Art & The Cognitive Science of Teaching & Learning: Units 6-7

Hello Fellow Art Educators!

The theory of social development states that one’s community and language is an integral part of the learning process. The theory states that children grow through social interactions. The theory also says that there are four elementary mental functions that we are born with: attention, sensation, perception, and memory. These functions are used in social situations and cultural environments and create higher mental functions. Social context is gaining acceptance by conforming to social norms. We naturally tend to touch on these elements as art educators, but I always believe there is room for growth. How can we make sure we are consciously engaging students in all of these mental functions?

Social contexts help turn us into who we are. Being the oldest daughter to a single mother working in education, formed me to be the nurturing and hard working person I am today. As the oldest child in a divorced family, I needed to step up at a young age and help raise my younger siblings. I was regularly helping my siblings with homework, making them dinner, and taking care of my duties on my own since sixth grade. This instilled a great sense of responsibility in me, as well as a love of helping children. As I got older I began to participate in mentoring programs that allowed me to help other students in their education and a love for teaching was fostered through this. How did you know you wanted to be an educator?

Personal experiences play a major role in one’s perceptions and learning. We all come from different backgrounds, cultures, places, and individual life experiences. These factors that make us individuals frames how we perceive the world in and out of an educational setting. For example, a student that grows up speaking multiple languages may have a better understanding of language in general than a student that has only ever known one language. In order to create a dynamic learning system we must put the learners in charge of their learning. Perkins, D. N. (2009). “We’re supposed to organize learners’ experiences for learning by wholes, but not organize so much that they are never in the driver’ s seat. Instead, we want to put them in the driver’ s seat in small ways. We want to create threshold experiences for them about what it’s like to drive. Then we want to make the autonomy greater, the threshold grander.”

According to Sabry, K., & Barker, J. (2009), the educator needs to allow the students the opportunity to explore their own learning. Educators should be the facilitators of the information, but students should be the leaders in their own learning exploration. Activities should be created by the learner, collaborating with other learners, finding their own solutions to problems, cross-discipline connections, and student directed. Students can learn the answer to a question when activities and processes are created by the teacher, but students can learn the process of learning through student-centered learning and exploration. How do you put your students in the driver’s seat? How can we help facilitate learning, but allow room for our students to explore how they learn?

Jenna Smith (2019). How To Give Students More Control Of Their Education

Click the link below to watch a quick video on putting students in the driver’s seat:

Putting Students in Charge of Their Learning Journey

Resources:

Perkins, D. N. (2009). Making learning whole: How seven principles of teaching can transform education. Jossey-Bass.

Sabry, K., & Barker, J. (2009). Dynamic interactive learning systems. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 46(2), 185–197

Edutopia (2019). Putting Students in Charge of Their Learning Journey. YouTube - © 2019 George Lucas Educational Foundation

Jenna Smith (2019). How To Give Students More Control Of Their Education - Image - TeachThought