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Embodied Learning

Embodied learning is a contemporary pedagogical learning theory which in terms of educational practice uses the body as a learning tool. Students view everyone’s body as a tool for knowledge construction and knowledge carrier in terms of how knowledge is constructed by students are the principles of embodied learning (Caine & Caine, 1997; Kalantzis & Cope, 2013). Embodied learning can be defined under two parameters as the embodied way of being and the sociocultural and relational/interactive way regarding skill development which consists of the body, the senses, the mind, and the brain that is the individual’s personality (Nunez, Edwards & Matos, 1999). Regarding the characteristics of embodied learning, in the process of embodied learning, not only the sensorimotor system but also body movements are involved and also the perceived stimuli is transformed into a stable memory (Abrahamson, Gutierrez, Charoenying, Negrete & Bumbacher, 2012).  Lakoff and Johnson (...

Radical Constructivism

Regarding the Kantian perspective, the mind does not derive laws from nature yet imposes them on it. Therefore, the focus shifts from objects of knowledge (the known) to knowers of objects (the knower). According to Piaget (1936) the mind starts not with knowledge of the self or knowledge of things yet it starts with knowledge of their interaction, and it is directing itself simultaneously towards the two poles of the interaction which the mind organizes the world by means of organizing itself. Hence, the organization of knowledge is the result of interaction which is also called as adaptation, between an organism exhibiting a conscious intelligence and the environment.  Radical Constructivism postulates that all knowledge is human knowledge and all is mediated through subjective or intersubjective human experience. Therefore, truth is not certain yet provisional, knowledge is not discovered yet made and the world is not objective yet constructed through experience. Truth in con...

Situated Learning

According to the theory of situated cognition, every human thought is adapted to the environment which is called as “situated” due to the fact that what people perceive and how they conceive their activity, and also what they physically do develop together consequently (Clancey, 1997). And therefore, knowledge is seen as a lived experience. In the early 1990, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger developed an instructional approach called as situated learning, according to the theory learners tend to learn by actively participating in the learning experience. Hence, situated learning is about creating meaning from daily living’s real activities (Stein, 1998).  Wenger (1998) postulated that there are basic premises of situated cognition theory. People are social beings which is a central aspect of learning. Knowledge is in relation to competence with respect to valued enterprises and knowing is a matter of participating which is related to active engagements in the world, and finally what...

Skinner’s Operant Conditioning Theory

Skinner’s learning method of operant conditioning happens in terms of rewards and punishments for behavior. According to Skinner (1938) with the help of operant conditioning, a person makes an association between a particular behavior and a consequence and therefore, it causes of voluntary behavior and accordingly its consequences. Skinner’s operant conditioning theory was basically based on Thorndike’s (1898) “Law of Effect” theory which is a behavior followed by positive consequences is likely to be repeated whereas a behavior which is followed by unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated. However, Skinner coined a new term into the Thorndike’s “Law of Effect” namely as “reinforcement” which stands for the   behavior that is reinforced is likely to be repeated while the behavior which is not reinforced is likely to die out. In terms of basic principles of operant conditioning, positive reinforcement is strengthening a behavior by also increasing the probability...

Bruner’s Three Modes of Representation

According to Bruner (1957) the outcome of cognitive development is thinking and the intelligent mind creates from experience "generic coding systems that permit one to go beyond the data to new and possibly fruitful predictions" (p. 234). Children are supposed to acquire a way of representing the recurrent regularities in their environment. Hence, Bruner (1957) postulated that important outcomes of learning include not only the concepts, categories, and problem-solving procedures but also the ability to invent things.   Jerome Bruner’s research on children’s  cognitive development  proposed three modes of representation namely as 1) Enactive representation, 2) Iconic representation and 3) Symbolic representation. Those modes of representation are related to people’s storage and encoding knowledge or information in their memory. The first mode of representation which is enactive representation is based on action. This mode lasts from 0 to 1 years. This mode invol...

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development basically focuses on how a child constructs a mental model of the world due to the fact that Piaget disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait. Therefore, according to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure which is genetically inherited and evolved where all subsequent learning and knowledge are based on. In other words, cognitive development happens because of biological maturation and interaction with the environment. Piaget’s cognitive development theory concerned with children instead of all learners and it mainly focuses on development rather than learning since it proposes discrete stages of development. Regarding the cognitive development theory by Piaget, there are three basic components namely as schemas, assimilation and accommodation and lastly  stages of cognitive development. As for the first  component ,  schemas, they are basic building blocks of such cognitive models and ...

Schema Theory

The term schema is related to  organizing and orienting attitude that also contains past experiences. In other words,  schema is the knowledge of network of mental frames as well as cognitive constructs . Therefore, the schemata is the main determiner of the focus of a text and also what is learned from a text so  schemata organize and maintain knowledge that is stored in the long-term memory.  Schemata present people’s personal simplified view over reality derived from their past experience as well as prior knowledge by enabling people to recall and modify their behavior, concentrate attention on key information as well. According to Rumelhart (1980), there are four analogies of various aspects of the Nature of Schema. Firstly, a schema has variables which can be associated with different aspects of the environment so schemata are like plays since plays have characters, setting, actions, schemata have as well. Secondly, due to the fact that schemata enable...