A Closer Look at Social Learning Theory

Upon reading the two articles provided in class about social learning theory (SLT), there are a few main concepts of the theory that seem to be essential to its understanding. The most important concept that I believe SLT conveys is that people learn from one another, whether that is through observation, imitation, or modeling (Bandura's Theory). The argument presented in the article about Vygotsky discusses that social interaction precedes development, and that consciousness and cognitive processes are a result of social behavior. This is important because it indicates that students will gain their current knowledge through socialization, which has implications in constructivist learning theory (CLT) as well. Students are constantly revising their own theories about concepts and constructing their own meaning of content. SLT implies that learning from others would shape the knowledge that a student constructs.

Also a theme credited to Vygotsky is the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). ZPD is essentially the ability of a student to learn without aid from others and without the material being too difficult to grasp on his or her own. Each student's ZPD shows what they are capable of learning as well as what thoughts they are capable of. ZPD involves the role of other people in a student's learning, which is why it falls within SLT.We have discussed this idea many times in class and I have found that it has many implications throughout the learning theories, though it most directly applies to SLT. What was confusing to me when reading the article on Vygotsky was that is said his theory is one of the foundations of constructivism, when it seemed that his theories applied mostly to SLT. However, this just furthered my understanding that all the different learning theories lead to different implications of ideas in other learning theories. SLT and ZPD can be applied to CLT because active mental engagement (AME) is influenced by where a student's ZPD is in relation to what material is being presented and in what way. AME also has implications in developmental learning theory (DLT) because if an idea is presented in a more concrete way, a student is more likely to be actively mentally engaged.

All of these ideas are just the beginnings of the implications that learning theories offer about how students learn. Social learning theory is just one way to look at the learning process, and it can be readily applied with other learning theories as well. I think it is important for educators to be aware of learning theories so that they know how their students are processing (or not processing) information and how they can make the information easier to learn.

Ed 107 thus far

In the first two weeks of Education 107, we have examined a lot of concepts very briefly. So far, we have skimmed the surface for different learning theories and other important aspects of teaching. Even though what we have covered has many more layers to the ideas, we have still been able to make connections between the different learning theories in order to see how everything has it's part in meeting students needs and teaching them how to learn on top of just the content in the classroom.

The first thing that we jumped into was the concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). ZPD is the level that students are at based on how they are learning the material. If a student is learning without help, it is probably too easy and makes it more likely for them to get off task. If the material is too hard and the students are not grasping the concept, then they are likely to get frustrated and want to give up trying to learn. Teachers should search for the happy medium between these two extremes. ZPD falls under the classroom management aspect of teaching and is most often associated with social learning theory, but has connections to other learning theories as well. Each child may have a different ZPD.

The next ideas that we talked about all fit together very well. The idea of active mental engagement (AME), the processing of information, is a part of constructivist learning theory, but is affected by ZPD because it is more difficult to keep a student actively, mentally engaged when the material is too difficult or too easy. Teaching beginning with the concrete and moving to the abstract is part of the developmental learning theory. This is also related to ZPD because the ZPD can be lowered by making a lesson or a concept more concrete for the students, which can also increase their AME. One way to tie the development and constructivist learning theories is through a specific model of teaching. By first presenting a problem or some sort of idea in a concrete way, developmental learning theory comes into play. Next, constructivist learning theory has its place if you let children explore the idea and try and sort through it on their own through AME. Finally, if students are not grasping the idea correctly, the teacher can explain the idea, which has implications from both of those learning theories. This is just one example of how the different learning theories come together to create effective teaching. Everything seems to fit so neatly and I am looking forward to continuing on exploring and going into depth with the connections between all the different aspects of education.