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This is EDUC 4703U,
Teaching and Learning –
Problem Based Learning.
This is session three,
video clip four. 
This video clip is entitled,
Learning Theories,
Constructivism and Connectivism.
The analysis questions
for this video clip are as follows.
Number one, 
what are the characteristics
of each of the stages
 of cognitive development
in the genetic
epistemology theory.
Be aware that
what is given in the video clip
is only a very brief overview.
Number two, according to Piaget,
how do people learn? 
Number three,
how is genetic epistemology 
related to social
and radical constructivism? 
And number four,
what is inductive thinking 
and why is it used extensively  
in Western society?  
The discussion in this clip
follows the categorization 
of epistemology theories
introduced in the last video clip.
In the present clip, we'll concentrate
on the rationalist side 
of the organizational chart,
rather than the empirical side,
uh, of the discussion
as we did in the last clip.
Quoting from learies- 
learning-theories.com in 2008,
the humanism page then –
humanism is a paradigm
that emerged in the 1960s.
It focuses on human freedom,
dignity, and potential. 
A central assumption of humanism,
according to Huitt in 2001, 
is that people act
with intentionality and values.
This is in contrast to the behaviourist
notion of operant condition 
which argues that all behaviour
is the result of the application
 of consequences,
 and the cognitive psychologist belief
that the discovery of knowledge
or constructing meaning 
is central to learning.
Humanists also believe
that it is necessary 
to study the person as a whole, 
especially as an individual grows 
and develops over the lifespan.
It follows that the study of the self,
motivation, and goals 
are areas
of particular interest.
Key proponents of humanism include
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. 
A primary purpose of humanism
could be described as 
development of se- self-actualized,
autonomous people. 
Uh, in humanism, learning is
student centred and personalized, 
and the educator’s role
is that of a facilitator.
Affective and cognitive needs
are key, 
and the goal is to develop
self-actualized people 
in a cooperative,  
supportive environment. 
Next theory is that of Jean Piaget –
genetic epistemology.  
Piaget lived from 1896 to 1980,
and his theory,
 genetic epistemology 
which also deals 
with the origins of knowledge,
explains the cognitive development
of humans from birth throughout life
 through, though the original version
of this theory 
focused only on
the younger years.
The fist stage is sensorimotor
 from birth to age two. 
Infants’ understanding
of the world is constructed  
 by linking sensory experiences,
such as seeing and hearing
 and tasting,
with physical actions.
The second stage
is termed preoperational
from ages two through seven.
The child begins to represent ideas
and concepts with words and images.
However, the child is not able
to perform operations 
or must complete processes
using physical objects. 
The third stage is concrete operational
from ages seven through eleven. 
The child begins to use logic
but is limited to solving problems 
involving physical objects
and is able to take
another’s point of view.
And finally, formal operational,
eleven years onwards. 
Individuals begin
to think abstractly.
They reason logically an-
and are able to draw conclusions
based on the information
that is available. 
One of the primary challenges
to this theory 
focuses on instances
where individuals do not proceed 
from sta- one stage to the next
across all areas of knowledge
such as mathematics, language,
physics or art. 
In some instances,
individuals may never reach 
the formal operational stage
or a level in one or more areas.
And in even more ra- ins-
rare instances, 
individuals who are adults
in chronological age 
may never reach the formal
operational level in any area.
Movement from one stage to the next,
according to Piaget, 
 occurs as a result
of two primary processes. 
The first of these processes
is assimilation, 
and is the process in which,
when faced with new information 
within the environment, 
the new information 
is fitted into pre-existing schema
or thought structures or patterns.
The second process
is termed accommodation,
and in this the process,
uh, this is a process in which,
when faced with new information
within the environment, 
the pre-existing schema this time
are modified to fit the new information.
Both of these processes entail
active learning, 
that is the modification
of information 
or pre-existing schema
by the individual, 
and all new learning is dependent
upon past experiences and schema
that are developed
by the individual.
Another way of describing this
is that all learners actively create
or construct their own
individual meanings,
 their own
individual understandings
based on their own
idiosyncratic ways of thinking.
This is the essence
of constructivism.
Lev Vygotsky...
 takes this idea
and moves on with it.
Uh, Vygotsky lived 
from 1896 to 1934, 
and he shared many
of Piaget’s understandings 
of human cognitive development,
but he was convinced of the importance
of social interaction 
in the learning process.
Vygotsky theorized that thinking
and problem-solving skills 
can be categorized three ways.
Some skills are so difficult
that even with help 
learners will not be able
to for- perform them. 
Secondly, others,
uh, other skills can be performed 
independently by the learner.
Consequently,
both of these two types of skills, 
so the ones that are too difficult,
 and the ones that can be done without,
uh, any assistance,
will not be considered here.
The third category, that is, some,
um, skills can be performed 
by the learner with assistance.
 These are the ones that we'll be,
uh, discussing from here on in.
 Tasks or skills that can be performed
with the assistance of others 
are said to fall within 
a zone of proximal development or ZPD,
a theoretical area.
Theoretically then,
learners will be able to develop
appropriate thinking skills
following successful use
when assisted by others.
Others, the others who assist
may be a teacher, 
a mentor, parent
or a fellow student.
It's interesting to note
that the theory requires
active social involvement
of others. 
