Every person at least once was dreaming of having an infinite sum of money so that to be able to spend the entire life doing things that bring pleasure and satisfaction. The first thing that comes to my mind when talking about such an opportunity is that I would dedicate my time to a completely different field of study. The current section of the paper discusses what and how I would learn.
Subject of learning
Apart from the sphere of education, I am particularly interested in the questions on how the human brain operates. Undoubtedly, this topic is scientific and requires in-depth knowledge of chemistry and biology. However, it seems appealing to indulge in the investigation of this question. At this point, it should be indicated that the goal of such learning is not to become a scientist and make a breakthrough. Instead, the key objective is to understand in a detailed way why people take specific actions, how the environment, food, and emotions affect the processes in peoples brains.
Application of a learning theory
First of all, learning theory discusses how the learning process relates to the process of obtaining knowledge. The quality and quantity of new information and skills are affected by the inference of students’ environment, emotions, cognitive abilities, and experience. Out of the three approaches to learning theory that include social constructivism, behaviorism, and cognitive constructivism, I would choose the latter.
The founder of cognitive constructivism, psychologist Piaget (1977), emphasizes the importance of discovery during the learning process so that knowledge could be accumulated more actively. The new information could be easily remembered if it meets associations with facts that a student has already learned. Therefore, occurs assimilation of new knowledge into the already existing one. Kalina and Powell (2009) highlight that, according to cognitive constructivism, each student should study at his or her own pace to guarantee the understanding of every piece of hew information. Besides, learners should be motivated by their own internal goals; they should recognize the significance of the learning process for their personality. Learning works better when a student wishes to study rather than was forced to do so. In the given case, cognitive constructivism is the most effective way to study since the individual is put in conditions in which he or she is free to investigate whatever he or she wants unless this process brings pleasure.
According to cognitive constructivism, teachers play a profound role in the learning process (Derry, 1996). Therefore, talking about how to learn a new topic, it could be suggested that the best idea is to go to specialized courses, read additional books, watch films, and not to hesitate to ask questions in case of any uncertainties. This way, knowledge will gradually build up. It would also be useful to conduct ungraded tests and experiments and retell new information by own words. These actions would help figure out the possible gaps expressed through the weaknesses in understanding a topic.
Using the terminology of cognitive constructivism, at the end of the learning process, I would construct new knowledge upon the old one. Besides, experiments would allow us to receive practical experience. More precisely, after obtaining further information on the peculiarities of brains work, I could try to trace them in everyday life. At the same time, this could work vice versa so that firstly I could pose a question on what is currently going on in the brain in a particular situation and then try to find an answer.
From what is said above, it could be inferred that cognitive constructivism, in comparison with behaviorism and social constructivism, best of all fits my personal learning situation. That is because motivation is exclusively internal, and knowledge is accumulated gradually through real-life experience. What is more, new knowledge complements and extends the old one. I suppose that the described strategy would perfectly work for me since it combines everything that makes the educational process effective, from my point of view. More precisely, I have decided to learn new topic gradually, at my own pace, through the detailed comprehension of various its aspects and experiments. From my own experience that I received during all these years at school and university, I have realized that cognitive constructivism works rather well. First of all, it is because it is always pleasant to examine an exciting topic knowing that you could many questions and not to chase a teachers plan to learn a problem by a strictly determined date.
Criticism
The most evident critique of cognitive constructivism deals with underestimating the role of communication with peers during the educational process. Fox (2001) claims that “education is a social process, powerfully influenced by cultural factors” (p.30). Therefore, it is vital not to forget that education would become even more effective if a student has the possibility to socialize with others and share experiences and observations. Still, cognitive constructivism does not pay much attention to the structure of learning. Alanazi (2016) argues that some critics of constructivism emphasize that this approach “promotes a teaching style with unguided or minimally guided instructions for students” (p. 2). This a significant disadvantage since it is easier to accumulate knowledge when the learning environment is well-structured. Cognitive constructivism could illustrate that a student is highly motivated and curious about the minor details of the study subject. Nevertheless, this theory does not explain how to build communication between students in the most advantageous way.
Case Study
The chosen case study describes a lady who is afraid of dogs but has to overcome it since her new boyfriend adores them. The learning theory states that phobias appear when an action causes fearful responses (Bloom et al., 2013). Thus, the bitter experience of being bitten by the dog led to the emotional trauma and the development of phobia. This way, from the viewpoint of the learning theory, the emergence of an intense fear of dogs was inevitable.
In the depicted case, Greta was trying to get rid of her phobia. In other words, she was hoping to learn how to cope with her anxiety, which appears when a dog is nearby. It also could be suggested that Greta hoped to turn fear into more warm feelings to animals. Apart from cynophobia, a phobia of dogs, Great suffered from the fear of hospitals, sirens, and loud noises. However, she managed to overcome these fears as a student. The fear of dogs remained unsolved since she learned how to avoid them. This fact makes the process of recovery harder as she has to break the safe model of actions in which she simply is wary of dogs.
Application of cognitive constructivism to the case study
In the first part of the current paper, I have identified that cognitive constructivism would be the best possible approach to gain knowledge about a new topic. Notwithstanding this fact, I assume that this approach would not be valid for Gretas case. Behaviorism regarded as a more beneficial approach in the given situation since it assists in creating a correct response of students to some circumstances, events, and objects. Thereby, behaviorism is more useful since a teacher could transmit Greta the correct attitude to dogs that would help her get rid of fear.
Criticism
Cognitive constructivism highlights that students’ motivation should be internal; it should be a driving force for the educational process. Greta, on the contrary, gets motivated not from inside but externally. She is guided by the desire to be liked by the man she loves. This could be a challenge for the application of this approach since Greta, in other circumstances, would prefer not to be engaged in learning on how to stop being afraid of dogs. Moreover, constructivist approaches argue that new knowledge is built upon the already existing one. This means that Greta should develop a new attitude to dogs grounded upon the old memories of the accident. This way of accumulation of knowledge does not seem to be effective.
Cognitive constructivism is not the best choice that would help Greta to overcome her phobia. Apart from that, this approach cannot adequately explain and predict learning for the person. This approach does not presuppose positive and negative reinforcements, i.e., students do not receive any external stimulus to keep learning. This strategy would not fit Gretas necessities and would not bring her closer to the goal. There is no guarantee that cognitive constructivism would lead to the desired consequences and would not make Greta give up the idea of fighting against the phobia.
Conclusion
Finally, it is essential to notice that there is no universal approach to the learning process. Each particular case should be considered individually, and the most suitable method should be chosen grounding on the goals, preferences, and experience of a student. The paper illustrates that cognitive constructivism, which seems to be a useful approach to studying new disciplines, is highly likely not to work for a person who wants to overcome fear.
References
Alanazi, A. (2016). A critical review of constructivist theory and the emergence of constructionism. American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2, 1-8.
Bloom, C. M., Post, R. J., Mazick, J., Blumenthal, B., Doyle, C., Peters, B., & Davenport, D. G. (2013). A discriminated conditioned punishment model of phobia. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 9, 1239-1248.
Derry, S. J. (1996). Cognitive schema theory in the constructivist debate. Educational Psychologist, 31(3-4), 163-174.
Fox, R. (2001). Constructivism examined. Oxford review of education, 27(1), 23-35.
Kalina, C., & Powell, K. C. (2009). Cognitive and social constructivism: Developing tools for an effective classroom. Education, 130(2), 241-250.
Piaget, J. (1977). The development of thought: Equilibration of cognitive structures. The Viking Press.