opinion, the reason why learning is illustrated in different directions in slide
number 2 is because every person has their own style and way of learning. Each
person is unique and the learning process for each person may be different from the
rest. For example, I learn best under pressure. Most of the articles from the Internet
say that it is most effective to study two weeks before an examination but that doesn’t
work for me because I will forget most of the concepts. However, I learn and
understand things more if the deadline is around two to three days away. Everyone is
unique in their own way and so can their learning process be, causing the illustration
of learning in different directions.
Also, there can be both positive and negative learning from which may cause the
divergence of direction of learning. Some people may think that making mistakes
cannot result to learning, however, as a famous quote says, “We learn from our
mistakes.” Mistakes may cause realization and awareness and be able to get the
right answer the next time. In getting answers correctly, there can also be realizations
that there may be more to explore in the same topic.
Nevertheless, even if learning for each person is different in both definition and
process, it will ultimately result to learning, whether it is positive or negative learning.
There will be meaningful realizations from true learning, whether we intended to
learn or not.

b. How nativism is different from empiricism?

Nativism is different from empiricism from the manner of acquisition of
knowledge. In some literature, it is a debate between nature and nurture of how a
person’s personality and knowledge acquisition develops. Nativism, which was
proposed by Plato, states that knowledge comes about as being innate or an
inherent component of the human mind. For example, if a person is born with an
abnormality in the left hemisphere of the brain, for instance, the Broca’s area, where
a person may have Broca’s aphasia, there will be a significant effect on the person’s
ability to learning to speak correct words and form coherent sentences. This and
 many other inherent diseases are genetic, and serve as evidence to support the
nativism standpoint.
On the other hand, empiricism, which was proposed by Aristotle states that
knowledge comes from sensory information or experience. The way a person is
raised or how the people around them have formed a person’s learning habits can
have an effect on how a person learns to do a certain task or concept. For example,
in first weeks of teaching, I did not have any formal pedagogy training prior to the
actual teaching, let alone a practice teaching. However, I just imitated how my
professors from college have taught me or took some of the appealing strategies
from teachers in Youtube and used that to be able to teach my students in a way
they could understand the topic. Behaviors like this are common in all people and
back up the claim that empiricism makes.

c. How readiness affects learning?

According to the law of readiness by Edward Thorndike, “learning is dependent
upon the learner's readiness to act, which facilitates the strengthening of the bond
between stimulus and response.” This means that a person who is motivated and
ready to learn would be more receptive to the knowledge, strategies, and techniques
to be taught and be able to apply them correctly than to those who are poorly
motivated. This may be the guiding principle for the motivation part of the teachers’
lesson plans so that the students will be prepared to learn and condition them to
accept and receive the content to be delivered by the teacher that day.
There are many factors that may affect a person’s readiness for learning. One of
these may be physical comfort which requires us to have a place conducive for
learning, whether or not it is inside a classroom. Another would be psychological
factors, which teachers should also be aware and considerate of. With this, knowing
how a person is motivated to learn would help to facilitate learning more effectively.

d. Why people learn better from mistakes than when getting the right answer?
People usually associate mistakes as a negative thing which can make people
feel ashamed, self-conscious, or afraid of trying again. However, the negative
emotions that come from making mistakes sometimes push people to learn the
correct answer and remember it. When a person gets the correct answer the first
time, it was rarely being reflected upon on why it was correct. But, when people make
mistakes, we usually ask why our actions or answers were wrong. We seek the
correct answer and remember it for the future. This makes the retention more
effective. I believe that understanding the concept rather than just memorizing
 everything is true learning which can be brought about the reflection of our mistakes
and correcting them.
Many studies can also prove that making mistakes can be a good tool for
learning new topics. In a study by Potts and Shanks, 'The benefit of generating errors
during learning', there are two groups of people from which one group would do trial
and error in guessing the correct answers while the other group will memorize the
answers. Those who guessed the answers and are given feedback have
outperformed those who just memorized the correct answers and has remembered
the concepts behind the answers more effectively. This means that it is okay to be
wrong for us to know what is right.

e. Does walking is something we learn? Justify your answer.