Ernst Von Glasersfeld
lived from 1917 to late last year, 
suggests that constructivism,
since it assumes active construction
of new ideas, new understandings,
new knowledge by the learner,
is in opposition to empiricism,
which assumes reliance
on sensory confirmation of knowledge. 
Radical constructivism goes
one step further in hypothesizing
that scientific knowledge, that is
knowledge about how the world works
 and it's this definition that, 
of science  
that we'll be dealing with
throughout this course.
 Anyways, scientific knowledge
is constructed by people
and not derived from observations
from the real world, 
which is dependent upon
the perceptions of the observers 
through the processes of assimilation
and accommodation. 
Consequently,
objectivism is called into question,
 because no observations
could actually be made
without referring to the theories
or, um, constructs, 
thought schemas 
that you already have in mind.
Moving one step further then,
 a new theory has been proposed
in the last little while
by George Siemens,
and this is just a very quick quote
from George Siemens, 
uh, 2- 2011,
"Description of Connectivism,"
and, uh, you'll see the link
on the slide itself. 
Connectivism is the learning theory
for the digital age. 
Learning has changed
over the last several decades.
Theories of behaviourism,
cognitivism and constructivism
provide an effective view
of learning in many environments.
They fall short, however,
according to Siemens, 
 when learning moves into
informal, networked,
technology-enabled arena.
There are many principles
of connectivism 
that are given on his,
 on the link that you will see there,
 however, we do not have the time
to go through them. 
Uh, it might be interesting
i- it is interesting 
and, uh, will be worthwhile for you
to take a look at some of the points
that, uh, George makes
about his, uh, particular theory. 
 Finally, moving on into
the th- theoretical side of this,
we want to take a look
very briefly 
at how Popper makes sense
out of all of these ideas.
 And this is Karl Popper,
and he's talking about
 something that he termed
critical rationalism. 
 The materials here
are quoted for Burnham, 2002,
"Critical Rationalism:
A Personal Account."
The problem of induction,
uh, Burnham goes on to say,
is that the philosophers in the past
commonly believed 
that achieving generalized knowledge
consists of this procedure. 
You observe lots of isolated facts
and examples, 
you recognise what all of them
have in common, 
and you use that common factor
to make the generalization. 
This is called induction.
They also recognised that there is
a problem with this procedure.
In most cases, you can't check out
every example yourself, 
or even find people
to do it for you. 
How can you know that the next example,
which you have not yet seen, 
will fit the generalization?
The traditional case
used by philosophers was the statement, 
"All swans are white."
 How do you know
the next swan that see will not be black
or some other colour?
If you go to Western Australia,
you can actually see black swans. 
Information obtained by induction
can never be totally reliable. 
 Even if it is true,
we have no way of knowing that it is.
Inductive logic
has been important to life,
as Pavlovian association embodies
a kind of inductive logic. 
Perhaps this is because
it often provides 
a high margin of safety.
Once a creature associates
its situation with pain,
it will avoid that situation again,
increasing its chances of survival
and opportunity to mit it-
transmit its genes. 
But it is not the basis
for understanding subtle details
in the connections
between things.
For example- example,
the cat that jumps on a hot stove
will avoid all stoves,
not just hot ones, in the future. 
Inductive thinking can have
destructive effects as well.
Many hateful statements
are made about ethnic
and religious groups that are really
inductive thinking in disguise. 
Despite all this, inductive thinking
is highly valued in Western society.
If you're good at it,
you will score well 
on intelligence tests
and be admired for your high IQ,
and may e- even admitted
to a Mensa. 
But it is a blind alley
off the intellectual highway. 
The suggested solution
to this problem 
is to make use of both
inductivist and deductivist processes. 
This is done by proposing
hypotheses or conjectures,
as Popper termed them,
and then to invite their refutation.
If the hypotheses are refuted,
that is false- falsified, 
they can be crossed
off of the list 
of possible explanations
for the phenomenon.
This process is significantly different
from the empiricist viewpoint 
as proof is not required.
Popper would contend that proof
doesn't really exist anyway
 and instead of proving him
on hypothesis,
it is falsified.
 The reference
for the theory part of this,
Inductivism and Deductivism –
What? 
is again, the same paper
that we used for the last video clip,
 that is, Ferrucci, 
"Inductivism, Hypothetico-Deductivism,
Falsificationism 
and Kuhnian Reconciliation".
And the clip, uh, link will be given
in, uh, WebCT.
Finally then,
the synthesis questions 
 for this particular clip
are as follows.
Number one,
why might constructivist theories 
provide more useful ideas
regarding how humans learn
than the humanist theories?
Number two,
when viewing genetic epistemology
and the constructivist theories
presented here,
what do these theories say
about the nature of knowledge –
 in other words
where does knowledge reside,
who generates knowledge,
can knowledge be viewed as an object
that can be passed
between individuals, et cetera.
Number three, if you took the stance
of a constructivist, 
why would it be difficult to teach
in a constructivist manner?
Number four, why does George Siemens
believe that connectivism 
is a learning theory
for the digital age?
And number five,
why, according to Popper, 
is a reliance on inductivism
not enough 
when attempting to determine
the veracity of an hypothesis? 
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captioned by
inclusivemedia.ca 
