Joan Wink has written an interesting and brief summary of her ideas about two main theories of learning and teaching.
What have your experiences of learning and teaching been in relation to Joan's article? How has that affected how you learn, teach, and/or develop resources and curricula?
The article: http://www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2007/TwoBigIdeas&5isms.pdf
Extract:
"Two Big Ideas on Teaching and Learning
It often feels as if there are only two ways to teach and learn. Of course, this is not true, as there are many, many ways of teaching and learning. However, we have all been touched by the following two big ideas, which seem to influence most classrooms. These ideas have been ebbing and flowing through North American classrooms for more than 100 years. It is as if there is a continuum of evolving ideas, which informs our teaching and learning.
These two big ideas have a wide range of language used to describe them, which causes great confusion. For example, often they are referred to as the two sides of the reading wars, a debate which has lasted more than 100 years (Smith, 1992).
Sometimes these ideas are embedded in our consciousness and our own personal history; sometimes these ideas become hidden assumptions, which drive educational policy. As professionals, we are all called upon to reflect on our own experiences and articulate how these ideas have influenced us. Are these long-held (and sometimes unexamined assumptions) valid for the 21st century? What principles drive our practice today? What principles should drive our practice today?
The purpose of this short paper is to summarize two large bodies of educational thought, each of which has had a profound effect in the last 100 years. In addition, I will link these two schools of thought to the five primary educational foundational constructs. In addition, I will draw connections to prevailing psychological perspectives.
For our purposes, I will refer to foundations, theories, perspectives, philosophies, approaches, schools of thought, and even ideas as if they all mean exactly the same thing–of course, they do not; differences will become more apparent with more study. My purpose is to tightly capture some complex ideas in order to make them more meani ngful for teachers and learners.
We can never assume that there are only two approaches to teaching and learning; however, the following two broad categories are reflective of experiences most of us have had in our own learning."
Read on: http://www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2007/TwoBigIdeas&5isms.pdf