Prompt: Based on your reading, would you consider your current instruction style more behaviorist, cognitivist, or constructivist? Elaborate with your specific mindset and examples.
I would consider my current instruction style to be more behaviourist. Over the years I have realized when it comes to school I have a behaviourist learning style. I learned about myself that I memorize things so much better when everything is consistent. When the framework of a lesson taught in class is the same everyday and repeated over and over, I learn best. I’ve found this to be very useful and helpful for me as it lets me know what to expect each day coming to class and I’m not worries of missing any content or falling behind.
After reading the section on memory, I recognized how similar my learning experience had been. The use of frequent repetition or review of certain topics helps sustain the learner’s readiness to respond, according to the memory section of Chapter 11. I have experienced this myself in my Biology and Statistics classes. That if I’m attempting to remember a concept or method, it’s best to keep reminding myself of it until it’s second nature to recognize and respond to it right away.
For example in my statistics classes, I can recreate the solution and procedure for all other questions of that sort once I learn the answer and method for one statistics question. That’s something I love about statistics and taking those kinds of classes, every question is practically the same to one another, only minor changes, so once you’ve wrapped your head around solving one question perfectly all the others become very easy to solve, as they are all similar to one another. “Situations involving identical or similar features allow behaviours to transfer across common elements”(West, 2018). I can enforce the relationship between the questions and answers by continuously practising and memorizing the content.
So I guess you can say I favor the behaviourist instruction style the most since it corresponds to my personality and how my brain functions best. It’s helped me succeed in every class so far! Let’s hope it continues to do so:)
References
West, R. E. (2018). Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books.
May 27, 2022
Hi Tejpreet!
Thank you for your blog post! It was very personal and lovely to learn more about you. I chose this prompt as well—how you consider your current instruction style—and I also chose behaviourist strategies. Repetition is how some learn best, and it is one of the ways that I learn best. The more exposure we have to certain ideas that we need to know, the better we will remember them and be able to recall them for future reference. The more exposure we have to certain ideas, the more familiar we are with them, thus allowing us to connect and expand ideas onto other ideas. I’m glad you recognize what learning strategy works best for you, but if you plan on being a teacher someday, it is essential to remember that not everyone learns the way you learn. In the future, your students might need some learning strategies from cognitivism or constructivism since this is how they might learn best.
Again, thank you.
Amelia