Learning Theories Week 3 T2P

Learning Theories Week 3

Theory to Practice

As I form my own philosophy of education I am running into some hurdles.  While some are merely speed bumps others feel like mountains.   One problem in particular is based in my scientific background.  All of the theories that we are learning about are different.  There may be some unifying ideas between them there are also very diverse ideological views available concerning education.  The scientist in me wants to find the “unifying theory.”  Unfortunately that seems to be almost impossible.  So many theories offer small pieces of evidence that work well to describe educational theory.  Piaget, for instance, offers learning stages that all humans go through.  While this part of his theory sounds relevant and applicable he then states that people go through them in at a pace that can be correlated to age.  I find that statement to be counter intuitive.  It leaves no room for child prodigies or exceptional cases.  It does not take into consideration the effects that society can have on your educational experience.  A child denied food will not perform at the same level as a middle class student of the same age, for instance.

            What I am realizing as I build a foundation for my own pedagogy, is that these theories all exist to some degree simultaneously.  The key to refining my own core beliefs on educational philosophy is to borrow from many theories into a complete hybrid of my own.

            I have enjoyed the afternoon studying Paulo Freire.  It has lead me to add his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed to my Kindle.  As a student interested in political strife and social injustice I found his theories to be directly in line with my thinking.  A theme that we have received in Zacks class on Mondays is that school was originally formed here in the US with the intention of “Americanizing” the youth of the country.  This has been a common theme throughout history for many cultures and countries.  Hitler had youth programs and Americans had boarding schools for Native Americans.  Even the public school systems of America teach students to be complacent by making them sit through 8 hours of school everyday in preparation for a job later in life.  Public schools get so caught up in trying to finance their system by way of standardized tests that they forget to teach their students what it means to be critical of their society they live in.

           

            I would like to incorporate this thinking into my future science classrooms.  I left the business world in order to do something meaningful with my life.  Teaching students to question the world they live in is exactly the kind of pedagogy I want to work at.  This is highly relevant to science in particular because we are dealing with serious issues of social injustice in regards to the environment, overpopulation, global warming, genetic experimentation and cloning, and so many other issues where the poor are left out of decision-making and yet bear the brunt of the costs associated with the problem.

            One poignant part of Freire’s critical pedagogy is the addition of a vision for a better future.   I believe that science holds the key to forming a better picture of our societies future.  Direct application of the scientific method to social concern is where we will find the most relevant inclusion of science to that end.  Including social justice in my curriculum will let my students examine social injustice through the lens of scientific inquiry.  By developing those skills in my students I will be able to provide the hope for a better future.