In my opinion, walking is both innate and learned. Newborn babies have motor
reflexes, unless they have psychomotor disorders, which allow them to move their
limbs naturally and be able to walk, however, it takes a lot of practice since the bones
and muscles must gain strength to be able to do the action correctly, along with the
development of balance. Also, movement is needed for survival, especially for
humans during ancient times where walking is needed for hunting and surviving and
is carried up until today.
On the other hand, while the babies begin to use their senses such as eyesight to
gather information from their environment, they also begin to imitate adults and other
children (who they know and trust to provide and care for them) walking and also
begin to imitate their actions. Also, a baby can be forced to learn to walk by the use
of modern tools like walkers to be able to help them learn to walk properly.

f. According to Albert Bandura, how do people learn?

According to Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, human learning and

behavior are influenced by observation, modelling, and imitation of behavior, attitude
and emotional reactions of others. Along with this is the influence of both the
environmental and cognitive factors that affect human learning and behavior. People
who children look up to, for example, an adult, are their models and may later on
imitate their actions after they have observed the model’s behavior and actions. In a
classroom setting, especially for subjects with laboratory counterparts like science
and ICT, students will most likely imitate the teacher’s modelling of the laboratory
activity so that the students will remember to do the experiment during the practical
examination.
 Similarly, a child will most likely respond to behavior it imitates with either
reinforcement or punishment. If the child is rewarded for imitation of the action, it will
most likely be repeated. For example, if a child who is learning English was able to
speak in a complete sentence with the proper grammar and was given a lollipop or a
star, they will most likely try to learn more English words and use it in sentences to
get the same recognition.
Basically, Albert Bandura’s theory states that human learning arises from
observation, modelling, and imitation, along with the influence of reinforcement and
punishment. With this, a child’s interest to learn must be stimulated through priming
of the senses, resulting to the acquisition of sensory cues from the environment.
Once elaborated and explained by more knowledgeable person, the learning will be
reinforced and incubated until such time that the learned knowledge will be integrated
to real-life application.

g. How can we measure intelligence according to Howard Gardner?

According to Howard Gardner, there is no single measure for intelligence as he
has stated in his theory that there are multiple intelligences from which all people are
born with it. Sometimes, when people say intelligence, they usually associate it with
the ability to do math well or to speak fluently in English. However, in the theory of
multiple intelligence, there is a lot more to intelligence than just being able to do math
well or to speak in different languages fluently. There isn’t one way to measure
intelligence because it occurs in different forms. To be able to capture the entirety of
intelligence, we have to consider the different kinds of intelligence, including
intellectual capacity, musical, interpersonal, spatial-visual, and linguistic intelligences.
In the classroom setting, it may be easy for teachers to assess students based on
their grades. However, as teachers, it must be imperative to consider other
intelligences in formulating teaching strategies and lesson plans so that the lesson
can cater all the intelligences of all students. It is ideal for teachers to include
differentiated instruction to cater all the intelligences of the students for more
effective learning.

h. What is learning? Give your comprehensive definition.

From what I have learned from the lecture and some of my own research,
learning is changed behavior for a long period of time. Having that said, learning
encompasses a purposeful and meaningful process of acquisition of knowledge and
extensive application of what was learned. In addition, learning is affected by external
and internal factors such as a conducive environment, and a motivated and ready
mind for learning, as stated in the Law of Readiness by Thorndike and empiricism by
Aristotle. Furthermore, learning should be rewarding and stimulating to the learner so
it should maximize the use of the sensory information and appeal to the multiple
intelligence that the learners have, as stated by the Social Learning Theory of
Bandura and Theory of Multiple Intelligences of Gardner. However, in reality, learning
is not always an enjoyable process and may include failure, mistakes and correction.
As seen in the research of Potts and Shanks, making mistakes is actually great tool
for learning as it triggers the person’s need to correct himself and seek the correct
answer. Therefore, learning is a broad concept but in the end, learning occurred
when the person is changed for a long period of time due to his acquisition of
knowledge both from observation, imitation, and experience.