Here are my thoughts on Clark’s blog on Bandura.
Quote: “Although steeped in, and influenced by, behaviourism, his theories transcend traditional behaviourism into what was called ‘Social Learning Theory’…”
Reflection: It’s nice when there is flexiblity in theories to incorporate different (and usually) complementary ideas.
Quote: “Bandura’s awareness of the personal factors in learning, especially motivation, differentiates him from traditional behaviourism.“
Reflection: Intuitively, I’ve always thought of motivation as one of the most essential pieces of learning.
Quote: “Bandura has often been seen as a bridge between behaviourism and cognitive psychology as he moves us beyond classical and operant conditioning, claiming that we also learn by observation.“
Reflection: I see this in myself and others. We are thinking beings and stopping to address a particular situation/condition for improvement happens all the time.
Quote: “Observational learning is influenced by:
1. Attention – you must be attentive to learn
2. Code, store and retain the patterns so they can be retrieved
3. Motor reproduction – kinaesthetic and neuromuscular patterns are practiced until the model’s behaviour is learnt
4. Motivation and reinforcement – to push the learner to practice and retain knowledge and skills“
Reflection: Clark precedes this by saying that no teaching may happen at all before going into this type of observational learning. But I hear many talk about “teaching myself.” I think that more important than thinking about the source of teaching that we need to observe how people learn. This is the most important part.
Quote: “Learners are …more motivated to learn behaviours they admire and value.“
Reflection: This is observed everywhere. I’m thinking of a friend who isn’t drawn to math/science who loves reading about car engines. His affinity toward automobiles and their engines serves as a motivating factor for learning about physics and the math behind torque and horsepower.
Quote: “It is important that learners adopt optimal strategies, based on judgments of effort, not ability, to acquire knowledge and skills.“
Reflection: My wife and I use this philosophy in raising my children. The premise of this philosophy is that anyone can do anything that really want to do by persistent effort and adjustment.
Quote: “It is important that learners adopt optimal strategies, based on judgments of effort, not ability, to acquire knowledge and skills.“
Reflection: My wife and I use this philosophy in raising my children. The premise of this philosophy is that anyone can do anything that really want to do by persistent effort and adjustment.
