Dori Hauser

Theoretical framework for philosophy of teaching

The right to learn
I believe every student has the right to an education. Thus every student has the right to
learn. More importantly I believe that every student CAN learn. However, the necessary
strategies, instruction and materials may be different in order to help the student be successful in
learning. I believe as a pre-professional teacher you must not give up on your students. If your
teaching of a certain concept isnt working for a student you must adapt and work with that
student to help them succeed.
As a teacher we must get to know our students. A students background and past plays a
big part in how a student learns. When we know our students we can best help them learn and be
on the path for a successful participant of society. Respect and trust are vital between a teacher
and student. These traits lead to positive environments that help students learn and grow.
How I believe students learn
Children learn in a variety of ways. They may be visual learners, aural learners,
kinesthetic learners or a combination of all three. Each child may learn something different from
an experience or lesson in the class. As a future teacher it is my job to tailor my lessons and
teachings so all the students can gain the most from the learning experience. I personally want to
teach either early childhood or ELL students. Therefore, different theories of learning will better
help me teach these groups of students. I know throughout my career and as I gain different
teaching experiences, my beliefs of how students learn might change. However, for now I
believe that different aspects of social constructivism theory, social cognitive theory, information
processing theory, and behaviorism is the best way for students to learn.
Cognitivist theories can be grouped into two categories. These categories are individual
cognitivist and social cognitivist. Social cognitivist can be broken up again into two sections.
These two sections are, social constructivism, where Vygotsky was the main researcher and
social cognitive theory with Bandura as the main researcher. Social constructivism suggests
that learners first construct knowledge in a social context and then appropriate and internalize it
(Bruning et a., 2004; Horn, 2003, cited in Eggen, Kauchek, 2007). It also emphasizes that
students working together construct an understanding that they wouldnt be able to do alone.
This theory looks at the classroom as a community of learners. Vygotskys key point is that
learning happens between people through back and forth communication. He also focuses on the
importance of culture on cognitive development in children. Lastly Vygotsky wrote about the
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and scaffolding. The Zone of Proximal Development is
the range of the students learning. The ZPD range is from what she/he can accomplish alone to
what he/she can accomplish with assistance from the teacher. This leads to scaffolding; the
support (usually given by teachers) to assist students. Social cognitive theory is associated with
vicarious learning. Vicarious learning is also known as observational learning. Vicarious
learning is through what you see or what is being modeled. Modeling is defined as a
transmission process that involves interaction between learners and models (Festco, McClure
2005). There are a couple of different types of models: live models, verbal descriptions, and
symbolic modeling. Students can learn from all of these models. I believe they learn best from
live or symbolic models.
Information processing theory is another way students learn. The main researchers were
Atkinson and Shiffrin. Children learn through the process of encoding. There are six ways to

achieve encoding. These six ways are attention, rehearsal, deep processing, elaboration,
constructing images, and organization (Santrock, 2006). It is important for teachers to facilitate
these ways of encoding in the classroom.
The last theory showing how students learn is the behaviorism theory. Skinner was the
main researcher of Operant conditioning, a section behaviorism. Skinner talked about methods of
changing behavior through reinforcing and punishment. Reinforcement strengthens a behavior
while punishment weakens the behavior. There are different types of reinforcements and
punishments. There are positive and negative reinforcements, along with presentation
punishment and removal punishment. This concept is important when children are learning rules
and adjusting to routines of the classroom.
How this will affect my teaching
As a prospective early childhood teacher, I must keep in mind that students of this age
group learn best by using hands on activities, working in groups and by modeling. I will make
sure to do lots of group learning and exploration activities with the students. These activities fall
under the social constructivism theory. As the children work together they will gain a better
understanding of the world around them. Examples of such activities, I as a teacher, would lead
would be: group story time, block building, dress up and make believe games. Throughout all of
those activities the children communicate with one another to gain knowledge. This theory also
emphasized culture playing a big part in learning. Thus as a teacher I would want to do lessons
about other cultures such as a worlds fair day. I would also want to make sure to incorporate
scaffolding into my teaching/instruction. Not all children will be perfect at the skills taught in
class. Ergo by teacher scaffolding I can help them to achieve goals in their ZPD. A few
examples of scaffolding would be creating a dotted line for where to cut on the paper, working
one on one with students to better understand their numbers and letters and/or, giving the student
letters to trace to practice writing. Early childhood students use vicarious learning as one of their
main ways of processing information and learning new ideas. Children will copy what they see
being modeled. By bringing in different professionals/ going on field trips to the professionals
work place these children can model what they see the important figures doing. They can model
these individuals during make believe games. They can play doctor, teacher, mailman,
firefighter, or policeman. By acting out what they see they are learning about the world around
them.
Information processing also plays a role in teaching instruction of an early childhood
classroom. First, getting the childrens attention, which can be a challenge for this age group, is
key for them to start the process of encoding information. I will make sure with my lessons to
provide opportunities for the six ways of encoding. Examples can be having the children sing the
ABC song, draw pictures of what they learned, and reading stories about different animals, jobs,
or transportation to get a better understanding of what is being taught.
Lastly, the behaviorism theory just begins to play a role in an early childhood classroom.
Through the actions of punishment and reinforcement a teacher can help instill important class
rules and behaviors. As a teacher I might use a star chart or marble jar to help the class maintain
positive behavior. However, I must keep in mind what one child likes as motivation might not
work for another. Therefore, I must cater to each child individual needs.
Overall I believe a combination of the social constructivism, and social cognitive theory,
information processing theory, and behaviorism theories encompass how children learn. As a

teacher, understanding these theories will help me to provide the best instruction to the students I
teach.

Refrences
Eggen. P., & Kauchek, D. (2007). Educational psychology: Windows on classrooms (7th ed).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Festco, T., & McClure, J. (2005). Educational psychology: An integrated approach to
classroom decisions. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Santrock, J.W. (2006). Educational psychology (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.